From: Damien Broderick (thespike@earthlink.net)
Date: Mon Jan 27 2003 - 12:29:56 MST
Robert J. Bradbury opines:
> > I love the space program as much as the next guy. But I don't think it
> > is the area where reasearch money are best spend these days.
> Max, you are probably highly correct. The only caveat I would cite
> is the risk to humanity by a large asteroid or comet. The risks are
> very very low -- but (from an extropic perspective) do we want to expose
> ourselves to the risks?
*What*? Compare the cost of any time soon placing and sustaining a viable
colony (perhaps stocked with a zillion frozen zygotes) in orbit, on the Moon
or on Mars, compared with keeping the big installation deep inside Cheyenne
Mountain running and similarly stocked (NORAD Combat Operations Center,
wasn't/isn't it?). Leave space until the leetle thingees get us up there
cheaply. And use the heartfelt rocket huggers' PR effort in making sure the
leetle thingees get here sooner rather than later.
Interestingly, this free piece of advice would also apply to catastrophic
hazards such as supernovae, moderately distant GRBs, most feral nanos, and
attack by relativistic aliens. Cover yourself with air and rock, I say.
Damien Broderick
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