pluto is dead? who cares???

Pluto was always a mickey mouse sort of planet anyway.

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So Pluto is to small, personally i'd be more worried if someone told Uranus is to big!

scatmantom said:

So Pluto is to small, personally i'd be more worried if someone told Uranus is to big!

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:lol:

savage_beagle said:

All THAT MONEY THAT COULD BE SPENT TO feed the poor, educate the ignorant, shelter those that live in poverty, protect our water and plants/animals from the pollution we impose upon them, is spent on a far away fantasy of nothingness.

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That's not going to happen any time soon. The reason being, too many people benefit from the status quo, mostly us Westerners.
-Why build industrial infrastructure in poor countries when that would only mean more competition and higher prices on the global market?
-Why develop and sell a one-time cure to people when you can sell them alleviating medicine for the rest of their lives?
-Why educate people when they are easier to manipulate when ignorant?
-Why buy a normal car when an SUV is so much more imposing?
-Why share resources when you don't have to?
-Why include someone when bullying him/her will improve your own social status?
-Why care about the environment when the Rapture is near anyway?
The list goes on... It's not as easy as taking money from NASA and doing wonderful things. The problem is much deeper.

I can see where you're coming from, but why focus on space exploration which, at least, could one day lead to colonization? It's getting crowded here, you know. How about the enormous amount of money involved in sports? And why? Because one guy runs slightly faster than another guy. Great...

i realize it's not as simple...

Hi! ....of course i realize it is not as simple as taking money away from one agency and dispersing the loot to where we think it should be used. We do have plenty of food and water here on our planet, it is the way it is controlled that stops us from successfully feeding everyone. Education is a good thing, end of argument. Over and over , in the history of mankind, what was once thought of impossible and lasting forever...changes were made possible by educated and strong willed individuals and groups. When you get tired of living like a sheep and being told and forced to live a certain way, the sheep has to turn into a lion and take charge of its destiny. I honestly think that mankind will expire on earth due to wars and natural disasters before we truly attempt to colonize some far off, dead-no oxygen planet. BUT again, we humans are a determined bunch...if we get our act together and it happens , ok...but in the meantime...lets take care of the mess in our own backyard first! :wink:

but space exploration is about trying to work out the history of the universe, how it all began, where we came from...it's the biggest mystery of all, one which mankind will always be fascinated by and strive to find the answers

humans will always fight each other, cause suffering, endure illness, etc...space exploration is a wonderful escape from all the misery and crap, it helps keep things in perspective

the rings around uranus truly are a sight to behold

You're missing part of the bigger picture. As science advances, its ability to help the poor and unfortunate increases greatly. Scientific advances in fields that might seem completely unrelated to solving poverty can have a huge positive effect on the quality of life for the poor.

Take genetic engineering. We as a society (both privately and publicly) poured billions of dollars into this scientific field over the last 20 years.

Today, it's producing genetically modified foods like Golden Rice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rice) that can help solve malnutrition in the poorest countries of the world.

As society advances scientifically, its ability to help its poorest members advances too.

savage_beagle said:

All THAT MONEY THAT COULD BE SPENT TO feed the poor, educate the ignorant, shelter those that live in poverty, protect our water and plants/

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Don't delude yourself into believing that if the money wasn't spent on space it would be channeled to your noble causes.

Most money the government spends now really doesn't exist anyway. It's all foreign debt bought up by China etc. When this process ends (perhaps soon) , then your true worries begin.

Check the US debt:

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
http://zfacts.com/p/461.html

Ten times that is what is actually owed if you also consider all current actuarial commitments to health care, social security etc.

Good luck!

thanks for the input

THANKS for the input on this subject, i read the replies and i understand the advantages and disadvantages of both arguments. I consider myself a realist, and i know that in the ''real world'', if the money was diverted to noble causes, problems would still exists. But, cmon, poverty and starvation are for the most part, a man made misery. There is plenty of land, food, water and everything any human and animal desires...its just overly contolled by man's greediness. Money is what makes the world go round and round. There may always be diseases, we may be able to wipe out certain diseases....but new ones (and old) pop up to replace them, as we were meant to die eventually, within a limited time frame. When you die, the only thing that leaves this earth is your soul. All the time, effort and money we put into ''dead objects'' (cars, computers, clothes, houses, sky scrapers, roads, your sister's dildo collection) will remain on earth or perish from various events like volcanic activity, meteors, floods, hurricanes or asshole humans dropping nuclear weapons on ourselves. My original post was about taking care of the mess in our own backyard first, and a low priority to exploring dead planets. People first ( all of GOD'S earth)...never mind the dead objects in outer space, we should concentrate on human suffering and positive solutions. :wink: