posted on Mar, 22 2007 @ 05:36 AM
Originally posted by Relentless
So what is it? We are spending money searching for ET's or we already have them (Serpo, area 51 discussions).
I gotta tell you, if it ever comes out that we really have had contact all this waste of my tax dollars is really going to piss me off.
If we already, as you put it,
have ETs or not, the money spent on the space program certainly has not been wasted.
First, the money from the space program has numerous residual effects in society, in science and even the economy. The space program has promoted the
education of engineers and scientists.
If we already have ETS, well the mere fact that there
are ETs makes it all the more important to develop the technology to live, work and even
make war in space. After all, are the aliens
friendly?
And, if the aliens that we might have
are friendly that does not mean that we can just relax. If there is one alien civilization then it is
certain that there are others. The "others" might not be friendly.
Regardless, as Stephen Hawkings has pointed out, it is vital for the human race to spread out throughout the solar system and into the galaxy to
assure the survival of the species.