Re: What if space instead of defense?

"Andre Lieven" <dg411@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:efeg0k$hvc$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Danny Dot" (don't.mail.me@xxxxxx) writes:
I have often imaged where we would be in space if in the last century
every
penny in the world spent on defense would have been spent on space
instead.

Well, you'd need drugs to accomplish this, as its impossible.

Its like saying " We gave the Wright Brothers 'all the money in the
defense
budget' and asked them to build a Boeing 747.

Theres a term in science fiction writing circles that, when it's steam
engine time, then you get a steam engine from someone, only question
is, who will do it first.

Any ideas out there? Could we have reached a point where the space
colonies
could exist without support from Earth, e.g. make their own spacecraft
and
other machines from non-Earth materials? I am thinking the vision of
the
"L5 Society" could have been accomplished.

Nope. Note that many critical to spaceflight technological advances came
out of the two World Wars.

You're trying to conjure up steam engines during the Black Death.

Andre

Look guys, I know that without defense we would be speaking Japanese,
German, or maybe Arabic. This is NOT an anti war question. In 1985 I had
an oppertuinity to become an astronaut instructor. I turned it down to
build missiles and airplanes to combat the Soviets. I am a big fan of a
strong defense. Even today without the Soviet threat, we need a strong
defense.

I am thinking more of just an "engineering thought experiment". Assume
world peace broke out in 1900 and we spent every penny on space instead of
defense. Where would we be today in space? Part of the process is: would
we be as inovative without a war going on. I say we would not have.
Nothing like a war to bring inovation into the process. The development of
rockets done by the Germans would not be in place. We would be relying on a
much more bearacratic processes to develop new idea (nothing like war to cut
red tape).

Maybe the answer is: without war, we would have spent all of the countless
billions to feed a huge buraucracy and still be sitting on the ground.

Danny Dot





.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: What if space instead of defense?
    ... penny in the world spent on defense would have been spent on space ... defense budget' and asked them to build a Boeing 747. ... engine time, then you get a steam engine from someone, only question ... This is NOT an anti war question. ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)
  • Re: What if space instead of defense?
    ... penny in the world spent on defense would have been spent on space instead. ... Well, you'd need drugs to accomplish this, as its impossible. ... engine time, then you get a steam engine from someone, only question ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)
  • Re: (OT) Hard Times Ahead?
    ... bill horne wrote: ... We have our own GBinNC, backed up by Hugh and others, claiming that 270 billion dollars PER YEAR (for the record, that comes to one trillion six hundred and twenty billion dollars over the six years of the war, but GB thinks it's not much) isn't "much," and are ridiculing me for THEIR stupidity. ... It's what we would have spent on defense during the 6 years of the war, had there been no war, and had there been no inflation, or growth of the federal budget. ...
    (rec.outdoors.rv-travel)
  • How defense "hawks" hijacked 9-1 and the war on terror and turned us in the wrong direction
    ... The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened ... War doesn't pay, nor does imperial ambition. ... the indefensibility of sacrificing even a single young American to die ...
    (alt.politics)
  • Re: We need submarines and a new generation of fighter to take on the Al Qaeda Navy and Air Force
    ... war legacy has cost American taxpayers, ... indifferent to the highest run-up in military spending since World War ... Even the devastating defense spending audit released Monday (March ... purchase just the Joint Strike Fighter instead. ...
    (alt.politics)