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I’ve been to India, and seeing the catastrophic living condition of the majority of its citizens makes me question if going to the moon is the right priority.
by tanakachen 7y ago
I’ve been to India, and seeing the catastrophic living condition of the majority of its citizens makes me question if going to the moon is the right priority.
- sidcool 7y agoThere is always one comment like this. But fine. It always is worth. These things inspire the nation. Instill pride. They work wonders. And India's space program is much less expensive than many other nations. India sent a rocket to Mars that was cheaper than the budget for the movie Interstellar.
- Kaiyou 7y agoAt the end of the day what is needed is to create wealth, not to spend it. Spending wealth while lots of people in the country are living in poverty in a way, that doesn't directly address this problem may come off as having the wrong priorities. This is about perception.
- sidcool 7y agoSpace is an excellent opportunity to create wealth and provide employment. So your argument is still wrong.
- Tialco 7y agoAre you joking? Have you seen the amount of space ventures that have gone bankrupt? Try and start a rocket company and go look for funding. It's a terrible opportunity to create wealth in the short term (10/20/30 year timespan). However, in the 30-50 year timespan, it seems like a terrific opportunity to create wealth (perhaps rivaled only by nuclear fusion) if we can work our way up to sustainable/reusable rockets and colonies on Mars/Moons. If we can get asteroid operations set up and start exploring the rest of the solar system (and eventually the galaxy) then we can have a society without scarcity. The main problem is, we will all probably die before we see the benefit (instead we'll see losses). So, how do we value the lives of posterity in comparison today. I find it ironic how the same people who use the "think of the children" argument the most are also the most against investing in space exploration. My bias is also that we should value posterity the same as we value humans alive today. But then again, we still can't even agree on the basic question of whether a life in Africa is worth the same as a life in the United States.
- rronalddas 7y agoAlso I would like to add, the govt has now a made a private corp called New Space India Limited, which will help in commercialization of tech developed by ISRO
- Kaiyou 7y agoHow would you use space to create wealth?
- sidcool 7y agoMany long term investments. Space tourism, satellite launches for other countries (which India does), asteroid mining, tech innovation, SCIENCE!!!
- Kaiyou 7y agoSounds like a pipe dream. I wouldn't lend you money for your wild fantasies.
- sidcool 7y agoI respect your opinion and would respect your decision. Although would not stop looking for funding elsewhere. Even a failure in such endeavors gives a great return on investment. Many modern tech wonders are a direct result of space research. Humanity has to be a space faring civilization, else our future generations will go extinct. Imagine if our ancestors had stopped exploring the oceans until all of humanity's problems were solved.
- Kaiyou 7y agoI agree with your general point, I just think that it doesn't make sense to pump money into this endeavour until there's clean drinking water for everyone. Once there's wealth to spend, space is a nice goal. On the other hand I do not personally care about the fate of millions impoverished Indians and wouldn't mind sacrificing their lives towards the goal of space exploration. All I'm saying is that the priorities here may be perceived as being wrong.
- tanakachen 7y agoThere is always “one comment like this” because most people here are not poor. If poor people were in this community, then you’d see many more comments like this. You think it’s worth it. I’m not saying it’s not worth it. I’m simply saying, if you ask poor people, many of them won’t think it’s worth it. And most people in India are very poor.
- tanakachen 7y agoLesson: HN does not like to think about the perspective of anyone who does not happen to have access to HN
- simion314 7y agoIf the money spent on that program remains int eh country then it won't be a waste, the country will developer high technology and experts. If they say would pay for US to send stuff to space all those money would make rich a few US citizens.
- airocker 7y agoSimilar argument can be made about homelessness in San Francisco and other cities. Poverty elimination and tech progress can go hand in hand. In fact, it can help: https://homelessness.paulallen.com/ https://homelessness.paulallen.com/
- noir_lord 7y agoNot really the same thing, the per capita GDP of the US is vastly higher than India. A lot of that homeless could be solved with more equal wealth distribution. 30:1 between US and India according to google (not accounting for PPP).
- airocker 7y agoThe argument I was answering to was "I have seen catastrophic living conditions" thus "India should not". Of course, India needs a different approach and India has different problems. But in perspective, Indian defense imports are 100B USD and this mission costs 1.4B USD. India does not buy any missiles anymore. French Rafales cost India 5-10 B USD. This is the price India pays to be able to stand up to China in Doklam.
- saagarjha 7y agoThe United States had plenty of homeless people when we went to the moon, perhaps we shouldn’t have?
- Redoubts 7y agowell, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goh2x_G0ct4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goh2x_G0ct4
- microtherion 7y agoI was thinking of that song as well. Time to record a Bollywood version?
- sidlls 7y agoI don't have a strong opinion about this, but your comment isn't really comparing apples to apples. The levels of poverty and poor living conditions in modern India are worse than we had in 1950s America.
- tanakachen 7y agoThe answer will depend on who you ask. Have you tried asking a homeless person? Or are you speaking on their behalf?
- kaycebasques 7y agoInspiration is a scarce commodity in our world. Going to the moon is one of the most potent sources of inspiration we have. There are countless stories of American engineers and scientists who can pinpoint their interest in STEM to the day they watched their people transcend our world and visit the stars. The net output of those people probably more than paid for the cost of the space missions.
- tanakachen 7y agoNote to the downvoters: They automatically assume I said it’s not worth it. But actually I simply said we should question it, meaning consider it from all sides. Is analyzing things before during and after making decisions no longer an acceptable thing to do in 2019?
- blinkingled 7y agoSo how much do you think the Indians are spending on the space mission, how much of it should be taken away and applied towards poverty elimination and how exactly do you see that working? Hand over the money, build toilets, food rationing, power availability - all of that they are doing in parallel to their space program and those aren't things that just magically disappear by throwing more money at them. This is false dichotomy - one doesn't have to cease for other to exist and ceasing one doesn't automatically make the other better.
- kmallen 7y ago> So how much do you think the Indians are spending on the space mission, how much of it should be taken away and applied towards poverty elimination and how exactly do you see that working? All very good questions. I think the act of asking them is more important than merely stating that the space program is either worth it or not worth it.
- thetruthseeker1 7y agoYou don't have the whole picture from what you have seen. Have you been to SF? Have you been to LA. Have you seen problems caused by drugs in US? Every country has problems