The Russians and Chinese are on to something that the United States should be. CNN is reporting that the countries (one formerly Communist and now Mafia, the other pretending to be Communist while using capitalism to profit off of the West) have joined forces to launch a scientific mission to Mars. Russia will provide the launch vehicle while the Chinese will provide the survey equipment (probably powered by Lenovo computers). Instead of being front page news, this is relegated to the Science and Space section on CNN.
Our intelligence services couldn’t predict 9/11, they can’t find Osama bin Laden, and they don’t care about the most populous nation in the world developing space capabilities that are independent of oversight from the rest of the globe? HELLO! We are begging for China to monopolize our nearest neighbors as an outlet for both industrial might and population pressure.
Most of America will read my headline and give me the inevitable yawn, before going back to figure out if Tom Cruise has had his head frozen by Hubbardites. Some might dismiss me as alarmist, isolationist, or all those other “ists” that make one of patriotic libertarian leaning so obnoxious. Wake up to the truth, folks. The biggest industrial revolution mankind has ever seen awaits us in the heavens, but we’re too interested in feeding out-of-work baby factories that are content with a government stipend to invest some real dollars in expanding our industrial base beyond our Earthly shackles.
China and Russia deserve the frontier. With our penchant for cranial rectosis, we should be content to slide into decadence and obscurity.
Your links are highly amusing!
Unfortunately, I think the way America is going to be exploring anything extraterrestrial is through private/corporate funding. With companies such as Virgin and people like Jeff Bezos, you will see the NASA budget shrink even further. This seems to be the general direction in anything the US is doing anyway. All hail the mighty corporate investor!
Perhaps Joss Wheadon had it right when the cast of his Firefly spoke alot of Chinese in space.
I do think you are right though, there will be no progress if our priorities are focused in antiquated social programs. The Human Race will struggle if there is not a more substantial push to experiment and colonize other surfaces in the galaxy.
Please look at the question Stephen Hawking posted on yahoo. He gets some very interesting (as asanine) answers.
“How can the human race survive another 100 years?”
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/?qid=20060704195516AAnrdOD