No Right Answer: Is Going to Space Worth It?

errorwrong

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Apr 14, 2013
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Firefilm said:
errorwrong said:
Is it just me, or was this the angriest debate on No Right Answer? Admittedly, it is a more important debate than Ninja Turtles V. Power Rangers.
Kyle was passionate due to this being his thing. He wrote a novel on it!
What's the name of the novel?
 

Pills_Here

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Dec 10, 2009
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Both of your arguments were terrible and nobody wins. I'm a little disappointed with you both, see me after class.
 

Snotnarok

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RubyT said:
Snotnarok said:
You know all those cellphones you got in your pockets? That's thanks to space exploration. Advanced imaging devices for medical scanners? Space. Advanced lasers and optics, space- there's LISTS of things that has been possible thanks to us just LOOKING out there. Exploring space has brought incredible technology to us that you likely use in daily life and you didn't even know it.
You don't need to go to space for any of that.

And there's no telling what kind of things we could have if the trillions poured into space flight were directed at research for terrestrial things.

This argument is just an extension to the "War has benefits" argument, because after all, most space efforts were driven by the military. We only have GPS or the Internet because of military efforts. Or do we?!?

I want to be a fan of space exploration, but it's just so bleak up there. So what if we put people on the Moon or Mars. Those are frickin' deserts. We know what they look like and it doesn't make me think "We should live there!"

Our solar system has but one nice place and we're already there. Alpha Centauri is beyond reach. Sure, there is something to be said for laying the groundwork. But I can't get excited to put money into a space exploration effort that will maybe see results in 200 years.
No, that's the problem- you can have all this money for research but you need to explore and overcome things to advance things. So many things came from just observing space, never the less going there- that it's more than paid for it. Ever fly in a plane? Well anti-ice and ice detection technology was created because of NASA and space exploration. Shoe insoles? NASA.
It's not the same as war has benefits, that's an insane comparison. One is warring sides killing people with a insane budget, the other is something that takes up less than a 16th of a penny in taxes and furthers science with the only casualties being failures.

http://www.wtfnasa.com/

^ Go here, explains everything NASA alone has given people from invisible braces to GPS devices to better breast cancer check-ups. Space exploration helps advance science because we have to overcome incredible things that aren't even a thought down here, things that when applied down here help everyone live better. It's because of space exploration the modern world has advanced so far, and it should be a focus to not put just put a human on mars, but to advance the world, hell maybe unite us.
 

Firefilm

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May 27, 2011
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Pills_Here said:
Both of your arguments were terrible and nobody wins. I'm a little disappointed with you both, see me after class.
Isn't there something we can do to raise our grade? (Dan unbuttons shirt)
 

DrTesla

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Sep 10, 2013
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Saying we should't invest in space technology because we cannot truly habit it yet is like if the people way back would have said "this so called electricity is pointless and of no use, all we can make it to do is few sparks and make someones hair go stick up."
 

red255

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Apr 22, 2014
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RubyT said:
red255 said:
I'll post 3 things which are basically plot holes in why the light speed barrier does not exist.
So glad this finally got solved. I knew all it took was one guy on the web who thinks things through.
Are you making fun of me? or agreeing with me.

Point one from a math standpoint you have C which is a constant and a very large number, your speed. which is maybe variable but very high and very close to C (lightspeed)

and the math apparently works out to C = C + your speed, Because Quantum. which is basically saying Because magic.

and a similiar math proof is looking at .9 repeating = 1. because it it doesn't you can have a proof that ends up with 1=2 or something clearly false. so if you have an end result of C = C + something you have something initially that you were trying to prove being False.

alternatively if it WAS true that would mean that you couldn't go faster than light because light just goes faster than you, either way you should not worry about it.

Point 2. um they took this from like the superman movie. Anything involving time travel is generally wrong.

Point 3. I'm willing to retract since I only heard one guy say it and am not even sure its true. it does seem to be the one thats easiest to check though so I assumed it was true. but if you have evidence that the observable universe is not a circle at lightspeed from us which does seem to suggest what I said, or if you can come up with a different conclusion.

so if you want to debate it point 3 seems to be the easiest to do. Haven't really thought about point three that much.
 

Johnny Lunchbox

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Feb 15, 2010
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I know it's been mentioned, but I cannot stress this enough: Technological advances developed for space travel very, very often have practical applications. Research for 'space arms' are used for prosthetics. Re-entry shielding is used for fireproofing. Extreme-environment suit technology is used in firefighters' outfits and emergency hypothermia blankets (you know, the thin silver ones you find in first-aid kits). Air fitlers, memory foam, heart pumps, baby food...

...and the payout to keeping space exploration publicly funded, which many people don't seem to realize, is that NASA doesn't withhold technology for fear of competition, or price-gouge when they have a monopoly on the technology. Do you think that the life-saving technology to emerge from research conducted for the privately-owned McRocketRib (the McDonald's pod mentioned in the debate) will be shared freely, or sold for a metric buttload of profit?

Look at it this way: NASA is Tesla, innovating for the sake of innovation, working for the sake of science and the benefit of all mankind. Private space corporations are like Edison, who see invention with big cartoon dollar signs in their eyes.
 

onepeach

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Mar 30, 2011
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I'm done with this show. As far as I'm concerned, Chris is absolutely wrong. It's never going to be "the right time" for space travel, but it needs doing. It's just physics. It's not urgent in terms of human lifetimes, but it needs doing! The spin-off benefits we get from space travel should be enough to convince even the most backwards of luddites!