I truly admire your optimism for this subject Gene, and I know that your heart and head are certainly in the right place (God knows that space and
every last thing discovered in it, irrespective of it's nature, should belong to
all of the people) but, I just don't think that the government(s) will be the one('s) leading the
true charge into "
the final frontier." I'm not saying that our government will, by any means, be "out of the game." Obviously,
they have clear intentions of remaining a major player, planning for the future and gearing up for that role as I type this.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44708877?GT1=43001
But, their mission has been, is, and will continue to be, essentially, a "
scientific" one, and there's just no
money to be made in the field of
empirical science - never has been. That's why
their hands are so deeply jammed into the
tax payer's pockets. The simple truth is that science just doesn't pay -
lucrative free enterprise does - and I believe that that's why humanity has been, and is yet, only
crawling into space this late in the game, despite the
enormous amounts of
tax payer monies that have been appropriated (not that I'm saying that I'd prefer that those tax dollars be invested in the war machine instead, understand) and poured into the effort. Once, and
if, the government(s) decide(s) to reveal the
true scope of scientific discoveries to industry (and, one would hope, also the
world en-mass) only
then (in my opinion) can space
truly begin to be opened up for "
people," and to eventual colonization.
Please don't think that I'm attempting to down play the roll of science in all of this. It's blatantly, ridiculously obvious that science and technology are absolutely
essential in this endeavor. These clearly, truly are the "
golden years of discovery," as it were - both scientifically and technologically. But, I believe that, so far,
they have been, and
are discovering things in Earth's orbit, on the surfaces of Luna, Mars and other celestial bodies throughout our solar system (perhaps even in
other solar systems by now) that
they never,
ever, in
their wildest
dreams, thought might possibly be there, and
they're not being forthright with the public in regards to (at the
very least)
those discoveries. In fact, if anything,
they exert great effort to deny or debunk
anything that someone else might stumble across after having analyzed
their own data - other than anyone connected and/or entrenched, loyal to and dependent on that system for their own advantage/survival/livelihood/agenda. And, if the
public were out there too, it would be nigh
impossible for
them to keep
their secrets for very long, nor could
they maintain "
plausible deniability" for the purposes of same. These suspicions are what causes me to believe that neither any single (or group there of) politician(s), or any of the world's other governments will be the one's to bring "
common people" into space.
The military industrial complex is
far too intractably involved in our "
public" space program in order for the public to be truly reassured or trusting that we are being told everything (or
anything, really) that
they've already, thus far, learned and discovered concerning the
true nature of the bodies and phenomena they've been "
scientifically" investigating, and all the while using citizen taxpayer's money to do it with. Those types of things are considered strictly "
need to know", and from NASA, the military and government's vantage point, neither you nor I
have a "
need to know." I
suppose that mindset should be expected and, from
their reference point, completely and "
justifiably" understandable, in that the military would
naturally want and expect "
first crack" at
anything discovered that might prove, in the
least way, advantageously adaptable for the purposes of defense technology/national security. (Can't risk folks deciding to
not pay their taxes or show up for work now, can we?
Why. . . whom would foot the bill, then?) Logically speaking (typing), to
them, it would seem recklessly imprudent to, at this stage, turn much, if
any, of this information over to industry, because industry would
jump at the chance to exploit anything and
everything that
they could to make even more
bountiful amounts of money from. But,
that would, at
some point, require "
common" people (unless
androids or "
Replicants" were to suddenly become feasible somehow) to go out "
there" and perform tasks, whether it be mining (my first guess) or something else, that would require colonization and support services, thus requiring even
further public involvement that would lead back unavoidably to where the issue of "
need to know" would rear up again. Rather a vicious circle
in logic, I concede.
The
only solution
I can envisage to this "
merry-go-'round" is
total truth, and
openness. However, I have yet to see or hear
either of these things from my government in my
entire life, (unless for politically expedient reasons) so I harbor little hope for it now, or
anytime in the foreseeable future, alas.
) is discovered/detected somewhere (possibly within the asteroid belt) that will make a very select few extremely rich(er), we (the little people) are destined to remain forever earth-bound.
