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In 1968, the year before the moon landing, US cities were literally burning. Martin Luther King was murdered, and so was Bobby Kennedy. In Vietnam, there was th

In 1968, the year before the moon landing, US cities were literally burning. Martin Luther King was murdered, and so was Bobby Kennedy. In Vietnam, there was the battle of Khe San The regression of recent years is disturbing, but the US managed to put humans on the moon in times when it was much more divided and unabashedly racist than today. I haven't said anything about greed in general, but remember that the largesse of those times was leaving out large untouchable chunks of the population.

varjag 7y ago
The gradient of social change in 1968 was pointing the opposite way than today however.
lettergram 7y ago
Ever consider that part of what got us to the moon was the divided and bashfully racist setting (perhaps not the racism itself)? Contrary to your comment, society - in general, was more uniform and ridged. There were faults, and obvious a repressed 20% or so that were not really even part of society (blacks, hippies, etc). But the norms, the suits, the ties, those who made up the vast bulk of society. They were all people from (or raised during) WWII which had a unifying effect. They were the people who got stuff done like going to the moon, not the 20% impacting social change. Both were necessary to achieve growth, one technological, one social. Today, we have primarily been focusing on the social aspects of society. Corporations, taking the place of technological growth. Largely, because society doesn’t want the technological growth from the government, they want social welfare and “fairness”. Both of which, we honestly seem to have diminishing returns on at this point.
- AnimalMuppet 7y ago
  I think that means that it should be much easier to redo the moon landing these days. Not only is technology more advanced, but also the people trying to design and program this wouldn't have to wear suits and ties.
  - JabavuAdams 7y ago
    The problem is today we have an entrenched and embattled NASA. Just watched the full Robert Zubrin video that was linked elsewhere in the comments. NASA hasn't been able to get to the Moon, or Mars, because NASA has been structurally incapable of deciding to 1) go to a destination, and 2) do only the things that help to get to that destination. Instead, everyone has to protect their turf and their technology, the net result being that NASA isn't allowed to go to the moon or to mars the easy way -- they have to invent a ridiculously complicated way that keeps all of their constituencies happy and their pet project funded.
- MrBuddyCasino 7y ago
  Someone’s read The Refragmentation[0]. [0] http://www.paulgraham.com/re.html http://www.paulgraham.com/re.html
- JabavuAdams 7y ago
  Worth thinking about, but the people arguing for social change consume tiny resources compared the wars of the last 20 years, the war on drugs (and the social devastation it caused), and generally more rapacious corporate and political behaviour. EDIT> Which, I guess, was the point of the original post.
NeedMoreTea 7y ago
This is right about the time boomers were becoming young idealistic adults in quantity. Stretching a little gets booms in pushing for reasonable civil rights, race riot, crime, draft dodging and poor discipline in Vietnam which hadn't been the case in Korea, moon shots (sorry!), free love, contraception and all the rest. The end of deference and knowing your place. Far more "me" rather than "us" focused than previously. Not forgetting the neoliberal revolution - selfishness as policy. Net result is depriving those following generations, the nation, the community to an unprecedented degree, whether in education, housing, inequality, wages, services and so on.

varjag 7y ago

The gradient of social change in 1968 was pointing the opposite way than today however.

lettergram 7y ago

Ever consider that part of what got us to the moon was the divided and bashfully racist setting (perhaps not the racism itself)? Contrary to your comment, society - in general, was more uniform and ridged. There were faults, and obvious a repressed 20% or so that were not really even part of society (blacks, hippies, etc). But the norms, the suits, the ties, those who made up the vast bulk of society. They were all people from (or raised during) WWII which had a unifying effect. They were the people who got stuff done like going to the moon, not the 20% impacting social change. Both were necessary to achieve growth, one technological, one social. Today, we have primarily been focusing on the social aspects of society. Corporations, taking the place of technological growth. Largely, because society doesn’t want the technological growth from the government, they want social welfare and “fairness”. Both of which, we honestly seem to have diminishing returns on at this point.

AnimalMuppet 7y ago
I think that means that it should be much easier to redo the moon landing these days. Not only is technology more advanced, but also the people trying to design and program this wouldn't have to wear suits and ties.
- JabavuAdams 7y ago
  The problem is today we have an entrenched and embattled NASA. Just watched the full Robert Zubrin video that was linked elsewhere in the comments. NASA hasn't been able to get to the Moon, or Mars, because NASA has been structurally incapable of deciding to 1) go to a destination, and 2) do only the things that help to get to that destination. Instead, everyone has to protect their turf and their technology, the net result being that NASA isn't allowed to go to the moon or to mars the easy way -- they have to invent a ridiculously complicated way that keeps all of their constituencies happy and their pet project funded.
MrBuddyCasino 7y ago
Someone’s read The Refragmentation[0]. [0] http://www.paulgraham.com/re.html http://www.paulgraham.com/re.html
JabavuAdams 7y ago
Worth thinking about, but the people arguing for social change consume tiny resources compared the wars of the last 20 years, the war on drugs (and the social devastation it caused), and generally more rapacious corporate and political behaviour. EDIT> Which, I guess, was the point of the original post.

NeedMoreTea 7y ago

This is right about the time boomers were becoming young idealistic adults in quantity. Stretching a little gets booms in pushing for reasonable civil rights, race riot, crime, draft dodging and poor discipline in Vietnam which hadn't been the case in Korea, moon shots (sorry!), free love, contraception and all the rest. The end of deference and knowing your place. Far more "me" rather than "us" focused than previously. Not forgetting the neoliberal revolution - selfishness as policy. Net result is depriving those following generations, the nation, the community to an unprecedented degree, whether in education, housing, inequality, wages, services and so on.