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> Wealth was destroyed and sent to some far off land, specifically to space and to Mars. Really? What about the expertise gained? The knowledge gained? Space

> Wealth was destroyed and sent to some far off land, specifically to space and to Mars. Really? What about the expertise gained? The knowledge gained? Space exploration is vital for long-term survival of a country like India.

mikeash 13y ago
Yes, some wealth was created and kept. That doesn't change the fact that other wealth was shot into space. Why, why, why must people assume I'm being blindly antagonistic? I just don't get it. You quote me and then reply as if I said something stupid, and "correct" me by saying something I agree with and never contradicted.
- kamaal 13y ago
  >>That doesn't change the fact that other wealth was shot into space. No wealth was shot in to space, or literally negligible amounts of it. The wealth is the know-how, and expertise that can replicate such a mission again. Which exists in tact on earth. One of the goals of the mars mission is - to develop the technologies required for design, planning, management and operations of an interplanetary mission. In other words, this is just the beginning. From - http://www.isro.org/pslv-c25/mission-objective.aspx http://www.isro.org/pslv-c25/mission-objective.aspx The 'other wealth' you talk about is pocket change, in comparison to any public project.
- ruchir 13y ago
  Wealth is not fixed like energy. It can be created. Money can be used to create wealth when it is used to create new products for example. In this case you could argue there were no products in the traditional sense. But it got people's attention. So a writer could write a sci-fi novel about mars and sell that to a ready audience. An entrepreneur could create models of the planets and sell those to schools. A movie maker could make a new movie with a space theme. Not to mention actual technical innovations that could come out of new knowledge gained. Moreover, kids could be motivated to take up science and engineering for future jobs in 'STEM' fields. If this unlocks the imagination of even a few creative people, they could put back more than $100m of wealth into the economy.
- cscurmudgeon 13y ago
  Okaayyyyy... Let us be ridiculous. Why do you assume all of space will not belong to India for all of time? Why do you assume Mars has zero wealth? Over the long term, this "loss" of wealth will result in helping humans (not just Indians) harness that wealth in Mars and other places.
  - mikeash 13y ago
    I'm not assuming any of these things. At no point do I say that it's not worth the expenditure. I'm just saying that there is an expenditure.
    - cscurmudgeon 13y ago
      there is an expenditure. That is a trivially vacuous statement. Everything has an expenditure. It is the net benefit that counts. Even breathing takes energy.
      - mikeash 13y ago
        I was responding to a guy who said that no wealth was destroyed, which is another way of saying that there was no expenditure.
        cscurmudgeon 13y ago
        I believe he was talking about net wealth.

mikeash 13y ago

Yes, some wealth was created and kept. That doesn't change the fact that other wealth was shot into space. Why, why, why must people assume I'm being blindly antagonistic? I just don't get it. You quote me and then reply as if I said something stupid, and "correct" me by saying something I agree with and never contradicted.

kamaal 13y ago
>>That doesn't change the fact that other wealth was shot into space. No wealth was shot in to space, or literally negligible amounts of it. The wealth is the know-how, and expertise that can replicate such a mission again. Which exists in tact on earth. One of the goals of the mars mission is - to develop the technologies required for design, planning, management and operations of an interplanetary mission. In other words, this is just the beginning. From - http://www.isro.org/pslv-c25/mission-objective.aspx http://www.isro.org/pslv-c25/mission-objective.aspx The 'other wealth' you talk about is pocket change, in comparison to any public project.
ruchir 13y ago
Wealth is not fixed like energy. It can be created. Money can be used to create wealth when it is used to create new products for example. In this case you could argue there were no products in the traditional sense. But it got people's attention. So a writer could write a sci-fi novel about mars and sell that to a ready audience. An entrepreneur could create models of the planets and sell those to schools. A movie maker could make a new movie with a space theme. Not to mention actual technical innovations that could come out of new knowledge gained. Moreover, kids could be motivated to take up science and engineering for future jobs in 'STEM' fields. If this unlocks the imagination of even a few creative people, they could put back more than $100m of wealth into the economy.
cscurmudgeon 13y ago
Okaayyyyy... Let us be ridiculous. Why do you assume all of space will not belong to India for all of time? Why do you assume Mars has zero wealth? Over the long term, this "loss" of wealth will result in helping humans (not just Indians) harness that wealth in Mars and other places.
- mikeash 13y ago
  I'm not assuming any of these things. At no point do I say that it's not worth the expenditure. I'm just saying that there is an expenditure.
  - cscurmudgeon 13y ago
    there is an expenditure. That is a trivially vacuous statement. Everything has an expenditure. It is the net benefit that counts. Even breathing takes energy.
    - mikeash 13y ago
      I was responding to a guy who said that no wealth was destroyed, which is another way of saying that there was no expenditure.
      - cscurmudgeon 13y ago
        I believe he was talking about net wealth.