I understand concerns about focusing on issues that are directly pertinent to the people of a country, however historically we have never seen a culture solve all of its pressing problems and then decide to focus on science and exploration. Instead what we see is cultures committing to solve problems at home, but also investing resources in programs that look forward to new discoveries. I think it's short sighted to postpone space exploration simply because we don't have time for it today, or because we don't see the tangible benefit. The point of space exploration from the beginning has been to search for "truth and understanding," [1] a goal so noble that our astronauts risk their lives in pursuit of it. With greater understanding comes solutions to problems we never even knew we had.<p>[1] <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/In_the_event_of_moon_disaster.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/In_the_ev...</a>
> No wonder the American people think this Republican Congress is from another<p>> planet -- they're more interested in life in space than Americans' lives<p>And I guess Democrats are more interested in taking jabs at the opposition than they are in uniting the nation in something other than war or fear. I guess we'll have to wait until Mars attacks, then we'll see everyone come together to fund space exploration.<p>(I'm not actually taking a jab at Democrats, just pointing out that they're all a bunch of useless bottom-feeders who take any opportunity to speak ill of the other. Let's send them all into space like DNA's telephone sanitizers)
Odds of alien life: Very high. Odds of it affecting us in the foreseeable future: Very low.<p>It's an interesting question, and one that I would love to see research funding for. But it's also unlikely to lead to any direct practical results for a while, although offshoots of technology designed to answer it might end up being handy.
Here's a calculation on my little side-project.<p><a href="http://www.calchere.com/c/k1zpzn0o/Aliens-existing-in-our-galaxy" rel="nofollow">http://www.calchere.com/c/k1zpzn0o/Aliens-existing-in-our-ga...</a><p>This is from Frank Drake<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Drake" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Drake</a>
If radio signals is the best way for us to detect alien intelligent life, and vice-versa, aren't we doomed to keep quiet then? I mean, how long until we phase strong radio signals almost completely? I mean, has there been any growth in the quantity and power of radio signals since, say, the 80's? It's an honest question, since I don't know, but I see radio declining everywhere, except for, I guess, airplane and naval communication. What else am I missing here? Probably a whole lot, maybe someone could fill me/us in?
You could argue this with probability.<p>But that assumes that the existence or nonexistence of life is a random event, and that goes at odds with some religious belief systems.
I think the spokeswoman for the DCCC missed the part where this was presented to the House Science Committee, not the committee in charge of immigration or minimum wage...