Re: ...Nasa/Griffin LYING about Public Support for Moon/Mars Missions!

On 31 Oct 2006 19:43:59 +0100, in a place far, far away, Jim Davis
<jimdavis2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such
a way as to indicate that:


The only way this could
not be true is if you can think of something that would wipe
out a whole solar system, but NOT wipe out a planetbound race,
and that seems very far-fetched at best.

It is trivial to imagine such a disaster.

It is less so to imagine one that is realistic.

Disaster : An asteroid is on a collision course with earth.

Scenario #1: Let us assume that space colonies exist but require
enormous resources from earth to survive. So many resources in
fact that there is little left over for other projects like
monitoring the solar system for asteroids with collision
potential.

This is an absurd scenario.

Scenario #2: Same as #1 but no space colonies which frees up
resources for monitoring the solar system for asteroids with
collision potential. The asteroid is detected in time for
deflection schemes to implemented.

Equally absurd. The resources needed to monitor the solar system are
so miniscule in comparison to current GPP (gross planetary product)
let alone the future one, that neither of your scenarios are worth
giving much thought to.

The same disaster faces both civilizations.

In scenario #1 the life is wiped out throughout the entire solar
system.

In scenario #2 planetbound life survives.

See how easy it is?

No, not really.

Note that, granting my assumptions about space colonies, having
space colonies makes extinction *more* likely.

But your assumptions are (again) absurd, so why grant them?

Now you might object that my assumption that space colonies
require enormous resources from earth is unrealistic.

It is. At least, if there are going to be space colonies.

You might
even be right. My point is we *cannot* make that determination at
this juncture.

We can, in fact. If they require resources on such a scale that they
truly prevent us from doing the minimal things necessary to look for
asteroids, they won't happen.
.

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