This is also a perfect parallel to CEOs who have to justify to their shareholders why they spend so much money on R&D.
Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.
21–30 of 171 posts
Re: Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
Man if that's true it really ruined my day. Do you have proof?
It's not true. If it was nearly that simple, it would be a lot easier to fix.
Dingdingding. It's more that military contractors have jobs in literally every district in the country, which makes anything done against them 'hurting jobs', etc. There's a lot of money funneled in that direction, but it isn't because of cronyism or anything- just pure hard corporate strategy choices.
Re: Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
How on Earth is that condescending? How is a nun in middle of Africa meant to have even a basic understanding of how a specific government's budgeting and economic system works? I am willing to bet the vast majority of Americans themselves (to this day) have no idea of even the basics so simply explained by Dr Stuhlinger, yet it was a critical part of the bigger picture.
I thought it weakened the piece. The story of the microscope made the point, the letter could have been ended there and been much shorter/stronger.
Weakened the piece? The microscope-story was just fluff to prime the reader to be open to the idea that science can benefit humanity. It was loosely based on real events, and the quotes from the count assuredly are made up.
Still, a good story though. Had he ended there, the letter would lack any real substance to argue his point.
Re: Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.
#24>He was a member of the German rocket development team at Peenemünde Just the guy to be answering ethical questions...
Anyone who discounts a thoughtful response based on some other criteria than that found in that response is not someone qualified to comment about ethics.
The important things are not what he discusses but what he doesn't discuss. For instance, why the space program is supported instead of other initiatives in science and technology or the connection between the space program with defense and propaganda. On the other side of the coin, he doesn't address the use of foreign aid as a tool of international relations and how it destroys local markets for food production. How corruption and lack of infrastructure often thwart well-meaning programs.
He was a smart guy who could spin a good yarn and seemed to care. I sincerely doubt that he did and don't value his opinion.
Re: Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.
#25I don't know if this makes me cruel, but whenever people talk about donating money to starving children in Africa, I always imagine the following: If I were to donate some amount of money to starving children in an impoverished nation every year I could, theoretically, bring some of them out of starvation. However, these children would then grow into adults, and then these adults would have children of their own. The…
When Bill Gates' wife began pushing him to work on issues of third-world health, this was more or less his argument against it. She dug up the statistics to show that this idea, while intuitive, is not supported by fact. As health improves-- and in particular as child mortality goes down-- birth rates fall accordingly. As we all know, Gates got on board, and now funds a lot of health research and on-the-ground initia…
Health generally improves with the underlying economy, not because of charity. The underlying economy is going to correlate with damn near other statistic one way or another.
More credibly, the "War on Poverty" was an abject failure in every way.
Re: Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.
#26This letter is timeless, and provides such brilliant perspective. It's a fantastic answer to questions I've also been thinking about.
As an aside, I wonder if something so convincing could be written about military spending.
Re: Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
When Bill Gates' wife began pushing him to work on issues of third-world health, this was more or less his argument against it. She dug up the statistics to show that this idea, while intuitive, is not supported by fact. As health improves-- and in particular as child mortality goes down-- birth rates fall accordingly. As we all know, Gates got on board, and now funds a lot of health research and on-the-ground initia…
Health generally improves with the underlying economy, not because of charity. The underlying economy is going to correlate with damn near other statistic one way or another. More credibly, the "War on Poverty" was an abject failure in every way.
Can you source your information on the abject failure of the "War on Poverty"in every way? I'm sure you were speaking in hyperbole so I'm not expecting that literally this be shown to be a failure in every way.
The term "War on Poverty" in the U.S. specifically refers to initiatives started by the Johnson administration. Do you refer this or some other war on poverty?
Re: Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Anyone who discounts a thoughtful response based on some other criteria than that found in that response is not someone qualified to comment about ethics.
The important things are not what he discusses but what he doesn't discuss. For instance, why the space program is supported instead of other initiatives in science and technology or the connection between the space program with defense and propaganda. On the other side of the coin, he doesn't address the use of foreign aid as a tool of international relations and how it destroys local markets for food production. Ho…
You were doing pretty well there, then dove back into the ad hominem. Who he is as a person is entirely irrelevant, if you want to criticise the letter then criticise the letter, not the man.
Re: Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.
#29I don't know if this makes me cruel, but whenever people talk about donating money to starving children in Africa, I always imagine the following: If I were to donate some amount of money to starving children in an impoverished nation every year I could, theoretically, bring some of them out of starvation. However, these children would then grow into adults, and then these adults would have children of their own. The…
Which child will grow up to revolutionize their nation's politics?
Re: Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
When Bill Gates' wife began pushing him to work on issues of third-world health, this was more or less his argument against it. She dug up the statistics to show that this idea, while intuitive, is not supported by fact. As health improves-- and in particular as child mortality goes down-- birth rates fall accordingly. As we all know, Gates got on board, and now funds a lot of health research and on-the-ground initia…
I'm weary of these statistics as one can manipulate data to suit one's purpose. Source please?
I would have liked to provide the source, but it was a New Yorker article that I read in the print edition.
Here's an "abstract" of the article, which hints at my synopsis: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/10/24/051024fa_fact_sp...