Since the politicians hold the purse strings that goes without saying. On Thu, May 19, 2011 at 5:00 AM, [email protected] < [email protected]> wrote:
> Indeed political and fiscal. > > On May 19, 1:37 am, Chuck Bowling <[email protected]> > wrote: > > I think right now the technology will only allow us to tell if a planet > is > > rocky or a gas giant. And even then only if it is a relatively massive > > planet. The last time I read anything on the subject the smallest planet > > found was something like 3 times the size of the Earth. > > > > IMO, the analogy with Columbus doesn't hold. 17th century technology > allowed > > humans to travel anywhere on the Earth - albeit slow and wrought with > > hazard. If the analogy is that a neighboring star is like a new continent > > then we are more like cavemen discovering that a log can float. At the > rate > > we're going it might be a thousand years before we can actually mount an > > expedition to another star. > > > > I think the primary reason we are so far from actually exploring other > stars > > is mainly political rather than technological. But, I think you are > right. > > It is a project worth attaching too. Now if we could just make the damn > > politicians see it that way... ;) > > > > > > > > On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 4:58 PM, archytas <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I'm not sure how accurate they can be in revealing planets enough like > > > ours to offer possibilities of a new promised land. They claim there > > > is one 20 light years away, or 300,000 years at current space travel > > > speeds. One can feel that this at least puts us somewhere near the > > > position of 'Columbus'. Our current 'tin-foil' technology won't do, > > > but at this kind of distance we are talking about something other than > > > worm-holes, 'relativity flight' or the kind of physics in which > > > distance is an illusion. > > > > > For someone like me who can't take god-stories seriously and quite > > > likes the idea of a human future (or at least the idea of evolution > > > not just ending through catastrophe), there is an opportunity to > > > believe in something distant in time and a need for us to direct > > > ourselves towards it. A time, perhaps in which a form of conscious > > > life can live very differently from now, and a project worth attaching > > > to - perhaps a reason for spirituality. Comments on this or the > > > technology welcome.- Hide quoted text - > > > > - Show quoted text -
