What do you guys think about this?

Space exploration has been underfunded for a long time, however do you think it's worth funding searching for new life as we know it, and/or new life as we don't know it?

If so, how do you think the discovery would benefit humankind, or the planet earth. If not-the opposite!

What are the ethical and moral ramifications of such an exploration?

What do you think about our space "listening" programs?

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I've never really been a big fan of space exploration. Mainly because our own limitations prevent us from doing really anything worth a darn in regards to travel. It's like trying to see to somewhere you can't even go physically. Not to mention our outrageous financial issues (US and most countries) can't support pouring more money into it.

I read somewhere that we actually have explored more space than ocean, I'm more curious to see the wonders our own oceans has as opposed to dead space.

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As much as I like the thought of it (given that a lot of Sci-Fi TV shows, movies and games glamorize the idea) I'm probably not going to expect finding life in space, at least not in my lifetime mainly because we might not be ready yet, I mean traveling around the world is one thing, but traveling around the galaxy (or even universe) is a completely different boat (a much bigger one at that).

(I have no idea why I was typing in brackets a lot )

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(March 23, 2012 11:00:59 AM)Zeruel Wrote:  I've never really been a big fan of space exploration. Mainly because our own limitations prevent us from doing really anything worth a darn in regards to travel. It's like trying to see to somewhere you can't even go physically. Not to mention our outrageous financial issues (US and most countries) can't support pouring more money into it.

I read somewhere that we actually have explored more space than ocean, I'm more curious to see the wonders our own oceans has as opposed to dead space.

We've spent more on the bank bailout in the US than the entire funding of Nasa, not to mention the trillions of dollars in war costs. Nasa's budget is 17 billion dollars, and that's a small chunk of change compared to the US yearly.

I agree, the ocean is awesome. I think we should be monitoring it much more closely, it's a very sensitive system, and our earth is changing very quickly. It's also funny to consider that it's a frontier of earth that has "alien" intelligent life (dolphins), that we absolutely refuse to acknowledge!

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Please. Fund space exploration.

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twitter.com/34thGingerbread

(March 23, 2012 11:43:14 AM)Kioran Wrote:  We've spent more on the bank bailout in the US than the entire funding of Nasa, not to mention the trillions of dollars in war costs. Nasa's budget is 17 billion dollars, and that's a small chunk of change compared to the US yearly.

Well... I was going to put a fine print in that comment. It's like saying "My husband ran out and bought a Ferrari we can't afford, so that's nothing compared to me going out and buying a BMW." If you can't afford it, you can't afford it. The government wasting money is a known fact. Instead of continuing down a path of eventual financial shutdown just because someone thought it would be bright to bail out banks, we should fix the problem.

Easier said than done... *shrug* I guess the idea of exploration is a good thing, because soon we are going to have to flee from our own debt. ^_^

As for war.. that's a discussion all in it's own that I don't think ever comes across well over forums/text. So I'll refrain from going into that.

(March 23, 2012 11:43:14 AM)Kioran Wrote:  I agree, the ocean is awesome. I think we should be monitoring it much more closely, it's a very sensitive system, and our earth is changing very quickly. It's also funny to consider that it's a frontier of earth that has "alien" intelligent life (dolphins), that we absolutely refuse to acknowledge!

So true, and with the videos I've seen of some of the pitch black deeps of the ocean, there's some amazing creatures yet to be discovered. And to think of the things they can teach us, or possibly medical discoveries we can get from them.

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(March 23, 2012 11:56:13 AM)Zeruel Wrote:  Well... I was going to put a fine print in that comment. It's like saying "My husband ran out and bought a Ferrari we can't afford, so that's nothing compared to me going out and buying a BMW." If you can't afford it, you can't afford it. The government wasting money is a known fact. Instead of continuing down a path of eventual financial shutdown just because someone thought it would be bright to bail out banks, we should fix the problem.

Ah, but the problem with that comparison is that NASA is affordable to fund. It's like saying "My husband and I can't afford to go to the doctor because we spent all our money on a BMW". If you can't afford something important, that improves your standards of health and living because you were too busy spending it on nonsense than something is wrong. But the government wasting money in no way reflects that YOU should be resigned to curb your own ideals. It's that kind of attitude that makes it ok for politicians to avoid scientific subjects. They know you're indoctrinated to idea that most scientific funding is a waste anyway, why bother covering it on any kind of an election campaign?

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twitter.com/34thGingerbread

This was a conversation I was having recently with a friend actually, about how when man landed on the moon, some predicted we'd have landed on Mars by the end of the 20th century. I would be the first to support space exploration funding, except that I really don't see how it can be justified at this current time. The world's economy is in an extremely rough state, and unemployment is reaching record highs in many countries across the globe. How then, can you spend billions on a rocket instead of billions on schools, or funding for underprivileged families, or measures to stabilise the economy? Space exploration should be funded only when economies are affluent, not when they are battered down. Curiosity is not worth that much money at a time like this.

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Well in terms of economics, spin offs from funding space expeditions do positively impact our economies. The only problem is that we have to realize we won't benefit from the investment the next day, that it's really something that takes time to give back. Not to mention the equipment we use for medical research is built by engineers, based off of discoveries in physics. All the natural sciences DO work together, all though I think they are all underfunded.

You're right about debt. I just want to see action today. Not tomorrow. I am so tired of people slightly older than me telling me that my generation will fix it, because the generation before them said the same thing. We can't keep putting the future off, but people think we can because they don't realize what's at stake.

That being said, money is only an issue because of the decisions that are being made by government, that is backed by a politically DISINTERESTED, and scientifically illiterate people. This is not a matter of can we, if we had the money, but SHOULD we in the future make the money available (I don't know, maybe by not increasing the number of 21 million dollar helicopters...lol) for finding life-and in these endeavours discover new technology, better energy forms, etc.

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(March 23, 2012 01:00:51 PM)Sam Wrote:  This was a conversation I was having recently with a friend actually, about how when man landed on the moon, some predicted we'd have landed on Mars by the end of the 20th century. I would be the first to support space exploration funding, except that I really don't see how it can be justified at this current time. The world's economy is in an extremely rough state, and unemployment is reaching record highs in many countries across the globe. How then, can you spend billions on a rocket instead of billions on schools, or funding for underprivileged families, or measures to stabilise the economy? Space exploration should be funded only when economies are affluent, not when they are battered down. Curiosity is not worth that much money at a time like this.

It's really not that much money. I think people have this misconception that space exploration is expensive. Compared to national budgets it's abysmal, and a small increase would still make it abysmal. People keeping that money in their pockets doesn't save our economy. I am sorry to say it, but if the entire world became affluent we would run out of resources in less than a month. I hate inequality more than anyone I know, but it WORKS. Russia has more than doubled their space programs budget in the last 10 years, and they will be leading the initiative to deflect 2004MN4.

The only way I could see the world economy stabilizing would be by ending our fossil fuel era, and entering a new era of new energy and technology.

I would agree with you about education though, if we were to throw wasted money anywhere, I think it should be to bettering education.

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