Space Exploration

I realize that we wrote about this a while ago, by I wanted to put my thoughts out there about space exploration. The essay really got me thinking about things I'd never really considered before. While I didn't really take a position in the paper because I didn't realize we were supposed to, I thought about it afterwards and discussed it with a few people. These are my thoughts on the subject so far:

I think that instead of spending time, money, and resources in order to find a place to go after we use up our planet, we should be using those assets to find a way to keep our planet healthy enough so that it can still support life. Why try to change another planet in order to make it habitable when we have a perfectly designed planet right here? Our globe has everything we need, if we could figure out how to responsibly handle those things. We have already identified several problems that need to be dealt with, so even though some are still under debate, we could be fixing others right now.

Another part of this is the funding behind it. While it looked like a miniscule amount on the pie chart, after billions of dolars spent, it adds up. There are so many other things we could be spending our money on. I'm not saying we shouldn't spend money on space travel, but I am saying that if we do, we need to have a reason better than that it inspires wonder in people. Wonder is well and good, but it means nothing to people who are sick or who don't even have anything to eat. Wonder won't fill stomach or clean up disasters. It can help people feel good, but that won't mean anything if the basics are not taken care of.

I guess my point, in the end, is that space travel (and money spent on it) isn't necessarily all bad. However, it shouldn't be our first priority. In a nation and a world where we have many pressing issues, it's hard to give our time to everything that needs it. So it's ok to spend time on this, but only after the more serious things have been taken care of. That's my two cents worth anyway.