5 ms·
I do not disagree with this. I wanted to point out an order of magnitude difference between science, and politics (of fear?). We built nuclear power plants no
by java-man 6y ago
I do not disagree with this. I wanted to point out an order of magnitude difference between science, and politics (of fear?).
We built nuclear power plants not because we needed electricity, but because we needed plutonium for the bomb. We went to the moon in part because "it is hard", but mainly as a way to stick it to the Russkies. We built space telescopes to spy on the "opponent". Yes, that did indeed kept the world in a balance for quite some time, amazingly, but imagine if we, collectively, were just a tad smarter and instead of this, directed our efforts to science.
- admissionsguy 6y agoYou could extend the argument to intra-national competition. What if instead of competing with each other, we were all aligned towards common goals. Unfortunately and sadly, such is human nature that we are hardly motivated by much else than one-upping each other.
- hasa 6y agoThis is true. Instead of competing against each other, we -I mean all nations and individuals - should do something to support efforts so that humans can some day escape this planet. Earth is not habitable forever.
- dorgo 6y agoI struggle to imagine what could happen to earth to make it less suitable to support human life than any other known planet.
- java-man 6y agoAn asteroid strike would make things difficult.
- hasa 6y agoThere are many very likely scenarios making this planet unhabitable: asteroid, black hole coming near solar system and moving planet distances, gamma ray burst, any deviation in sun's radiation. All these are clearly possible and likely to happen in the long run.
- java-man 6y agoI think you basically identified the root cause of the issue. We are, unfortunately, only slightly evolved chimpanzees; We would gladly form groups to fight another group when bananas grow sparse. Had we evolved from bonobos, things might have been different.