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"If you can, try to identify those which wouldn't have happened without Apollo. The harsh truth is there aren't any." Advances in various fields such as Integr
by TriinT 17y ago
"If you can, try to identify those which wouldn't have happened without Apollo. The harsh truth is there aren't any."
Advances in various fields such as Integrated Electronics, Error-Correcting Codes, Communication Systems, Control Systems (etc etc etc) would have happened without the Apollo program, but the Apollo program was a major boost.
- eru 17y agoAnd a major cost factor.
- TriinT 17y agoYeah, instead of investing in a project like the Appolo, which inspired millions and led to major technological advances, the U.S. should have instead used the money to make more napalm to burn Vietnamese civilians, and to support "anti-communist" dictatorships all around the Globe. Sure, manned space flight might be a bad investment, but when half a million people are working towards the same goal then enormous momentum is created. This momentum allowed and forced various fields of technology to develop at a faster rate.
- eru 17y agoHow about lowering taxes instead? That let's people put there money where they want it.
- TriinT 17y agoThat would be good. However, the point I was trying to make was that the momentum required to advance technology at a faster rate is usually created by the government. I can think of the radar lab at MIT and the Manhattan project, for instance. The public has no immediate need for advanced technology per se, so I doubt that allowing people to put money where they want it would lead to such a fast development of new technologies as WW2 or the Apollo program led. Please allow me to stress one point: I am against income taxes and big government. As much as I like the Apollo program, it was financed by the taxpayers who did not necessarily approve of it. In any case, of all the projects the U.S. government launched, the Apollo program was probably (one of) the most worthwhile...