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Couldn't agree more. I was not aware of how the NASA budget compares to US military spending, so I just looked it up. In Fiscal year 2022 the DoD had $1.94 Tr

Couldn't agree more. I was not aware of how the NASA budget compares to US military spending, so I just looked it up. In Fiscal year 2022 the DoD had $1.94 Trillion allocated to it. Or $1,940 billions. NASA's budget in FY 2022 is $30.62 Billion. So reducing military spending by 1/64th will free up as many resources as closing NASA altogether.

TeMPOraL 4y ago
Great you looked it up, and thanks for posting fresh numbers! In such conversation, it's also important to look at the return of investment, note the diminishing returns of large endeavors, and consider the exploration-exploitation dilemma[0]. The way I see it: 1. Americans would definitely want to cut down the military spending a bit, because of diminishing returns/waste and how it perverts the US politics (once you have all that combat hardware and trained warriors, you feel the itch to use them). But, despite popular opinion, I think it's important to remember that this military spending is buying relative calm and peace for the entire Western world, so it's not all wasted. Unfortunate reality of human condition is that, until we invent some new, surprising technologies (including social technologies), militaries will be needed to maintain peace. 2. Healthcare and education in the US arguably has more than enough money. The problem isn't the funds, it's their allocation, and the corruption. 3. NASA is, for the most part, your most high-tech part of the "exploration" arm of the exploration/exploitation tradeoff (whereas education, healthcare, and anything you could describe related to maintaining a standard of life, is on the "exploitation" side). US is already (IMO) spending too much on the exploitation side relative to exploration, compared to optimum, so if you want to rebalance the budget, I'd focus on cutting some exploitation spending (but, for your own self-preservation, add some more money to infrastructure maintenance). -- [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-armed_bandit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-armed_bandit
- TrapLord_Rhodo 4y ago
  >military spending is buying relative calm and peace for the entire Western world I get the whole monopoly of violence logic here but remember your clarifying, end point. "the entire Western world". Because go ask anyone from the middle east if they think the US military is buying calm and peace.

TeMPOraL 4y ago

Great you looked it up, and thanks for posting fresh numbers! In such conversation, it's also important to look at the return of investment, note the diminishing returns of large endeavors, and consider the exploration-exploitation dilemma[0]. The way I see it: 1. Americans would definitely want to cut down the military spending a bit, because of diminishing returns/waste and how it perverts the US politics (once you have all that combat hardware and trained warriors, you feel the itch to use them). But, despite popular opinion, I think it's important to remember that this military spending is buying relative calm and peace for the entire Western world, so it's not all wasted. Unfortunate reality of human condition is that, until we invent some new, surprising technologies (including social technologies), militaries will be needed to maintain peace. 2. Healthcare and education in the US arguably has more than enough money. The problem isn't the funds, it's their allocation, and the corruption. 3. NASA is, for the most part, your most high-tech part of the "exploration" arm of the exploration/exploitation tradeoff (whereas education, healthcare, and anything you could describe related to maintaining a standard of life, is on the "exploitation" side). US is already (IMO) spending too much on the exploitation side relative to exploration, compared to optimum, so if you want to rebalance the budget, I'd focus on cutting some exploitation spending (but, for your own self-preservation, add some more money to infrastructure maintenance). -- [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-armed_bandit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-armed_bandit

TrapLord_Rhodo 4y ago
>military spending is buying relative calm and peace for the entire Western world I get the whole monopoly of violence logic here but remember your clarifying, end point. "the entire Western world". Because go ask anyone from the middle east if they think the US military is buying calm and peace.