From the Earth to the Moon is a miniseries that chronicles the space program from the moment Kennedy declared, "We choose to go to the moon," all the way through the Apollo program to the end of the Moon missions. As I was watching it, I began to think about how incredibly resourceful humans can be.
When Kennedy made that demand to put a man on the moon before the decade was out, our space program was a laughable joke. The Russians had just launched their Sputnik to much worldwide rejoicing and plenty of Washington headaches. It looked as though the Russians were going to beat us into outer space. This was something that the United States, in all its glorious, competitive spirit, could not allow. You can bet that when NASA got the news, they were a little bit overwhelmed. But you know what? They did it.
NASA pulled themselves together, set up a very ambitious plan and went about to make history. With plenty of setbacks and cost overruns they accomplished what was unaccomplishable: put a man on the moon. It is an amazing story about how it all came together, defying odds and inspiring a nation and the world. I recommend watching the series if you haven't seen it before.
But the thing that I realized was that NASA had, for the most part, a blank check. They were on a mission, mandated by a president that the country loved and missed, and nothing would stand in their way. So it got me thinking, what could we accomplish today if NASA was given similar circumstances? Those circumstances being an unlimited budget, rival international pressure, and a determined president's order. Now add our technology and knowledge of today, and you have a dangerous combination. We could build a Death Star!
But once I thought about this set of unusual circumstances, I began to apply it to every problem in our wold today. Everything is limited by cost and time. What if the expense were taken out of the equation? What if we had no concept of money, everybody working for the betterment of mankind? The only problem would then be time. So put a little pressure of an impending war, or ongoing war. Look at all the things to come out of two world wars. It is a fair argument to say that life would be very different today if Arch Duke Ferdinand wasn't assassinated, thus bringing about WWI and then WWII. Our lives today would be very different.
So what would this look like? What would a society that had no monetary value and a little bit of competition look like? I don't think it'd be all that great to be honest. The concept almost sounds like communism. But I see it more like a perfectly functioning utopia, everybody works for each other and for the betterment of man. Wow, that does sound communist.
In short I find that it would never work. Money or trade is a necessary part of society and culture. I simply find it fascinating to think of the possibilities if you simply took away a cost.
Think about the medical field. No longer limited by budgets and grants, they could throw all their resources into the hat to find cures and advance medicine. Or what about our infrastructure? How about those fuel economic cars? Think of the advances we could make if people weren't holding back.
And I return to space. If NASA had no budget limitations, we could be building that ship to go to Mars. We could be building that elevator to ferry equipment out of the atmosphere. The ideas are there. The science is there. All that is missing is oodles and oodles of cash, or an organization that doesn't need it.
It may sound a little dark, but I almost feel that a large scale war is needed to jump-start our ailing system. If the need were present and pushing, we could accomplish anything. All we have to do is put forth the effort, and put aside the cost.
Sphere: Related Content
No comments:
Post a Comment