Asri-unix.642
net.space
utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!duke!chico!harpo!mhtsa!ihnss!ucbvax!menlo70!sri-unix!DIETZ@USC-ECL
Mon Jan 25 12:54:18 1982
Cage Shaking
From: Paul Dietz <DIETZ USC-ECL AT>
All this talk of cage shaking has prompted me to do a little of my own...
My question is: why should the government be spending anything on space?
(This is an instance of the more general question "why should the government
be spending money on anything?")
A common argumnt is "It's good for the country/world". Really? If it was
so good, why wouldn't those with the money invest in it?
National security: I fail to see how sending billion dollar robots out of
the solar system helps national security. If this is the purpose of NASA,
why isn't NASA part of DOD?
Scientific Research: Research is good, @i(all else being equal). What do
you give up when you send a Voyager out there?
Preserving the species: If a group of people want to get together and
build a space colony to survive a nuclear war, I'll let them. But why
should I help pay for it?
Other arguments: "Without challenge, man will soon whither ..." or
"Future generations will judge us by what we did" -- Fine. You are
entitled to your beliefs. Just don't force me to go along by taking my
tax money.
Comments, rebuttals, bric-bats, poison keyboard netnotes are welcome...
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