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Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

Erik, I gave "enabling us to go to the moon" not as an example of the usefulness of science but as an example of a sign that science is not all bogus (in contast, e.g., to pyramidology). "Building nuclear weapons" might have been an even better example of such a sign.

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Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

Does anybody else find it perplexing that the example of the usefulness of science was "to go to the moon"? Manned missions into space seem to have given very little actual benefit to people in the US, other than maybe an inflated sense of national pride. Now I won't discount the positive benefits of satelite technology and space exploration via mechanical instruments, but if someone were to do a serious cost-benefit analysis of the manned space program in the US since the 50's, I have a strong feeling they'd find billions have been wasted on it. Think what useful technologies could have been developed more rapidly with that money. I bring this point up as there has been big talks and announcements by the US as well as India and China among others who are planning future manned missions to the moon, and shutter at the thought of how much money will be wasted on them.

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