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Comment by jjcon | Hacker News Reader

Conversely - why aren’t any other countries investing as much in space research and development?

Space research and development has indeed given us some very useful outcomes - no doubt. Also, other countries are into space research and development too, worried that this could put other able countries in a race that could result in bad outcomes.

We have plenty of problems to solve here on earth. Is technology only about solving for curiosity of what is possible ? Or is technology about solving real problems of energy, minimal impact to the environment etc ?

The ocean cleanup project is a good example of solving problems for humanity here on earth. Now that we managed to dump enormous amounts of plastic into our waterways and eventually into oceans. There are other interesting problems which beg technological solutions too.

People running space exploration are not interested in making life better for other humans. They just want to develop technology without any strings attached. This is excellent for companies that will later get technology transfers, i.e., free tech researched with public money. In the end it is an excuse to enrich the 1% even more, a free lunch for the rich.

I just got downvoted for saying something similar :) That isn't the problem. The reason i shared these opinions here on HN, is due to the faith in the HN community that they would be willing to have a civil discourse even if its opposed to their worldview. That is something i least expect from the HN community. :)

I would be happy if those who downvoted without reading the entire argument, would also contribute their views on why this argument is wrong :)

Because they don't have more money than sense?

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