Slashdot Mirror
British Company Takes Lead To Stop Asteroids
An anonymous reader writes to tell us that following the news of NASA's budget cuts impacting their ability to do things like watch the sky for asteroids, a British company has decided to create a "gravity tractor" ship that could divert asteroids away from Earth if the need should arise. Of course, a gravity tractor certainly isn't a new idea. "Dr. Cordey said the company had worked with a number of space authorities on other methods of protecting the Earth from asteroids, but this one would be able to target a wider range. He said: 'We have done quite a lot of design work on this with the European Space Agency and we believe this would work just as well on a big solid iron asteroid as well as other types.' But the high cost implications mean that before the device could be made, it would have to be commissioned by a government or a group of governments working together."
Does the phrase "free market" offend you in some way? Is it sacriligeous to you, does it defile all that you hold to be dear and sacred? Does it drown dolphins and club baby seals to death? Or are a few ACs so incredibly fixated with it merely because a few prominent media figures like to talk about it?
Hmm, let's see now: a few talk show hosts keep using the phrase "free market", so you in turn use every opportunity to work it into any Slashdot discussion that mentions purchasing or funding anything. That tells me two things. One, those talk shows were obviously very effective on you. A talk show host doesn't generally want you to listen to his show and then forget all about everything he was saying; what you are doing is very much like the fixation that gets them the ratings they need before they can laugh all the way to the bank. Two, you're making "your side" look like such obsessive repetitive idiots that anyone who would have been receptive or sympathetic to your views stands a high chance of being turned off by them and refusing to consider them. Good job.
It's such a simple issue, too. If you are talking about regulated government monopolies like electric utilities or telephone companies, "deregulation" just gives them more ability to abuse their customers because all the deregulation in the world doesn't remove the incredibly high barriers to entry that is an inherent feature of those industries (you want to really, truly compete with the phone company, first you need to run wires to every home in your service area - not trivial). If you are talking about industries that are not inherently monopolistic, then you have a couple of choices. You can have the government worry only about actual crimes like fraud and otherwise let it be understood that "you are on your own" so if you as a customer fail to look after your own interests, that's your problem. Or you can have regulations in place to make it much less likely that the average person gets screwed, at the disadvantage of treating adult citizens as though they were incompetent children, expanded government bureaucracy and all the problems that come with it, and the removal of what would otherwise have been negative outcomes attached to poor decision-making (also known as personal responsibility). Those of us who don't need a nanny state government that knows what's best for us prefer that the government only worry about actual crimes. Those of us who are more naive and really want to believe that $multinational_corporation is our bestest buddy and would never take advantage of us in any way because the people in the commercials all look so happy, tend to want government to take on more of a micromanagement role. Because those of us who are capable of good decision-making and can think entirely for ourselves are in the minority, and do suffer secondary effects from the unprincipled impulsiveness and poor decision-making of the majority, a balance between those two is generally desired.
The issue is really that simple and all of the "must demonize the free market!" AC troll posts in the world won't change that. End of fascination.
"Does it drown dolphins and club baby seals to death?"
Actually, I've been thinking of a little getaway. Someplace a guy can just be himself, let his guard down, and relax. Are you selling vacations? I could enjoy clubbing a few baby seals, and roasting their little carcasses over a nice propane fire. Liberal supplies of alcohol antifreeze, maybe some Valkyrie waitresses and chambermaids . . . . .
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br