No, we are all using technology every day that was first developed for space exploration. Not only will we as a species get a better understanding of the universe, but we will also get some more useful tech in the process. Also, if we figure out how to successfully mine asteroids we'd be rich.
I've always felt it's a big waste.If we were supposed to live out "there," wouldn't we have been born there already?I
What if the Wright brothers said, "If we were supposed to fly, wouldn't we have been born with wings?" I can think of about a dozen worse things money is "wasted" on.
I don't think it's a waste of money for scientific purposes. However, when increased investment comes from the private sector they will be looking for a return and seeing as our own beautiful planet is being trashed by greed, we will unfortunately trash space.
A lot of innovation comes from the aerospace realm - even without the craft & its crew leaving the ground. So I'd say, on the contrary, we should be investing more in space exploration. Self-sustainability on Mars, for example. This is the next big thing.
No, and if you think otherwise you should probably not ever try to talk with me.
On a long enough time-scale, the only way humanity will survive is if we have a strong space program. Asteroids happen, and dealing with them will involve technology and skills we can't just throw together on the spot as if this were the Armageddon movie. Reasonable people can argue about how much our space program budget should be, but if you think the program itself is a waste of money, you're basically okay with human extinction.
We're making a mess of the prime real estate we already have; it seems incredibly hubristic of us to go trampling all over space, when we can't even make a proper go of it here on Earth.
If there is nothing else out there, and we really are alone, it probably doesn't matter, we'll just find other planets to turn into overcrowded, polluted dumps.
If there is life out there, and some of it is more advanced/moral/ruthless than us, then we're asking to be zapped. Or maybe turned into farm animals, if ET is a carnivore. katsu78 may be right, and we may need at some point to come up with the technology to be able to dodge an asteroid; but I don't like the idea of us chucking our muck all over the galaxy and inviting trouble - that, to me, is inviting extinction. As is the opposite - going on the way we are doing now, as if Planet B is just sitting there waiting for us to move in.
No.... it's certainly not a waste of money. No doubt the nay sayers would rather live in the hills, growing 'herbs' and carving wooden soup spoons from trees.
It takes decades to develop the technology, baby steps in which will become the basis for the next expansion. If we don't take the first step then there will never be a space age era which we humans will exploit space.
cleoDEC. 16, 2015 - 03:09PM JST
katsu78 may be right, and we may need at some point to come up with the technology to be able to dodge an asteroid; but I don't like the idea of us chucking our muck all over the galaxy and inviting trouble - that, to me, is inviting extinction.
Well, take heart in this fact: Odds are unbelievably high that we will never reach "all over the galaxy", at least not within a time-scale that humans are still, well, humans. The nearest star is Proxima Centauri, 4.24 light years away. With current technology, it would take 75 thousand years or more to get there. With the best theoretical technology that we think could exist (but doesn't yet), it would take 85 years to get there. Short of a warp drive that breaks what we think are the rules of physics, we will never get to even the nearest star without sleeper or generational ships. We're talking time scales where human evolution will to some degree happen. We're never going to get there unless we learn to collaborate in peace in a way humans have never done before.
BUT exploring our solar system is entirely feasible, and could have far-reaching consequences for humanity. Just the development of asteroid mining could provide us with so many resources as to make wealth meaningless.
Now you're right, odds are good that alien civilizations we meet will be vastly younger or vastly older than us, and the vastly older ones could wipe us out effortlessly if they wanted. But I have to think that a civilization that evolves to the point they can work together to overcome the vast distances in space would have also evolved the social skills necessary to recognize the value of other intelligent species. I have to think that any species that still struggles with aggression and xenophobia would have killed itself off at about the stage we're at in our civilization's current level of development.
We're never going to get there unless we learn to collaborate in peace in a way humans have never done before.
We're never going to get there. :-)
I have to think that any species that still struggles with aggression and xenophobia would have killed itself off at about the stage we're at in our civilization's current level of development.
But we're still here.....maybe the money might be better spent finding ways of curbing our aggression and xenophobia?
Yes I know, I'm a hippy, tree-hugging, Kumbaya-chanting Luddite. :-)
cleoDEC. 16, 2015 - 07:05PM JST
We're never going to get there unless we learn to collaborate in peace in a way humans have never done before.
We're never going to get there. :-)
Could be. I'd like to try, personally.
But we're still here.....maybe the money might be better spent finding ways of curbing our aggression and xenophobia?
I don't think you can buy your way out of aggression and xenophobia. Space exploration budgets are miniscule as it is, and we've been pouring money into churches and philosophies run by holy wise folk telling us to get along for generations and it's not really got us very far.
when we can't even make a proper go of it here on Earth
We don't do so bad. And if it were perfect, we'd have no incentive to learn anything new. I don't begrudge the expenditure. Just as long as they don't try to put me in one of those rockets. Knowing we will probably have to leave the planet one day, it would be good if some of that money could be spent on researching comfortable ways to get into space.
Unfortunately not enough people have been made aware of the vast benefits the space exploration and program provides that increase the quality of our daily lives. Applications on earth of technology needed for space fight have produced thousands of spin-offs that contribute to improving national security, the economy, productivity, and lifestyle. It is almost impossible to find an area of everyday life that has not been improved by these spin-offs. Collectively, these secondary applications represent a substantial return on the national investment in aerospace research. Therefore we should be spending more and it is important for the future of the earth and all of us living on it.
Whether you're using a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone to read this, the microprocessor technology driving your device was originally developed by the space program. Space exploration CONTINUES to teach us things - even correcting things we thought we already "knew". Education of our youth and space exploration are probably the two most NON-wasteful expenditures our governments make.
It's actually one of the few things that is not a total waste of taxpayers' money. Most of out money is burned up in useless and corrupt government projects. Space explorations gives us new technology and, more important, some small degree of hope.
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borscht
Definitely not.
Exploration of earth spurred technological developments and increased knowledge of all kinds. Exploration of space is - has - and will do the same.
Michael Werker
No, we are all using technology every day that was first developed for space exploration. Not only will we as a species get a better understanding of the universe, but we will also get some more useful tech in the process. Also, if we figure out how to successfully mine asteroids we'd be rich.
MrBum
What if the Wright brothers said, "If we were supposed to fly, wouldn't we have been born with wings?" I can think of about a dozen worse things money is "wasted" on.
dcog9065
No way, it's probably one of the most important fields of science out there
Spanki
I don't think it's a waste of money for scientific purposes. However, when increased investment comes from the private sector they will be looking for a return and seeing as our own beautiful planet is being trashed by greed, we will unfortunately trash space.
sighclops
A lot of innovation comes from the aerospace realm - even without the craft & its crew leaving the ground. So I'd say, on the contrary, we should be investing more in space exploration. Self-sustainability on Mars, for example. This is the next big thing.
Conspiracy Theories
We're not even there yet and already trashed space
katsu78
No, and if you think otherwise you should probably not ever try to talk with me.
On a long enough time-scale, the only way humanity will survive is if we have a strong space program. Asteroids happen, and dealing with them will involve technology and skills we can't just throw together on the spot as if this were the Armageddon movie. Reasonable people can argue about how much our space program budget should be, but if you think the program itself is a waste of money, you're basically okay with human extinction.
Commodore Shmidlap (Retired)
No.
Sioux Chef
You heard wrong.
cleo
We're making a mess of the prime real estate we already have; it seems incredibly hubristic of us to go trampling all over space, when we can't even make a proper go of it here on Earth.
If there is nothing else out there, and we really are alone, it probably doesn't matter, we'll just find other planets to turn into overcrowded, polluted dumps.
If there is life out there, and some of it is more advanced/moral/ruthless than us, then we're asking to be zapped. Or maybe turned into farm animals, if ET is a carnivore. katsu78 may be right, and we may need at some point to come up with the technology to be able to dodge an asteroid; but I don't like the idea of us chucking our muck all over the galaxy and inviting trouble - that, to me, is inviting extinction. As is the opposite - going on the way we are doing now, as if Planet B is just sitting there waiting for us to move in.
SenseNotSoCommon
Ground control to Major Tom: put the garbage out.
mike jang
Not every program is a waste of money, some are very important.
Thunderbird2
No.... it's certainly not a waste of money. No doubt the nay sayers would rather live in the hills, growing 'herbs' and carving wooden soup spoons from trees.
Triring
It takes decades to develop the technology, baby steps in which will become the basis for the next expansion. If we don't take the first step then there will never be a space age era which we humans will exploit space.
katsu78
Well, take heart in this fact: Odds are unbelievably high that we will never reach "all over the galaxy", at least not within a time-scale that humans are still, well, humans. The nearest star is Proxima Centauri, 4.24 light years away. With current technology, it would take 75 thousand years or more to get there. With the best theoretical technology that we think could exist (but doesn't yet), it would take 85 years to get there. Short of a warp drive that breaks what we think are the rules of physics, we will never get to even the nearest star without sleeper or generational ships. We're talking time scales where human evolution will to some degree happen. We're never going to get there unless we learn to collaborate in peace in a way humans have never done before.
BUT exploring our solar system is entirely feasible, and could have far-reaching consequences for humanity. Just the development of asteroid mining could provide us with so many resources as to make wealth meaningless.
Now you're right, odds are good that alien civilizations we meet will be vastly younger or vastly older than us, and the vastly older ones could wipe us out effortlessly if they wanted. But I have to think that a civilization that evolves to the point they can work together to overcome the vast distances in space would have also evolved the social skills necessary to recognize the value of other intelligent species. I have to think that any species that still struggles with aggression and xenophobia would have killed itself off at about the stage we're at in our civilization's current level of development.
cleo
We're never going to get there. :-)
But we're still here.....maybe the money might be better spent finding ways of curbing our aggression and xenophobia?
Yes I know, I'm a hippy, tree-hugging, Kumbaya-chanting Luddite. :-)
katsu78
Could be. I'd like to try, personally.
I don't think you can buy your way out of aggression and xenophobia. Space exploration budgets are miniscule as it is, and we've been pouring money into churches and philosophies run by holy wise folk telling us to get along for generations and it's not really got us very far.
albaleo
We don't do so bad. And if it were perfect, we'd have no incentive to learn anything new. I don't begrudge the expenditure. Just as long as they don't try to put me in one of those rockets. Knowing we will probably have to leave the planet one day, it would be good if some of that money could be spent on researching comfortable ways to get into space.
BertieWooster
Space exploration a waste of money?
No, but most of the "defence" spending is.
Novenachama
Unfortunately not enough people have been made aware of the vast benefits the space exploration and program provides that increase the quality of our daily lives. Applications on earth of technology needed for space fight have produced thousands of spin-offs that contribute to improving national security, the economy, productivity, and lifestyle. It is almost impossible to find an area of everyday life that has not been improved by these spin-offs. Collectively, these secondary applications represent a substantial return on the national investment in aerospace research. Therefore we should be spending more and it is important for the future of the earth and all of us living on it.
Fadamor
Whether you're using a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone to read this, the microprocessor technology driving your device was originally developed by the space program. Space exploration CONTINUES to teach us things - even correcting things we thought we already "knew". Education of our youth and space exploration are probably the two most NON-wasteful expenditures our governments make.
commanteer
It's actually one of the few things that is not a total waste of taxpayers' money. Most of out money is burned up in useless and corrupt government projects. Space explorations gives us new technology and, more important, some small degree of hope.