175 karma · joined November 6, 2011
But why should the ones who want to make a difference be subject to criticism that they don't deserve?
For example, check the projections on the James Webb space telescope and see for yourself how the costs doubled and tripled. IMO we shouldn't look at it in terms of those costs; even if double and tripled they are not that high. Look at their effect on the larger picture.
Do consider then, that the projected cost of this space mission IS far lesser than what India spends on lot of the basic infrastructural needs that you point out are missing. They are missing, yes, but if you only look at present day snapshot it won't give you the entire story. However marginal it might seem, especially to a first-world citizen (I mean no sarcasm when I say this) education is getting better every year, employment is on an average getting better. Agricultural outputs are worrying but we have had massive monsoon shortages of late.
Almost everywhere the situation is made worse by corruption at every level. But we can't stop trying to fix things. As someone else points out on this thread, in the grand scheme of things this is an insignificant cost. FWIW some really intelligent high-school students might just decide their future based on news of such missions.
We are also struggling with a massive brain drain. Such missions are going to inspire an entire generation and maybe create a sense of satisfaction and achievement. I, for one, do not doubt the importance of those in nation building.
Extrapolating from the words of Dr N D Tyson, the total spending on such space missions is not as high as we may think it is. India's GDP is good enough to not look at a space mission with a jaundiced eye.
If you aren't yet losing sleep over what a dedicated, drive and unreasonable few of us can achieve you are living it wrong.
And NO I don't think they are aping it. Such analysis is everyday stuff ...
Anyway, if you compare for e.g. a Galaxy Ace with an iPhone there is quite a lot of similarity in the size. shape, dimensions etc.
None of this is to say that Samsung was trying to 'deceive' anyone. What is worth considering is that iPhone was the trendsetter in the market and in a time when every new phone was being compared to iPhone a device which looks so similar is bound to raise questions of such nature.
:)
While it seems like a rather defensive & oppressive move, the companies might offer a different justification, maybe on the following lines: 1. Largely service driven IT industry 2. Projects running into several months - planning, estimation, allocation nightmares 3. The recruited talent has to generally be trained from scratch for the skills required for these projects. This is probably the most important point - as even the article above says, there is good talent but by a large sourcing good talent is way beyond trivial.
As such companies would want to protect their investments.
This is not meant to be a justification for such activities of course :) The point I'm trying to make is there are multiple variables in this. As the industry matures I expect things will change for the better.