I've been pondering lately, and I think I can trace almost all of America's major problems to the existence of the Space Shuttle program. In brief, here's what I'm thinking:
In the 50's, 60's, and 70's, there was a massive influx of kids getting into science and engineering fields. Most of them if you asked would tell you they were interested in these areas because of the excitement of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions. Most of them would have wanted to be an astronaut but of course only very few get to do that. But more important than leading to a mass of kids who can't be the astronauts they want to be it lead to a mass of scientists and engineers that were excited about innovation. In the 70's, 80's, and 90's this lead to leaps and bounds forward in technological innovation that drove our economy into overdrive. We dominated the world with our advanced technology and we prospered.
But those scientists and engineers are mostly retired now, or at least they've lost their edge with age. Their innovative youth is long behind them. And in the 80's and 90's the kids were no longer inspired to get into science or engineering, instead they were getting into investment banking and becoming lawyers and CEOs. These are fields where brilliant innovation can be very dangerous, as they are areas where greed is the primary driving force. All that furious innovative power was turned towards finding better ways to screw people out of their money, and as a result we had credit default swaps and all the other madness that crashed our economy in the past decade or so. At the same time the death of scientific and technological innovation in America gave time for the rest of the world to catch up with us. You no longer have to hire American workers to get your advanced technology built, you can go overseas for it where the labor is much cheaper and still have it done well because they aren't any less advanced than we are anymore.
What changed? Why did kids lose interest in science and engineering? I suspect it was mostly because they were no longer inspired by our space program. There is no doubt that the Space Shuttle was a pretty descent low earth orbit science platform and it's fine for doing some more hands-on satellite work, but mostly what it was was boring. After the first few launches there was nothing interesting to see for anyone that wasn't already into science and engineering for other reasons. After three decades of thrilling advancement on the frontiers of space we decided to settle for a glorified orbiting Greyhound bus and we lost public interest. And so our brightest kids were instead inspired by TV and movies, which at the time meant movies like Wall Street ("greed, for lack of a better word, is good") and The Devil's Advocate ("law is the ultimate backstage pass").
And that's how the Space Shuttle - by utterly failing to inspire an entire generation - helped cause our economic collapse and the now endemic loss of interest in science and technology by almost everyone. The only way we can turn it around is to immediately start serious plans for manned missions to - and permanent bases on - the Moon and Mars. Although starting with permanent stations at the L4 & L5 points would probably be a firmer foothold into space and still just as exciting and inspiring. And if we don't do this our next wave of misery will be all the inspired kids looking to innovate in the fields of government and health insurance administration, two more fields that are probably best left uninnovated lest we further destroy ourselves.
How the Space Shuttle Destroyed America
I wrote something similar back in 2005. I like to think I inspired you.
http://www.dtman.com/archives_2005q2.htm#20050620_1
I think I was more eloquent, then.
Heh, a year before my son was born....
http://www.dtman.com/archives_2005q2.htm#20050620_1
When historians look back with a casual eye and pinpoint when a nation was at the peak of its greatness it's almost always a period of time in which a nation was exploring. Spain was at her peak in the 15th and 16th centuries when she was the only European nation with a solid foothold in the western hemisphere. Rome when she sprawled from Great Britain to the Middle East and down into Africa. The Akkadian Sargon I when he conquered what was at the time the entire known world.
In 1000 years, what will historians see when they look at the first 300 years of the United States? Where will they say, "This was the pinnacle of their greatness?" Will it be when the United States gave up control of the canal she built in Panama? When the United States stopped building nuclear power plants and returned to 19th century coal plants? When 50 years after Americans walked on the moon we no longer have a real, viable manned space program?
When the educated among us wish to cede our sovereignty to an unelected, unaccountable world government?
A "Homeland Security" department that monitors America's library habits is not progress. Giving $2 billion to Egypt every year and allowing them to publicly spit in our face is not progress. Shrinking our navy, the only definitive projection of power in the world for the last 200 years, is not progress. Ignoring genocide and the thuggish African dictators who implement it where we once would have intervened is not progress. Driving remotely controlled cars on Mars is really cool, but it isn't progress. Smelling methane from another planet doesn't inspire the world.
If I were a historian, I'd look back and I'd be forced to recognize that when America was regularly breaking the surly bonds of Earth, walking on the moon, and taking the first steps into the solar system was the peak of her power. The fact we're now too skittish to risk losing people in the pursuit of other worlds is not progress; quite the contrary. It highlights and illustrates like a spotlight just how far we've slipped from the heights we once dared.
Get America back into space, Mr. President and Vice President. Draining the swamps in the middle east is great, and I feel necessary, but when you boil it down, all we are trying to do is maintain the status quo and keep any more 9/11's from happening.
It is not progress.
I think I was more eloquent, then.
Heh, a year before my son was born....
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
But computers are EVERYWHERE now. Phones, tablets, computers, the internet... a smart phone in every pocket will do more than the space shuttle on a TV screen.TPRJones wrote:Some have. But not enough. And now computers are no longer an ends but a means, so less interesting as an outlet for innovative energy.
It's not me, it's someone else.
One of my friends HATES Steve Jobs. Thinks he's the worst person ever because every one of his products is just a piece of shit toy for consuming media.TPRJones wrote:Yes? And so now all kids are inspired by the adventures in science they are watching on their smartphones?
No, they are watching Jersey Shore and crap like that. I'd rather they watched us conquer space.
You see people watching Jersey Shore and assume things were better back then. Well, then they were cruising, smoking behind the bleachers, and reading comic books.
Today someone can look at their phone and say "Why can I do X or see Y information on my phone?" And VERY inexpensively, they can just plain DO IT. That's power.
Meanwhile, it still takes a millionaire or billionaire to hit space.
It's not me, it's someone else.
That's just because of the inefficiency of chemical rockets to achieve escape velocity.TheCatt wrote:Meanwhile, it still takes a millionaire or billionaire to hit space.
Fun fact: I read somewhere that 95% of the fuel used in a rocket launch is just to lift the weight of the fuel.
Being in space seems to be a lot cheaper than actually getting to space.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
You see people watching Jersey Shore and assume things were better back then. Well, then they were cruising, smoking behind the bleachers, and reading comic books.
I wouldn't go so far as to say things were better back then. There's no doubt things are now better than ever before, on pretty much any scale of measurement you can imagine and for nearly every place in the world. The problem isn't that we've gone backwards, but that we've slowed our forward progress and let everyone else catch up. And shortly they'll be passing us by.
Apple makes pretty interfaces, but the real cool hardware advances don't come from the US as much as they used to, they increasingly come from Japan or South Korea or even China. We're coasting, and our incoming science & tech workers are not really enough to replace those retiring.
"ATTENTION: Customers browsing porn must hold magazines with both hands at all times!"
For what it is worth, China would be nowhere near where they are today, but for spying and industrial theft.TPRJones wrote:Apple makes pretty interfaces, but the real cool hardware advances don't come from the US as much as they used to, they increasingly come from Japan or South Korea or even China. We're coasting, and our incoming science & tech workers are not really enough to replace those retiring.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."