Mars and stuff...

[Tahoe]

I'm not sure we get that far with all the nukes on the earth.

I'm sure there are some medical devices or something that has really improved cuz of space travel.

[gusman]

2 things here

1 So mars is getting hit with meteors and what not and who is to say that we could not get hit one day and I doubt the government would even tell us.

2 I dont even think we landed on the moon

[Uncle Mxy]

I'm sure there are some medical devices or something that has really improved cuz of space travel.

There's many overall technology improvements that have happened primarily as the result of space technology investment. Medical instrumentation is just the tip of the iceberg, and it may be the case that space-age technologies like angioplasty, improved dialysis. improved visualization, etc. save more lives than it would have to give that money away as food. (And hey, aren't food subsidies where we pay farmers NOT to grow food? But I digress...). Sure, conquering gravity is a bitch, but once you get past that, there's tons of productive things one can do just with zero-g environments, and undoubtedly more that hasn't yet been thought of. Mastery of the environment is what our lives are all about, fundamentally. Think big, not narrow. The same goes for other hostile less-explored enviroments in our world like the deep ocean.

Of course, there's all kinds of improvements that have happened as the result of defense technology investment, like post-WWII manufacturing processes, the Internet, etc. . The key is to invest wisely, to maintain a climate where useful developments can be permuted into revolutionary technolgies and to keep track of what's going on. Our government has done all sorts of good and bad things in this area over time, and rarely gets the credit or blame it deserves. When Joe Blow thinks of the government's involvement with the Internet, it's the the Al Gore joke, not DARPA from the 60s. When Joe Blow thinks about shitty computer security, it's about shitty PC viruses not about the decades of our U.S. government against many fundamental computer security technologies that created the environment for such crap to exist.

[Tahoe]

Mxy. I agree on everything and in an hour if someone asked me to list the good things that have come from us going into space and my mind would still go blank.

Edit...I think I'll just go with the Internets.

[Zip Goshboots]

Well, lemme axe you dis:

Space is out there. The Moon, the other planets, and whatever. Should we just sit here, on this insignificant blue speck in some outer quadrant of the Milky Way, and not try to see what is out there?

Honestly, what if Christopher Columbus just looked at the ocean and thought, "Aw hell, I can't swim, fuck it"?
What if Henry Ford would have thought, "Horses really aren;t THAT slow"
What if Abraham Lincoln would have thought, "Well, it IS the south, and they're a bunch of dumb fucks, let 'em have their own country"
What if Jesus would have thought, "Hey God, all they're gonna do is nail me to a tree, fuck them, I ain't going down there!"
What if Reese, after bumping into Jif, while eating a candy bar, hadn;t thought, "Hey! Peanut butter and chocolate DOES taste great together!"

So we sit here, being all, "Hey, everything revolves around the Erff, and it's all good"?

[cruscott35]

Well, lemme axe you dis:

Space is out there. The Moon, the other planets, and whatever. Should we just sit here, on this insignificant blue speck in some outer quadrant of the Milky Way, and not try to see what is out there?

Honestly, what if Christopher Columbus just looked at the ocean and thought, "Aw hell, I can't swim, fuck it"?
What if Henry Ford would have thought, "Horses really aren;t THAT slow"
What if Abraham Lincoln would have thought, "Well, it IS the south, and they're a bunch of dumb fucks, let 'em have their own country"
What if Jesus would have thought, "Hey God, all they're gonna do is nail me to a tree, fuck them, I ain't going down there!"
What if Reese, after bumping into Jif, while eating a candy bar, hadn;t thought, "Hey! Peanut butter and chocolate DOES taste great together!"

So we sit here, being all, "Hey, everything revolves around the Erff, and it's all good"?

It's a ton of money that could be used elsewhere. I'm all for dreaming big and figuring shit out, I just wish someone else other than me would pay for it.

[Zip Goshboots]

It's a ton of money that could be used elsewhere. I'm all for dreaming big and figuring shit out, I just wish someone else other than me would pay for it.

Geez, you the only guy in the counrty paying taxes? Man, that sucks!

[Uncle Mxy]

http://www.engin.umich.edu/newscenter/feature/mars/

[Tahoe]

http://www.engin.umich.edu/newscenter/feature/mars/

Now we're getting somewhere.

[Pharaoh]

Without Zip this thread is a waste of time (no offense to those interested in this thread)

Zip for Poster of the Year