Formulating Space Policy While Looking Through A Straw

Formulating Space Policy While Looking Through A Straw

"The Space Frontier Foundation believes that space settlement is the real reason to have a space program, and therefore we insist on measuring every policy or project against that purpose ...

... A lot of people are perfectly content on using ever more powerful telescopes and robotics to explore the universe - and maybe sending people - later. And these perfectly rational people can make a logical, cogent argument for that as the purpose for funding NASA - and for deciding what to fund or not to fund. That's the problem with idealistic space goals that proceed from a single personalized and narrow premise (bias): they mean nothing if the person you are talking to does not agree with you within the first few sentences. Its like looking at the world (or the universe) through a straw and then trying to proclaim policies that apply to everything outside the narrow field of view of the straw. You don't see what other people see or incorporate it into your world view. In a slightly larger sense this is the problem that all space advocacy groups have. They just assume a priori that everyone thinks space is cool in and of itself and that money should therefore be spent on things that space advocates think are cool. The real world takes a back seat. Small wonder space advocates have not made much headway in the past few decades."