Space

[Ravenstorm]

~Should we stay or
should we go, now...~


Originally posted by Ravenstorm
I don't think scientific knowledge is ever a waste. And many technological advances come out of space research. Plus, humanity needs larger than life events to dream about.



Originally posted by Hulkein
Selfish and wasteful?

Sounds like the same response Columbus got when talking about getting funding for a trip over the Atlantic ocean, right?


Originally posted by ThisOtherKingdom
Yes, I do think it is selfish and wasteful. I don't see any real benefit, when we have so many problems in our own country, let alone the entire world.


Originally posted by Hulkein
There will always be problems. If 'problems' at home stopped exploration then we'd be stuck in the bronze-age still.

[Hulkein]

Ya forgot his initial post that sparked my first response..


Originally posted by ThisOtherKingdom
I didn't become interested in this thread until you said it was a good decision to go back to the moon, and reach towards Mars, Raven. I think it is the biggest, most selfish waste of money one can think of.

That was posted first.

[Edited on 6-18-2004 by Hulkein]

[Ravenstorm]

Originally posted by ThisOtherKingdom
I don't see any real benefit, when we have so many problems in our own country, let alone the entire world.

Some NASA spinoffs (http://thespaceplace.com/nasa/spinoffs.html)

Raven

[DeV]

Yes, we should go and explore and learn as much as we possibly can.

[Warriorbird]

It's illogical not too, whether you're a Republican or Democrat. We made a ton of research advances off the space race which made a lot of people wealthy, which you should appreciate as a decent Republican (though, if you're a religious right controlled dupe, you might be afraid of aliens or scary things like other planets). If you're a Democrat, how better to cope with overpopulation?

:chuckle:

[Xcalibur]

I am sure all of us (almost all, instead) will experience the first contact with an alien race.

It's totaly paranoyac to prepare ourselves for war, but to be able to explore..

[CrystalTears]

Bah, I thought you WERE an alien. :P

[Makkah]

<<I am sure all of us (almost all, instead) will experience the first contact with an alien race. >>

Unless you're speaking of through a wormhole or another theoretical physics anomaly, then you're wrong.

Face it. We've been sending radio and other wave signals into space for over 60 years. If no "alien race" has responded by now via a signal, there's no way they could be moving at the same rate and be here within our (or our kid's) lives. Sad, but true.

The other 6 dimensions, on the other hand... have just began being theoretically explored.

rht

[GSLeloo]

Space is something I'm sort of split on. I think it would be amazing to be able to go to other planets that no one has ever been on before, planets that are completely pure and just be the first human to ever walk on the beach. That I think is cool.

but at the same time if anyone's ever read well most science fiction books including Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, it proposes that what is most likely to happen is what happened on earth, humans keep growing and growing until we consume every planet and build everything up till there's nothing left. I like the Star Trek version better of how the future would go... I'd rather have a universe of coexistance with other lifeforms then a human dominated one.

[Artha]

it proposes that what is most likely to happen is what happened on earth, humans keep growing and growing until we consume every planet and build everything up till there's nothing left.

The universe is infinite, so there will always be something left.

edit: Besides, it took us how many thousands of years to half fill up this one planet? Even if we made another habitable, or found one that was habitable, it'd be more thousands of years before it was also filled up.

[Edited on 6-18-2004 by Artha]

[Latrinsorm]

There is life (probably microbial) on Mars.

I can't understand how anyone wouldn't want to know how it works.

[GSLeloo]

I find it funny when people assume we're the only life in the universe because it's just such an egotistical view that in this "infinite" (not really sure how anything can actually be infinite...) universe that there isn't at least one other planet that has life..

And maybe the reason we haven't communicated with aliens is because despite every science fiction movie or book you read, maybe the other forms of life aren't more advanced than we are, maybe they're at the same stage or they're behind us. Or maybe they don't work the same way and they don't recognize what we're sending.

[peam]

Or the bugs are preparing for attack.

Watch out, Buenos Aires!

Edited because I got the city wrong. :'(

[Edited on 6-18-2004 by peam]

I'm all for space research and advancement. Perhaps we won't see any benifits in our life times, but perhaps in the future we can find a whole new wealth of resources to exploit to advance our own civilization. Perhaps we can find different sources of fuel or better sources of food or who knows.

- Arkans

[Parkbandit]

Originally posted by GSLeloo
I find it funny when people assume we're the only life in the universe because it's just such an egotistical view that in this "infinite" (not really sure how anything can actually be infinite...) universe that there isn't at least one other planet that has life..



I'm not sure it's such an egotistical view.. but more of a view that has been shaped by society.

When Mr. Smith down the street claims he was abducted by aliens.. what is the first thing we think? Yup.. that guys a crackpot... get the men in white. We've been basically groomed from a very early age to believe that aliens are only fantasy.. and it's society that makes it 'crazy' to believe in such things as life outside our own planet.

[GSLeloo]

Well I'd think he was nuts too but not because aliens don't exist but because it's sort of nutty to think aliens would come to earth undetected and abduct on hick (no offense, it's usually a hick). Plus they always seem pretty nuts.

[Parkbandit]

Originally posted by GSLeloo
Well I'd think he was nuts too but not because aliens don't exist but because it's sort of nutty to think aliens would come to earth undetected and abduct on hick (no offense, it's usually a hick). Plus they always seem pretty nuts.

If I were an alien.. who better to abduct.. than someone whom society has deemed incompetent. ;)

[GSLeloo]

LoL yeah but what would you learn from them? How they lost all their teeth?

[Makkah]

<<And maybe the reason we haven't communicated with aliens is because despite every science fiction movie or book you read, maybe the other forms of life aren't more advanced than we are, maybe they're at the same stage or they're behind us.>>

In which case WE will have to find them? Do you have ANY idea how far the next solar system is from here? Long enough that your great-great-great (x) grandkids will NEVER see them unless we can somehow surpass the amount of energy needed to theoretically open a wormhole (and how long it takes to control the outcome point).

rht

[GSLeloo]

I never said that amount of time it would take... and why do we have to reach them? People shouldn't always keep trying to make new problems, deal with the ones we have right now.

[Makkah]

Then your argument is fickle and misunderstood. Pick a point and stick with it.


rht

[GSLeloo]

LoL what is my arguement? I didn't realize this was a debate, I stated an opinion. And you can have many opinions depending upon the situation.

[Ravenstorm]

If anyone would like to help 'find them, go here:

Analyze radio signals for the SETI program (http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/)

Raven