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Originally posted by DanS
In all other endeavors, the US does best when the private sector takes the lead.
In all other endeavors, the US does best when the private sector takes the lead.
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Like, say, health care? The U.S. is the only industrialized nation which relies on private insurance companies to provide health care. As a result, we have the highest costing health care, the fewest people covered, the shortest lifespans, and the highest infant mortality rate. -
This is absurd. The private sector is perfectly capable of managing large aerospace R&D and manufacturing projects. Indeed, some projects, like the Boeing 787, put NASA to shame.Originally posted by Whoha
Because government exists to do these kinds of large scale programs and the private sector isn't going to be able to do them for a long time if at all if ever.
You are ill informed. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested every year by the private sector.There is no demand in the private sector to invest in anything other then small toy projects, and even that will go away.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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I wonder what all that wasted money spent in the Iraq war would have accomplished for NASA. We could've been developing an entire fleet of second generation shuttles and robotic exploration probes.Comment
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You're wishing that NASA had more white elephants?I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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Even if you don't believe in the scientific value of manned space flight, at least it would be something to brag about. You really can't say the same for the Iraq war.Comment
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would be interesting to see what would NASA do with 1/2 trillion over 5 year period...Socrates: "Good is That at which all things aim, If one knows what the good is, one will always do what is good." Brian: "Romanes eunt domus"
GW 2013: "and juistin bieber is gay with me and we have 10 kids we live in u.s.a in the white house with obama"Comment
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and "rare earth" position is just one of the optional answers. My bet is on "do not want to be detected"/"are too advanced for communication to be meaningfull" positionOriginally posted by Kuciwalker
It's called the Fermi paradox. Look it up.
Socrates: "Good is That at which all things aim, If one knows what the good is, one will always do what is good." Brian: "Romanes eunt domus"
GW 2013: "and juistin bieber is gay with me and we have 10 kids we live in u.s.a in the white house with obama"Comment
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Good point.Originally posted by Riesstiu IV
Even if you don't believe in the scientific value of manned space flight, at least it would be something to brag about. You really can't say the same for the Iraq war.Modern man calls walking more quickly in the same direction down the same road “change.”
The world, in the last three hundred years, has not changed except in that sense.
The simple suggestion of a true change scandalizes and terrifies modern man. -Nicolás Gómez DávilaComment
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The government made it to the Moon during the Nixon Administration. How many times has private industry gone there?Originally posted by DanS
This is absurd. The private sector is perfectly capable of managing large aerospace R&D and manufacturing projects. Indeed, some projects, like the Boeing 787, put NASA to shame.
You are ill informed. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested every year by the private sector.
Private industry is only interested in one thing: return on investment, and since the 1980's, return on investment in time for the next round of yearly bonuses. Space exploration is mainly for scientific reasons; albeit profits are install -- way down the road.Comment
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The Boeing 747 is a commercial passenger plane, you can not compare that to space travel, for so many reasons its not even funny. I’ll just state the one that is obvious to you, Boeing wasn’t exactly a pioneer, they built a product for an existing market that demanded them.Originally posted by DanS
This is absurd. The private sector is perfectly capable of managing large aerospace R&D and manufacturing projects. Indeed, some projects, like the Boeing 787, put NASA to shame.
You are ill informed. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested every year by the private sector.Modern man calls walking more quickly in the same direction down the same road “change.”
The world, in the last three hundred years, has not changed except in that sense.
The simple suggestion of a true change scandalizes and terrifies modern man. -Nicolás Gómez DávilaComment
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QFTOriginally posted by Zkribbler
The government made it to the Moon during the Nixon Administration. How many times has private industry gone there?
Private industry is only interested in one thing: return on investment, and since the 1980's, return on investment in time for the next round of yearly bonuses. Space exploration is mainly for scientific reasons; albeit profits are install -- way down the road.Modern man calls walking more quickly in the same direction down the same road “change.”
The world, in the last three hundred years, has not changed except in that sense.
The simple suggestion of a true change scandalizes and terrifies modern man. -Nicolás Gómez DávilaComment
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I'm going with "vast gaps in space/time" personally. Perhaps there is an advanced civilization in the galaxy, but they're all the way 'round the other side. Perhaps there isn't now, but there was one 2 million years ago. Perhaps there is one now, but we haven't detected their signals yet because said signals won't get here for another 2 million years... and so on and so forth.Originally posted by OneFootInTheGrave
and "rare earth" position is just one of the optional answers. My bet is on "do not want to be detected"/"are too advanced for communication to be meaningfull" position
-Arriangrog want tank...Grog Want Tank... GROG WANT TANK!
The trick isn't to break some eggs to make an omelette, it's convincing the eggs to break themselves in order to aspire to omelettehood.Comment
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Thank you for proving my point. It was an idiotic allocation of capital (1) to go to the moon (2) in the manner that NASA did. After that, Nixon and the congress performed a mercy killing on the program. Why you would suggest a zombie-Apollo program for the private sector is beyond me.Originally posted by Zkribbler
The government made it to the Moon during the Nixon Administration. How many times has private industry gone there?I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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My current favourite is that the event(s) that lead to oxygen respiring, eurkaroytic life are rare. While life may be common, we're going to spend a lot of time talking to slime and algae. But I'm a biochemist, of course I'd prefer the biological explanation.Originally posted by Arrian
I'm going with "vast gaps in space/time" personally. Perhaps there is an advanced civilization in the galaxy, but they're all the way 'round the other side. Perhaps there isn't now, but there was one 2 million years ago. Perhaps there is one now, but we haven't detected their signals yet because said signals won't get here for another 2 million years... and so on and so forth.
-Arrian
Regardless, we seem to be the most advanced civilisation locally.Exult in your existence, because that very process has blundered unwittingly on its own negation. Only a small, local negation, to be sure: only one species, and only a minority of that species; but there lies hope. [...] Stand tall, Bipedal Ape. The shark may outswim you, the cheetah outrun you, the swift outfly you, the capuchin outclimb you, the elephant outpower you, the redwood outlast you. But you have the biggest gifts of all: the gift of understanding the ruthlessly cruel process that gave us all existence [and the] gift of revulsion against its implications.
-Richard DawkinsComment
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I didn't say that the private sector could not manage it. I said that they would not.Originally posted by DanS
This is absurd. The private sector is perfectly capable of managing large aerospace R&D and manufacturing projects. Indeed, some projects, like the Boeing 787, put NASA to shame.
You are ill informed. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested every year by the private sector.
And hundreds of millions of dollars is chump change compared to what needs to be spent.
The apollo level funding made it possible for tens of thousands of engineers to go into aerospace, and the country reaped the benefits of that. But as soon as it was shut down all that built up infrastructure and skill just stopped. Boeing is living off of the past investments, because new graduates stopped coming off the line for aerospace a while ago.Last edited by Whoha; January 9, 2008, 15:30.Comment
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