I still think an organization needs to be created to compete with all the
other government organizations with the primary goal of making mankind a
more civilized species. At least to create a gap between those who have no
desire for knowledge, because those people hold us back from becoming
something that might make us proud to call ourselves human. And all profit
from that organization goes towards that goal. No member of that
organization gets anything more from that organization than anybody else, so
there can be no misappropiation of funds.
I kind of have a plan. I'll make a web page to detail it out, then see what
everyone thinks. Probably start a list if there's any interest.
- R. Crawley
<chooser-of-tactics>
----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Green" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, June 18, 2001 3:51 PM
Subject: Re: Mr. Modesty strikes again
>
> Well, I'm not holding my breath for privitazation of space exporation.
Aside
> from thrill rides to the moon and possibly "patenting" genomes of europan
slime,
> there's not a lot of hope for profit making ventures until launch costs
come WAY
> down. The purist in me would also hate having to purchase pictures of
Pluto, or
> missions decided purely on profit motives alone. I like the idea that
> information about our universe is public domain. I'm not saying I'm an
> anti-capitalist, but pure science is best researched without tainting it
further
> with profits (or political agendas).
>
> I happen to think Goldin's statement is fairly honest; they could do
better, but
> they do well on what they set out for. For example, NASA does contract
out the
> building of space craft to private industry and coordinates with
universities to
> process and store the mission data. They ask private industry to propose
> missions to meet their objectives. So in a sense, they are acting as
mission
> managers and delegating where possible. It's not immediately clear to me
how
> this can be improved upon. Any suggestions?
>
> Sure NASA is not perfect, but maybe if our goal is to trim government
waste, we
> should compare NASA with other forms of government spending and its
associated
> return. My current favorites are the Kenneth Starr style of
"investigation" and
> the new missile defense initiative.
>
> An alternative would be to compare NASA's effectiveness to other national
space
> programs: NASDA, ESA, and Russia.
>
> I honestly have no idea of the facts, but my hunch is NASA is not a
mismanaged
> institution by a long shot, considering they rank very high up there on
the list
> of major accomplishments.
>
> Cheers,
> Tom
>
> Bruce Moomaw wrote:
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Gail & Roberta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Date: Monday, June 18, 2001 10:04 AM
> > Subject: Re: Mr. Modesty strikes again
> >
> > >
> > >No, I won't "start up" because you're exactly right, Bruce. I've seen
> > >several articles lately that recall the early days of the "space race"
when
> > >money (government money, that is) was no object and some are still in
that
> > >mode of thinking. That said, I wonder what we on the Europa discussion
site
> > >can do to change that kind of thinking. I believe I have expressed my
> > >opinion that private industry is the only way to go from here, and that
we
> > >should encourage space tourism as one element--just one element, mind
you,
> > >not the whole enchilada. Maybe NASA
> > >should be the coordinator of projects for space exploration instead of
the
> > >prime executor. They could at least encourage private experimenters
instead
> > >of considering them as unwanted competition. Or maybe competition is
what
> > is
> > >needed. I don't have the answers; maybe together we could come up with
some
> > >practical, workable, and influential plans.
> > >In the meantime,
> > >Watch the skies!
> >
> > Okey-doke; this is exactly in mesh with my own line of thinking (except
that
> > I have very serious doubts about space tourism with present technology).
> > Sorry about the earlier rather snide comment on my part; but I will
repeat
> > that uncritical enthusiasm about something as expensive as space
exploration
> > is precisely the sort of thing that has always gotten it in trouble. To
> > make it work at all, we have to be critical as hell about the means in
order
> > to have any hope of achieving the ends. (The Bush Administration, I
gather,
> > is still beating the bushes trying to find ANYONE new who's willing to
try
> > to grapple with the mess that the civilian space program has become at
this
> > point.)
>
> ==
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