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**r5YOPDyk** · 07-20-2009, 10:25 PM

Of course it was. If humanity doesn't conquer the universe, someone else will.

In order for humanity to conquer the universe we're going to need a revolution in fundamental physics, not to spend a shitload of money perfecting primitive rocket tech.

One thing that people constantly forget is that by attempting to push technological progress in one direction we incur deadweight losses. For example, the computer tech aboard Apollo was a major expense; one which could have been avoided if it had been held off for a couple of decades. Now, undoubtedly, the gov't spending on Apollo helped increase the rate of development of computer tech, but just as undoubtedly the impact on development of this tech was far lower than if an equivalent amount had been spent directly on development (rather than on procurement) of computers.

Something like 70% of the entire R&D budget of the US federal government went to NASA during the Apollo years. What benefits were foregone due to this myopic spending?

Apollo was an engineering freak. Nothing more.

07-20-2009, 10:25 PM	#10
r5YOPDyk Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 442 Senior Member	Of course it was. If humanity doesn't conquer the universe, someone else will. In order for humanity to conquer the universe we're going to need a revolution in fundamental physics, not to spend a shitload of money perfecting primitive rocket tech. One thing that people constantly forget is that by attempting to push technological progress in one direction we incur deadweight losses. For example, the computer tech aboard Apollo was a major expense; one which could have been avoided if it had been held off for a couple of decades. Now, undoubtedly, the gov't spending on Apollo helped increase the rate of development of computer tech, but just as undoubtedly the impact on development of this tech was far lower than if an equivalent amount had been spent directly on development (rather than on procurement) of computers. Something like 70% of the entire R&D budget of the US federal government went to NASA during the Apollo years. What benefits were foregone due to this myopic spending? Apollo was an engineering freak. Nothing more.
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