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> But at a time when 5.6m Ethiopians need emergency food aid because of a drought, it seems an odd priority. Not that it's the same scale, but U.S. has ~.5M h

> But at a time when 5.6m Ethiopians need emergency food aid because of a drought, it seems an odd priority. Not that it's the same scale, but U.S. has ~.5M homeless [0], and I'm very happy that NASA still exists. Saying that a government shouldn't have a space program because people are starving, without first mentioning every other piece of inefficient spending, seems misleading. And yeah, while it does seem like they could maybe get similar benefits from the private cubesat's mentioned, there are good reasons for developing countries to work towards domestic technology instead of relying on imports. [0] http://www.endhomelessness.org/pages/snapshot_of_homelessness http://www.endhomelessness.org/pages/snapshot_of_homelessnes...

agency 10y ago
That's a pretty big difference... 6% of the population versus 0.1%. For reference at the peak of the Great Depression homelessness in the US was around 1.5%
- deleted 10y ago
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- kyleschiller 10y ago
  Yeah, that's why I opened with "Not that it's the same scale". My point is just that arguing "don't spend money on X, Y is more important" only makes sense if X is literally the least important thing. But as far as scale is concerned, it's worth noting that the US spends about .5% of its budget on NASA (again, IMO totally justified). The economist article doesn't mention how much Ethiopia plans to spend, but to get a super rough estimate, their current $3m investment [0] is only about .025% of national budget [1]. [0] http://www.sciencealert.com/ethiopia-has-launched-the-first-space-program-in-east-africa http://www.sciencealert.com/ethiopia-has-launched-the-first-... [1] http://www.ena.gov.et/en/index.php/politics/item/1435-council-of-ministers-approves-over-274-billion-birr-budget-for-upcoming-ethiopian-fiscal-year http://www.ena.gov.et/en/index.php/politics/item/1435-counci...
Waterluvian 10y ago
I get the gist of what you're saying, but I disagree. That's something like 7% of their population. Not 0.2%. I doubt we can draw a clear line on when a space program is responsible spending, but I bet 7% needing food aid is way over it.
- virtuabhi 10y ago
  Depends on the metric. For example, in United States 12% of the population was racially segregated and discriminated against at the same time when NASA was preparing for moon landing. Right now in India 12%-22% (again depending on metric) of population live below the poverty line, and we have quite successful and useful space program. The perfect time is always now.
MarkMc 10y ago
Not just a different scale, but a different degree of suffering. The average homeless person in the US has a far higher standard of living and more opportunities than the average person needing emergency food assistance in Ethiopia.

agency 10y ago

That's a pretty big difference... 6% of the population versus 0.1%. For reference at the peak of the Great Depression homelessness in the US was around 1.5%

deleted 10y ago
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kyleschiller 10y ago
Yeah, that's why I opened with "Not that it's the same scale". My point is just that arguing "don't spend money on X, Y is more important" only makes sense if X is literally the least important thing. But as far as scale is concerned, it's worth noting that the US spends about .5% of its budget on NASA (again, IMO totally justified). The economist article doesn't mention how much Ethiopia plans to spend, but to get a super rough estimate, their current $3m investment [0] is only about .025% of national budget [1]. [0] http://www.sciencealert.com/ethiopia-has-launched-the-first-space-program-in-east-africa http://www.sciencealert.com/ethiopia-has-launched-the-first-... [1] http://www.ena.gov.et/en/index.php/politics/item/1435-council-of-ministers-approves-over-274-billion-birr-budget-for-upcoming-ethiopian-fiscal-year http://www.ena.gov.et/en/index.php/politics/item/1435-counci...

Waterluvian 10y ago

I get the gist of what you're saying, but I disagree. That's something like 7% of their population. Not 0.2%. I doubt we can draw a clear line on when a space program is responsible spending, but I bet 7% needing food aid is way over it.

virtuabhi 10y ago
Depends on the metric. For example, in United States 12% of the population was racially segregated and discriminated against at the same time when NASA was preparing for moon landing. Right now in India 12%-22% (again depending on metric) of population live below the poverty line, and we have quite successful and useful space program. The perfect time is always now.

MarkMc 10y ago

Not just a different scale, but a different degree of suffering. The average homeless person in the US has a far higher standard of living and more opportunities than the average person needing emergency food assistance in Ethiopia.