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You know, I was going to argue that such an historical landmark has value beyond what is learned. Those who are inspired, those who believe in funding science,
by Levitz 3y ago
You know, I was going to argue that such an historical landmark has value beyond what is learned. Those who are inspired, those who believe in funding science, the sheer awe of what civilization can achieve and all.
But it would seem the cost ascended to what would now be $280 billion, adjusted for inflation.
CERN's Large Hadron Collider cost 4.75 billion.
International Space Station? A cool 150 billion
GPS costed 12 billion to put in orbit.
James Webb telescope, 10 billion.
Human Genome, 5 billion.
Now, there is a point to be made that maybe we just don't do other very valuable, very expensive projects, and you can always compare it to the US defense budget if you want to make the number look small, but I really wasn't aware of the sheer amount of money poured into this. Damn.
- FredPret 3y agoJust as an aside, the US defence budget is actually not the US governments' biggest expense. Also, humanity is always going to spend a good whack of money on defence - it's just the cost of running a civilization. Lawful behavior is what keeps us on an upward trajectory, and laws are backed up by guns. If Ukraine had nukes, there'd be no invasion. If France invaded Germany right after Germany invaded Poland in 1939, there'd be no WW2. If the Allies didn't invade Nazi Europe, Hitler's son/grandson would be ruling that continent, and possibly a couple of other ones as well. I fully agree on your point regarding big, valuable projects though.