7 ms·

Honestly, this is beautiful. Let's fucking do it. No seriously...let's do it. We're humans - this is the kind of funny, beautiful, impossible stuff we can uniq

Honestly, this is beautiful. Let's fucking do it. No seriously...let's do it. We're humans - this is the kind of funny, beautiful, impossible stuff we can uniquely do. Capital allocation? Bleh, don't be so boring and uninspired!

beamatronic 8y ago
#yolo applied to an entire species
tomcam 8y ago
How much of your capital do you plan to allocate? And do you plan to allocate any of mine (i.e., the taxpayer)?
- askafriend 8y ago
  I think the technology and learning that will come out of this will be more than worth the cost. It's short sighted to only consider the immediate ROI. A substantial portion of development is also currently being funded by a private citizen (approx $1.5B of the final cost). And honestly, humanity could use a sense of humor sometimes. We spent trillions going to war in just the past 2 decades when we could have spent a couple billion doing seemingly impossible projects like this. Projects like this also provide jobs and have the added benefit of directing our efforts into something far more useful and far less disastrous than something like war.
- basicplus2 8y ago
  Essentially pretty much most of it.. tax deductions cost you more of your own money to pay for higher profit margins on privatised services and on lost maintenance on public infrastructure, and so you are definitely paying for it..
  - basicplus2 8y ago
    Sorry.. that should read tax cuts
- A2017U1 8y ago
  > mine (i.e., the taxpayer) Allow people to vote on government budgets and you'd get your answer. I'd far prefer to decide what carve up of sectors tax is spent on than choose between politicians.
- CobrastanJorji 8y ago
  Sure, that's how taxes work. We collect it from everyone and then decide collectively how to spend it. We don't only bill people for the things they personally use. One of the things we use money for is arts. The National Endowment for the Arts gets about $150 million per year, or roughly .004% of your taxes. I don't know how much these tickets to the moon cost, but let's say $100 million. That would roughly double the NEA's spending for a year, which I think works out to about 40 cents per taxpayer (someone can check me on that, maybe I'm way off). It probably does a better job of getting kids excited about science and art than most other ways we'd spend that 40 cents. So yeah, I'm comfortable choosing that about 40 cents of your share of government's funding goes to this project.
- Aeolun 8y ago
  I plan to allocate about 1B, so probably around $3 of yours. I’m sure you’ll survive.
- deadbunny 8y ago
  About $33 assuming median wages[1]. Maybe $150 assuming SF area tech salaries. You spend more on war. 1. https://www.space.com/10849-nasa-budget-contribute.html https://www.space.com/10849-nasa-budget-contribute.html
- rbanffy 8y ago
  How about not buying some of those problematic F-35's? Or, maybe, skip the next invasion of a foreign country. Do you have any idea how much a bomb costs?
  - dylan604 8y ago
    How about not give the uber rich a huge tax break?
    - rbanffy 8y ago
      That's also an excellent approach. Preventing evasion through shell companies would probably be helpful too. We need to teach our kids that, when the world is exceedingly generous to them, it's nice to care for the ones it wasn't so nice to.
- Arubis 8y ago
  If they want to use my taxpayer money to do something we can all be proud of as a species, I’m all for it. Beats using those funds to forcibly destroy refugee families.
- dwaltrip 8y ago
  Spending money on space actually has a very high return for the Earthlings.
- Razengan 8y ago
  > How much of your capital do you plan to allocate? And do you plan to allocate any of mine (i.e., the taxpayer)? Do you ask the same of, or have any say in how much of your capital is invested in other ventures, for example, how much your country spends on its military, or civilian surveillance?
- PopsiclePete 8y ago
  So many "taxpayers" are concerned about a few hundred million here and there that could bring benefit to the entire human race but never blink an eye when the bloated military budget grows by a few hundred billion....

beamatronic 8y ago

#yolo applied to an entire species

tomcam 8y ago

How much of your capital do you plan to allocate? And do you plan to allocate any of mine (i.e., the taxpayer)?

askafriend 8y ago
I think the technology and learning that will come out of this will be more than worth the cost. It's short sighted to only consider the immediate ROI. A substantial portion of development is also currently being funded by a private citizen (approx $1.5B of the final cost). And honestly, humanity could use a sense of humor sometimes. We spent trillions going to war in just the past 2 decades when we could have spent a couple billion doing seemingly impossible projects like this. Projects like this also provide jobs and have the added benefit of directing our efforts into something far more useful and far less disastrous than something like war.
basicplus2 8y ago
Essentially pretty much most of it.. tax deductions cost you more of your own money to pay for higher profit margins on privatised services and on lost maintenance on public infrastructure, and so you are definitely paying for it..
- basicplus2 8y ago
  Sorry.. that should read tax cuts
A2017U1 8y ago
> mine (i.e., the taxpayer) Allow people to vote on government budgets and you'd get your answer. I'd far prefer to decide what carve up of sectors tax is spent on than choose between politicians.
CobrastanJorji 8y ago
Sure, that's how taxes work. We collect it from everyone and then decide collectively how to spend it. We don't only bill people for the things they personally use. One of the things we use money for is arts. The National Endowment for the Arts gets about $150 million per year, or roughly .004% of your taxes. I don't know how much these tickets to the moon cost, but let's say $100 million. That would roughly double the NEA's spending for a year, which I think works out to about 40 cents per taxpayer (someone can check me on that, maybe I'm way off). It probably does a better job of getting kids excited about science and art than most other ways we'd spend that 40 cents. So yeah, I'm comfortable choosing that about 40 cents of your share of government's funding goes to this project.
Aeolun 8y ago
I plan to allocate about 1B, so probably around $3 of yours. I’m sure you’ll survive.
deadbunny 8y ago
About $33 assuming median wages[1]. Maybe $150 assuming SF area tech salaries. You spend more on war. 1. https://www.space.com/10849-nasa-budget-contribute.html https://www.space.com/10849-nasa-budget-contribute.html
rbanffy 8y ago
How about not buying some of those problematic F-35's? Or, maybe, skip the next invasion of a foreign country. Do you have any idea how much a bomb costs?
- dylan604 8y ago
  How about not give the uber rich a huge tax break?
  - rbanffy 8y ago
    That's also an excellent approach. Preventing evasion through shell companies would probably be helpful too. We need to teach our kids that, when the world is exceedingly generous to them, it's nice to care for the ones it wasn't so nice to.
Arubis 8y ago
If they want to use my taxpayer money to do something we can all be proud of as a species, I’m all for it. Beats using those funds to forcibly destroy refugee families.
dwaltrip 8y ago
Spending money on space actually has a very high return for the Earthlings.
Razengan 8y ago
> How much of your capital do you plan to allocate? And do you plan to allocate any of mine (i.e., the taxpayer)? Do you ask the same of, or have any say in how much of your capital is invested in other ventures, for example, how much your country spends on its military, or civilian surveillance?
PopsiclePete 8y ago
So many "taxpayers" are concerned about a few hundred million here and there that could bring benefit to the entire human race but never blink an eye when the bloated military budget grows by a few hundred billion....