Yeah, there is something. When the link has been visited it changes color. So far, so good. But, when you have visited the link and wish you had never bothered and wish to never accidently click that link again, it should be possible to show this by a 3rd color. Blue - never yet seen. Red - been there. Puke green - never, ever go there again.
They know the sequences of somebody's genome, but they still lack the first clue as to how it works, or if in fact it has anything to do with what makes us human.
, the amount of money spent by the US government every year on "helping humans on planet Earth" is probably far more than has EVER been spent on space exploration
More, but maybe by a factor of only ten to the 6th power. They waste more on regulating printing on candy wrappers than the entire NASA budget every year.
Nobody will be allowed off this planet. It isn't like jacking into the Internet. Only scientists will be going to Mars, and Government Scientists at that. The other 6 billion people can expect to spend their futile lives in the mud of earth. Forever.
More and more local Gummints are putting their assessing and planning databases online. The near elimination of lines of realtors and surveyors at the respective assessing and planning counters is remarkable, as is the reduction of numbers of staff behind the counter. Besides that, the Gummint now has a much better database for its own internal use, and almost all of it is completely available to the general public. For those who haven't taken the rudimentary step of getting online at the office or at home, the Gummint has thoughtfully provided a terminal at the counter. Somebody can usually be found there, amazed, and also amazed at how quickly they are done and outta there.
Grab one of the earth passing asteroids, put it in orbit, and it will sweep the junk all by itself. Plus, the junk is not entirely destroyed. It cost money to launch that mass, leave it up there.
This is only the beginning. The heavy hitters have only just noticed all of the rest of the solar system and the universe. I sure wouldn't want to be left sitting on my front stoop with a beer in my hand and a puppy in my lap when this ship leaves the dock.
Eventually, what if for a basic maintenance voyage no human need go along at all?
We're not interested in operating the Universe by VR remote-control. We want to get our physical DNA out there, soon, and in quantity. Earth orbit isn't much of a destination. We need to set our sights considerably higher.
Not only exploration. Don't stop there. Something must be done to open the pressure relief valve on earth. We're getting all jammed up in here and tripping all over each other, everybody is yelling at once. While space migration will not reduce the population of earth, it will provide a way out for those who feel the pressure intensely, the Daniel Boones among us.
Beside which, if an asteroid smacks the planet, it's all over. No safety net for our DNA.
That is the whole point of this exercise. If we are not planning to go out there ourselves in the flesh, then why bother to explore at all. Also, when mining the asteroids -- which we will do while developing earth's colorful ring of commsats -- before wasting funding elsewhere in space and obviously before landing humans on Mars, remember to not ship the ore back to earth. This is important. Ship only refined materials. We're talking bottom line.
Jules Verne being the archetypical sci-fi author, do what he did. He talked with actual scientists and his books are based on that. Even Sagan did that much. The idea of getting science ideas from an author is kind of backwards. Talk to the scientists the author talked to. Go to the source.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, there is something. When the link has been visited it changes color. So far, so good. But, when you have visited the link and wish you had never bothered and wish to never accidently click that link again, it should be possible to show this by a 3rd color. Blue - never yet seen. Red - been there. Puke green - never, ever go there again.
They know the sequences of somebody's genome, but they still lack the first clue as to how it works, or if in fact it has anything to do with what makes us human.
You have finally said it. What do we know if we know the amino acid sequences? Answer? Still waiting.
More, but maybe by a factor of only ten to the 6th power. They waste more on regulating printing on candy wrappers than the entire NASA budget every year.
Yay!
Nobody will be allowed off this planet. It isn't like jacking into the Internet. Only scientists will be going to Mars, and Government Scientists at that. The other 6 billion people can expect to spend their futile lives in the mud of earth. Forever.
More and more local Gummints are putting their assessing and planning databases online. The near elimination of lines of realtors and surveyors at the respective assessing and planning counters is remarkable, as is the reduction of numbers of staff behind the counter. Besides that, the Gummint now has a much better database for its own internal use, and almost all of it is completely available to the general public. For those who haven't taken the rudimentary step of getting online at the office or at home, the Gummint has thoughtfully provided a terminal at the counter. Somebody can usually be found there, amazed, and also amazed at how quickly they are done and outta there.
Grab one of the earth passing asteroids, put it in orbit, and it will sweep the junk all by itself. Plus, the junk is not entirely destroyed. It cost money to launch that mass, leave it up there.
This is only the beginning. The heavy hitters have only just noticed all of the rest of the solar system and the universe. I sure wouldn't want to be left sitting on my front stoop with a beer in my hand and a puppy in my lap when this ship leaves the dock.
We're not interested in operating the Universe by VR remote-control. We want to get our physical DNA out there, soon, and in quantity. Earth orbit isn't much of a destination. We need to set our sights considerably higher.
Beside which, if an asteroid smacks the planet, it's all over. No safety net for our DNA.
Currently there is one country going for the gold in space -- China. Where is everybody else?
That is the whole point of this exercise. If we are not planning to go out there ourselves in the flesh, then why bother to explore at all. Also, when mining the asteroids -- which we will do while developing earth's colorful ring of commsats -- before wasting funding elsewhere in space and obviously before landing humans on Mars, remember to not ship the ore back to earth. This is important. Ship only refined materials. We're talking bottom line.
Jules Verne being the archetypical sci-fi author, do what he did. He talked with actual scientists and his books are based on that. Even Sagan did that much. The idea of getting science ideas from an author is kind of backwards. Talk to the scientists the author talked to. Go to the source.