Getting asked for personal information doesn't motivate me to lie, it motivates me to close the browser tab, click the continue button, or if all else fails, kill the process.
7b. Nor did you inherit millions of dollars from any Nigerians. Note that you are white and do not have any friends, relatives, acquaintances, colleagues, or coworkers in Nigeria.
They should put that on billboards and every other kind of public service announcement all over the world. Not that it would work particularly well, but over time it might. Like the gradual reduction of smoking in the US.
None of those things are true, nor are senior citizens the only dipshits out there.
This is moronic legislation put forth by corrupt, ignorant, and incompetent politicians. It would serve no useful purpose, not even helping people avoid fraud. It is stupidity, pure and simple.
You're not getting it. The costs of what you or anyone else have proposed far outweigh any credible gains. Manned space exploration is pointless and colossally expensive. All the dubious dreams expressed in this thread, namely mining asteroids, building infrastructure for Mars colonization in some distant future, etc. can be far more readily and cheaply achieved with unmanned missions. Humans will have no compelling role to play for at least a century. It is just too expensive, unsustainable, and tangential to any desirable short and medium term practical outcomes.
The trilogy was ludicrous, and the third volume was a thoroughly boring, sententious waste of time. If you think reality can even vaguely resemble that story, please send me a few grams of whatever you're smoking immediately.
I agree, however the main point isn't that, it is that a huge amount of money hangs in the balance of "different views on human nature and human psychology".
I disagree that there are "social, educational, and political aspects" in manned space exploration that are absent in robotic missions. There may be a slight effect on kids looking at a picture of a guy in a spacesuit or watching the occasional NASA show video, but these effects are minor and fleeting, and certainly not worth 1) the enormous cost, and 2) the displacement of unmanned missions due to budgetary reasons (namely that the money gets used up on water, toilets, cabin space, breathable atmosphere, etc.). There really is no compelling and justifiable reason to do it.
It just doesn't fail. You all are completely incapable of spotting the scam, are you? There is no point to sending humans into space. The usefulness for exploration, for science, for "getting us of this rock" is exactly zero. There is absolutely nothing that is compelling or desirable from space exploration that requires the physical presence of a human. Robotic missions are incomparably more productive and far, far cheaper.
We, as a species, will never "get off this rock." Perhaps, at colossal expense and for no useful purpose, tiny groups of people (less than a hundred at a time) will be able to live briefly in lunar colonies, and a century later perhaps on Mars. They will be temporary, because it will be unsustainable.
But this adolescent infatuation with the magical-religious cult of sci-fi space adventures evidently has blinded almost all of you. It is a scam, a ploy to give billions upon billions of dollars to defense and aerospace industries. The point of spending 20 or 50 or 100 billion dollars to create a lunar base is not to create a lunar base, it is to spend 20 or 50 or 100 billion dollars. The lunar base is a pretext, the bait to get the suckers to open their wallets.
I don't really care much if you believe the "get off this rock" bullshit. Your magical-religious inclinations are a bore. I respect and defend your right to have them, but I certainly cannot respect the beliefs themselves. I strenuously object to having even more tax dollars squandered on bullshit, bloating the Federal deficit and national debt even more to enrich the same old ruthless sociopathic crooks.
assume that if it is all blanks or all zeros, it's an error
don't check if it is all blanks or all zeros, and don't worry about it
I have a phone number that is all zeros in one of its fields, and for a couple years I would get several calls a week from people who were apparently responding to a page. They would invariably start out yelling "What!" or "Yes!?" or some such, like I had been harassing them for a while. It eventually stopped occurring, presumably after a code review at the telco.
By significant numbers of people I meant millions, tens or hundreds of millions. Placing such populations in orbit or on a place like the moon or mars (ignoring for the moment the unimaginable expense) would place them at great and constant risk. Not just big, tough, adventuresome, cool, hairy, dashing, daring, and manly men like yourself would be living there, but many, many people of all ages who are neither inclined nor willing to face a sudden loss of cabin pressure in orbit or on an orb with little or no atmosphere and a temperature differential easily greater than 100 degrees.
Does that make me a "wuss"? Sure, no doubt. Do I give a shit? Pshh! Only a dumbass would.
A single geologist could do in a week what a rover on mars takes a year to do.
Are sure you want to go on record with such a shallow and patently ridiculous claim? Can he do it for less than $300 million? Can he come back? Can't the rovers manipulate rocks? Do the rovers need air, water, 25 dgrees celsius at 1 atm of pressure, etc. etc.?
Manned colonization of the cosmos is demonstrably not magical thinking.
We would all be happy to see this demonstration. The examples you cite can hardly be considered colonization. They were lengthy and expensive amusement park rides.
Humans actually exploring the solar system is plausible and can be accomplished.
No. That is a false statement. It will remain false for scores or hundreds of years. The cost is still far beyond what any nation can justify, and there is no demonstrable benefit over unmanned missions with the same goals. There is no other habitable location in our solar system besides earth. Building off-planet locations for significant numbers of people is so costly and complex as to be considered incalculable. The great danger that would accompany thme would be morally unconscionable.
These benefits were not due to manned space exploration, which is the crux of the moon/mars issue. Manned space exploration is useless, robotic exploration is what has worked in the past and will work in the future.
the result of starting a mining colony on the Moon would be huge
No, they would not be. The transport of the mining equipment, resources, and minerals (or liquefied (?) helium) would be colossal relative to their benefit. It appears to be a very poor ROI.
You would spend billions and billions of dollars building a pointless low earth orbit ferris wheel and pretend you are some kind of space-faring Christopher Columbus. Oh, wait...
Manned exploration of the solar system is far from "easily doable with technology that exists right now." It is colossally expensive, and devising safe, prolonged missions to other problems is not even close to being a solved problem in practical, feasible terms. True to my post, you are forced to resort to emotional arguments. You have neglected to explain why humans need to be present in space. It is very much a magical-religious cult.
Name them. What ROI do we get from manned space exploration that cannot be obtained from vastly less expensive and more technologically sophisticated unmanned exploration? What is compelling at all about sending human beings to the moon and mars? What will they do that can't be achieved far sooner, on incomparably longer missions, and at much much less cost by machines?
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Getting asked for personal information doesn't motivate me to lie, it motivates me to close the browser tab, click the continue button, or if all else fails, kill the process.
7b. Nor did you inherit millions of dollars from any Nigerians. Note that you are white and do not have any friends, relatives, acquaintances, colleagues, or coworkers in Nigeria.
They should put that on billboards and every other kind of public service announcement all over the world. Not that it would work particularly well, but over time it might. Like the gradual reduction of smoking in the US.
None of those things are true, nor are senior citizens the only dipshits out there.
This is moronic legislation put forth by corrupt, ignorant, and incompetent politicians. It would serve no useful purpose, not even helping people avoid fraud. It is stupidity, pure and simple.
Sheesh...
How much would it cost? How long would it take? What segments of society can and would pay for it? What are you smoking? Can I have some?
You're not getting it. The costs of what you or anyone else have proposed far outweigh any credible gains. Manned space exploration is pointless and colossally expensive. All the dubious dreams expressed in this thread, namely mining asteroids, building infrastructure for Mars colonization in some distant future, etc. can be far more readily and cheaply achieved with unmanned missions. Humans will have no compelling role to play for at least a century. It is just too expensive, unsustainable, and tangential to any desirable short and medium term practical outcomes.
The trilogy was ludicrous, and the third volume was a thoroughly boring, sententious waste of time. If you think reality can even vaguely resemble that story, please send me a few grams of whatever you're smoking immediately.
Now I can wholeheartedly agree with that. Unfortunately.
I agree, however the main point isn't that, it is that a huge amount of money hangs in the balance of "different views on human nature and human psychology".
I disagree that there are "social, educational, and political aspects" in manned space exploration that are absent in robotic missions. There may be a slight effect on kids looking at a picture of a guy in a spacesuit or watching the occasional NASA show video, but these effects are minor and fleeting, and certainly not worth 1) the enormous cost, and 2) the displacement of unmanned missions due to budgetary reasons (namely that the money gets used up on water, toilets, cabin space, breathable atmosphere, etc.). There really is no compelling and justifiable reason to do it.
Instead of insulting, why don't you point out why you think I'm wrong without emotional or circular arguments?
By your brief and succinct remark, it is clear that I am referring to people very much like yourself.
It just doesn't fail. You all are completely incapable of spotting the scam, are you? There is no point to sending humans into space. The usefulness for exploration, for science, for "getting us of this rock" is exactly zero. There is absolutely nothing that is compelling or desirable from space exploration that requires the physical presence of a human. Robotic missions are incomparably more productive and far, far cheaper.
We, as a species, will never "get off this rock." Perhaps, at colossal expense and for no useful purpose, tiny groups of people (less than a hundred at a time) will be able to live briefly in lunar colonies, and a century later perhaps on Mars. They will be temporary, because it will be unsustainable.
But this adolescent infatuation with the magical-religious cult of sci-fi space adventures evidently has blinded almost all of you. It is a scam, a ploy to give billions upon billions of dollars to defense and aerospace industries. The point of spending 20 or 50 or 100 billion dollars to create a lunar base is not to create a lunar base, it is to spend 20 or 50 or 100 billion dollars. The lunar base is a pretext, the bait to get the suckers to open their wallets.
I don't really care much if you believe the "get off this rock" bullshit. Your magical-religious inclinations are a bore. I respect and defend your right to have them, but I certainly cannot respect the beliefs themselves. I strenuously object to having even more tax dollars squandered on bullshit, bloating the Federal deficit and national debt even more to enrich the same old ruthless sociopathic crooks.
Wake the fuck up! What are you, six years old?
Trust me, it can just as easily go the other way.
I have a phone number that is all zeros in one of its fields, and for a couple years I would get several calls a week from people who were apparently responding to a page. They would invariably start out yelling "What!" or "Yes!?" or some such, like I had been harassing them for a while. It eventually stopped occurring, presumably after a code review at the telco.
So, you provide a mindless explanation to demonstrate that my claim is mindless? I admit there is a certain mindless symmetry there.
Only for a wuss like you.
By significant numbers of people I meant millions, tens or hundreds of millions. Placing such populations in orbit or on a place like the moon or mars (ignoring for the moment the unimaginable expense) would place them at great and constant risk. Not just big, tough, adventuresome, cool, hairy, dashing, daring, and manly men like yourself would be living there, but many, many people of all ages who are neither inclined nor willing to face a sudden loss of cabin pressure in orbit or on an orb with little or no atmosphere and a temperature differential easily greater than 100 degrees.
Does that make me a "wuss"? Sure, no doubt. Do I give a shit? Pshh! Only a dumbass would.
A single geologist could do in a week what a rover on mars takes a year to do.
Are sure you want to go on record with such a shallow and patently ridiculous claim? Can he do it for less than $300 million? Can he come back? Can't the rovers manipulate rocks? Do the rovers need air, water, 25 dgrees celsius at 1 atm of pressure, etc. etc.?
Manned colonization of the cosmos is demonstrably not magical thinking.
We would all be happy to see this demonstration. The examples you cite can hardly be considered colonization. They were lengthy and expensive amusement park rides.
Humans actually exploring the solar system is plausible and can be accomplished.
No. That is a false statement. It will remain false for scores or hundreds of years. The cost is still far beyond what any nation can justify, and there is no demonstrable benefit over unmanned missions with the same goals. There is no other habitable location in our solar system besides earth. Building off-planet locations for significant numbers of people is so costly and complex as to be considered incalculable. The great danger that would accompany thme would be morally unconscionable.
How is it mindless? Please justify your belief that manned space flight is more compelling than unmanned flight.
These benefits were not due to manned space exploration, which is the crux of the moon/mars issue. Manned space exploration is useless, robotic exploration is what has worked in the past and will work in the future.
the result of starting a mining colony on the Moon would be huge
No, they would not be. The transport of the mining equipment, resources, and minerals (or liquefied (?) helium) would be colossal relative to their benefit. It appears to be a very poor ROI.
What would we do without bright people like you?
You would spend billions and billions of dollars building a pointless low earth orbit ferris wheel and pretend you are some kind of space-faring Christopher Columbus. Oh, wait...
Manned exploration of the solar system is far from "easily doable with technology that exists right now." It is colossally expensive, and devising safe, prolonged missions to other problems is not even close to being a solved problem in practical, feasible terms. True to my post, you are forced to resort to emotional arguments. You have neglected to explain why humans need to be present in space. It is very much a magical-religious cult.
Hear hear! I'm fed up with this superstitious crap.
Name them. What ROI do we get from manned space exploration that cannot be obtained from vastly less expensive and more technologically sophisticated unmanned exploration? What is compelling at all about sending human beings to the moon and mars? What will they do that can't be achieved far sooner, on incomparably longer missions, and at much much less cost by machines?