29 OCT 2011 by ideonexus
Government Maps the Terrain for Private Enterprise
There is fundamentally no business case for private enterprise to advance a space frontier. When you advance a frontier, you are making mistakes that the capital markets choose not to value. You have to create patents to enable things that you don't know will work. Anytime you are the first person to do something on that scale, the history of human civilization has demonstrated that the only funding available to do that via governance.
And so what then happens is the patents get issued. The ...
1 Neil deGrasse Tyson explains how government explores and maps out the terrain before private enterprise comes along behind after the costs and risks have been determined.
01 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
Two Examples of Leaping to Conclusions without the Facts
Let me give you two examples of leaping to conclusions without
the full facts. Back in the 1890’s, a certain California newspaper
was apprehensive about the harmful effects the railroads would
have on the environment. If the trains crossed the Mojave to get
to the Pacific, this newspaper editorialized, “the huge iron rails
will reverse the Earth’s magnetic field with catastrophic effects.”
Now that’s real science! One hundred forty years ago, the Royal
Society in England warned agai... 1 
notes
notesPeople, even scientists, thought the train would come apart and asphyxiate its passengers at speeds of 35 MPH, and the rocket was disregarded by the military until the Germans adopted it.
