https://mobile.twitter.com/robert_zubrin/status/101347705748...
Edit: Will surely invest considerable resources to convert Earth to a national park once we have outgrown earth's economy 100x
Money spent on space programs IS spent here on Earth. The money paid to engineers and fabricators and for raw materials goes to pay for house payments, durable goods, food and taxes of the individuals working on these projects. And those payments create jobs delivering these services, which benefits an ever increasing number of people.
It's not as if dollar bills were litterally burned to provide rocket thrust.
Your same argument can be used for the defense contractors as well and people will still line up to argue it’s not the best use of tax dollars
To extend that argument, is it better to give underserved internet access or spend the money on something that potentially saves someone’s life, like mosquito netting? I think even though HN is very in love with high tech problems, many would argue we could serve humanity better by prioritizing those lower tech problems that tend to solve more fundamental needs
I think greed and hedonic adaptation can also lead to this. There's no monopoly on some of the lesser angels of human nature.
That link is assuming that the ends justify the means, which I tend to believe is the road to evil. In this case, there are more foundational principals that would take precedence.