Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Humans Will Walk On Mars in the Century

6/28/2016--Ever since the 1972 Presidential race, I have been out of step with my fellow progressives on the question of space exploration. I believe such exploration is part of the human need to explore and learn. I have never understood why great men like Thomas Berry were opposed to such things. Sure, the race to the moon was wasteful. So what? There were certainly spin offs from scientific breakthroughs that recouped some of the cost. The benefit was incalculable. What is the price tag on the pictures of the Earth from the moon?

Especially now, with the inward looking politics of Brexit and the zero sum game approach of Trump and Sanders--no sense that everyone can win--not Mexicans for Trump, not the rich for Sanders--there is need for policies that are expansive.

And there is plenty of money. Space exploration is a good thing and costs relatively little. The money it does cost would not have gone into food for the poor, after all.

This is all why I greeted yesterday's news of the further development of the Chinese space program with glee. Even hidebound conservatives, even anti-technology liberals, will not want the Chinese to get too far ahead in space. Maybe this Presidential election will not make the promise to go to Mars, but the next one will.

1 comment:

  1. Within the essence of the human genome is the primal need to explore. In prehistoric times, man explored (or foraged) to further his
    need for food. Later, as man evolved and gained knowledge he explored to not only find new sources of food, water and other resources but to find what was previously unknown. In the last fifty or so years there have been highly successful explorers in the fields of engineering, mathematics, medicine and computers. And many more successes within each myriad of disciplines within each of these fields.

    Simply put, man was created to explore. Our planet, our galaxy and yes, eventually our universe. And in doing so we explore the inner dimensions of of our psyche, our soul and how we were made and why. And perhaps, if you choose to go there, by Whom.

    Humans will walk on Mars because we must walk on Mars. We must explore. We must further our knowledge. We must, as that great Science Fiction creative explorer Gene Roddenberry once wrote, "Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before."

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