Should cosmology be defunded?

[Mazulu]

Should science be defunded?

America is 17 trillion dollars in debt and congress won't cut spending. Furthermore, cosmology is not going to lead us to any new industries. Should we just kill funding? What about other scientific research? Material science can still lead to new technology. Artificial intelligence? Kill it. Neuroscience has already done enough damage. Kill it. Maybe I'll vote Republican in the next election.

Should particle physics be defunded? The LHC is already further down the dead end than we are, so why waste money we don't have. It's not like we're going to discover anti-gravitons that can neutralize gravity. It serves no industrial purposes. Let's just defund particle physics.

 

[billvon]

It's not like we're going to discover anti-gravitons that can neutralize gravity.

How do you know that? Radium seemed like a pretty useless discovery too.

 

[Mazulu]

How do you know that? Radium seemed like a pretty useless discovery too.

All the good stuff has already been discovered. I would support research into new and better batteries, but cosmology and particle physics is spent. They won't benefit us. Come to think of it, fusion research is probably dead too. It is a waste of taxpayer money to invest in research that is not going to stimulate the economy, ever.

 

[Mazulu]

I think this country is ready for an anti-science movement. Scientific research should have to justify its existence or be eliminated as a waste of taxpayer money.

 

[Mazulu]

Can string-theory be justified? Does it support the economy?

 

[paddoboy]

America is 17 trillion dollars in debt and congress won't cut spending. Furthermore, cosmology is not going to lead us to any new industries. Should we just kill funding? What about other scientific research? Material science can still lead to new technology. Artificial intelligence? Kill it. Neuroscience has already done enough damage. Kill it. Maybe I'll vote Republican in the next election.

Should particle physics be defunded? The LHC is already further down the dead end than we are, so why waste money we don't have. It's not like we're going to discover anti-gravitons that can neutralize gravity. It serves no industrial purposes. Let's just defund particle physics.

I have a far better idea......Why not stop the useless billions of dollars spent every day of every year on "cock waving" militaristic ventures and exersises???
What good does that do humanity.
Why cut funding on cosmology???The only reason I can think of is that the "God-Botherers " and "creationists " are having the need for any omnipotent deity being pushed further and further back to irrelevence.
And then you ignore the facts, that it is science, including the space sciences and Astronomy and cosmology that are primarily responsible for the progress of mankind in general.
We do not have all the answers as yet, as to the why and how of space/time/gravity/Universe, the BB or evolution, but efforts are still worthwhile and desirable to add to human knowledge.
Would you prefer we were still swinging in the trees?

I'm not one to criticise any religionist/creationist for what they believe....that is there right, but I get rather upset and angry when in their ignorance, they want to start ripping down and dismantling the greatest discipline that humanity is capable of.
I remain agnostic, but I also have a view that man-made religion has done far more harm to humankind and its advancement then any purported good, and when I hear views and unsupported propaganda as you have just put it reinforces my view on religion and some of their proponents....

 

[paddoboy]

Can string-theory be justified? Does it support the economy?

Yes and yes...


Can muslim and Christian extremists be justified????
Can your self centered Republican wrecking machine be justified???

 

[paddoboy]

Should particle physics be defunded? The LHC is already further down the dead end than we are, so why waste money we don't have. It's not like we're going to discover anti-gravitons that can neutralize gravity. It serves no industrial purposes. Let's just defund particle physics.

All the good stuff has already been discovered. I would support research into new and better batteries, but cosmology and particle physics is spent. They won't benefit us. Come to think of it, fusion research is probably dead too. It is a waste of taxpayer money to invest in research that is not going to stimulate the economy, ever.

How can cosmology and particle physics be spent???
We do not have all the answers, or are you afraid what further answers may lead to???
Could it be that you are fearful of the day when we will have sufficient answers to conclude that a creator deity is just not necessary?.


The truth though if you could remove your blinkers is that we will probably always have questions to be answered. If we answer the relevant ones now, that will not end it, and will lead to more questions....and answering those will lead to more.

 

[paddoboy]

I think this country is ready for an anti-science movement. Scientific research should have to justify its existence or be eliminated as a waste of taxpayer money.

Well if you prefer to be the illiterate backward society illustrated by your Republican party and the Gun Lobby, be my guest......But don't take the rest of the world down with you, OK???


My insight tells me that you are already a 'closet Republican " supporter...Have I hit on the truth?


I just thank fuck, that you are obviously in the minority and many more "good " Americans would be amazed and disgusted with such rantings and ravings

 

[Mazulu]

And then you ignore the facts, that it is science, including the space sciences and Astronomy and cosmology that are primarily responsible for the progress of mankind in general.

Farming and medicine probably helped humanity the most. Developing weapons to defend our stuff, our families and our way of life helped a lot. Religion gave us a sense of identity, but science took that away. Now we are nobody. Perhaps like everything else, too much of anything is bad, including science. You just wait until some soulless AI robot takes your job; then, while you're at home,unemployed, you start to realize that science took your soul. I think it's time to trim science back.

 

[Mazulu]

Well if you prefer to be the illiterate backward society illustrated by your Republican party and the Gun Lobby, be my guest......But don't take the rest of the world down with you, OK???


My insight tells me that you are already a 'closet Republican " supporter...Have I hit on the truth?


I just thank fuck, that you are obviously in the minority and many more "good " Americans would be amazed and disgusted with such rantings and ravings

Paddoboy,
I like you. Sadly, we are on opposite sides of the fence. How I wished that science could have unlocked warp drives and all this amazing new technology. But instead, they killed god, took our souls and then grinded to a halt.

 

[Grumpy]

Mazulu

America is 17 trillion dollars in debt and congress won't cut spending

America is 17 T in debt because the super rich pay no taxes, instead they buy Republicans. Exxon, the most profitable enterprise ever in history pays little or no taxes, capital gains taxes are at record low levels, the rich pay less in taxes than the average American. The Republican party has been an excellent return on investment for the rich. It was Reagan and Bush and the financial collapse, the wars(unpaid for), Medicare part D(unpaid and a givaway to the drug companies)and war profiteers(Haliburton)that dug this hole. You are entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts. This shutdown was a coup attempt by the Koch brothers. They don't want healthcare for the poor, EPA rules or restrictions on any profit scheme they want. And they bought the Right Wing of the Republican party.

Grumpy

 

[spidergoat]

Paddoboy,
I like you. Sadly, we are on opposite sides of the fence. How I wished that science could have unlocked warp drives and all this amazing new technology. But instead, they killed god, took our souls and then grinded to a halt.

The problem is we have no way of predicting the future impact of scientific discoveries. As it is now, they are a foundation of economic growth. I wouldn't trust the scientifically illiterate to make decisions about de-funding research. Perhaps manned missions are off the table, but much research happens with unmanned vehicles that are relatively cheap. If anything, it might be economically prudent to invest even more in science. There are often public/private partnerships that lead to new industries. I know a scientist who is developing new materials specifically for research satellites that could have a tremendous impact on our everyday life.

Sorry if science hasn't verified your spirit beings, did you really expect them to?

 

[paddoboy]

Paddoboy,
I like you. Sadly, we are on opposite sides of the fence. How I wished that science could have unlocked warp drives and all this amazing new technology. But instead, they killed god, took our souls and then grinded to a halt.

No, they didn't kill God. All science did was push back the need for a God, at least to the point we call the BB.
That now is even recognised by the Catholic church.
Warp drives and such are all within the laws of physics and GR, but will take time to achieve.
When I was a kid around 10 years old, I would rush home from school, to glue my ear to a radio set to listen to an hour of serials, Superman, Tarzan, Hob Harrigan and such.....
When TV commenced our society changed.
Societies change, mostly for the better, and science is primarily responsible for that.
We, you and me are now communicating in real time, although thousands of miles apart, and could even be viewing each other on the screen as allowed for by present technology.......

 

[paddoboy]

They don't want healthcare for the poor

That one fact alone greatly saddens me, although I'm on the other side of the world.

 

[paddoboy]

Warp drives and such are all within the laws of physics and GR, but will take time to achieve.
......

And how the hell do you expect science and the human race to ever achieve that [and subsequently stellar travel] if science funding and research were withdrawn??
We only invented the airoplane a 100 years ago.......Now we have landed on the Moon, have a space telescope, and the ISS, which quite interestingly has been manned every day of every year for the last 12 years.
Warping technology is hard...It will take prodigious amounts of energy.....We do not have anywhere near the technology to do this now or in the near future......BUT!!!, at least people are working on it as we speak.

 

[billvon]

All the good stuff has already been discovered.

"Inventions have long since reached their limit, and I see no hope for further developments."
Julius Sextus Frontinus, Roman Engineer, AD 10.

"Radio has no future. Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. X-rays will prove to be a hoax."
William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, British physicist, 1899.

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"
Associates of David Sarnoff in response to his call for investment in radio, 1920's.

"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction."
Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology, Toulouse, 1872.

"However fascinating it may be as a scholarly achievement, there is virtually nothing that has come from molecular biology that can be of any value to human living."
Frank MacFarlane Burnet, Nobel Prize winning immunologist (1899-1985).

"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon."
John Eric Ericksen, Surgeon Extraordinary to Queen Victoria, 1873.

"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."
Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.

"Man will never reach the moon, regardless of all future scientific advances."
Lee DeForest, Radio Pioneer, 1957.

"There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will."
Albert Einstein, 1932.

"It would appear we have reached the limits of what it is possible to achieve with computer technology, although one should be careful with such statements; they tend to sound pretty silly in five years."
John von Neumann, computer scientist, 1949.

"I have travelled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year."
Editor of Business Books, Prentice Hall, 1957.

I would support research into new and better batteries, but cosmology and particle physics is spent. They won't benefit us.

Really? Better MRI machines are useless? Better nuclear reactors? Better telescopes? Faster than light communication? Surgical knives made of particle streams? Imaging systems that let you look through your walls before you drill into them? None of that would benefit you?

Come to think of it, fusion research is probably dead too. It is a waste of taxpayer money to invest in research that is not going to stimulate the economy, ever.

Unless it works.

I think this country is ready for an anti-science movement.

They already have it. The republican party is quite anti-science.

 

[paddoboy]

Farming and medicine probably helped humanity the most. Developing weapons to defend our stuff, our families and our way of life helped a lot. Religion gave us a sense of identity, but science took that away. Now we are nobody. Perhaps like everything else, too much of anything is bad, including science. You just wait until some soulless AI robot takes your job; then, while you're at home,unemployed, you start to realize that science took your soul. I think it's time to trim science back.

Farming and medicine has been greatly advanced by space age technology.....Satellites have been greatly incorporated in taking pictures of land for agricultural purposes, mapping areas that are seen from the vantage point of space, as more productive then others......Those same Satellites have been also used in Meteorology, and the tracking and forming of Cyclones and Hurricanes.
And that is just the tip of the iceberg in how science has benefited humanity in general.
Guess what?? If we are to eventually eliminate hunger and poverty in the world, it will be science that will be leading the way.

 

[paddoboy]

"Inventions have long since reached their limit, and I see no hope for further developments."
Julius Sextus Frontinus, Roman Engineer, AD 10.

"Radio has no future. Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. X-rays will prove to be a hoax."
William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, British physicist, 1899.

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"
Associates of David Sarnoff in response to his call for investment in radio, 1920's.

"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction."
Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology, Toulouse, 1872.

"However fascinating it may be as a scholarly achievement, there is virtually nothing that has come from molecular biology that can be of any value to human living."
Frank MacFarlane Burnet, Nobel Prize winning immunologist (1899-1985).

"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon."
John Eric Ericksen, Surgeon Extraordinary to Queen Victoria, 1873.

"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."
Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.

"Man will never reach the moon, regardless of all future scientific advances."
Lee DeForest, Radio Pioneer, 1957.

"There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will."
Albert Einstein, 1932.

"It would appear we have reached the limits of what it is possible to achieve with computer technology, although one should be careful with such statements; they tend to sound pretty silly in five years."
John von Neumann, computer scientist, 1949.

"I have travelled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year."
Editor of Business Books, Prentice Hall, 1957.



Really? Better MRI machines are useless? Better nuclear reactors? Better telescopes? Faster than light communication? Surgical knives made of particle streams? Imaging systems that let you look through your walls before you drill into them? None of that would benefit you?



Unless it works.



They already have it. The republican party is quite anti-science.

Nice quotes!!! [and post ]

I have often used them myself when answering the more pessimitic souls amongst us.

 

[Mazulu]

Farming and medicine has been greatly advanced by space age technology.....Satellites have been greatly incorporated in taking pictures of land for agricultural purposes, mapping areas that are seen from the vantage point of space, as more productive then others......Those same Satellites have been also used in Meteorology, and the tracking and forming of Cyclones and Hurricanes.
And that is just the tip of the iceberg in how science has benefited humanity in general.
Guess what?? If we are to eventually eliminate hunger and poverty in the world, it will be science that will be leading the way.

Will research into black holes and the big bang feed the poor? Nope. Will it stimulate industries or give people jobs? Nope. Then kill it.

Same with string theory, neuroscience, Higgs particle physics and all of that fun but useless science. If it's not going to support the economy or feed people, then why are we spending the money? Why should taxpayers spend money on pork science?