Originally posted by Rictor
no, you're right. Its not as simple as cutting funding to X to finance Y, at least not on an international level. If you're talking domestically, then yes, but the world has some deep social problems and inequalities that need to be fixed to bring needless suffering to an end. 
of it has to do with a grossly disproportionate distrubtion of wealth and resources.
but that's a story for another day.
edit: cutting of funds to applicable sciences, yes somewhat. But while collecting space dust and running around on Mars is all well and good, and makes for great headlines, I fail to see how its actually of practical use to people.
Okay, the 'practicality' argument I can live with. It would be hard to explain the value of the scientific data being collected by Genesis, Spirit, Opportunity, Stardust, Cassini, and Voyager to a guy on the street corner trying to bum change from me for whatever purpose.
Here's an easy way to think about it:
I'm not sure even what part of the world you live in, but I'm going to assume you're familiar with the concept of the 401K plan offered to some employees in this country. Have some money deducted from your paycheck, company matches it up to X amount, deposit it in a mutual fund or whatnot, and you can't touch it until you're 59 1/2.
(be gentle folks, that's a pretty grand generalization).
People who live close to the paycheck-to-paycheck line will look on that and say "But I need the money NOW.". They will not see the practicality in socking money away that they 'need' right now.
Of course, when the retirement years hit....oh boy.
Space exploration is a very slow, very gradual, and after the Apollo program got canned, very frugal investment in our future. The return on investment can be summarized in just a few examples:
New manufacturing tecniques that can only be explored in zero gravity, conditions we CANNOT create for any
extended period of time on Earth.
Satelites for communication, weather, surveillance, etc.
A greater understanding of the of events outside Earth's atmosphere, and how they impact us below. How difficult do you think the prediction of catstrophic weather events would be if we didn't have weather satellites, or the ability to provide warnings of impending solar flares?
Researching nearby planets and moons for possible colonization in the distant future. We are going to have to leave the rock sooner or later.
Firing the imagination so people can think beyond 'when will I eat next'.
Numerous advances in synthetics.
hell, signifigant chunks of the computer you're working on are a direct result of the space program. cause - effect.
Remember "Live Aid" from 1985? Bob Geldof's big old "Feed The World" concept to bring aid to Africa through donations? The guy managed to raise some ridiculous amount of money, like 100 million dollars. In most cases, the food and supplies purchased with those funds never reached their intended recipients due to attrition, war, or whatever. It rotted on docks. Isn't that sad? What this tells you is the social problems of the world cannot be solved by simply throwing money at them.
Bill Gates has enough net worth to buy himself six space shuttles of his own. He could fund NASA for five years or more, probably just on stock turnovers alone. And he's very generous with his money.
Nasa's Operating Budget for Fiscal 2003 was 15 billion dollars. More than double that was spent on tobacco products. Why not ask people to give up the habit and donate that money to the underpriviledged?
More to the point, why does the money have to come from NASA? How about we buy a few less stealth bombers for the military? or do away with raises for teachers? or funding for safe sex programs for teenagers?
There is no fundamental reason why we cannot look to our future, fire our imagination, AND work on the social problems of the world at the same time. Successes in space give a good feeling of unity, unless you prefer the 'good feeling of unity' brought on by, say, a terrorist attack.
Space exploration benefits a group of individuals. What an individual within that group gains is up to them to decide.
I have to say, you are the last person around here I expected would question the practicality of the space program. Really, I'm stunned.
