Falcon Heavy launches successfully

[Dolan]

We are making a lot of significant progress in medical research, and generally in biological research. We're already "colonising the solar system" in terms of progress in biomedical research, imo.

[lemmings121]

We are making a lot of significant progress in medical research, and generally in biological research. We're already "colonising the solar system" in terms of progress in biomedical research, imo.

Does it mean we should stop investing in "whatever we are doing that we arent really sure what will be used for" ?

People a hundred years ago might have said "stop this bullshit space stuff and use the money to buy more copper cables and improve communication!" well, would we really be better of in communications today if that advice was followed?

[oxaloacetate]

We're already "colonising the solar system" in terms of progress in biomedical research, imo.

What do you mean by this?

[Dolan]

Does it mean we should stop investing in "whatever we are doing that we arent really sure what will be used for" ?

People a hundred years ago might have said "stop this bullshit space stuff and use the money to buy more copper cables and improve communication!" well, would we really be better of in communications today if that advice was followed?

If you look at what we've achieved from space exploration alone, the return on investment is probably negative. I'm not talking about just barely getting in the outer part of the atmosphere (most satellites are in the exosphere, for example, they're not even "in outer space"), but about sending actual spaceships to other planets. We could have still placed satellites into orbit without ever having a landing on the Moon or robots on Mars.

There's not much that we gained from outer space exploration, I mean nothing major, it's mostly basic physical/astronomical research, chemical research and the technologies we had to develop in order to make this endeavour possible (which were eventually used in areas other than space exploration too). But it doesn't compare to curing smallpox, polio, measles, yellow fever, malaria, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, etc. Modern science/medicine has saved tens of millions of lives and almost doubled human lifespan (from 40 to 70+). Nothing that space exploration did until now compares to that, imo. But maybe one day, space exploration will pay off, who knows.

What do you mean by this?

I mean, in terms of hitting certain milestones, medical science is way ahead of space exploration. It's already achieving things that border on magic: reconstructing entire organs from stem cells, regrowing hair follicles or teeth, editing genomes. We're already there, we're slowly taking control over our biology, colonising it with knowledge.

[lemmings121]

not saying its more important them medicine, you are right, priorities.

also, astroNOMY, dont mention astrology arround here again

[deleted_user]

I dated a girl who was into astrology. Very strange thing to believe. Also, fluoride blocks the third eye...

Doesn't bother me though.

[Dolan]

@lemmings121
Corrected. I was thinking about astrophysics, but somehow two neurons misfired.

[Gendarme]

That pun deserved a :smugpepe:.

[deleted_user]

That pun deserved a :smugpepe:.

What pun?

[Gendarme]

Didn't his username use to be Neuron?

[deleted_user]

Wow, what an incredible pun.

[spanky4ever]

I really like Elon Musk for being brave enough to really put it out there: electric cars can look good, drive fast and have long range. Hype for the guy who made the first sexy el cars, and for his guts to invest big for green cars and for better hope for the future.