3 ms·
A lot of Olympic infrastructure is wasted since it involves stuff like building stadiums that are then unused after the Olympics. Investment for an Olympics-ty
by javagram 7y ago
A lot of Olympic infrastructure is wasted since it involves stuff like building stadiums that are then unused after the Olympics.
Investment for an Olympics-type event can be useful if it results in the creation of durable multipurpose infrastructure like transit lines though.
The US Space Race helped us become a leader in satellite launch, which is a productive industry on its own terms now. Weather satellites, GPS, telecoms all benefit from it and provide tangible benefits to the population.
I’m not sure if Indian investment in space is more toward the useless or useful side of the spectrum though.
- sanxiyn 7y agoUS Space Race was toward the useless side, given that GPS or comsat do not require human spaceflight. Soviet Union was more sensible.
- mopsi 7y agoThere's more than GPS. Human spaceflight has produced many valuable non-invasive wearable biomedical devices because sending up a doctor to monitor the astronaut was not an option. NASA research into nutrition has given us better infant formulas. Research into protection of astronauts' eyes has lead to UV-blocking sunglasses. Etc etc.
- javagram 7y agoNot sure, the Soviets also put men in space, did MIR, and they tried to go to the moon and build a space shuttle too, just failed at it. The thing that I do wonder is when a country like India is just replicating the work already done by the USA, how much of the innovation / potential has already been tapped. (Or now with the USA return to the moon program, is developing Orion and SLS and the gateway really going to do much that the Apollo program didn’t?)