A Space & astronomy forum. SpaceBanter.com

Go Back   Home » SpaceBanter.com forum » Space Science » History
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Why Colonize Space?



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #51  
Old July 21st 09, 06:51 PM posted to alt.philosophy,rec.arts.sf.written,sci.space.history,sci.physics,sci.econ
Rod Speed
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 387
Default Why Colonize Space?

wrote:
In sci.physics "Giga" "Giga" just(removetheseandaddmatthe
wrote:

wrote in message
...
In sci.physics "Giga" "Giga" just(removetheseandaddmatthe
wrote:

"Immortalista" wrote in message
...
Today I was reading some opinions of people who believe that
there is no reason for humans to leave earth. Are all arguments
for moving into space and onto other bodies in space really that
weak and irrelevant?

To say on the one hand that there is no reason and on the other
'it is too
expensive' is a kind of a contradiction. This means that if it was
a lot cheaper then it would be justified, and that means there
must be some reason
for doing it, and the persons putting forward such an argument
obviously recognise that. So if it just a question of allocation
of resources, rather
than fundamental value of the enterprise, then fine, it should
recognised as
a financial discussion, not really a philosophical one.

Depends on who you are talking about doing it and what you are
talking about doing.

Governments do lots of things for no other reason than enough people
think it is a "good idea" both directly and indirectly through
grants.


i.e, the voters and tax payers who are going to pay for it?


Yeah, through the elected representatives funding things like NASA.

Commercial enterprise doesn't do anything that doesn't have a ROI.


Potential and hoped for ROI at least.


What's your point?

There is little in life that is a sure thing, but if your business
plan
doesn't show a good ROI, the bean counters won't fund you.

The only government colonies have all been penal colonies.


America wasn't a penal colony.


I didn't say it was.

The colonies in North America were not government colonies either.
They
were funded by private enterprise.

It is estimated that 50,000 convicts were sent to North America by
Britain
to serve as slaves or endentured labor.


Australia had many government colonies, all penal colonies.


Nope, some of them were not penal colonys.

While there were some "free settlements" in Australia,
the population was predomanitly convicts and their
decendants until the gold rushes of the 1850's.


Thats a lie.


  #52  
Old July 21st 09, 07:01 PM posted to alt.philosophy,rec.arts.sf.written,sci.space.history,sci.physics,sci.econ
Rod Speed
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 387
Default Why Colonize Space?

Giga" "Giga wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Giga" "Giga wrote
Immortalista wrote


Today I was reading some opinions of people who believe that there
is no reason for humans to leave earth. Are all arguments for moving into space and onto other bodies in space
really that weak and irrelevant?


To say on the one hand that there is no reason and on the other 'it is too expensive' is a kind of a contradiction.


Nope, the original is just a loose form of saying that there
is CURRENTLY no reason for humans to colonise space.


I presume by emphasising 'currently' you mean there might be in the future,


Yes, I'm not silly enough to dismiss that possibility completely.

or perhaps there will be.


Nope.

I suppose if you are already living the good life then why bother, but billions of people are not.


But its MUCH cheaper to improve their life significantly here on
earth than it is to give them a better life on mars or the moon etc.

This means that if it was a lot cheaper then it would be justified,


Not necessarily, most obviously if no one is interested in being colonists etc.


I think many people would be interested, me for one,


I bet you wouldnt when it came to the crunch and your nose was rubbed in the downsides.

but I doubt that I would be chosen.


Dunno, someone may want to get rid of you.

and that means there must be some reason for doing it, and the
persons putting forward such an argument obviously recognise that.


Utterly mangled all over again.


So you do not recognise any value human beings exploring space with manned craft?


No, compare with the much cheaper and more viable alternative of exploring space with unmanned craft.

That would be an extreme and difficult to justify position.


Wrong, as always. Completely trivial on cost alone in fact.

So if it just a question of allocation of resources,


It isnt.


rather than fundamental value of the enterprise, then fine, it should recognised as a financial discussion, not
really a philosophical one.


No one ever said it was a philosophical one.



  #53  
Old July 21st 09, 08:52 PM posted to alt.philosophy,rec.arts.sf.written,sci.space.history,sci.econ
Quadibloc
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 7,018
Default Why Colonize Space?

On Jul 20, 8:51*pm, "Giga" "Giga" just(removetheseandaddmatthe end)
wrote:

I'm sure there are other sheilding methods than just great big lumps of
lead. Surely one can generate something of a magnetic field around the
spaceship (loads of free electricity after all).


Not all forms of radiation consist of electrically charged particles.

John Savard
  #55  
Old July 21st 09, 09:12 PM posted to alt.philosophy,rec.arts.sf.written,sci.space.history,sci.physics,sci.econ
tadchem[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 235
Default Why Colonize Space?

On Jul 20, 5:47*pm, Immortalista wrote:
Today I was reading some opinions of people who believe that there is
no reason for humans to leave earth. Are all arguments for moving into
space and onto other bodies in space really that weak and irrelevant?


....only to weak and irrelevant people.

George Mallory (1886-1924), in answer to the question 'Why do you want
to climb Mt. Everest ?', answered "Because it is there."

The development of humanity as a species is based largely on the
development of individuals. This development occurs because of people
who try to do things that haven't been done before.

Granted there are people who are too timid to try anything new. They
are usually adept at making excuses for their lack of temerity. I am
surrounded here in Richmond, VA by people who have never even traveled
more than 100 miles from their birthplace - people who still live in
the home their parents lived in when they were born.

I do not consider them my intellectual or cultural peers.

Tom Davidson
Richmond, VA
  #56  
Old July 21st 09, 09:18 PM posted to alt.philosophy,rec.arts.sf.written,sci.space.history,sci.physics,sci.econ
David Johnston
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 178
Default Why Colonize Space?

On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:12:12 -0700 (PDT), tadchem
wrote:

On Jul 20, 5:47*pm, Immortalista wrote:
Today I was reading some opinions of people who believe that there is
no reason for humans to leave earth. Are all arguments for moving into
space and onto other bodies in space really that weak and irrelevant?


...only to weak and irrelevant people.

George Mallory (1886-1924), in answer to the question 'Why do you want
to climb Mt. Everest ?', answered "Because it is there."


How many people make the summit of Mt. Everest their domicile?


  #57  
Old July 21st 09, 09:20 PM posted to alt.philosophy,rec.arts.sf.written,sci.space.history,sci.physics,sci.econ
Scott Lurndal
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 15
Default Why Colonize Space?

Pat Flannery writes:


Puppet_Sock wrote:
Oh, by the way. Space is already making huge stacks
of money for those participating. Space has been a
net profit for some considerable time now. There are
these things called weather satts, telecom satts, GPS,
and others. They are already producing more revenue
than is spent on space, by a lot. So you can just go
turn in your GPS, your cell phone, your internet
connection, your weather reports, etc.


You've confused "space" with "manned space"
The only ones that have made a buck off of manned space are the Russians
with their space tourist program.
And you notice that they just take one tourist along on a already
planned trip to the ISS, and haven't started to send up Soyuz flights
with all-tourist crews, or build a space station just for tourist use.

Pat


http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/
  #58  
Old July 21st 09, 09:22 PM posted to rec.arts.sf.written,sci.space.history,sci.physics,sci.econ
Androcles[_8_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,135
Default Why Colonize Space?


"David Johnston" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:12:12 -0700 (PDT), tadchem
wrote:

On Jul 20, 5:47 pm, Immortalista wrote:
Today I was reading some opinions of people who believe that there is
no reason for humans to leave earth. Are all arguments for moving into
space and onto other bodies in space really that weak and irrelevant?


...only to weak and irrelevant people.

George Mallory (1886-1924), in answer to the question 'Why do you want
to climb Mt. Everest ?', answered "Because it is there."


How many people make the summit of Mt. Everest their domicile?

None.
How many weak-minded and irrelevant idiots like you ask stooopid questions?

*plonk*

Do not reply to this generic message, it was automatically generated;
you have been kill-filed, either for being boringly stupid, repetitive,
unfunny, ineducable, repeatedly posting politics, religion or off-topic
subjects to a sci. newsgroup, attempting cheapskate free advertising
for profit, because you are a troll, simply insane or any combination
or permutation of the aforementioned reasons; any reply will go unread.

Boringly stupid is the most common cause of kill-filing, but because
this message is generic the other reasons have been included. You are
left to decide which is most applicable to you.

There is no appeal, I have despotic power over whom I will electronically
admit into my home and you do not qualify as a reasonable person I would
wish to converse with or even poke fun at. Some weirdoes are not kill-
filed, they amuse me and I retain them for their entertainment value
as I would any chicken with two heads, either one of which enables the
dumb bird to scratch dirt, step back, look down, step forward to the
same spot and repeat the process eternally.

This should not trouble you, many of those plonked find it a blessing
that they are not required to think and can persist in their bigotry
or crackpot theories without challenge.

You have the right to free speech, I have the right not to listen. The
kill-file will be cleared annually with spring cleaning or whenever I
purchase a new computer or hard drive.

I hope you find this explanation is satisfactory but even if you don't,
damnly my frank, I don't give a dear. Have a nice day.






  #59  
Old July 21st 09, 09:30 PM posted to alt.philosophy,rec.arts.sf.written,sci.space.history,sci.physics,sci.econ
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,346
Default Why Colonize Space?

In sci.physics tadchem wrote:
On Jul 20, 5:47Â*pm, Immortalista wrote:
Today I was reading some opinions of people who believe that there is
no reason for humans to leave earth. Are all arguments for moving into
space and onto other bodies in space really that weak and irrelevant?


...only to weak and irrelevant people.

George Mallory (1886-1924), in answer to the question 'Why do you want
to climb Mt. Everest ?', answered "Because it is there."


Mallory didn't operate on taxpayer money and there are no colonies on
Mt. Everest.

The reasons for going to Everest were the same as the US going to the
Moon; political pride.

The development of humanity as a species is based largely on the
development of individuals. This development occurs because of people
who try to do things that haven't been done before.

Granted there are people who are too timid to try anything new. They
are usually adept at making excuses for their lack of temerity. I am
surrounded here in Richmond, VA by people who have never even traveled
more than 100 miles from their birthplace - people who still live in
the home their parents lived in when they were born.

I do not consider them my intellectual or cultural peers.

Tom Davidson
Richmond, VA


So if one of those people decides to expand their horizons with a trip
to space, are you going to front them the $20-28 million?


--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.
  #60  
Old July 21st 09, 09:35 PM posted to alt.philosophy,rec.arts.sf.written,sci.space.history,sci.physics,sci.econ
Rod Speed
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 387
Default Why Colonize Space?

tadchem wrote
Immortalista wrote


Today I was reading some opinions of people who believe that there
is no reason for humans to leave earth. Are all arguments for moving
into space and onto other bodies in space really that weak and irrelevant?


...only to weak and irrelevant people.


We'll see...

George Mallory (1886-1924), in answer to the question 'Why do
you want to climb Mt. Everest ?', answered "Because it is there."


You're welcome to **** off into space any time you like.

I wont be paying an immense amount of money for you to do that tho.

The development of humanity as a species is
based largely on the development of individuals.


Complete and utter mindlessly silly drivel.

This development occurs because of people who
try to do things that haven't been done before.


Quite a bit of the time it aint.

Granted there are people who are too timid to try anything new.


And plenty with enough of a clue to be able to grasp that there are plenty
of much better things to spend that immense amount of money on too.

They are usually adept at making excuses for their lack of temerity.


And plenty dont need any excuse to no **** that sort of money against the wall.

I am surrounded here in Richmond, VA by people who have never
even traveled more than 100 miles from their birthplace - people
who still live in the home their parents lived in when they were born.


Your problem.

I do not consider them my intellectual or cultural peers.


Your problem.


 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Bill Stone is determined to colonize outer space [email protected][_1_] Policy 4 July 2nd 07 12:25 AM
Why Colonize Space? Because We Are Dealing In Absolutes G. L. Bradford Policy 33 April 1st 06 07:02 PM
Why Colonize Space? Because We Are Dealing In Absolutes G. L. Bradford Policy 3 March 31st 06 02:22 AM
Let's Colonize the Universe Rudolph_X Astronomy Misc 21 March 23rd 04 09:04 PM
Best asteroids to colonize? Hop David Technology 3 August 14th 03 07:12 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 02:30 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 SpaceBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.