7 ms·
It goes beyond being a state of the art tool. It is a part of our culture having this observatory. As a child, I loved going there and its the earliest part of
by arbalasquide 4y ago
It goes beyond being a state of the art tool. It is a part of our culture having this observatory.
As a child, I loved going there and its the earliest part of my childhood that I remember something motivating me to pursue science/math. Even in my later part of my life I was able to do some research with the observatory which kick started my current career.
The island already suffers from a lack of funding in education, thus I fear the youth might miss out on this sense of awe and curiosity I was lucky enough to have as a child.
Another issue is that we have our brightest minds leaving the island because there's no fulfilling or well paying work to be done. The lack of this observatory is another reason more people will leave.
Here's a white paper the people in the observatory wrote about a new dish. It contains reasoning, beyond my socio-cultural observations, for having a new one.
http://www.naic.edu/NGAT/NGAT_WhitePaper_v2_01022021.pdf http://www.naic.edu/NGAT/NGAT_WhitePaper_v2_01022021.pdf
- rahen 4y agoThey also published a video with some renders of the NGAT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=518&v=2qiu86-ZZdU https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=518&v=2qiu86-ZZdU I really wish it had been built.
- ApolloFortyNine 4y ago>As a child, I loved going there and its the earliest part of my childhood that I remember something motivating me to pursue science/math. Even in my later part of my life I was able to do some research with the observatory which kick started my current career. Honestly seems like this is what they considered most when deciding to turn it into an education center.
- MichaelZuo 4y agoFunding for local projects is competitive at the federal level from what I understand. If it doesn't serve a primary scientific purpose, then why would Puerto Rico be put at the front of the line? i.e. there's 50 other states and D.C. competing to be the most attractive to big ticket project funding, which also deliver education, youth initiatives, high paying jobs, etc.
- nameless912 4y agoBecause Puerto Rico is filled with American citizens who also deserve those things, and it's a vibrant island filled with scrappy, resilient people?
- hedora 4y agoSo, they should build something state-of-the-art there instead of what will effectively be a museum. (This would probably be a lot easier to get funded if Puerto Rico were a state...)
- MichaelZuo 4y agoMore deserving then all 50 other states and D.C.?
- kelseyfrog 4y agoBut you could ask this question of any state(+DC). Therefore we should not do anything.
- renewiltord 4y agoUntrue. We'd simply spend federal funds into the best bang for the buck not accounting for population scrappiness.
- kelseyfrog 4y agoPick one and I'd be happy to ask if it's more deserving than all the rest.
- renewiltord 4y agoJWST.
- 4y ago
- Kalium 4y ago> Another issue is that we have our brightest minds leaving the island because there's no fulfilling or well paying work to be done. The lack of this observatory is another reason more people will leave. The problem with this line of logic isn't that it's wrong or even that it ignores the goal of scientific funding to produce scientific research. The primary problem with this line of argument is that it's equally good for Wyoming, West Virginia, and a dozen or more other deprived places that could all benefit substantially from the STEM-inspiration of a local megaproject.
- nocoiner 4y agoWest Virginia already has Green Bank, no?