In defense of NASA: was Re: Wirin' up blinkenlights

From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis_at_mcmanis.com>
Date: Fri Jun 9 18:12:06 2000

At 12:45 AM 6/10/00 +0200, Hans wrote:
>Seriously, I doubt that any usefull development has been done by accident.
>None of these technologies have been invented because of the space race,
>it's plain old hard work to do it - and this will have happened anyway.

If you want to be blunt, the absolute best "engine" for developing new
technologies is a good old fashioned war. One school of thought would argue
that the "space race" was simply the cover story for developing better
missile technology and other armaments.

However, I will strongly disagree with anyone who believes we would be in
the same place technologically as we are today if there had _not_ been a
space program (regardless of the motivations for pursuing space). By and
large "mainstream" entities (ie business, banking, etc) do not "develop"
technology, they "adopt" it. This is true of computers, fax machines (which
were in vented in the 1700's BTW), and telecommunications. Without some
other force driving the creation of technology, mainstream folks don't
change their ways.

--Chuck
Received on Fri Jun 09 2000 - 18:12:06 BST