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19 de Agosto, 2007
One Peaceful Planet
Categorized under Ciencia , Planeta | Tags: Space
Space flight is risky, we know that. But with a few notable exceptions - 17 astronauts have died on the job since 1967, and the three crew members of Apollo 13 had a close call - it has all looked so easy, almost effortless.
Perhaps that apparent ease, coupled with the short attention spans of humans, is why interest in space exploration has waned since the time when the United States, at the urging of President Kennedy, launched a program that would take us to the moon. [...]
These days, a shuttle flight doesn't generate much excitement, and a lot of the romance and mystique that once surrounded NASA are gone.
We have gotten so blas that many of us don't watch shuttle liftoffs and landings. Updates on what's going on up there, even when the crew could be in peril, don't lead the newscasts or make page A1.
--Space program deserves more of our attention, herald-mail.com
PERHAPS we don't get excited because it is only depressing to think that as we continue to believe in boogeymen; as we spend billions to wage war; as we let people drown in our own nation and go homeless and hungry while we hunt others who want just to live and work, and in many varied ways the earth is perpetually suffering our foolish and destructive natures, it is depressing to contemplate that if the Space Program is any more successful, we might just export our ignorance and misplaced priorities off of this planet and onto another one.
I get more excited by the thought of living not in fear of terrorists, but by the thought of a People who don't make decisions based on terror but on hope. I get excited not by the thought of lunar landings, but by love in this modern age, love as manifested in the deliberations of sane leaders, or perhaps attention to those who lack, hurt, and hunger. Those not as well off as ourselves, love manifested in caring for our planet more than lumber tycoons, in stopping the use of Uranium weapons, or phosphorus weapons, or spot-heat crowd control weapons, or overused Taser weapons, or talk of nuclear weapons and space weapons, or actual shock and awe crimes against humanity, in bringing actual honest and intelligent speech to our public arena, to trying to help the world one nation at a time, rather than use our might to lever favors and flyovers and wartime bases and to incite riots and coups as if we are the world's mafia, to burning the Bush doctrine down and bringing a famous criminal to ground--there are so many things to get excited about these days.
It is not the space around our planet that is screaming for our collective attention and care.
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Comentarios (9)
RC dijo:
There are already an awful lot of research {NOAA} and spy {GOOGLE} and communication {ATT} satellites, targeted weapons, massive amounts of space debris and exotic pollutions in the entire earth atmosphere and on up to the outermost gravitational fields. Things on the surface of Earth do cry out for attention, but near space is a big mess too.
It seems that within 50 years we humans will be operating some kind of space highway to Mars, so your anticipation of Interplanetary Ignorance is already underway.
I hear that the first settlement there will be called "Malthus". The craft that navigates there will be the "Hawking".
Palabras por RC spat forth on el 19 de Agosto, 2007 at 09:04 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:
true. space is quickly becoming a mess. i guess you can take a polluter out of the biosphere, but you can't make him respect it.
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 19 de Agosto, 2007 at 09:20 AM
oceanshaman dijo:
More misplaced priorities . . .
Will we ever learn?
Palabras por oceanshaman spat forth on el 19 de Agosto, 2007 at 10:20 AM
bint alshamsa dijo:
This is the most beautiful post I have seen in a long time, Nezua. Sometimes I feel so damned cynical that it gets hard to remember that there is any other way besides the way of the world today. It's good to see that you are not as jaded.
Palabras por bint alshamsa spat forth on el 19 de Agosto, 2007 at 07:18 PM
luisa dijo:
on one knows what is on the bottom of the ocean floor. humans want to discover new planets without fully discovering their own.
i believe it was prince that said, "sista killed her baby because she couldn't afford to fed it while we're sending people to the moon..."
billions and billions of dollars to hear "one step for man, one giant leap" for what? poverty?
Palabras por luisa spat forth on el 20 de Agosto, 2007 at 12:59 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez
dijo:
thank you, bint. i hear you. i guess i am jaded and hopeful in turns, you know. i'm never done thinking it all over, i guess.
oh, and sorry you got hung up in moderation. software upgrade ruined my old screening/trusted author plugin. i'm working on a new one. may take some days.
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez
spat forth on el 20 de Agosto, 2007 at 08:09 AM
NLinStPaul dijo:
Love those words at the end. And I love how they capture the dance of cynical/hopeful that you and bint are talking about.
Palabras por NLinStPaul spat forth on el 20 de Agosto, 2007 at 09:31 AM
Rafael dijo:
Well pushing our collective boundaries helps. I believe that looking back on Earth hanging by the thin strands of gravity in a tiny corner of the universe brings more appreciation for our place in said universe. If we stop exploring, we stop learning and if we do that, we die...
Palabras por Rafael spat forth on el 20 de Agosto, 2007 at 10:55 AM
tgrdug dijo:
Once again, ese, you hit the proverbial nail on the head. Like you, in fits and starts, I'm hopeful and jaded. I think this is the healthy double-edge approach because it allows us to remain innocent as lambs and wise as serpents, los dos. No wool over our eyes, no hoodwinking, no flim flam, but we can still move forward, look forward, make for us and ours a better future. Lord knows, the mofos in places of power could give a rat'z nalgas about that.
Palabras por tgrdug spat forth on el 21 de Agosto, 2007 at 10:20 AM