Need Some Input Please

[SkepticalScience]

Hey Guys,

Had lunch today with someone who contends that we should cut funding for the space program, and use that money to revamp and/or put more money into the welfare program. He claims it will help society better . . .

What do you all think about that?

[Grammatron]

Originally posted by SkepticalScience
Hey Guys,

Had lunch today with someone who contends that we should cut funding for the space program, and use that money to revamp and/or put more money into the welfare program. He claims it will help society better . . .

What do you all think about that?

I think your friend is wrong, but I would like to know exactly how it will "help society better."

[Sundog]

Well, for starters, define "the welfare program".

[Bjorn]

The immediate result of cutting the spending for space programs would be more money available for other purposes - schools, medicare, Cuban cigars, whatever the politicians decided upon.

Isn't the problem that we don't know what we can gain from the space programs in the future?

[coalesce]

Harsh reality: there will always be Haves and Have-Nots. That was true in Columbus' day, and it's true today. That does not mean that we should stop exploring because of this disparity. The disparity exists because we live in an imperfect world, inhabited by imperfect people, where the Haves are only too happy to help out the Have-Nots at their convenience, providing it doesn't take away too much from them, or upset the system that allowed them to become Haves in the first place. I realize this is an oversimplification, but that's pretty much the way it's always been.

My view: do not cut the space program one bit, because along the way of doing all the "boring" scientific work, we all benefit from the discoveries and by-products (computers, velcro, etc.) of that work.

Michael

[Sundog]

Originally posted by Bjorn
The immediate result of cutting the spending for space programs would be more money available for other purposes - schools, medicare, Cuban cigars, whatever the politicians decided upon.

Isn't the problem that we don't know what we can gain from the space programs in the future?

I refuse to discuss this until we can redirect the hundreds of billions of dollars being wasted on war to some better purpose. Then we'll talk.

[gnome]

It is tempting to set absolute priorities when directing resources--hard to argue that we should be engaging in the luxury of exploring space when some of us aren't even eating.

But it just can't be done. First of all, it would be political hell to try to establish just what exactly those singular priorities are.

Secondly, I believe that neglect of a low priority item can inflate its priority... making it much harder to make the distinction. It just isn't that simple. For example, a family emergency may be a higher priority than showing up for work. But if you get hit with a series of family emergencies, you MUST find time to get some work in, to support the expense of dealing with the emergencies.