Re:Why the Evidence of Water on the Moon is Bad News
by anigbrowl on Monday September 28, 2009 @02:35PM
(#848927)
Because the fringe benefits of X and Y might not be apparent. Here's a long list of things that were developed for the space program and which have turned out to be valuable in other contexts; but which might not otherwise have passed the 'necessity test' for investment: http://www.thespaceplace.com/nasa/spinoffs.html
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Why the Evidence of Water on the Moon is Bad News
by euccastro on Monday September 28, 2009 @04:44PM
(#849198)
Find some X and Y that pass the 'necessity test' then.
If X and Y don't warrant express investment in first place, how come they justify investments on space programs after the fact?
To defeat this reasoning, I suggest you try and find a reason why serendipity should work better in projects with less immediate usefulness. I could be convinced that's the case, but I haven't heard arguments in favour of this hypothesis so far.