My absolute favorite passage is "If the dinosaurs had a space program they would still be here"... Beyond the caricatural aspect of this phrase, i think it is a deep statement that needs to be understood by all humans. We had that exact discussion the other day with a bunch of friends/geeks; we tried to calculate the cost (to humanity) of all the "wasted" time designing,building,marketing,selling things that reduce the likelihood of the human specie survival beyond then next 500 years (an arbitrary large number). Seriously just think of bankers (very popular scapegoat these days - not that they do not deserve it) and the money (=time x effort) they wasted and how this time x effort could have been a far better investment in advanced space programs. Obviously, bankers are not the only negative contributors on the planet...