The case for
space ( from a previous post just before it
was..er..iced)
Mankind's progress and evolution had always been driven
by a desire for profit. It is the healthy bottomline that
things are created, that would enhance our lives, from the first
flint knife to Boeing jets.
The makers of products and their workers would be rewarded when
they trade their products and they in turn will have money to
purchase or trade for other products.
Thus, economics/ commerce was responsible for our evolution,
coupled with religion and politics to ensure a stable environment
for futher intellectual and economic growth of our
civilisation.
The first great massive ships created by medieval Spain and
England were solely meant for trade, carrying their trinklets to
trade for Asia's gold, which led to the great age of discovery as
well as domination of others. It also provided great wealth for
such nations, leading to an age of renaissance in Europe.
It was the desire for profits/commerce that transformed
Europe.
During the dark middle ages of medieval Europe, espacially
England, torned with constant religious wars as well as virus
epidemics, it was the discoveries of new worlds that uplifted and
progressed those nations.
Nations that financed trade explorations overseas created
empires, so much so that a small island state known as England
almost ruled the world with its total domination of the seas using
their ships, through its intelligent and loyal subjects, from the
shopkeeper to the general.
Currently, the world is in a similar state as the dark ages,
with forthcoming religious wars, financial crisis and epidemics
threatening to break out. Mental depression is the state of mind of
most. It needs something strong to give hope, and that
which is worth continuing this struggle of life for themselves
and the next generations, a common direction and destiny all can
hope and head for.
The answer for this age would be outer space and colonnization
of worlds.
Eversince the russian sputnik1 satellite was successfully
launched, it broke the boundaries between earth and space, as well
as our mental barriers to make that leap into space.
Now, thru national funding, mankind had spaceships that could
travel even out of our solar system and into the beyond. However,
such fundings are low, and meant only for research purposes, have
no or little commercial gain except its spinoffs, rather than
serious attempts to colonnise worlds.
It would take commerce leaders to initiate that effort.
It is the commercialisation of outer space that will allow
mankind to make that baby step towards colonnisation, beginning
with our moon, the way the first spanish ship was built for
trade.
Only in this case, there will be no one to trade earth's
products with, for we are the only known sentient beings in the
Universe. However, this claim is still refutable as we had not
ventured far enough to know.
It will be space tourism instead, that will create the necessary
funds, to make contact, in stages - from the suborbital tourist
flights, to nuclear powered space stations/hotels, to moon bases
where factories could be built to create nuclear powered spaceships
like the russian types, with its low gravity pull and utter barren
environment, and will springboard manned missions to chart planets
for habitability and resources.
Side by side with the altrusic motive of space colonnisation
will be attached the tourism industries at every stage for funding.
Currently, the costs borned by space tourists will be high, but
subsequently, thru economies of scale and competition, trips to
outerspace and moon may be similar in price to trips to US.
With the large economic base provided by the masses later, huge
amounts of funds can be set aside for the conquest of space,
provided mankind learn its lesson and avoid the excesses of greed
such as high bonus payouts to officers of the space enterprises, as
well as the destructive nature of religion twisted to serve evil
men.
Such funds will be use for research in both biomedical sciences
and engineering to further our reach into space, eg, just as
commerical air travel started from the humble DC5 into the jumbo
757 booasting better features and technologies.
Singapore, like England of the past, is only a small state. We
have peace and stability, and our citizens scientifically
intelligent as well as economically pragmatic. We may be the ones
to lead mankind into commercialization of space.
Singapore's spacesport is the first step towards that direction,
just as the great East India Company started out as
only a bunch of shopkeepers with 3 ships but commanded nations when
it grew.
