Elaborate.

It depends on several things. When talking about the entirety of the human race with its goals and achievements, you become very philosophical out of necessity. What do you regard as an accomplishment or achievement? What purpose is our species aimed at?

People will always die. They will always be sick, and they will always be hungry. But they will always look up at the stars and dream.

Nearly every technology involved in the space race has become a keystone of modern society though. If you're only looking at it via the lens of "shot some dudes to space" it's easy to see it as wasteful, but the actual technology we keep inventing in the pursuit of"shoot guys to space" is what matters.

Also the "total cost" adjusted for inflation of NASA in it's history is $900 billion, which while a big, scary sounding number, is still absoultly minor in the grand scheme. That's only 1/3 of running the USA for one year, it would do fuck all to end world hunger or end poverty forever.

How has that technology helped the systemic uneven development though?

The rich and powerful have utilised that technology and the masses continue to be enslaved in consumerism and wage labour, or poverty and unemployment.

The space programme's technological achievements haven't trickled down.

Actually scratch that 1/4, didn't round my math right.

That's a contradictory argument. You're dating the space programme continues in benefit and was not a one-off acheivement but if we used the same resources to challenge world hunger you see it only as a one off payment rather than a lasting project to create lasting benefits. The same rule should apply.

Just got back from Neptune, and boy are my hands cold

The point I'm making is the money used is absolutly nil and saying if we didn't do that we could have used those resources to fix another problem is madness. Especially when the government wastes far more money on far less useful things, like one fighter jet project.

I might be nil to you but it's certainly not nil from the 2 billion people living on less than 50 cents a day. Disgusting.

Get rid of the fighter jets too.

Ah I see, you're going to avoid the points I'm making to focus on half a statement to foward your argument.

This is why I try to avoid internet debate, because people like you are jackasses not interested in actual discouse.

Wow. I haven't been rude or insulting to you.

I'm just in bed, sleepily typing on my phone and it's 4am here.

You're being judgemental and rude. Take a step back before you criticise others with your arrogant assumptions.

Sounds like because I'm not agreeing with your opinion that you can be rude. You can apologise and then I'll reply more thoroughly to your points/continue our discourse in the morning.

In the meantime, I hope to hear from others too.

This is why we can't have nice things....

I'm sorry children. Next Christmas. We promise.

Sure, space travel served national interest in the 1960s, but we've largely come to a point when we don't need that sort of propaganda anymore. I personally think if this sort of thing got turned over into private hands it wouldn't be terribly tragic. People talk about the government going beyond the scope of the constitution in doing simple things like trying to get healthcare for citizens, but it's not like anyone looks at NASA in the same light at all, and a lot of arguments are that the government should waste more money into it.

Id like to see one day someone stand up in an office. Loudly say "you're all assholes!" And storm off. As if that happens.

It's already being turned over to private hands in the US, Prado.

NASA is one of the few things I like about our government.

Or perhaps I should say "was" and "liked."

Getting turned over into private hands is good, but it's also like 50 years too late. The moon landing would have been greater anti-Soviet propaganda if it had been funded by private American interests. While science and space exploration are good interests to have, they don't serve interests I personally think the government should be handling. These sorts of programs should be the first cuts in austerity measures.

http://costsmorethanspace.tumblr.com/

Yeah we ought to get rid of all those satellites that are cluttering up space and giving us world wide telephone service, satellite TV service, GPS, showing us our weather, crops, Google Earth, …. We would be so much better off if we never had all that.

Things were so much better in the 1950s when everyone had land line phones, fewer TV channels, imaging things on Earth was done by planes after they developed the films, ….

You know, I'm starting to believe that wjessop is genuinely unaware that he was indeed rude and insulting to Hastati. This is really quite fascinating. It could well be that from wjessop's perspective life is full of debates in which people get shirty with him for no apparent reason. You could almost write a paper on it.

Brownshirty.

I'd like to see one day someone stand up in an office, loudly say "you're disgusting!" to someone they've never met before, and storm off. As if that happens.

I think that 2 billion people living on less than 50 cents a day is disgusting.

I wasn't rude. I didn't say 'you're disgusting' to anyone.