Why Space Exploration Is Worth the Cost

Posted by kdawson on Saturday January 12, 2008 @06:50AM from the it's-all-spent-right-here-on-earth dept.

mlimber writes "The Freakonomics blog has a post in which they asked six knowledgeable people, Is space exploration is worth the public cost? Their answers are generally in the affirmative and illuminating. For example David M. Livingston, host of The Space Show, said: 'Businesses were started and are now meeting payrolls, paying taxes, and sustaining economic growth because the founder was inspired by the early days of the manned space program, often decades after the program ended! This type of inspiration and motivation seems unique to the manned space program and, of late, to some of our robotic space missions.'"

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Re:This is really a debate? by aelbric · 2008-01-12 07:32 · Score: 4, Informative

*sigh* 1%

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nos laetus epulor qui would domito nos
Re:Broken window fallacy by Waffle+Iron · 2008-01-12 08:54 · Score: 4, Informative

The Pyramids were built with slaves
Your ancient history knowledge is 50 years out of date. Archaeological evidence shows that they were built with paid labor, not slaves.
The world has changed a bit, Enlightenment, Capitalism, Individual Rights, Socialism/Communism(failed)...
And in every single stage of history you mention, people were taxed to pay for big government projects. They still are. Why do some people act as if they're surprised by this?