3 ms·

> humanity as a whole needs to get off this rock to have any hope of long term survival Or, people could have <= 2 kids on average. Seems more achievable to me

by genwin 13y ago

> humanity as a whole needs to get off this rock to have any hope of long term survival Or, people could have <= 2 kids on average. Seems more achievable to me than terraforming another planet.

Havoc 13y ago
Agreed. Your answer is entirely sound. We are talking past each other here though. We are talking about fundamentally different time scales here: I was thinking more asteroid hitting earth / nuclear MAD. Sooner or latter something scary is going to screw over earth. Given sufficient time its inevitable - earth is going to die...maybe tomorrow, maybe in a billion years. If it happens tomorrow...so be it. Nothing can be done about that. If it happens in 200 years & humanity didn't plan for it then I'd say humanity fcked up things in royal style. Thats also why I don't care whether the US/russians/chinese make progress...they're all humanity in my book. Terraforming - admittedly not happening right now. Forget terraforming. I just want to see progress. The above risks are real & we don't have an answer right now. Fine - so be it. Republicans & democrats arguing about debt ceilings and NASA budgets...that I have little patience for. As I said - Nike slogan. How exactly progress is achieve - I really don't care as long as it happens. Frankly I'm thankful that the Chinese are playing the space race. Their political structure and resource allocation seems uniquely well suited to said nike slogan approach. During the Apollo era the US gov had both the political will & the public support. In short - they were invincible & the outcome was certain. If a nation like the US is collectively hell bent on putting a man on the moon...then a man shall walk on the moon. The US has lost that spirit & right now the Chinese are humanities best hope - yes the US has mars ambitions - it'll go nowhere. This I'm certain of - unless something drastic changes. Compare the __ emotional content __ of Kennedy's moon speech vs current NASA budget cuts. Forget budgets, technical ability etc...just emotional content. That is why I'm cheering for the Chinese - they have the will power and the resources. The US has politicians squabbling about budgets.
- genwin 13y ago
  What extra percentage of taxes are you willing to pay? Assume that the everyone gets the tax hike and the money is well spent solely on this issue.

by genwin 13y ago

> humanity as a whole needs to get off this rock to have any hope of long term survival Or, people could have <= 2 kids on average. Seems more achievable to me than terraforming another planet.

Havoc 13y ago

Agreed. Your answer is entirely sound. We are talking past each other here though. We are talking about fundamentally different time scales here: I was thinking more asteroid hitting earth / nuclear MAD. Sooner or latter something scary is going to screw over earth. Given sufficient time its inevitable - earth is going to die...maybe tomorrow, maybe in a billion years. If it happens tomorrow...so be it. Nothing can be done about that. If it happens in 200 years & humanity didn't plan for it then I'd say humanity fcked up things in royal style. Thats also why I don't care whether the US/russians/chinese make progress...they're all humanity in my book. Terraforming - admittedly not happening right now. Forget terraforming. I just want to see progress. The above risks are real & we don't have an answer right now. Fine - so be it. Republicans & democrats arguing about debt ceilings and NASA budgets...that I have little patience for. As I said - Nike slogan. How exactly progress is achieve - I really don't care as long as it happens. Frankly I'm thankful that the Chinese are playing the space race. Their political structure and resource allocation seems uniquely well suited to said nike slogan approach. During the Apollo era the US gov had both the political will & the public support. In short - they were invincible & the outcome was certain. If a nation like the US is collectively hell bent on putting a man on the moon...then a man shall walk on the moon. The US has lost that spirit & right now the Chinese are humanities best hope - yes the US has mars ambitions - it'll go nowhere. This I'm certain of - unless something drastic changes. Compare the __ emotional content __ of Kennedy's moon speech vs current NASA budget cuts. Forget budgets, technical ability etc...just emotional content. That is why I'm cheering for the Chinese - they have the will power and the resources. The US has politicians squabbling about budgets.

genwin 13y ago
What extra percentage of taxes are you willing to pay? Assume that the everyone gets the tax hike and the money is well spent solely on this issue.