/sci/ - Science & Math

>>3669521

>current nukes would make Hiroshima look like a firecracker display....I'm talking 1 mile in diameter crater, Ozone blown off in the region, fires engulfing as much as 100 miles, and a radioative fallout so large it would cover the entire planet.


>MFW and we have about 50,000 of them.

http://io9.com/5690489/the-fastest-way-to-send-humans-to-mars-is-to-not-worry-about-bringing-them-ba
ck

No shit! We continually decide not to make any progress at all, because the idea of bringing people home just seems impossible right now.

We don't need to bring them home. There would be no difficulty in obtaining competent people in every field required to make the journey, knowing full well it was very likely one way. The knowledge we would gain, even in the event of failure, would be immense; and allow further development and attempts.

Amazing we will send a person, who doesn't even want to go, off to fight and die in a trillion dollar war of morality and politics that will do nothing but set back our species. But come time too discuss trying to further the so far meek advancements since the 70's in space exploration, and what do we get in return? "It is not financially worthwhile", "The loss of human life in this area is an unacceptable tragedy", "research and development are not worthwhile funding until safety can be guaranteed".

Our government, in Vietnam especially, has sent entire platoons of soldiers into a situation in which they KNEW they would die. Whether they were using them as bait, a diversion, whatever; and I wouldn't doubt at least to some degree similar situations happening in Iraq as well.

I wonder if someday in the far far future, our ignorance and stubbornness will spell a bit of irony for us at the end. An asteroid, the size of a small country, slamming into city full of genetically engineered humans all designed to be "beautiful and perfect", walking around with their quantum computer powered gadgets.....fueling up their anti-gravity cars with minerals mined from space. But sadly....still no one IN space, because I mean it is too dangerous, right? Must not be worth it.