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> You don't solve these problems in a single step Obviously, but there's no evidence that the previous Moon missions were a step toward solving the problems.

• TeMPOraL 7mo ago
  Nobody it'll say space exploration will alone solve those problems. But it helps, and can help more - much more, if we go all the way in and establish permanent economic activity and eventually settlements in the space near Earth and beyond.
  • lapcat 7mo ago
    > if we go all the way in and establish permanent economic activity and eventually settlements in the space near Earth and beyond. Could you please explain exactly how these would help to stop war and inequality? As far as I can tell, space exploration is going to exacerbate inequality, for example, by making Elon Musk even more obscenely wealthy than he already is.
    • ben_w 7mo ago
      Is the problem inequality or rather poverty? Because those are not the same thing. What we've done in space has absolutely helped with poverty. It makes weather forecasts possible, which helps even the poorest farmers. This can happen at the same time a handful of people become obscenely wealthy from it. Though in Musk's case, I suspect the wealth is a bubble which will pop before he can cash out more than 8% of it.
      • lapcat 7mo ago
        > Is the problem inequality or rather poverty? Because those are not the same thing. According to the OP, inequality: "Regardless of whether this particular mission is perfectly planned, this is precisely the kind of thing that will help humanity outgrow the dark age of war, inequality and climate mismanagement." > What we've done in space has absolutely helped with poverty. It makes weather forecasts possible, which helps even the poorest farmers. Are you talking about manned Moon missions or unmanned Earth-orbiting satellites? To use your own words, those are not the same thing. In any case, poverty is a policy decision, a refusal to redistribute the wealth.
        • remarkEon 7mo ago
          This is a policy decision insofar as the policy isn’t to liquidate entire groups of people over class and status resentment. “Just redistribute the wealth bro, it’ll work this time bro I swear let’s just do a redistribution”.
          • lapcat 7mo ago
            > “Just redistribute the wealth bro, it’ll work this time bro I swear let’s just do a redistribution”. Bro, have you considered that NASA, the topic of this submission, is government redistribution of wealth via taxes?
            • remarkEon 7mo ago
              Yeah, the difference is that NASA is cool, and lighting money on fire for utopian and inevitably corrupt money transfer schemes is not. Hope that helps.
              • lapcat 7mo ago
                > Hope that helps. It doesn't. I think that helping the less fortunate is cool, and launching people to the Moon is lighting money on fire for utopian and inevitably corrupt money transfer schemes.
    • TheOtherHobbes 7mo ago
      That's part of a general meme shift. 60s tech was defined by a mix of fear, awe, and optimism. Apollo had elements of all three. There was a confidence underlying all of them. From the New Deal to the late 60s, there was a public belief a better future was possible. 2020s tech is defined by fear, pessimism, and dystopia. The utopian edge has either gone or been replaced by horrific anti-utopian tech - surveillance, manipulation, exploitation, and irrationality. Tech has become anti-science. Musk's DOGE cut around $1.5 of science funding, science education, and NASA exploration. The naive sense that a better future is possible, and tech will make it happen, has almost disappeared.