SSteinberg.SoftArts%MIT-MULTICS@sri-unix.UUCP (11/08/83)
Having never suffered from I-don't-want-to-brush-trauma I feel that the government should fund space exploration. Right now outer space is not an easy place to turn a profit. There might be a few money making niches but outer space is still a high cost environment, even when compared with midtown Manhattan or Thule in Greenland and it is going to take another 50 or 100 years to work the costs down. Even before the declining Egyptian dynasties hired Phonecian sailors to circumnavigate Africa governments have been funding the opening of new territories. For some weird reason governments tend to think in the far term, possibly because of their religious and mystical basis in which they were viewed as an earthly branch of the eternal heavenly hierarchy. Since then governments have put up the front money to open up numerous areas to profitable exploitation. It was QUEEN Isabella who backed the Columbus voyage, the Tsars who dispatched the cossacks across the Urals, the presidents and legislators who sent the surveyors and soldiers to the West and the various European powers who "opened" the interior of Africa. As far as I am concerned only a government can afford the long term commitment and massive losses which will be entailed in the opening of space. Right now there are much better investments here on Earth and they will pay off in my lifetime. The only real justifications for space exploration are quasi-mystical and scientific which are perfectly good reasons. If you are worried about the moral basis of government examine the moral basis of the alternative. Unlike a government which has always had some moral responsibility a business has NONE. A business is supposed to turn a profit and they have and will kill, enslave, maim and torture to maintain that profit just as a government will kill to keep itself in power. If a government lets a nation starve it is viewed as evil for even in the Bible the Pharoah was expected to provide for his people in a time of famine. If a business lets a nation starve everyone gathers around and speculates in an attempt to drive up food prices and make a solid return on investment all the while congratulating them on their business acumen. If someone is going to make space colonization and exploration a reality I hope it will be a government. When I'm seven days late on my oxygen bill I'm going to want some moral force on my side of the switch - the physical force is going to be there anyway.
neal@denelcor.UUCP (Neal Weidenhofer) (11/12/83)
A small point to raise about a rather long article I realize. I do think that it shows why I disagree with you. You state: A business is supposed to turn a profit and they have and will kill, enslave, maim and torture to maintain that profit just as a government will kill to keep itself in power. The difference is that a government has the RIGHT to kill, enslave, maim and torture--a business, as such, does not. In fact, any governament's primary responsibility is the (hopefully judicious) use of force--the thing that distinguishes a government from any other association of people is its right to use force. Do we really feel that the conquest of space is a goal that is best accomplished by this means? I don't. Regards, Neal Weidenhofer Denelcor, Inc. <hao|csu-cs|brl-bmd>!denelcor!neal