[meteorite-list] The Human Presence in the Solar System

From: Rob McCafferty <rob_mccafferty_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2011 07:24:58 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <72912.14886.qm_at_web161913.mail.bf1.yahoo.com>

The nature of this list means that I am certainly preaching to the converted but I'll have my say anyway.

Research and discovery for it's own sake is uniquely human. It is true that it costs a lot of money but we all know it's very little in the grand scheme.
As a gross oversimplification of things, mathematicians find out how numbers play, physicists work out a practical application for the maths, engineers find something useful to do with the maths and EVENTUALLY, through the sheer endeavour of it all and the processes we go through, the whole of humanity benefits. It's a similar story is for all sciences.
We shouldn't necessarily be doing things with a view to long term benefit. We should do it because we are human. The long term benefits will come by virtue of us having achieved the remarkable.

Rob McC



      
Received on Mon 21 Mar 2011 10:24:58 AM PDT