NASA plans return to the moon by 2020

That was the point of the bet, by your predictions; I'll have nothing to lose.

Right, believe in your doomsday scenario all you want. They entrance people for some reason, damn if I know why, but that is where the real waste lies. It's obvious you have this all worked out for yourself, I'm not going to shake your faith in the end of the world.

Questions though, why are you studying programming? If civilization collapses in the immediate future, it won't do you much good. Neither do I see a programming solution to the problem. The best you hope for would be the programming element of a project working on alternative energy. You also speak of fusion power plants, yet we have the technology for nuclear power plants now. With an energy crisis, I would hope people could put aside their fears of radiation and meltdowns.

By your count, we will see which of is correct quickly enough. I'm confident enough in my position to bet my life on space exploration.
 
Wouldn't it be more worthwhile to finish up exploring the rest of our planet, before moving into space?

'cause we haven't seen what quite a lot of our planet looks like.
 
Because it has to be in such a progression? We can't continue exploring Earth and explore space at the same time?
 
Kotario said:
Because it has to be in such a progression? We can't continue exploring Earth and explore space at the same time?
Click to expand...

Note my choice of words

"Wouldn't it be more wortwhile..."

Just like I consider space exploration a more worthwhile source of money than the Iraqi war, I consider deep-sea exploration more worthwhile than space exploration, or I consider educational investment more worthwhile than investments in the military. Doesn't indicate exclusiveness, but it does indicate priority.

I've seen great big rockets jetison into space, yeah, but the only major investor in deepsea exploration seems to be the oil companies.
 
I tend to side with Kotario on this one.

If you look back at what the Space Race did for the countries involved, not just in pure monetary value but prestige and so on, you can see it was clearly a worthwhile endeavour. Hell, the satellites which relay telecommuications all over this godforsaken planet were made cost-efficient by space research. Understanding geological patterns (hence predicting future events) might very well bloom via space research. Some certain medical technologies might benefit from zero-gravity situations, as would manufacturing of as yet unthought of materials. Then again, of course, the monetary value of exploration is enormous, not just for its prestige factors alone, but because research of celestial objects frequently has allowed us insights into the fundamental structure of the universe.

Is that worth it? I would think so, any more than I would say billion of dollars going into space research is far better than what governments spend on military goods, consumer goods, and so on. Science, not just space science mind you, has very much to gain from space exploration, and we as a species have an inborne desire to understand our environment around us. Exploration, not stagnation, will ensure progress of the species as a whole. By exploration, we eventually find ourselves coming to understand the problems of our own societies in a better perspective and hence, may find a less obvious solution.
 
Kotario said:
That was the point of the bet, by your predictions; I'll have nothing to lose.

Right, believe in your doomsday scenario all you want. They entrance people for some reason, damn if I know why, but that is where the real waste lies. It's obvious you have this all worked out for yourself, I'm not going to shake your faith in the end of the world.
Click to expand...
"Believe"? "Faith"? My "belief" is based on empirical evidence, not religious convictions.

Questions though, why are you studying programming? If civilization collapses in the immediate future, it won't do you much good. Neither do I see a programming solution to the problem. The best you hope for would be the programming element of a project working on alternative energy.
Click to expand...
I'm studying computer science because that's what I want to do in life. I won't become passive or change my life by 180° just because there is a very high likelyhood I won't be alive in 15 years. There are still years of prosperity ahead and I intend to use those years to enjoy my life and actualize myself. Besides, chances are there will be a demand for educated engineers in a world recovering from a deep crisis.

You also speak of fusion power plants, yet we have the technology for nuclear power plants now. With an energy crisis, I would hope people could put aside their fears of radiation and meltdowns.
Click to expand...
Fission power plants won't make any difference, because there is very little U-235 on Earth. Building more such power plants can buy us some time, though.
 
Graz'zt said:
Besides, chances are there will be a demand for educated engineers in a world recovering from a deep crisis.
Click to expand...

Yeah, because computer science is so useful in a crisis situation
 
Kharn said:
Yeah, because computer science is so useful in a crisis situation
Click to expand...
No, but it is *after* the crisis situation. 'cause there will be an era of prosperity and everyone will want to play cool video games and I'm gonna like develop them and shit.

P.S. Silencer, for fuck's sake, resize that monstrosity in your signature.
 
Kharn, "...before moving into space?" implies, to me, progression.

Graz'zt, you are not the first doomsayer to be scientific in their approach. Perhaps I am generalizing doomsayers, but perchance there is some element of the irrational in you about this (not that I can really say one way or the other, you would be just as valid making the same claim about me). Informing ignorant people about the immediate end of the world is a touch romantic after all.

You are not being passive? Then what are you doing to prevent the crisis you see in the near future? Besides informing the members of this board, convincingly or not.

Like I said, it won't be too much longer until we see which of us is correct.
 
Kotario said:
You are not being passive? Then what are you doing to prevent the crisis you see in the near future? Besides informing the members of this board, convincingly or not.
Click to expand...
By "I'm not being passive" I mean "I didn't give up on life and decide to spend my remainder days lying motionlessly on the couch". As for doing something to prevent the crisis, I'm really not in a position to do something that can make serious difference. Nonetheless, lately I have been making some efforts to conserve energy, and I have also firmly decided *not* to buy a car. I am also taking time to explain the causes, magnitude and potential consequences of the pending oil crisis to everyone I know, which is more than *most* people are doing.
 
Kotario said:
It was an explanation. I thought you would understand that.
Click to expand...

I will kill you with a large stick.

And my remark remains unadressed. I view space exploration as of secondary importance and not worth the amount of money diverted to it, especially if you're going to section of an amount of money for "exploration", in which case the bigger part of that amount should go to exploring earth

Zchyeah
 
Nonsense.

The bigger part of that amount should be donated to art students in post-communist countries located North of the Carpathian mountains and directly South of the Baltic.
 
Kharn said:
I will kill you with a large stick.
Click to expand...

I expect my death to be at the hands of a cowboy with a large stick. I'm afraid you only meet one part of those requirements.

Hopefully it will not be too much longer before it is more than space exploration. With current attempts at lowering the cost of transport, space tourism and micro-gravity manufacturing could be a reality in the near future. Perhaps even solar power satellites, Ratty.
 
Kharn said:
And my remark remains unadressed. I view space exploration as of secondary importance and not worth the amount of money diverted to it, especially if you're going to section of an amount of money for "exploration", in which case the bigger part of that amount should go to exploring earth

Zchyeah
Click to expand...

Yeah, and maybe 500 years ago explorers should just have kept exploring the mediterranean, just in case there's a new continent in the middle of it...
And maybe engineers should have just kept making faster ocean liners in 20th century, cause those crickety air-planes or whatyoumacallits will never be usefull...


Oh, and Kotario, don't get me started on space tourism, I consider it a step backwards for space exploration.
 
DirtyDreamDesigner said:
Yeah, and maybe 500 years ago explorers should just have kept exploring the mediterranean, just in case there's a new continent in the middle of it...
And maybe engineers should have just kept making faster ocean liners in 20th century, cause those crickety air-planes or whatyoumacallits will never be usefull...
Click to expand...

Dude, your comparisons suck. There's a rather large chunk of this planet that we know LESS about than we do about the moon, so why this obsession with reaching the moon and not this chunk of our planet? And how does this compare to the mediterranean?

I don't get the ocean liner point at all.
 
DirtyDreamDesigner said:
Yeah, and maybe 500 years ago explorers should just have kept exploring the mediterranean, just in case there's a new continent in the middle of it...
And maybe engineers should have just kept making faster ocean liners in 20th century, cause those crickety air-planes or whatyoumacallits will never be usefull...
Click to expand...

I don't know if they fall in the same venue. Kharn is suggesting exploring the aspects of Earth that haven't been visited. This would be similar to exploring space, only it would involve say, the deepest depths of the ocean. Seems an awful lot different from the Mediterranean which everyone was very familiar with.

EDIT: looks like Kharn was able to defend himself before I could.
 
Kharn said:
Dude, your comparisons suck. There's a rather large chunk of this planet that we know LESS about than we do about the moon, so why this obsession with reaching the moon and not this chunk of our planet? And how does this compare to the mediterranean?

I don't get the ocean liner point at all.
Click to expand...

The point is that we can't allow ourselves to focus on only one type of exploration, I'm saying that all exploration is important, be it exploration of Earth, exploration of the moon and planets or exploration of space in general (which I'm talking about, not the moon).

And the ocean liner point is that we shouldn't focus on only one technology when others have potential.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top