Oh boy

[Mikey]

Right, everything should always be attempted. However, in this universe, money is a finite resource.

[Tyyr]

And as I've pointed out in previous threads the amount of money spent on NASA is insignificant in the Federal Budget.

[Sonic Glitch]

Right, everything should always be attempted. However, in this universe, money is a finite resource.

"It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species, life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of." -- Stephen Hawking.

And personally, I don't trust private enterprise to get us there.

[Graham Kennedy]

"Life" on Earth is in absolutely minimal danger of being wiped out by anything, and if Hawking thinks otherwise he is mistaken.

Whether Humanity will be wiped out is a different question... but we've lasted a long time thus far. I think we can afford to hang on another couple of centuries before we go into space, if it's species survival you're worried about.

[Nickswitz]

"Life" on Earth is in absolutely minimal danger of being wiped out by anything, and if Hawking thinks otherwise he is mistaken.

It's sad. When I read that I was like wow, someone else actually thinks that besides me....

[Sonic Glitch]

"Life" on Earth is in absolutely minimal danger of being wiped out by anything, and if Hawking thinks otherwise he is mistaken.

Whether Humanity will be wiped out is a different question... but we've lasted a long time thus far. I think we can afford to hang on another couple of centuries before we go into space, if it's species survival you're worried about.

I think we can safely assume he was refering to human life -- the only life it seems anyone cares about most of the time

[Sionnach Glic]

The only real thing humanity is in danger of is an asteroid hitting the planet and killing us all. If we found an asteroid big enough to cause KT 2.0 then there's damn all we could really do about it. For that reason it's a good idea to get off the planet at some stage.

However, since there's a phenomenaly tiny chance of that actually happening, I think we can afford to wait a century or two before calling up volunteers for the sleeper ships.

[Mikey]

Right, everything should always be attempted. However, in this universe, money is a finite resource.

"It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species, life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of." -- Stephen Hawking.

And personally, I don't trust private enterprise to get us there.

As GK said, Hawking is wrong about that. In other news, he's made his living as an astrophysicist - probably in the top ten for his whole career. He has never, to my knowledge, made a living as an ecologist, sociologist, or Gaia-theory philosopher.

Trusting private enterprise to do the hard stuff is pretty much the foundation of this country. If you don't agree with capitalism, that's fine - I don't always, myself. However, that's what we've got.

And as I've pointed out in previous threads the amount of money spent on NASA is insignificant in the Federal Budget.

Who said anything about how much was spent compared to other programs? If the amount of money spent on NASA is > zero, then my point stands.

[Sonic Glitch]

Trusting private enterprise to do the hard stuff is pretty much the foundation of this country. If you don't agree with capitalism, that's fine - I don't always, myself. However, that's what we've got.

I'm not going to get into a capitalist/socialist/communist debate but yes, private enterprise is the basis of this country but i also believe that occasionally, YES the government does have to step in.

[Mikey]

Trusting private enterprise to do the hard stuff is pretty much the foundation of this country. If you don't agree with capitalism, that's fine - I don't always, myself. However, that's what we've got.

I'm not going to get into a capitalist/socialist/communist debate but yes, private enterprise is the basis of this country but i also believe that occasionally, YES the government does have to step in.

Sure it does. However, we've had the space program out of private hands for the entire history of ever, and it's currently running in neutral and the clutch won't move. So, if we let private enterprise handle it, maybe it could do some good for the program AND save some money (not all of it, as I'm sure cap gains credits will have to be made available to those business which participate.)

[stitch626]

Hey, if private enterprise were to take over NASA, then not only would the government not pay for it, they also could tax it.

[Mikey]

Hey, if private enterprise were to take over NASA, then not only would the government not pay for it, they also could tax it.

Doubtful. I'd imagine there would have to be a tax incentive for companies to pick up the endeavor - at least initially, until some liquid gain could be realized from it.

[sunnyside]

Actually NASA has awarded some contracts to private companies for space transport since there are companies that look like they'll be able to do it and there will be a gap between the Shuttles and whatever they eventually come up with. So I guess we'll get a chance to see how that works.

Also pushing the envelope technologically tends to have far greater benifits than, say, buying everybody in the country some Twinkies.

Even outside of the technological benifits I think the occasional Great Work can have more impact on a country than cream filled snack treats.

Obviously I'm just using Twinkies as an example. But the point is that I think sometimes pooling money to acomplish something great is better than spreading it out so thin as to be nearly inconsequential for everyone, and a billion dollars is about a box of twinkies for everybody in the US.

[Lighthawk]

...god dammit, now I want a twinkie. And a rocket ship. Mostly the twinkie though...