The news sites are all abuzz the last couple days about physicist Stephen Hawking's warnings against trying to contact alien life. For as much respect as I have for Dr. Hawking's intelligence and his insight, I struggle to see why it's any more likely that intelligent alien life, if it exists, would be advanced and hostile rather than primitive and friendly. Yes, I saw Signs too (that's the last time I'll admit that) but I'd say the "ran out of resources now looking to colonize and enslave" version of alien life works more logically in M. Night's movie world than in our own.
However, what bothers me more than sci-fi predictions of things to come- honestly that really doesn't bother me all that much- is NASA in general. What do they do? Why do they exist? Right, I know they explore, through manned and unmanned flight, etc. the vast reaches of space. But are they really earning their keep? The 2011 NASA Budget Overview asks for "a total of $100 billion over five years." I know the government works on a different level, but that still kinda seems like a lot of money. And for what?
I admit that space exploration for telecommunications purposes has given us concrete improvements to our lives, creating vast new ways to share and gain information throughout the world. However, I still fail to see what practical importance lies in finding ice on mars. Perhaps there's some drug, some important tool or some innovative agricultural advancement that we use every day and have gained through space exploration that I didn't even realize. If that's the case and we really are attaining great new things to help us here on Earth, keep up the great work, NASA.
Nor is it the case that I fail to appreciate knowledge for its own sake. I certainly see the importance in understanding where we are and where we're headed. My only question is with what seems to be a strange fiscal prioritizing in our government. If we split NASA's budget in half (they'd still get $10 billion dollars a year for five years) and put the rest of that money into education, into curing AIDS or cancer or Alzheimer's, into poverty, hunger or arms control, what would that mean in practical terms? Would an extra $50 billion dollars help us feed America's homeless children? Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps it would just be wasted away or would barely make a dent-there seems to be a good track record for that. But, perhaps it would make a huge difference. Perhaps there's something to solving the problems we have down here before we fly off and try to find new ones out there. Just a thought.
However, what bothers me more than sci-fi predictions of things to come- honestly that really doesn't bother me all that much- is NASA in general. What do they do? Why do they exist? Right, I know they explore, through manned and unmanned flight, etc. the vast reaches of space. But are they really earning their keep? The 2011 NASA Budget Overview asks for "a total of $100 billion over five years." I know the government works on a different level, but that still kinda seems like a lot of money. And for what?
I admit that space exploration for telecommunications purposes has given us concrete improvements to our lives, creating vast new ways to share and gain information throughout the world. However, I still fail to see what practical importance lies in finding ice on mars. Perhaps there's some drug, some important tool or some innovative agricultural advancement that we use every day and have gained through space exploration that I didn't even realize. If that's the case and we really are attaining great new things to help us here on Earth, keep up the great work, NASA.
Nor is it the case that I fail to appreciate knowledge for its own sake. I certainly see the importance in understanding where we are and where we're headed. My only question is with what seems to be a strange fiscal prioritizing in our government. If we split NASA's budget in half (they'd still get $10 billion dollars a year for five years) and put the rest of that money into education, into curing AIDS or cancer or Alzheimer's, into poverty, hunger or arms control, what would that mean in practical terms? Would an extra $50 billion dollars help us feed America's homeless children? Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps it would just be wasted away or would barely make a dent-there seems to be a good track record for that. But, perhaps it would make a huge difference. Perhaps there's something to solving the problems we have down here before we fly off and try to find new ones out there. Just a thought.
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