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Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.

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Re: Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.

#31

Post by sp332 »

vecinu wrote: post #19
dmlorenzetti wrote: post #18

Earlier 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 think you mean wary? Here you can see that as infant mortality increases, population growth is nearly steady or even increases slightly. http://www.gapminder.org/world/#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly... (Note the log scale on the vertical axis.) You can "scrub" backward and forward in time with the slider at the bottom.

Re: Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.

#32

Post by Dylan16807 »

Rastafarian wrote: post #4
patio11 wrote: post #3

It certainly reads better than "We need to funnel some money to the guys who build the rockets so that, if the Russians get frisky, we can credibly threaten to can end the world."

Or "99% of US Congressmen own shares in the military–industrial(–congressional) complex, so we need any excuse to funnel $trillions over there"

I wish they kept dumping more and more money into NASA instead of just directly into the military.

Re: Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.

#33

Post by joering2 »

Ok, so the story with microscope was a good one. I was initially shortsighted. But coming back to the recent Mars mission, anyone has any ideas, more or less accurate/detailed, of how this particular mission will/could benefit our civilization? This is a serious question.

Re: Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.

#34

Post by nandemo »

mynameishere wrote: post #25
dmlorenzetti wrote: post #18

Earlier 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.

The argument is not that "charity improves healthcare" (though in some specific cases it does, locally), it's that since birth rates tend to fall, the claim that "saving a child will only increase the number of starving people in the future" doesn't hold.

Re: Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.

#35

Post by TheComedian »

mseebach wrote: post #11

So the argument that research for the sake of research is worthwhile is perfectly sound, the condescending "let me explain to you how a budget works" and "it's not my decision to spend the money" parts certainly rubs me the wrong way.

I did not find that comment condescending, though I expected to when he mentioned that he was going to explain how the budget worked. In fact, the thing that struck me while reading the entirety of the piece was how well he advocated for his position and explained difficult ideas in an accessible way while not talking down to the nun or criticizing her for not sharing his point of view. If all scientists could write in such an effective way their politics would be much better received I'm sure.

Re: Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.

#36

Post by dave_sullivan »

vecinu wrote: post #19
dmlorenzetti wrote: post #18

Earlier 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?

http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_the_good_news_of_the_d...

That video does a very good job of explaining this. As child mortality decreases, family size goes down. I'm sure the data is manipulated to suit someone's purposes, but all seems reasonable to me...

Re: Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.

#37

Post by TheComedian »

nathan_f77 wrote: post #26

This 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.

I think you can certainly make an argument for military spending in terms of the side benefits associated with developing any complex technology, but I don't think the societal cost of increased militarization justifies military spending.

Re: Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.

#38

Post by jlgreco »

drgath wrote: post #23
ams6110 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> "he microscope-story was just fluff to prime the reader to be open to the idea that science can benefit humanity."

Not just that, but to drive home that although the benefits of research may not be known at the time they are nevertheless existent.

Re: Why Explore Space? A 1970 Letter to a Nun in Africa.

#39

Post by tmoertel »

Does anyone know how this letter first came to be published?

Update: Google Books answered the question for me:

> Dr. Stuhlinger responded to the sister in a letter that was published by NASA/George C. Marshall Space Center in 1970 titled "Why Explore Space?"

[1] http://books.google.com/books?id=qXuLydSqzDQC&lpg=PA55&#...

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