Gregg Easterbrook has a great piece in Slate today about the pointlessness of NASA's new project to colonize the moon: Why do we need a moon base? About the only plausible reason he can find is that it keeps the cash flowing to NASA and its contractors.
You can also check out NASA's web page for the project, which has a cornucopia of PR nonsense -- charts, movies, even a poster! The pitch begins this way:
Why The Moon?
If you asked 100 people why we should return to the moon, you'd probably get 100 answers - or more! [Gee willikers!] Over the past year, NASA posed this question not just to 100 people, but to more than 1,000 from around the world. Scientists, engineers, commercial entrepreneurs, space advocates, and the general public all provided answers to this intriguing question.
You know, if your research proposal requires such a huge project just to find a reason to begin, then maybe it's not that important.
See also: NASA Plans Permanent Moon Base (NYT, Dec. 5)
This is a perfect topic for you, Kevin, because it really touches on the keystone issue of your blog, which is Why Do It? This stance is, I think, a healthy one to take on many things these days.
Waaay back in 2000, there was a ton of debate going on at the website for the Mars Society, where lots and lots of people were bubbling and chirping about going to Mars. I think that interstellar space colonization bears some exceeding deep thinking and reasoning and I did not see these people doing much of that. I thought they had drank the Martian Colonization Kool-aid, and here's a rough list of my recollection of how and what they were thinking, to sum up:
(1) Space travel spurs technological development. My response: Mmmm, life was decent enough in 1950. What is the meaning of this? See this weblog's main title.
(2) Human beings are destined for the stars. My response: Mmmmmm, Europeans around 1492 thought they were destined for the East Indies but they got something else entirely and ended up setting forth upon the Americas a genocide of epic scale. All for a lousy dollar. Manifest destiny is an ugly ugly phenomena. Will this type of thing happen on an interstellar basis? What rights does a Martian spore (or in this case a Lunar spore) actually have? Does a Martian spore have the right to be left alone by pesky biped earthlings? No rights, according to these people. No rights!
These Moon/Mars Colony topics just remind me of how the word 'lunacy' comes from the word 'lunar'.
Posted by: Rob Gilpatric | Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 04:50 PM
That reminds me of Will Wright's new game, Spore, where the ultimate objective is to move your species into space to colonize/terrorize civilizations on other planets.
Posted by: Kevin | Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 08:28 PM
Yeah, Spore is very goal-oriented, from a zoomed out perspective. And manifest destiny is built right into its very fabric. Will Wright's games sure are popular.
Posted by: Rob Gilpatric | Thursday, December 14, 2006 at 01:40 PM
Yeah, Spore is very goal-oriented, from a zoomed out perspective. And manifest destiny is built right into its very fabric. Will Wright's games sure are popular.
Posted by: Rob Gilpatric | Thursday, December 14, 2006 at 01:40 PM