Comment by 👻 darkghost
Re: "speaking of space, we just had a launch"
I think the inspiration of young people is undervalued. I've had a scientific mind for as long as I can remember, but my intensity for it can be owed to Shuttle work and the intensity for which those folks work. It's hard to say how I might have personally turned out without that influence but I *think* I can credit it as an influence. But I'm a special case. I am one of those hideous mutants of a human being that actually READS the scientific papers that come out of work in space. My name might even be on a few proposals out there, though I never got anything off the ground.
Apr 09 · 4 weeks ago
4 Later Comments ↓
I am being a bit harsh, but if you were to put a price tag on inspiration, for every scientist inspired by the space program, it's millions per head...
There must be a better way.
👻 darkghost · Apr 10 at 00:03:
Fair point. For all the documentaries with a French horn accompaniment I am not blind to the militaristic applications of the endeavor. Look how big my missiles are. I can put nukes on the moon and launch em anytime. Oh boy will you be in trouble 4 days from now when they finally arrive. Look at my space plane, I can pluck your satellites right out of orbit.
🚀 lars_the_bear · Apr 10 at 13:56:
@stack : doing good things for unworthy motives still amounts, in the end, to doing good things.
Sometimes, in their rush to do evil, our political leaders inadvertently do something noble.
@lars_the_bear: yes, sometimes it happens. Would probably be cheaper to decide policy with a coin toss. Come to think of it, current leadership seems very much a random walk.
I have a hard time coming up with anyithing actually useful that came out of the space program. Everything I can think of could have been reached with at least an order of magnitude less spending, often many orders of magnitude.
Again, I am a great fan of space science fiction, and I was definitely inspired by the Soyuz missions as a kid. But I was even more inspired by Stanislaw Lem and the Strugatsky brothers. And now I am a grown-up, and can see how wasteful and damaging the space program was.
Original Post
speaking of space, we just had a launch