august@JPL-VLSI.ARPA (02/25/86)
In article <932@nmtvax.UUCP> fine@nmtvax.UUCP (Andrew J Fine) writes: >Let's ask ourselves a few questions: > >****************************************************************************** >Does humanity (men and women) really *need* to populate space? Do we really >need to explore, in person or otherwise, other planets? DID COLUMBUS REALLY *NEED* TO SEARCH FOR A WESTERN ROUTE TO CHINA? >So what do we buy with $2 billion dollars? One shuttle, good for 100 missions >(best case) with 7 people each. Or enough food, clean water, and other >necesssities to feed Ethiopia for the next ten decades, easily. > PLEASE TELL ME WHERE I CAN PROCURE FOOD ETC. AT SUCH A LOW PRICE! >So what do space-faring nations prove when they invoke national prestige and >the desire of humanity to expand, by consuming all that money and >men-centuries? "I'm rich enough to do this and you're not, so there!". >"My rocket is bigger than yours!". "We are leaving you behind to scratch the >dust while we inherit the universe!" ONLY THOSE WHO WANT TO "BE LEFT BEHIND TO SCRATCH IN THE DUST" WILL BE LEFT. FROM THE TONE IT SOUNDS AS IF THIS INDIVIDUAL WAS REJECTED BY THE MANNED SPACE PROGRAM. > >Why have satellites and information systems at all, except to invade the >privacy and keep records on a captive populace? Why have land and weather >satellites at all, except to take advantage of another nation's resources >and vulnerabilities? > TAKING ADVANTAGE OF OUR OWN RESOURCES AND ALLERTING OUR FARMERS AND GENERAL POPULACE TO POSSIBLY UNSEEN DANGERS IS ANOTHER USE FOR SATELLITES AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS. IR PHOTOS TAKEN FROM SATELLITES ARE USED TO DETECT THE PRESENCE OF VARIOUS INSECT AND/OR MICROBIAL PESTILENCE ATTACKING THE FORESTS AND FARMLAND OF THIS COUNTRY. THIS PERSON CERTAINLY HAS A NEGATIVE OUTLOOK. >Why explore the planets, interesting though they are, except to find >more virgin landscape to despoil and riches to plunder? YOU APPARENTLY FEEL THAT MANKIND IS ONLY CAPABLE OF DESPOILING THAT WHICH WE FIND. AS FOR "PLUNDERING RICHES", IF WE FIND SOMETHING ON ANOTHER WORLD WHICH WE CAN MAKE USE OF, *WHY NOT* USE IT! > Why put a man, or a >women for that matter, in space? What is so special about anyone that we >must exhalt that person above all others in such an eletist fashion? AGAIN: FROM THE TONE IT SOUNDS AS IF THIS INDIVIDUAL WAS REJECTED BY THE MANNED SPACE PROGRAM. > Why >shouldn't that person be put to a task that serves the world rather than that >person's ego? > WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE "PUT TO A TASK"? WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF THE EGO OF THOSE IN MANNED SPACE EXPLORATION? SHOULD COLUMBUS HAVE BEEN RESTRICTED FROM EXPLORING BECAUSE HE MIGHT EXPERIENCE SOME PERSONAL SATISFACTION FROM HAVING PERFORMED A TASK WELL? > >Earth is enough for us, if we have the will to cooperate, to transcend the >bigotries that confound us, the borders that seperate us, to dare to have >peace instead of waging war, to share what we have as far as we can give it >without anyone having to pay for it ( the concept of having to work for one's >bread is deadly when there is not enough work to go around ), to recognize >that the most humble peasant in Mexico or India is worth more to us than >the President of the US or the Queen of England. MORE NEGATIVE THOUGHTS. IT SOUNDS LIKE THIS INDIVIDUAL MERELY HATES ANYONE/ANYTHING WHICH IS MORE POWERFUL OR IN A MORE ADVANTAGED POSITION THAN HIMSELF (TALK ABOUT BIGOTRY!). IF THE "...MOST HUMBLE PEASANT..." IS IMPORTANT THEN WHY ARE THEY "...WORTH MORE..." THAN ANYONE ELSE? ALSO THE CONCEPT OF A "FREE LUNCH" WAS PROVEN TO BE TRULY IMPOSSIBLE IN THE LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY. THERE *IS* ENOUGH WORK TO GO AROUND, IS IT POSSIBLE THAT SOME PEOPLE HAVE BEEN TAUGHT THAT THEY *DON'T* HAVE TO WORK, AND THAT *SOMEONE* WILL GIVE THEM THEIR DAILY BREAD? THE WORK ETHIC IS DYING IN THIS COUNTRY. PEOPLE *WON'T* WORK BECAUSE THEY *FEEL* THAT THE JOB THEY ARE QUALIFIED FOR IS *BENEATH* THEM! WAKE UP! > >If humanity can simply change from mere descendants of carnivorous apes to >something totally gentle, altrustic, and noble, then Earth will be enough. >We only try to escape the Earth because we try to escape our own natures. WE CAN NOT TURN OUR BACK ON OUR HERITAGE. WE ARE CARNIVOROUS APES. WHEN OUR FOREBEARS BECAME CARNIVOROUS THEIR BRAINS STARTED TO CHANGE. WE ARE THE PRODUCT OF THAT CHANGE. GENTLE, ALTRUISTIC BEINGS WILL BE CRUSHED BY THE NATURAL FORCES IN PLACE ON OUR PLANET. STRUGGLE AND HARDSHIP HAVE SHAPED US. IT IS OUR NATURE TO BE FORCEFUL, BUT WE HAVE THE BRAIN THAT THE OTHER ANIMALS DON'T HAVE, AND SHOULD CONTROL OUR URGE TO MAKE WAR ON EACH OTHER. EXPLORATION IS A CONSTRUCTIVE OUTLET FOR THE ENERGY WHICH, WHEN CONFINED, HAS CAUSED US TO GO TO WAR. SPACE IS, AT LEAST AS FAR AS WE CAN SEE NOW, THE FINAL FRONTIER. LET US EXPLORE OUR LOCAL PLANETS AND EVENTUALLY OTHER SYSTEMS. WE CAN EXPAND AND LEARN. WE DON'T TRY TO ESCAPE OUR OWN NATURE. WE ARE CURIOUS. WE MERELY WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS OVER THE NEXT HILL.