Senate Space Exploration: Waste of Resources or Mankind's Last Hope?

Transhumanism has nothing to do with this. You're in the realms of fantasy. Meanwhile real people are planning to go to real places using technology that exists now.

You're just trolling, right?

Why is it a waste of resources? What particular resources are you afraid of wasting exactly? Hydrogen? Plastic?

Why can't we do both?

Your argument was put forth in the 70s, when manned space exploration essentially ended. Has the effect been totally positive? Has the world seen much healing since then? Please explain how r-e-t-a-r-d-i--n-g a field of science and innovation has benefited mankind since the scrapping of Apollo.

It's not impossible, merely impractical. You just need a thick enough barrier of lead or water or whatever. Radiation is very well understood. Electromagnetic shielding is being researched too.

Firstly, can you prove that Mars is either lifeless or worthless? There is plenty of evidence suggesting the contrary.

Secondly, I agree that we should be doing more about asteroid collision. The cost is irrelevant - as the B612 Foundation points out, if we saw an Earth killer on the way, the economic issue would dissolve instantly, but it's not actually that expensive to maintain a Sentinel system. All we need a few space telescopes, and we launch them quite regularly anyway. Then all we need is a laser system, which doesn't have to be that big or expensive. Certainly nothing near the cost of building a high powered laser array required to send lightsail probes to Alpha Centauri, which is seriously being discussed at the moment.

The international cooperation required isn't as difficult as you might imagine. All we need to do is set out some rules for how and where to redirect objects coming from different trajectories. It's more of a maths problem than a political one.

Thanks for throwing progress that little bone, but manned spaceflight is more than just a stunt.

If the concern is that it costs too much now, then we'll never start. The more you do it the less expensive it becomes.

Goldilocks zone is becoming quite a meaningless term, btw. We need to expand our definitions by learning more, and the best way to do that is to explore. The best way to explore is in person, in situ.

 

No you didn't. The scientific justification has to require human travel. You haven't shown why humans *have* to bet he ones doing it.

 

I really just wanted to quote a Michael Jackson song, but...

And I can't answer your questions because I don't have access to alternative realities? And the space shuttle programme's first crewed mission was in 1981 and it's last in 2011. Mars exploration is ongoing. So what ended in the seventies? Moon landings seem to be it.

 

Asteroid collision avoidance may require generational planning to meet something and divert its trajectory 20-30 years, maybe even a half-century before a potential collision at a reasonable cost. Manned Mars exploration is just a stunt. "best way" is just "I want boots on the ground." Robotic exploration will get more and more sophisticated. We will learn an incredible amount just by pursuing this objective. Improving our observational techniques. Developing long range planning for robotic intercept, developing the technology for diverting asteroids from their trajectory. You make it sound like all this stuff has already been invented. Yes, we have a good start on an early warning system. No, we don't have anything available to divert Big Space Rocks, and it might take a century to figure it out. Time to get cracking. Please, please don't waste resources on a boondoggle Mars sideshow.

Homo Sapiens sprang up and conquered the globe, eradicated all its intelligent primate competition in a nice 100,000 year window when nothing really big and bad fell from the sky. Now we have giant cities and vast coastal sprawl. It wouldn't take anything really big to cause an insane amount of damage.

 

You're just being pedantic now, I'm sorry. We just have to agree to disagree on this one. I respect your opinions throughout this discussion, though.

 

The people here advocating for unnecessary manned space travel need to learn to admit that all the science talk is a post hoc justification and that in reality this just makes people feel like there is scientific progress. It's like Trump's wall makes people feel like illegal immigration is being stopped. It's about feeling that your science fiction B movie future can come true.

 

Rylo Ken an asteroid collision could get us to your golden 100 million number, or even below. Why would you advocate preventing it?

 

But what about warp drives?

 

My goal is the long term survival of the human species. A global pandemic is a good way to reduce the population dramatically without wiping out all of civilization's infrastructure in the process. Asteroids are bad for everybody and everything. We don't want a global nuclear war. We don't want a giant asteroid bomb. We just want to kill off just under 7 billion people so that the species can survive and create a sustainable future.

 

Will you get off your high horse? No one is retarding anything. We haven't burned or banned one wit. The honest truth is that you are asking for billions of dollars that could be used to study biology or medicine or ecology or the environmental safety of new products or a thousand other real scientific fields with actual, tangible benefits. Instead you're pouting because the federal government won't bankroll your Buck Rogers fantasy and ask that you continue space the study of space via robotics and telescopes.

No field of science gets as much money as they'd like in an ideal world. Somehow I think you can survive it. Ye gods.

 

Clearly the solution is anarcho-transhumanism. We become robots, and then free ourselves from the shackles of government! Just follow my handy plan:

1. ????
2. We become robots.
3. ????
4. Total post-scarcity is achieved even though none of us does any work
5. ????
6. Abolish all hierarchical structures based on our being equal robots without getting rid of money
7. ????
8. Space travel!

You can read all about it in my upcoming article published by the Rand Corporation.

 

I once wrote a satirical piece about Ray Kurzweil selling magnetic bracelets to realign chakras and offended some intellectuals.

It was a good day.

 

So Here's The Rundown

• In contact with aliens
• Rumoured to possess psychic abilities
• Said to be violent and intimidating in private
• Own castles and banks all over the world
• Rothschilds bow to the Bogdanoffs
• Own several nuclear plants
• Learned fluent French in less than 48 hours
• Ancient Indian scriptures tell of two angels who will descend upon the Earth and will bring an era of enlightenment and unprecedented technological progress with them
• Own basically every DNA & genetic research facility on Earth
• First designer babies will be Bogdanoff babies
• Rule France with an iron but fair fist
• Scientists pointed a telescopic array at the source of the 'bog bang' that created our universe
• This is what they heard:
• Kept the electric car down for decades so they could release their own car based on string theory to the market
• Currently at war with Elon Musk because of this
• Sabotaged his spacex rocket because they will fund the first (the first official one - they've already been to mars many times) manned flight to mars in their own initiative in a few years
• Will bankroll the first cities on Mars (Bogdangrad will be be the first city)
• The big red phone in the Kremlin is a direct line to the Bogdanoff manor
• The last person who missed a call was Mikhail Gorbachov. He resigned and fled the country in fear and the Bogdanoffs destroyed the Soviet Union in a fit of rage
• Own nanobot facilities everywhere in the galaxy
• Own Nanobot R&D labs around the world
• If you're reading this right now, you most likely have BogdabotsTM flowing through your body
• Both brothers said to have 215+ IQ, such intelligence on Earth has only existed deep in Tibetan monasteries & Area 51
• Nation states entrust their gold reserves with the twins. There's no gold in Ft. Knox, only Ft. Bogdanoff
• The twins are about 7 decades old, from the space-time reference point of the base human currently accepted by our society
• In reality, they are timeless beings existing in all points of time and space from the big bang to the end of the universe. We don't know their ultimate plans yet. We hope they're benevolent beings

The 6 Stages Of The Bogpill

ζ (Zeta) Phase lasts the first 20 minutes

• Prickly sensation on skin
• No Bogdanoff contact

γ (Gamma) Phase lasts another 20 minutes

• Become hypersensitive to sound
• Start hearing Bogs, wont be able to comprehend
• May be able to hear colors
• Uncontrollable Shaking

ω (Omega Phase)

• Extreme pain
• No movement
• 90% will drop out of this phase
• May last 10 seconds to 15 minutes
• In some extreme cases Igor will appear but never Grichka
• High chance of blackpilling at this stage

⍋ Phase

• Bogface
• Ability to see anything
• Other universes
• Talk to aliens
• Addiction the bogposting
• Can last up to 6 weeks
• Must abandon your friends and family

p̡̛̛͍̰̞̦̞̺̥͈͚͎̖̈́̑̿͆͊͐̆ͬͪ̅̾ͧͥ̇̾̂̆́ņ̷̜͕̫͖̾ͩͮ̀̐͐͜͠u̸̹̣̙̲͕̤͚̭͍̗͚̞̩̘̙͍͉̤͊̈̅̓̏ͫ̐ͫ͑̒ͪ̊̄͐͋̓̿͟͝l̟̺̹͉͈͍̝̭̳̱̮̰̟̠̫͉̊ͨͭ̇͛̿͞t̵̡̠̜̲͈̮̗̗̞͙͈͈͔̰̂̑ͮ̌̾ͦ̆̑ͤ̋ͯͧͫ͊͜͝î̢̫̘͕̤̖ͭ̄̒̓ ̶̖̣͓͍̮̝̱̘̣̲̰ͧ̆͋̇͆̐ͩ̄̆̽̒̿̂̈́̃̒̉̚͘ ⸔ stage

• Tr̷̫̠̩̬͊̅ǔ̸̙̫ͯͬͦ̎ͯ̑͞ē̪̖̈́ͫ̅ͭ̍̌̍́ ̜̬̰͍̟͕͂͐̈́̅̊͗͛ͤ͒͢b̵̪̣͉̘̖̺̽́̀o̙̫̳͚̥̼͎̞̾̾ͥ̃́̍͞ͅg̵̪̽̊̔͗̑̏͐̂̋͜ ̐̌͌͑ͧ͏̗̖̳̹̙l͇̙̖͓͔͕͇̍͊õ̮̩̩͎̙̣̦̞̤ͧ̾̄ͩ̀o̩͕̞͇̩͓̓̅͘ǩ̷̟̪̫͎͙́͂̾͗̅ͮs̸̸͎̫͍̉̍
• Will see aliens that will test mental capacity
• Ab̸͓̩̯ͯ̊̂̎̐ͮ̾͞l̛̥͖̆̾ͭͩ̃e̫̠͕̻̳̭͉͌̽̋ͭ̅̎̍̃͑ to solve any question t̻̤̭̰̦͓͚͗͗̄̌̅̔ͫ̕asked
• Able to citrus-**** without pain
• Flying

Theorized 6th bogstage

• Never been reached
• Immortality is granted
• Replace Igor
• ﷼⸎

doot doot

 

but hasn't that already been tried here on earth several times ? we tend to take our problems along with us .

.

 

Well, it will be hard for all of them to start wars with each other, once they are on different planets. Until someone develops star fighters, of course

 

Unless you think there's much exploration going on in LEO, manned exploration of space ended with Apollo. You require an alternative to reality to assert that flying a space shuttle up to a few hundred kilometres is space exploration.

Manned spaceflight beyond LEO ended in the 70s.

I really didn't think anyone interested in having this conversation would need stuff like this explained to them.

 

Mars is so inhospitable that people would be forced to spend their entire waking lives making sure their life support systems were functioning. There would be no time for war. One glitch or major accident and the entire Mars population dies. If Mars could somehow be terraformed over 500 or 1000 years then eventually the whole planet could be like a permanent human settlement in Antarctica, exactly the kind of place where nobody already wants to live, only much worse with no possibility of help.

I know, let's not do that.

 

I require alternate realities to know if the effects have been totally positive, or if there would have been more/less healing if the space programme had accelerated. The only manned space exploration that has possibly been missed out on is Mars. There are probes there, no actual need for man to put boots on the ground at this time.

See? It is possible to disagree and be civil.

 

Good god, JCC.
Getting angry about someone else's expectations for space travel. Get a grip

 

With new robotic microspines. Now 25% grippier!

 

So, this is 5 pages of people who think that understanding physics is at best a distracting hobby that gets in the way of masturbating to the idea of interstellar travel.

Do we blame Star Trek, or Star Wars?

 

Silent Running. I blame Silent Running.

 

To me, the main thrust of Trek is that humanity can be better and the future can be better. Space travel is secondary to that in terms of the franchise's ideals. I know a lot of fans disagree and just want dilithium crystals and think private space exploration is not against Trek's philosophy.