This topic could go to RT or GD, either way. I'll see how it develops.

Here is a good presentation which shows how much we really spend on things like space exploration. Perhaps it can facilitate some discussion:

This was an essay assignment for me not more than a month ago, except I was arguing on the defense of space exploration having too MUCH funding. I've never heard the debate in reverse until now, and I actually think the talk did make a good case for it. In general I think people ignore the actual benefits that space exploration brings to EARTH itself (profit too... as that speaker said) and are too caught up in the false image that they're just throwing money out in space to take cool pictures as a hobby or something.

Something else to add is that I know at least Obama has talked of the importance of science and space exploration specifically, many times already. The speaker talked about the percentage of budget that science gets but he only implied that it wasn't an adequate amount... hmm.

Yeah, too bad he shafted NASA's "return to the moon" program which, if executed correctly, could bring about a never-ending source of clean energy.



Well, what's adequate is largely a matter of opinion. I think it wouldn't hurt to take some money from US enormous defense budget (which vastly exceeds those of other countries anyway) and shift it to space exploration programs.

We should use the funding for good causes.

Bring unlimited energy to the earth, and colonize mars by transferring CO2 into nontoxic greenhouse gases warming it to the earths heat.

Extra terrestrial affairs < Earthly affairs.

Minimal funding until we find absolutely confirmed, proven evidence that there are resources that WE can use out there to aide the starving, sick, impoverished, and dying human lives.

Unless we can confirm anything useful to us out there, we need to clean up our act in here first.

I dont see how extra terrestrial colonization will result in anything but yet another repeat in the cycle of the last 5000 years of human history, merely on a much grander scale of statistical quantification.


The quality of life must be improved before the quantity of life can prosper.

Didn't you watch the video? The existence of transistors (basically the building block of any electronic device ever), silicon-based chips (makes a computer possible), and even the first antibiotic Penicillin are results from science driven curiosity in understanding atomic phenomena made possible from our research of the sun, if I understood that part correctly.

urgh, is it transcribed? im hard of hearing and cant benefit from lectures and videos like most "normal" people.


I mean no irresponsibility or offense by ignoring videos and only paying heed to articles, but i actually have a physical limitation blocking me from the ease of convenience of technology.

I am hard of hearing in a manner that makes it nearly impossible to follow speech in person, and only even more difficult to follow the reduced sound quality on phones, radios, and youtube.

Though i admit, sound qualities are drastically improving in TV and computers, Youtube still has a loooong ways to go.


On topic: is there any benefit to anyone or anything but human societies in our exertion of self proclaimed dominance over the universe?

Is there no reason to care about anything but limited human prosperity within their societies?

Should we focus on expansion first, and homeless and starvation only after we've used the resources that could be used to address these problems for expansion?


Is expanding the human race, it's numbers, and understanding of how the universe works more important than life itself, to live, to be, to grow, to learn all our relations with our environment and then to die?


What is the objective, whose objective is it, and why is it more important than the homeless, the impoverished, and the sick and starving?


The CLAIM is that it is improving human life. The truth is that is only an opinion.


EDIT: ffff, mixed quote with edit button.

And what is the name of your disorder, if you don't mind me asking?
Because it seems to me you simply refuse to listen to evidence which goes contrary to your convictions.


Yes, there is benefit to all life - not just humans.
If we migrate to other places, there will be less hogging of Earth's resources. More animals can sustain themselves. Less have to die to make room for urban areas.



Should we perhaps wait until Earth's resources are depleted, nations are plunged into war, and mankind is extinct until we start working toward cosmic expansion?


Understanding our relations to environment? Don't we already?


Penicillin helped millions of sick people. Silicon transistors allow you to have this conversation with me now. They also revolutionized every single industry in the world, and allow more people to live. They (among other things) have been discovered thanks to astronomers.


No, it's a fact.
Of course, you probably believe the pinnacle of human condition is living on trees in blissful ignorance, hunting with spears, smoking the herb, and waiting for some global catastrophe to wipe out your primitive little tribe.

We give out massive funding to NASA each year. Is it worth it? At this point, yes. We've invested so much and gained relatively little. We haven't even begun commercially exporting natural resources from space to the Earth; cutting off funding now would be a major mistake as it would mean that most of the funding of previous years would have been literally wasted.

Should it be reduced? Eh... NASA is an economic stimulant. They provide jobs not just to engineers and scientists on their own staff but they also buy heavily from computing companies, metal factories, cryogenic facilities, etc. I think the funding is fine as is. No need to increase or decrease it.

In my view that is equal to saying you can predict the future ( no offense )

I do agree that exploration expands our understanding and answers and gives allot of new questions. However I also believe that if we keep thesame collective attitude as we have now there will be allot of things that will not improve at all, but thesame problems we are having now would be able to spread out over the universe along with us. To me having a better balance as a species is advancing. So i guess you could say this kind of exploring can be done upon earth itself because we are on earth. And the only way to improve ourselves is to explore ourselves.


I do not know the exact numbers but my guess is we spend just as much or even more on all combined research that is still figuring that out as with space exploration. For example we do not know all lifeforms, plantlife and how it exactely functions in the bigger picture and sometimes on a smaller scale. Though we know allot, we still find out tons of things every day.


We could also use that money to fund research to better use of our resources, I think that if we would be able to solve war and unnecessary dominance and form a unity of people on this earth. Instead of dominating eachother without truly knowing for what except for money and power. We would be able to explore in a much more effective way. Though I fully agree with overpopulation being an eventual problem.
I feel like war and domination will just follow us into space, because we have not even solved our own differences. And if I would have nothing, and I would hear how much there is spend on space exploration, I would find it hard to understand. To me it is logical to first build a 100% functional and stable nest before you start running of to other planets and potentially build another one. That could be like making a copy of something that is flawed. We could also take into account the damage we as humanity might potentially do to the universe if we start to eventually destroy other planets over time ( by depleting recourses or by war ).
I know that it sounds like a far stretch, but my point is, we actually know very very much, but at thesame time we do not know if what we know actually is very much compared to all that what needs to known for a species to survive because of its own balance with itself and nature/universe.

So why are we rushing outside, while we could actually be looking inside and ask ourselves what the hell is wrong with us. Before spreading over the universe like a potential form of cancer.

But that is my view, no offense intended to anyone.