TAW@S1-A@sri-unix (12/16/82)
From: Tom Wadlow <TAW at S1-A> This weeks issue of Newsweek contains a column (My Turn, in the front) that is pretty flamingly anti-space. It is a pretty classic argument: *Obviously* there is no such thing as extraterrestrial life, and anyone who says there is is indulging in "a comic-strip view of the universe". He then goes on to say that since there is no intelligent life in the universe, wouldn't all those millions that we are spending on SETI be better spent making the Earth a better place to live. The worst part about this guy is that his one-paragraph biography at the end of the piece lists him as: "a scientist who has worked on Apollo and other space shots", thus giving him some measure of credibility.
DLENAHAN@USC-ISIE (12/18/82)
From: Den Lenahan <DLENAHAN at USC-ISIE> Perhaps it's fortunate that Newsweek puts the biography at the end of the article. Maybe a lot of people did as I did -- started reading the piece, decided it was a bunch of _____, and flipped over to other articles without discovering that the writer had a "measure of credibility". Let's hope so. Dennis -------
mclure (03/09/83)
#R:sri-unix:-486300:sri-unix:13400002:000:259 sri-unix!mclure Dec 16 12:59:00 1982 Yes, and I wouldn't be surprised if this "scientist who worked on Apollo and other space shots" had been fired for incompetence of one sort or another. Sounds like exactly the sort of thing which might cause him to go on such a jihad against space. Stuart