Bang, Zoom, Straight to the Moon!

I read this morning that NASA is planning to build a permanent base on the moon.  COOL!  My nerd-boy juices immediately started flowing, imagining what life bouncing around in 1/6th gravity would be like, or the joy of watching the Earth rise in the morning.  But more importantly, it reminded me of humanity's need to look beyond the silliness of day-to-day life and cast our eyes forward to what's best for our long-term survival.

One of the things I love about scientists is how visionary and politically agnostic they are.  They spend their time focusing on possibilities, posing giant questions like "Can we cure illness?" or "Can we travel through time?" then probing and testing in an earnest attempt to answer those questions.  Name another field where professionals from competing nations cooperate without thought to the commercial or political ramifications of working together.  With only the rare exception, they work together to make the world a better place, uncovering truths we need to know and bravely standing up to ignorance and misunderstanding.  They may be socially awkward, and but imagine where we'd be without them.

I'm sure most people dismiss the idea of a moon-base as science fiction, an unnecessary waste of energy and money on a flight of fancy.  As a species the Earth has always been able to provide the resources we needed to survive and flourish.  Realistically, though, that cannot last, and it may not be long before wars are fought over fresh water instead of ideology (or, god forbid, the Gamalons attack).  Setting up residence on the moon is more than a quest for cheese or a monolith; it's a first step in our long-term survival.

Comments

[Chris]

Space 1999...damn, I loved that show.

[p-man]

If it weren't for the fossil fuels that would be wasted as I flew to NYC to locate you and ask you to give your head a shake on this subject I would fly to NYC etc. and ask you to give your head a shake. I am no earth lovin' muffin, far from it, but just because we have a difficult relationship with our mama does not excuse us from displaying some individual and collective responsibility. It is not an option for us to trash her house and move out. And I don't care if that sentence ended with a preposition. That's how serious I am.

[CroutonBoy]

Hey, I'm not saying we don't have a responsibility to preserve the earth for future generations, p-man (far from it!) but between the abuse it's suffering now which will take generations to undo if we stopped today (which sure doesn't seem to be happening) and the explosive population growth occurring in places which have no interest or ability to act responsibly I think we need to hedge our bets as a species.

And if you want to ride your bike out to give my head a shake I'll meet you half-way, say Iowa? Just be warned...I'm out of shape, so you'll probably get there a good month before me.

[TheOtherC.Weber]

I love you, but please don't ever mention your "nerd juices" again. Eeeewwww...

[Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah]

That plague doctor picture is going to give me nightmares.

[Tim @ ConstructionDeal.com]

It reminds me of that Jerry Lewis movie where he's up at the US moon base and he's competing with the hunky and hot Russian couple over on their base to see who can get pregnant on the moon first.

Where am I going with this, I have no idea...

[L.A. Daddy]

Oops... posted that last comment under my work name and addy. I hate auto-fills sometimes.

[Jonathon]

I get totally pumped when I read about stuff like this. Geek? Whatever.

[crunchy carpets]

While I wish they would work on stuff like that and better fuels and better travel systems....being that they are cutting the funding to the Aracebo Deep Space radio telescope thingie (like in Contact)....I think we can forget it.

It will be all talk until things like suborbital flights are privately funded.

[Kristen]

I heard about this too, and I was a little surprised. For some reason, I wasn't expecting it for another decade or two. And wow, the plague doctor... just, wow.

[whit]

I went to the moon once. I only stayed for a few hours. The medication wore off.

Can't wait to go back!

[How About Two?]

While the idea of a moon base is really, really cool, it is also depressing.

I'll never get to fly into outerspace, much less live on a moon base.