perlmonger

Comment Threads

• Charlie Stross commented on What have the Romans done for us ...?
  TP1024 @129: that's what we call a self-sucking lolipop. "Hey, if we go into space we can find out if human bodies work in zero gravity!" "Yes, but why would we need to know that?" "In case we want to go into space ..." Isidro @130: read my original post (right at the top of this food-fight) and tell me where I'm dismissing the significance of space? I'm not. I'm merely trying to sift the genuine benefits from the propaganda and bogus claims and wishful thinking. Phil W @131: I tend to think of NASA losing the plot post-Apollo as...
• TP1024 commented on What have the Romans done for us ...?
  @132: I think there is a value in doing something once to make sure it works. I don't say: lets keep flying to orbit to see if a human being can still survive for more than a month up there. We've done it, fine. If there should ever arise a good reason (I don't think there is one right now), to have naked monkeys in space, at least we won't have to attach a 95% probability to the whole branch of the solution space that includes sending people to space. Because now we know with a 100% probability that they...
• Charlie Stross commented on What have the Romans done for us ...?
  Nathaniel: MOL never flew (aside from one test article); it was cancelled when they decided the KH-11 would be cheaper and more effective. Almaz, on the other hand, was a qualified success ......
• Charlie Stross commented on What have the Romans done for us ...?
  Yes, exactly. I am scratching my head to figure out what the manned space program has achieved that's actually useful, outside the context of manned spaceflight. (Other than providing employment for huge numbers of support staff and a tiny cadre of astronauts.) Hmm. The geology component of Apollo was something that couldn't easily be done any other way -- certainly not by the robot probes that could be built at the time. Whether it was worth it is another question ... is scientific knowledge "worth it" regardless of cost input?...
• Charlie Stross commented on What have the Romans done for us ...?
  Marmite is wonderful stuff! I eat it every day -- it's what made me what I am....