First, I'm stunned to see that as the reaction from a component of the press I thought would be better informed. But I think there may be a cautionary tale here for NASA. For years now NASA has seen fit to promote planetary science by touting possibility of discovering life elsewhere. In my humble opinion, the only life ever to be found in the solar system will be that carried from earth. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be looking for life. But I believe it does mean that a more balanced and honest approach is needed toward the public (and the press which is the conduit). If every NASA mission has to be sold as a search for life, much interesting science will be skewed (there is an awful lot of interesting science to be done having little to do with an ET life hypothesis). At some point the popular press will become jaded. If (when) that occurs, NASA will learn what tight budgets really mean. The question of why tax monies should be used to fund this scientific endeavor is a valid one. The scientist in me thrills to see the latest space spectaculars (just yesterday I watched yet another movie revolving around Apollo 11–"The Dish," which is an excellent movie, though the language a bit rough for children). The libertarian inside me shouts that money should not be extracted forcibly from the public for such purposes. NASA needs to make its case in an honest fashion, not larding in search for ET. Space travel as Noah's Ark tied to scare-mongering scenarios is, I believe, an even more dangerous fund-raising trick. Jim ---- Jim Cobb james@cobb.name On Jan 19, 2005, at 11:51 PM, Greg Taylor wrote:

They can just go to H*** for all I care! Was it worth the money? As far as I'm concerned it was! 10 times over! (but we want eye candy... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!) Buncha chumps anyway! Please note: I am unbelievably grumpy today. I am so, SO tired of scientific neanderthals. >:( GRRRRRRRRRRR!

--- Patrick Wiggins <paw@trilobyte.net> wrote:

...

Comments?

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/oped-05i.html

Patrick

_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com

http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy

...

Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com

__________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Find what you need with new enhanced search. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250

_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com

I agree this was a poorly-written editorial, so bad in fact that it's easy to miss a valid criticism he is making of the Europeans. When Mansfield referred to the ESA theme of"rebirthed 'European Nationalism'" I had to agree -- though the word should have been reborn, not rebirthed. The first ESA press conference went on so extensively about Europe, with so little mention of NASA, that you would have thought ESA got Huygens there on its own. I never heard any mention of the United States as a country, and only passing reference to NASA. As far as I'm concerned, this was a deliberate slight. Then their handling of the photos' release was just dumb. Why dribble it out in bits and pieces? As we know, apparently all of it is on the Internet. I don't agree with Mansfield with all his ridiculous commentary about "eye candy" and even more offensive terms and I don't agree that the photos are uninteresting. They are low-resolution but fascinating. Incidentally, when I clicked on Space Daily just now, the Mansfield editorial was gone and a more pointed and better-written one was in its place. Take a look: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/oped-05g.html -- Best wishes, Joe