4 ms·

Football is a very important pastime to a lot of people. Just playing devil's advocate here: can you name one reason why those NASA programs are more important

Football is a very important pastime to a lot of people. Just playing devil's advocate here: can you name one reason why those NASA programs are more important than the football arena, without making reference to your own subjective value system which would be at odds with that of the ardent football fan's?

Retric 17y ago
Football can and would exist without subsidies. Spending public funds to support private industry is a bad economic decision. Funding space travel on the other hand is something that would not exist without public funds. So it's outside of the effecency debate. “debating gladiator reform while Rome burns…”
- alexgartrell 17y ago
  Football can and would exist without subsidies" Yeah, but it'd exist in a different city. City's have to compete for the franchise. It's a supply and demand thing (LOTS more cities than franchises).
- bokonist 17y ago
  Funding space travel on the other hand is something that would not exist without public funds. So it's outside of the effecency debate. If activity X is to matter in people's lives, it needs to be scalable. To be scalable it needs to be profitable. Since the U.S. government does not operate on a profit motive, the spending on the space program will have as little long term impact as the Zheng He fleets. You should read this article: http://unenumerated.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-succeed-or-fail-on-frontier.html http://unenumerated.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-succeed-or-f...
  - pj 17y ago
    perhaps the federal government should fund commercial endeavors in space like they fund commercial endeavors in sports. Lots of people would pay to go to space if they could afford it. Make it affordable.
    - philwelch 17y ago
      The federal government doesn't fund sports at all. Stadium subsidies are usually a municipal or state matter at best.
      - pj 17y ago
        It doesn't matter which entity signs the check, it all comes from the tax payers. If the feds weren't paying for the roads, the municipalities would. It's all the same.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
m0th87 17y ago
The Apollo program inspired a generation of engineers that got America on the fast track to victory in the Cold War. Furthermore, NASA has facilitated a great deal of technological and scientific innovation in the past few decades, both directly and indirectly. It is understandably difficult for a politician to justify this value to an apathetic audience when NASA projects are so expensive and they rarely provide any directly observable positive economic impacts. But I don't think it's unfair for noonespecial to assert that the sciences should be prioritized above something whose sole purpose is entertainment. It's interesting to observe how something like NASA can shape a society, public discourse, and the economy in a positive direction. I wish it could be quantifiable to express this value to the voting base, but I doubt it can be done.
req2 17y ago
How about limiting health calamities caused by hypertension or congestive heart failure? http://ims.ivv.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/news/pressrel/2008/08-043_licensed.html http://ims.ivv.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/news/pressrel/2008/08-... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Spinoff http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Spinoff has a nice list.
- pj 17y ago
  don't forget velcro and memory foam

Retric 17y ago

Football can and would exist without subsidies. Spending public funds to support private industry is a bad economic decision. Funding space travel on the other hand is something that would not exist without public funds. So it's outside of the effecency debate. “debating gladiator reform while Rome burns…”

alexgartrell 17y ago
Football can and would exist without subsidies" Yeah, but it'd exist in a different city. City's have to compete for the franchise. It's a supply and demand thing (LOTS more cities than franchises).
bokonist 17y ago
Funding space travel on the other hand is something that would not exist without public funds. So it's outside of the effecency debate. If activity X is to matter in people's lives, it needs to be scalable. To be scalable it needs to be profitable. Since the U.S. government does not operate on a profit motive, the spending on the space program will have as little long term impact as the Zheng He fleets. You should read this article: http://unenumerated.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-succeed-or-fail-on-frontier.html http://unenumerated.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-succeed-or-f...
- pj 17y ago
  perhaps the federal government should fund commercial endeavors in space like they fund commercial endeavors in sports. Lots of people would pay to go to space if they could afford it. Make it affordable.
  - philwelch 17y ago
    The federal government doesn't fund sports at all. Stadium subsidies are usually a municipal or state matter at best.
    - pj 17y ago
      It doesn't matter which entity signs the check, it all comes from the tax payers. If the feds weren't paying for the roads, the municipalities would. It's all the same.

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

m0th87 17y ago

The Apollo program inspired a generation of engineers that got America on the fast track to victory in the Cold War. Furthermore, NASA has facilitated a great deal of technological and scientific innovation in the past few decades, both directly and indirectly. It is understandably difficult for a politician to justify this value to an apathetic audience when NASA projects are so expensive and they rarely provide any directly observable positive economic impacts. But I don't think it's unfair for noonespecial to assert that the sciences should be prioritized above something whose sole purpose is entertainment. It's interesting to observe how something like NASA can shape a society, public discourse, and the economy in a positive direction. I wish it could be quantifiable to express this value to the voting base, but I doubt it can be done.

req2 17y ago

How about limiting health calamities caused by hypertension or congestive heart failure? http://ims.ivv.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/news/pressrel/2008/08-043_licensed.html http://ims.ivv.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/news/pressrel/2008/08-... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Spinoff http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Spinoff has a nice list.

pj 17y ago
don't forget velcro and memory foam