NASA find alien bacteria

[Konitz]

I would much rather see money spent on scientific breakthroughs such as this versus welfare; subsidized housing, etc., etc.

[The_Grinder]

I would much rather see money spent on scientific breakthroughs such as this versus welfare; subsidized housing, etc., etc.

Granted. Don't even get me started on the welfare system in this country. It is setting people up for failure from the start. There are plenty of scientific breakthroughs they could be working towards with $20 billion a year.

I personally believe creating a type of fuel that is zero emission and more efficient than electricity (which only runs for like 100 miles between charges) is a much more beneficial discovery than finding alien bacteria on Mars. Just sayin.

[Shibby]

Granted. Don't even get me started on the welfare system in this country. It is setting people up for failure from the start. There are plenty of scientific breakthroughs they could be working towards with $20 billion a year.

I personally believe creating a type of fuel that is zero emission and more efficient than electricity (which only runs for like 100 miles between charges) is a much more beneficial discovery than finding alien bacteria on Mars. Just sayin.

What if that alien bacteria is the fuel? :hibb:

[The_Grinder]

What if that alien bacteria is the fuel? :hibb:

Then I will gladly admit I was wrong in this argument. :thumup:

[Bouncer]

I can save you the trouble and just tell you, you are wrong now. Lol.

[Shibby]

This thread kind of reminds me of the one I made about KFC doing the breast cancer fund raiser. I didn't like it and others said who cares as long as the Koman foundation gets the money.

In this thread the funding NASA gets has developed tech for earth. Even if there is disagrement with space exploration, we have all benifited greatly from it at the end of the day.

[The_Grinder]

This thread kind of reminds me of the one I made about KFC doing the breast cancer fund raiser. I didn't like it and others said who cares as long as the Koman foundation gets the money.

In this thread the funding NASA gets has developed tech for earth. Even if there is disagrement with space exploration, we have all benifited greatly from it at the end of the day.

True. There have been some spinoff technologies produced by NASA en route to taking all of their pretty pictures from space. Say Christopher Columbus never found anything, and over 30 years the country's citizens continually funded a program so ship could sail aimlessly out to sea. While they were out at sea however, the sailors invented the telescope and the toilet. (Big inventions in their time) Does that mean their missions were a success because the happened to develop this technology but meanwhile found nothing of consequence on their journey?

[Bouncer]

grinder you call them "pretty pictures" and make them seem insignificant.

those findings and continued findings of different galaxies, star explosions, pulsars, super novas, anti gravity, expansion, etc.. etc... are not insignificant. it is where we are from, it is what we are, we understand a little bit more each year and will continue to do so.

even if the only benefit the space program ever gives us is nothing more then understanding of what we are and what is around us, that is reason enough.

its the quest for knowledge, the quest for what is out there.

[Bouncer]

i cant think of a better thread to bring this song back! :D

YouTube - Carl Sagan - 'A Glorious Dawn' ft Stephen Hawking (Symphony of Science)

[Shibby]

True. There have been some spinoff technologies produced by NASA en route to taking all of their pretty pictures from space. Say Christopher Columbus never found anything, and over 30 years the country's citizens continually funded a program so ship could sail aimlessly out to sea. While they were out at sea however, the sailors invented the telescope and the toilet. (Big inventions in their time) Does that mean their missions were a success because the happened to develop this technology but meanwhile found nothing of consequence on their journey?

To touch back on my analogy, is all the money spent on cancer research considered a success when the leading cause of death is heart disease?

[The_Grinder]

To touch back on my analogy, is all the money spent on cancer research considered a success when the leading cause of death is heart disease?

The biggest causes of heart disease are lifestyle choices. Lack of exercise, bad diet, alcohol, smoking, etc. If a person lives a healthy lifestyle, it is much easier to prevent heart disease than cancer. We live in a society where people neglect these areas of health, hence the higher instances of the disease.

I believe there is much more to discover through Cancer research, as we don't know the true cause and there is no sure-fire way to prevent it. Take a group of 10,000 non smoking adults with a balanced diet and the recommended amount of exercise, and I would be willing to bet Cancer would be a much more likely cause of death than heart disease.

Another important thing to remember is that a large chunk of Cancer and Heart Disease research is by donation, while basically all space exploration is Federally funded. In fact, the space program gets close to $20 Billion in Annual Federal Funding while Heart Disease and Cancer get about $6 billion combined annual contribution.

[The_Grinder]

grinder you call them "pretty pictures" and make them seem insignificant.

those findings and continued findings of different galaxies, star explosions, pulsars, super novas, anti gravity, expansion, etc.. etc... are not insignificant. it is where we are from, it is what we are, we understand a little bit more each year and will continue to do so.

even if the only benefit the space program ever gives us is nothing more then understanding of what we are and what is around us, that is reason enough.

its the quest for knowledge, the quest for what is out there.

I agree that it is human nature to ask questions, explore new frontiers, etc. However, the primary role of Government is to ensure the social and economic well being of its citizens. Explain to me how searching for an understanding of why we are here, where we came from, etc. is something the government should be involved in.

[Shibby]

The biggest causes of heart disease are lifestyle choices. Lack of exercise, bad diet, alcohol, smoking, etc. If a person lives a healthy lifestyle, it is much easier to prevent heart disease than cancer. We live in a society where people neglect these areas of health, hence the higher instances of the disease.

I believe there is much more to discover through Cancer research, as we don't know the true cause and there is no sure-fire way to prevent it. Take a group of 10,000 non smoking adults with a balanced diet and the recommended amount of exercise, and I would be willing to bet Cancer would be a much more likely cause of death than heart disease.

Another important thing to remember is that a large chunk of Cancer and Heart Disease research is by donation, while basically all space exploration is Federally funded. In fact, the space program gets close to $20 Billion in Annual Federal Funding while Heart Disease and Cancer get about $6 billion combined annual contribution.

I was talking more about most things we have are from secondary reasons for it's creation. There is a lot of money that goes to NASA, but the way you make it sound is that it's all wasted.

I am curious where you classify what we have learned about our Earth from satellites and the continues use of them?

[The_Grinder]

I am curious where you classify what we have learned about our Earth from satellites and the continues use of them?

That being said, I do agree that we need limited space exploration funds to improve our planet. (For example: Satellite communications and networking, satellite to monitor own own planet, ozone layer, and weather, and even studying different space objects that may pose a threat to our planet)

...I never claimed NASA as an organization hasn't done any good. I'm referring to the deep space probes, searching for alien life, etc. I am referring to the continuing space program. (Excluding our own Earth Satellites) Everything you posted was either technology that NASA came up with, that coincidentally served a purpose on Earth, or projects NASA researched on our own planet (I am in 100% support of this, and think more of that annual $20 billion needs to go towards this).

....Basically my argument is this... NASA has some of the smartest scientists in the world. They have done a lot of good when they have focused their efforts here on Earth....

I'm in favor.

[Shibby]

You should have said that the first time :D