#funding elon musk’s boyhood dreams - GOOD !!!

[oflgtfol]

like, i acknowledge that i’m biased here, but i think astronomy research should always have funding. astronomy has always paved the way of technological innovation that can be applied to many normal things in your daily life, and it provides an alternate perspective on ground-based scientific issues (ie, NASA’s vested interest in observing climate change from space, despite climatology seeming to not have any sort of intersection with astronomy). and of course there’s always the far-off (or maybe not so far) threat of an asteroid impact to where we need an escape off earth in order to ensure the survival of our species…. but honestly even besides all the tangible results i just think it’s important in a, spiritual? cultural way? in the same way that libraries not only provide tangible resources for their communities, the fact that libraries exist at all are a strong sign that we as a society value knowledge enough to invest in these institutions for no other reason than that knowledge is important. which is such a strong value to have, and if you say that it’s not worth the cost then you’re frankly out of your mind. anyone would look at you like youre crazy to say that knowledge isnt an important value to uphold. LIKEWISE, investing in astronomy research is important for the exact same reason - yes, it has tangible results for society at large, but it’s also important to fund for no other reason than that knowledge is important. astronomy helps us better understand not only the vast universe around us, but also even the small world we live in. it is knowledge for knowledge’s sake and you’re out of your mind to say that isn’t an important endeavor!!!

BUT. that does not mean we should be funding astronomy over other public programs like, i dont know, making sure people have fucking food and shelter. astronomy is so so important in a spiritual, cultural, historical, scientific way, but ultimately it DOES produce less tangible advantages than spending more directly for the public good. you wouldn’t spend money on books before food, right? so funding libraries, astronomy research, etc before actual like, food programs would be insane

but the thing that gets me is that the two can coexist. the government spends comparatively SO LITTLE on scientific funding, especially for astronomy, that any arguments that the space program is a waste of money that could go towards the public good is always in bad faith to me. especially because astro funding pretty much is only ever going towards like, three telescopes. three telescopes, for the entire damn US astro community to use, and that the entire worldwide community will ultimately benefit from too! three measly telescopes is all we ask for and it is a drop in the bucket compared to the *COUGH COUGH* MILITARY BUDGET. when you complain about the public space program as something that diverts funds from public good programs it is always deeply suspicious to me because you’re basically arguing to defund libraries instead of taking like five pennies out of the inflated military budget to basically solve hunger in the US

…….. but then you have these private companies that do go so above and beyond in a gross way. they aren’t looking to fund three measly telescopes. no, they want to fucking colonize mars entirely. it’s huge. it’s egotistical. and it is so wildly expensive. and those same funds could go towards basically solving hunger damn near worldwide but instead they’re going towards these absolutely INSANE endeavors that we are in no position to pursue yet as a whole species. fucking colonizing mars when we haven’t even landed a person on the moon in decades. and then you have people who conflate funding astro research (the realistic research such as like, constructing new telescopes) with funding fucking planetary colonization, and they argue that the two are the same and the two are both equally worthy of funding at this point in time - nay, they even say that planetary colonization is MORE important than the realistic telescope approach!!! and it’s just so . ugh

TL;DR astronomy is SO important to fund and arguing otherwise is deeply suspicious to me. but also you have to recognize WHAT astro research is being funded. it’s so important to fund the projects that are actually doable at this point in time, such as telescopes and preliminary exploration such as landing on the moon or mars temporarily. any funding that goes towards permanent settlement other than earth IS in fact, that gross waste of money that people love to accuse the humble little telescopes of being

#this is a rant. idk if it makes sense #basically spending billions towards NASA and NSF - good ! yay! #spending billions towards like spacex and elon musk’s boyhood dreams of colonizing mars - BAD !!!! #BUT WAY TOO OFTEN people have it the other way around #like realistic astro research that has scientific merit valuable to society as a whole - BAD !!! #funding elon musk’s boyhood dreams - GOOD !!! #like. UGH. WHAT IS WRONG WITH U #brot posts #astro posting #this is a huge post i should probably reread for clarity but its so huge that i simly do not want to #i wrote it all in one 10 minute frenzy. im gonna keep it that way