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[pmcd9]

This is what our PayPal fees have paid for.

I am so excited about this.

[Arachno-capitalist]

I think paying for space things is crap. I want to see Neil Degrasse give his famous NASA speech to the thousands of homeless people I see on the streets of NYC. Space is great and all, but can a brother spare a dime? Space exploration is national defense in a star strek comicon costume.

[jay-ell]

I kind of agree with A-Cap, but I do so with the understanding that this is a very post-Cold-War mentality based on some very new concepts in global history.

[smick]

Scotty's ashes finally made it into space.

See also: http://boingboing.net/2008/08/04/unfulfilled-space-fu.html
and: http://gma.yahoo.com/secret-celebrities-launched-spacex-falcon-rocket-232550714--abc-news-tv.html

They've been trying to get him up there since he died in 2005.

As far as space exploration vs. homeless people.   Maybe we could stop blowing up brown people for a bit to open up 1 or 2 soup kitchens with that 663 Billion that was the DODs 2010 budget. 

We need to be looking towards something better.  We live in a time and place where there is a diminished concern for quality.  The sentiment that doing amazing things is useless is the next door neighbor to aesthetics being worthless.   Why create music?  You can't eat that.  Why write?  It won't keep anyone warm.  Why design nice buildings?  A beige cement box will do just fine.

In the corporate sphere, I see it over and over.  Why do something really well, when it can be done at just the barely acceptable quality, for cheaper?  It's in the shareholder's best interest. 

It just doesn't make sense to me.   

If you're not aiming for quality or doing amazing things, why bother?  I guess I'll just stay home, shovel corn syrup into my gob and watch Rules of Engagement until I'm too old to make it to the toilet on my own.

[jaydub]

Seconded.  The human imperative is to survive and expand.  Discovery and exploration are fundamental. 

[AugustWest]

To put it in terms of Sid Meier -- A culture needs a great project to strive toward.  A great common purpose to achieve as a society.  The moon landing was such a great project, as was the internet.

I think we as a society benefit to the extent our great projects are positive and beneficial.  As humans we can spend our energy and the earth's resources dividing ourselves into infinite tribes constantly battling each other for dominance, or we can work together to build something. 

Right now I think we humans are between major projects.  The last big one, the internet (and especially the wireless web), we're still digesting.  I think having so much information and connection is changing society in a manner similar to the printing press and the industrial revolution -- possibly more.  Technology has built us an amazing tool and all we've learned to do with it yet is spy on each other, share kitten pictures and jack off.

So I believe we need big projects to unite us as a society.  And I believe humans are instinctively inclined toward exploration and this instinct has served us well thus far.  Space seems like the logical place to go.

[Choop]

it's too bad "eliminate poverty" and "make sure everybody can get medical care" and "guarantee everybody equal rights" can't be seen as one of these great projects. my guess? there's nowhere for profit in those projects, so the people who can get behind funding won't.

[AugustWest]

it's too bad "eliminate poverty" and "make sure everybody can get medical care" and "guarantee everybody equal rights" can't be seen as one of these great projects. my guess? there's nowhere for profit in those projects, so the people who can get behind funding won't.

I think they could, but we're a long way from that point.

[Carlos del Vaca]

"Fix/forestall/slow down global climate change" would be a pretty good big project too.

[pmcd9]

I disagree with ACap. His logical fallacy is false cause.

[littlefallsmets]

I disagree with ACap. His logical fallacy is false cause.

A can for Mr. Man.

[Arachno-capitalist]

I disagree with ACap. His logical fallacy is false cause.

Its called accounting. Budgets are a zero sum game, my friend. Wax poetic about exploring space all you want, but this brother can not understand the logic of flipping off his neighbor and then burning millions of dollars to go where so many men have been before.

[theinevitable]

I am a lot more bothered by paying people millions of dollars to shuffle money around on spreadsheets than I am paying people to build space ships.

[smick]

Its called accounting. Budgets are a zero sum game, my friend. Wax poetic about exploring space all you want, but this brother can not understand the logic of flipping off his neighbor and then burning millions of dollars to go where so many men have been before.

I'd rather go to space than build another call center in Mumbai.  We can't ALL work service jobs.  Someone here has to eventually you know... DO something.

[Arachno-capitalist]

The US Govt builds call centers in Mumbai?