Awatmath.1614 net.space utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!watmath!jcwinterton Fri Jan 29 14:23:00 1982 Re: Government Funding of Space With the appearance of the era of the common man (Anti-trust, big-is-bad, small-companies-are-good), we get the problem that no private organization is big enough to finance space exploration and research. In the last big exploratory push, things were financed by people who had every right to expect profits from the ventures. Some of the funding organizations were governments but not in the sense of governments today. The king of Spain financed Columbus for profit (territory, resources) and the Company of Gentleman Trading our of Hudson's Bay had exactly the same motive. Because of our *advanced* technology, we are now able to explore beyond the boundaries of our present space conveyance, and to venture into the next ocean. We have even managed to explore, briefly, the next island. Now, if a PRIVATE consortium of investors could be LEGALLY brought together, I wonder if we wouldn't be a lot further than we are? Present governments tend to be monolithic and conservative to the point where they timidly take mousy-steps where giant-steps are needed. Mind you, to take giant-step you have to take RISKS! Not only do you have to risk money, you have to risk LIVES. We honor those pioneers who gave their lives in settling our continent and romanticize about them greatly. Life wasn't regarded as cheap in those days, no matter what you may read. Realism simply demanded the risks be taken. The population pressure was the cause. We are coming to the same pressure levels in the global village. If there are too many of us here, we will have to go there. If some go there for breathing room, others will follow to get thinking room too. History does repeat, but with some skewing. The present skew seems to have to do with bureaucratic inertial and general tail covering. Grrrrr. ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.