Moon, Mars, 2000 mph
I just watched “First Man”, about Neil Armstrong and the
first astronauts, and the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969. The whole world was
captivated by grainy, live, analog TV from the moon, and the suspense around
the three astronauts getting back to earth safely.
I cannot fail to be amazed that all of that was accomplished
with mechanical and analog brute force, and less technology that we now wear on
our wrists. We can’t even compare, because our watches are so far more advanced
than any technology that existed in the 1960’s.
With that kind of start, one would think that 50 years
later, we would have outposts on the moon and on mars, and would be on the way
to exploring the earth-size moons of the gas giants.
Instead, we have frittered away trillions of dollars on wars
and social issues like identity politics and searching for which bathroom to
use. And where are the flying cars Asimov & Ray Bradbury promised so long
ago?
Anyone born after 1972 has never seen grainy analog live TV
of men walking on the moon. Past 2003,
commercial supersonic flight has also not been an option for mankind.
In the 1960’s and early 1970’s, with technology not as
advanced as I now carry on my wrist, men traveled to and explored the moon and
brought back pieces of it. Just a few
years later, for the last quarter of the twentieth century, we could fly
supersonically from The U.S. to Europe in a little over three hours (for a lot
of money).
One would think that space exploration and faster than sound
commercial flight would have evolved over the past 50 years. Instead these have stopped for a variety of
reasons, primarily economic, as referenced below. Instead our advances have been in
communications and information technology, in the science of medicine, (if not
its application), and in a variety of comfort and ego enhancing inventions.
I can’t help thinking that if mankind had not frittered away
trillions of dollars on wars, the military and ineffective social programs, we
would now be able to fly anywhere on our planet in a couple of hours, and would
have habitable settlements on the moon, Mars and possible one or more moons of
the gas giants. And maybe flying cars,
that sci-fi has been predicting forever.
Ray Gruszecki
January 29, 2018
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