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Oh, I don’t have a strong opinion that we need to send humans, but I foresee that the goal of putting more humans driving better, and more robots in space. Don

by sargun 8y ago

Oh, I don’t have a strong opinion that we need to send humans, but I foresee that the goal of putting more humans driving better, and more robots in space. Don’t you think that the discovery of life outside of earth would have a profound effect on the people of earth, and how they operate? They might have new methods of agriculture, to grow things in the the soil of Mars that are applicable to Earth. They might have lots of things we can learn.

AndrewKemendo 8y ago
Don’t you think that the discovery of life outside of earth would have a profound effect on the people of earth, and how they operate? Maybe. Depends on what kind of life. Finding a single cell amoeba on Titan won't do anything for the millions of Americans working two or three jobs trying to make rent. I'd argue finding an intelligent society or entity etc... wouldn't change much for them either. They might have new methods of agriculture, to grow things in the the soil of Mars that are applicable to Earth. Again, maybe, but this is a very anthropomorphic view. There is nothing that suggests that there are things outside of our atmosphere that can materially and positively impact humanity.
- sargun 8y ago
  Yeah, you present a good point about all those unemployed Americans. I really don’t think that we need to stop all progress across everything to help them. What do you propose we do to help them instead, and if it involves reallocation if government spending, where would you take it from?
  - AndrewKemendo 8y ago
    What do you propose we do to help them instead, and if it involves reallocation if government spending, where would you take it from? I'm not prepared to answer this in this format. To start with though, I'm unsure it can be directly solved, only mitigated. I don't think there are any solutions that don't have massive trade offs and unknown outcomes. Largely though, I'm not a fan of state interventions.

by sargun 8y ago

AndrewKemendo 8y ago

Don’t you think that the discovery of life outside of earth would have a profound effect on the people of earth, and how they operate? Maybe. Depends on what kind of life. Finding a single cell amoeba on Titan won't do anything for the millions of Americans working two or three jobs trying to make rent. I'd argue finding an intelligent society or entity etc... wouldn't change much for them either. They might have new methods of agriculture, to grow things in the the soil of Mars that are applicable to Earth. Again, maybe, but this is a very anthropomorphic view. There is nothing that suggests that there are things outside of our atmosphere that can materially and positively impact humanity.

sargun 8y ago
Yeah, you present a good point about all those unemployed Americans. I really don’t think that we need to stop all progress across everything to help them. What do you propose we do to help them instead, and if it involves reallocation if government spending, where would you take it from?
- AndrewKemendo 8y ago
  What do you propose we do to help them instead, and if it involves reallocation if government spending, where would you take it from? I'm not prepared to answer this in this format. To start with though, I'm unsure it can be directly solved, only mitigated. I don't think there are any solutions that don't have massive trade offs and unknown outcomes. Largely though, I'm not a fan of state interventions.