Oh, so a guy on a gambling message board has the knowledge and authority to say that Carl Sagan was talking out of his ass?
Hilarious.
Do I need to emphasize again the part where I said that we are hundreds of years away from it happening? And you are right, it will be enormously expensive, and it will take a global effort. But first, we have a lot of shit to sort out on our own planet. Who knows? We might nuke ourselves back to the Stone Age before we even get a chance.
Wolfie has already touched on the necessity for colonization off world. There are any number of things that could happen that could end life on this planet as we know it. The more places we live, the better our chances are for survival. It would be a shame to have 3 billion years of evolution snuffed out in one day by an asteroid strike.
Let me rephrase that, deep space travel is beyond our CURRENT technological capabilities although there are many serious ideas on how to perform short-distance (a few light years) interstellar flights (which of course is not prohibited by any known law of nature but it does pose its unique challenges specially with manned travel).
However it would be a stretch to think that short distance interstellar flight (or long for that matter) is something that may happen in a century or two since we are much busier arguing stupid crap and killing each other.
I would also recommend a great book I read....which presents an unique (and scary) angle to what is possible when you have interstellar capable ships.....The Killing Star by Charles Pellegrino (used ,hardcover edition going for 20 something bucks in amazon)
Because they start with this premise
what they call the 3 simple laws of alien behavior
1) the aliens survival will be more important to them than ours
2) wimps don't become top dogs (so any intelligent species from any planet) has to be alert,aggresive and ruthless when neccessary
3) they will assume that the first two laws apply to us
this leads to a 'kill them before they even consider killing us, risking destruction even if the probability is small is an extremely high risk
The great thing about this book is that its written by a scientist and he has made every possible effort to make the book agree with current knowledge
After I read that book I read the one called "Flying to Valhalla" same subject but he wrote that one first and I am tempted to buy one called "Dust" which now goes for 1 cent in amazon.
Ironically this author left New Zealand when the scientists down there were facing the "ID witch hunt" back in the early 90s....he went to work in the US.
The problem is that the 'weapon' discussed in the book.........had no defense against.....and no time to prepare for anything. Its truly a fascinating book as its the opposite point of view of star trek/carl sagan/etc views. Read it (spoiler, the first thing that the ETs that nuke us heard from us was Michael Jackson song )
(spoiler, the first thing that the ETs that nuke us heard from us was Michael Jackson song )
Did you ever see the Twilight Zone episode:
"To serve man" ?
It turned out to be an alien cookbook !
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734684/
There is a similar one (from the new twlight zone/80s version) where the aliens show up in the UN headquarters....and reveal themselves as our creators....and they say they are going to terminate their experiment because we had a 'small talent for war' 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Small_Talent_for_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Small_Talent_for_War
There is a similar one (from the new twlight zone/80s version) where the aliens show up in the UN headquarters....and reveal themselves as our creators....and they say they are going to terminate their experiment because we had a 'small talent for war'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Small_Talent_for_War
"aliens" can be very bad, ask the Africans abducted into slavery by Euro "aliens", or the American Indians.
Explorers could be conquerors, or at least want something here....maybe the whole planet , as a base to ensure the future survival of their species, should something happen to their home world ?
Maybe they are simply evangelists ?
You can't possible compare a car of the era to the top notch technologies that existed at the time. A seatbelt (or lack of there of) means absolutely nothing in this context.
To put things in perspective......the necessary physics/math knowledge to make the necessary calculations for space travel were ALL known at least 100 years before the trip even took place.
Also nuclear weapons and radar were common (and computers were used in making necessary calculations to optimize/improve the nukes, this back in the FORTIES and fifties). As usual in human history, the military needs usually push technological advances that later on can be used in less lethal ventures. Russians had nukes, Americans had nukes, they wanted to put them in rockets that could be sent accurately to kill the enemy.....
Transatlantic flights (in planes that had seat belts LOL) were already common.
Also lets keep in mind that every single Apollo landing was performed by the best computer in existence (Homo Sapiens)
For those interested (again recommending a book) get 'digital apollo' from amazon.
Going to add another note (I know I am getting annoying LOL)
My background is in engineering, I spent 6 years learning how to split a big problem into smaller pieces and then integrating the result.
If I had not have that kind of training it would probably be unbelievable to me how something like a computer, a rocket capable of carrying humans or the internet could be ever created since we tend to think of it in an 'all or nothing' fashion. When you REALLY study ANY of the machines we use every single day......you realize that they are all incredibly complex.
Take a tv for example, we know that they had tvs back in the 40s......so......do you UNDERSTAND how a tv works?
Someone in two centuries from now could say something like "I cant believe those idiots had a tv.........they didnt even have fusion generators at home back then! "
What I am trying to say is that if you put 400000 people, 20000 industrial firms, all experts at what they do and NOT working from scratch obviously but using as an starting point the very latest of technology in everything (from rocket design to telecommunications to materials engineering) and split it into teams "you design this .......we design that......when everyone has their shit working we will try to integrate it "....well.....there you have it. Obviously the guys that designed 'x' component of the rocket had no clue how to do y,z and w and all the rest, they simply took care of one component.....you multiply that by hundred of specialized teams...and wonders do happen.
(When I saw the Eiffel Tower in person........you could also say ....how could they have built something this tall in the 1880s??? but well, they did)
My background is in engineering, I spent 6 years learning how to split a big problem into smaller pieces and then integrating the result.
If I had not have that kind of training it would probably be unbelievable to me how something like a computer, a rocket capable of carrying humans or the internet could be ever created since we tend to think of it in an 'all or nothing' fashion. When you REALLY study ANY of the machines we use every single day......you realize that they are all incredibly complex.
Take a tv for example, we know that they had tvs back in the 40s......so......do you UNDERSTAND how a tv works?
Someone in two centuries from now could say something like "I cant believe those idiots had a tv.........they didnt even have fusion generators at home back then! "
What I am trying to say is that if you put 400000 people, 20000 industrial firms, all experts at what they do and NOT working from scratch obviously but using as an starting point the very latest of technology in everything (from rocket design to telecommunications to materials engineering) and split it into teams "you design this .......we design that......when everyone has their shit working we will try to integrate it "....well.....there you have it. Obviously the guys that designed 'x' component of the rocket had no clue how to do y,z and w and all the rest, they simply took care of one component.....you multiply that by hundred of specialized teams...and wonders do happen.
(When I saw the Eiffel Tower in person........you could also say ....how could they have built something this tall in the 1880s??? but well, they did)
For some reason, this has eaten at me for the last few days.
For those who think the landings were hoaxed, there is not a single argument those making that claim have that wasn't thoroughly debunked years ago.
Phil Plait does quite a good job debunking the nonsense here: http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/foxapollo.html
For those who think the landings were hoaxed, there is not a single argument those making that claim have that wasn't thoroughly debunked years ago.
Phil Plait does quite a good job debunking the nonsense here: http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/foxapollo.html
The thing is, people so easily misled as to believe the moon landings didn't happen also have a tremendous ability to make themselves believe scientific debunkings are part of the same grand conspiracy. So hard facts and demonstrations carry no weight with them, but a borderline nutcase on public access television railing about how flags are blowing in the wind is entirely believable.
Bottom line: Some people simply won't believe it's raining no matter how wet they get.
