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The Eagle Has Landed
http://war.studioshinnyo.com/warforum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3402		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Michael J Doyle [ Mon Jul 20, 2009 9:03 pm ]
Post subject:  The Eagle Has Landed
Just on the off chance that somebody's listening.

Forty years ago today, we put fire on the moon... (and bonus points for anybody who can cite that reference)

There are those who would say that was a waste. In my youth, I would hotly disagree. Hell, between microgravity manufacturing, asteroid mining, solar power satellites, and a hundred other opportunities I don't know enough chemistry or physics to recognize - Jerry Pournelle had it right: "It's raining soup Out There, and all we have to do is build soup bowls..."

These days, maybe I would concede a partial point. You see, I never imagined that we would collectively punk out like a bunch of weak-assed biatches. Ever heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy? We laid the foundations, blazed the trail, then turned our backs on it. Given the narrow, self-centered perspective we seem to have adopted, where the death by drug overdose of a pop-culture entertainer overshadows any person of real accomplishment, I am not optimistic that United States citizens will have anything to do with running the next mission to the Moon. (There may or may not be intelligent life in space, but there's strong doubt about intelligent life in Washington.)

However, I'm pretty sure humans will go to the Moon once more - and this next time, to stay. "What Man has done, Man can aspire to do again." Why? Well, broadly speaking, we can divide it into three categories. Mundanely, there's too much wealth to be had - it's raining soup Out There, remember? Viscerally, there's the thrill of doing something nobody else has done before - you get bragging rights.

And, spiritually, you're helping ensure the survival of the species. Even if you're not religious, that has to be a Good thing in any sane man's lexicon. But, if you want to have any part of ensuring the survival of the human race, I hope you have a talent for Mandarin, or Japanese, or maybe Portuguese.

Because, as Robert Heinlein pointed out, there is intelligent life in Tokyo, Beijing, and Brasilia...
Author:  Christopher Fiss [ Thu Jul 23, 2009 12:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The Eagle Has Landed
40 years. People have forgotten. People were hardly ever convinced in the first place.

And then it happened.

And then people woke up.

I pray for people to be inspired by gunslingers yet again. As someone who experiences the joy in looking forward, I can only hope we take the moon back as it should have been. Without nations. Without bullshit.

All we need is a reason to go back to fund it.
Author:  Michael J Doyle [ Thu Jul 23, 2009 1:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The Eagle Has Landed
Christopher Fiss wrote:
40 years. People have forgotten. People were hardly ever convinced in the first place.

And then it happened.

And then people woke up.

I pray for people to be inspired by gunslingers yet again. As someone who experiences the joy in looking forward, I can only hope we take the moon back as it should have been. Without nations. Without bullshit.

All we need is a reason to go back to fund it.

If I understand you correctly, we're on the same page - right idea, wrong reasons. You don't friggin' go to the Moon as a prize for Capitalism or Communism - bullshit on that! You go to the friggin' Moon, because the survival of Humanity depends upon it - planting a flag doesn't do jack, howzabout getting some soup bowls put together so we can feed some people down here? (Q.V. my quote from Jerry Pournelle, and then remember what the Tennessee Valley Authority did to relieve the poverty of Appallachia.)

IMHO, Government can no longer be trusted to do the right thing, if ever they could (remember that the TVA was one pellet out of the buckshot number of New Deal programs FDR cut loose with). OTOH, conventional corporations can't be trusted either (if a CEO doesn't turn a profit on the quarterly earnings statement, the board will fire his ass - he isn't permitted to plan for the long term).

Maybe I ought to give up my dibs call for the FissLantis Department of Homeland Security chairmanship and ask for dibs on the Ministry of Species Survival? :mrgreen:
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