Rosetta landed

Yes but it's not a zero-sum game Harry. I might suggest that neoliberal economic orthodoxy and good old fashioned incompetence, laziness and short-sightedness are responsible for the woes of which you speak.

The comet landing shows what can be done if everyone co-operates and puts their mind to it.

+1

This is an awe inspiring achievement that transcends mundane concerns - to have that vision over 25 years and actually achieve it is the most significant milestone in human progress since the moon landing.

Quite so. Ironic that such cooperation only seems to work in areas which do nothing to improve anyone’s well being. If only vanity and hubris could be converted to clean, sustainable energy. Or just clean water.

Such as?

To me, a mundane concern is if I've got enough food in to not snack it tonight or if the loo paper will last until Monday. Landing spacecraft on comets certainly appeals more to the schoolboy in me but it won't get the shopping done.

Quite.

ATB from George

Once built - it will become unaffordable.

The problem lies mainly in the use of home (and other property) as investment.

Funny guy, you. The only thing accomplished by this landing, is that it serves as an opportunity for people such as yourself to feel good about the human race, even in the face of its countless failures right here on this little planet.

Good for you, Kevin. Now you can go around patting yourself on the back, high-fiving everyone until you are blue in the face, while you continue to ignore the problems all around you.

When's the last time you did some charity work, or are you much too busy reading your Superman comics?

Just wondering...

Of course it might just stimulate an interest among children to study STEM subjects. And they might just go on to invent, design and make things, which in time will generate wealth.

This, BTW,  is one of the goals of the Bloodhound project. "What's Bloodhound?" I hear you say.

A carocket.

G

On reflection I must agree. Depressing but true.

Ironic that such cooperation can be achieved by scientists (men & women) working together despite different cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds, in a way that the politicians & religious leaders of the world (men) cannot.

Ironic indeed. But comforting I suppose, that the scientific community can bury hatchetts, retract claws and behave itself if sufficient funding and publicity/fame is offered in return. Clean water for the world might be a lifetime of worthy under achievement, although much good may be done along the way. I suppose that to some, limelight is more important, however futile the reason.

If the human race can do something just because it can, why is there so much starvation and disease? It just doesn't track.

Rosetta was an ESA project (19 European nations plus Canada) with instrumentation and communications support provided by NASA.  Sorry to say, but there were only very minor cultural, religious and ethnic divisions that needed to overcome for the success of the Rosetta project, and for the overall success of this relatively homogenous western scientific organization.

IMO, it is still a remarkable technological achievement, but the credit does go to a team that was completely unified in their central belief that scientific research can and must play a central role in our evolution as a species. Unfortunately, there are great swaths of disenfranchised people throughout the world who eschew science. They can not relate to something like Rosetta because they have no concept of a shared vision of mankind's future.

I am am all for diversity within the context of modern, shared societal norms. I am also against tribalism. Everyplace on earth where tribalism is the norm, backwards traditional beliefs trump science, women and children are treated like possessions, and violence is the answer for resolving disputes and expanding tribal boundaries.

If you are reading this post as "the west is wonderful, and the rest of the world sucks" or "science is great, and religion sucks", then I have done a very poor job of communicating. What I am trying to say is that all countries on earth need to be run by secular governments that cooperate on issues that are important to all of mankind and to the planet itself, and each secular government needs to establish freedom of worship as one of the fundamental rights of its citizens. So long as governments continue to be run by religious zealots, persecution of minorities and wars with other nations will continue to be the norm. Examples in the world today (and throughout history) are almost too many to list!

Hook

Coming from America that's a particularly astute observation. But none of us live in glass houses, not one of us. I guess it just depends on where each of us wants to view the world from.

That is a secular viewpoint shared mainly by countries that were more or less homogenous Christian Societies, where gradually secular government and democracy became the norm based still on Christian morality and legal framework.

You will never persuade some other cultures that Religion should be other than the basis of Law and Government. And who is going to say that these different cultures are inferior to our Christian based secular government type of cultures.

It is exactly this superiority of thought about themselves - and the concomitant feeling that there is a moral responsibility to change the inferior to superior ways - that makes the USA one of perhaps the half dozen most dangerous countries on the planet, IMHO.

ATB from George

I will. The "quality" of a culture is measured by the degree to which people are treated equally and without discrimination. Yes, all cultures have a long way to go, but the culture in somewhere like Canada is demonstrably superior in terms of human rights to a country where they would stone a woman to death for being raped or marrying out of her religion (for example).

Dear Winki,

You do not have to persuade me, but the people whose human right records are terrible - not to say that the West is nearly as clean as it would like to pretend either.

And the USA will not  persuade those who they think are inferior by invasions and military occupation!

Installing a democratic government in a country and hoping that it will remain democratic is a faint hope when the people will vote for non-democrats!

And what is the USA going to do along the same lines if it is consistent about China?

It is a big question to which the answer i believe is constructive dialogue and what Churchill called, "Jaw-jaw."

Allow those who do not share our legal and governmental aims see at least that we are tolerant and want to co-opperate along lines of peace rather than war with the respect due to any sovereign nation and culture. Then we can hope for the same respect in return concerning international terrorism ...

ATB from George

No one has made account of the Lizard illuminati " race behind all this !  Another step closer to interstellar domination.

If it were not possibly mentioned as serious, then it would be funny.

One thing the internet has blessed us with is an over-developed sense of the "conspiraacy theory!"

ATB from George

I trust the almighty FSM to protect us from the Lizard People, as he has done through the ages.

"Our Pasta, who “Arghh” in heaven, Swallowed be thy shame. Thy Midgit come. Thy Sauce be yum, On top some grated Parmesan. Give us this day our garlic bread. And give us our cutlasses, As we swashbuckle, splice the main-brace and cuss. And lead us into temptation, But deliver us some Pizza. For thine are Meatballs, and the beer, and the strippers, for ever and ever. RAmen."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq4uCWtQE24

Oooh, a fellow pastafarian. Do you wear the appropriate headgear?