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The child in me really want to say to Mr. Menghua something like, “how many probes have you landed on other worlds, how many of your probes have left the solar

The child in me really want to say to Mr. Menghua something like, “how many probes have you landed on other worlds, how many of your probes have left the solar system, where is your flyby and picture of the Kuiper belt objects, and let me know when you put a man on the moon, etc, etc, etc.” However as an adult who has the best thoughts for us as a species and not just a set of competing tribes I will say “congratulations, your success helps advance all of us.”

0xFFFE 8y ago
I think you meant Kuiper belt.
- myrandomcomment 8y ago
  Corrected. Thank you.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
cscurmudgeon 8y ago
The child in me also wants to add "Or go to Mars successfully (which India has done too)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missions_to_Mars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missions_to_Mars But just like you the adult in me wins for me too :)
flukus 8y ago
> The child in me really want to say to Mr. Menghua something like Go with your instincts, international pissing contests are the best way to get resources devoted to space exploration.
rjf72 8y ago
I'll give you a choice. You can either give yourself a million dollars or give everybody in this world five dollars. We'll also say that the $5 will not cause inflation, so it is $5 'real' dollars. Your answer to this question exemplifies why competition is what drives society forward. Given a choice between something that benefits you or something that would, in gross effect, benefit the world on the order of 38,000x as much - we pick the one that benefits us. Utilitarian thought sounds great until you're the one that actually has to make that decision. At that point cognitive dissonance, probably in the form of a marginal utility argument, will kick in faster than you can blink. What I'm getting at here is that I think your instincts would be the way to go. China's goals here are not to advance society, but to advance China. And about the time they start achieving things that parallel, let alone overcome, US achievements in space - expect to see the US budget for space development/exploration/colonization end up getting bumped up by a magnitude or two simply because if we don't then we risk falling behind them.
- myrandomcomment 8y ago
  <humor> Pretty long technical answer for “it will create a new penis measuring contest”. </humor>

0xFFFE 8y ago

I think you meant Kuiper belt.

myrandomcomment 8y ago
Corrected. Thank you.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

cscurmudgeon 8y ago

The child in me also wants to add "Or go to Mars successfully (which India has done too)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missions_to_Mars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missions_to_Mars But just like you the adult in me wins for me too :)

flukus 8y ago

> The child in me really want to say to Mr. Menghua something like Go with your instincts, international pissing contests are the best way to get resources devoted to space exploration.

rjf72 8y ago

I'll give you a choice. You can either give yourself a million dollars or give everybody in this world five dollars. We'll also say that the $5 will not cause inflation, so it is $5 'real' dollars. Your answer to this question exemplifies why competition is what drives society forward. Given a choice between something that benefits you or something that would, in gross effect, benefit the world on the order of 38,000x as much - we pick the one that benefits us. Utilitarian thought sounds great until you're the one that actually has to make that decision. At that point cognitive dissonance, probably in the form of a marginal utility argument, will kick in faster than you can blink. What I'm getting at here is that I think your instincts would be the way to go. China's goals here are not to advance society, but to advance China. And about the time they start achieving things that parallel, let alone overcome, US achievements in space - expect to see the US budget for space development/exploration/colonization end up getting bumped up by a magnitude or two simply because if we don't then we risk falling behind them.

myrandomcomment 8y ago
<humor> Pretty long technical answer for “it will create a new penis measuring contest”. </humor>