Politicians are killing U.S. human space flight right now and the general public is oblivious. It's sad. It's not the most tragic thing, but deeply throttling back exploration is nonetheless a loss for this nation.
Here are two recent signs of this shift. First, there is my recent conversation with a 20 year old student we'll call Buzz. As I sometimes do, I started talking about spaceflight and the upcoming final launch of a Shuttle. Buzz admitted that he didn't follow the space program too much. Understandable. Most people don't follow it unless there's a really big mission or (unfortunately) there's some sort of crisis. I get it. But, then Buzz tried to feign interest. And, in as serious a tone as he could muster asked-- "Are they going to the moon?" Seriously? The moon? Were you absent that day in school when they covered the 20th century? I was flummoxed.
Then the very next day someone in the office suggested I take a look at Google's Scribe (check it out before they close GoogleLabs--a story for another time about retreating from success). Scribe is like a Word doc editor except that it suggests the next word as you type. Weird and sometimes creepy smart. So, I tried it with some well-known phrases. "Ask not what your country..." and "That's one small step for man" -- You get the idea. It's probably not intended to find famous quotes, but I was giving it a try. Try it yourself. Then I typed-- "We choose to go to the _______" and expected it to suggest moon. It did not. Google, with access to countless terabytes of data from which it can guesstimate the next word, completed the famous Kennedy charge to the nation with the word bathroom. Yes, we choose (instead) to go to the friggin BATHROOM. What??? And, I suppose "and do the other things...not because they are easy but because they are hard????"
So, if you are like me and feel that the country is adrift, is being driven off a cliff by conservatives, extreme conservatives, corporate interests, spineless politicians with no long-term visions beyond their next campaign, etc., etc., you now know why-- WE CHOOSE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM! From the Earth to the Loo-- a new HBO mini-series.
There you have it. No need to take public opinion polls. Just use Google to reveal where we truly are these days. Why are they shuttering programs that once put Americans in space? It's because we literally and figuratively cannot get off the can. Our collective rear ends are stuck!
Anyway, watch the video and get inspired again. Take your phone to the bathroom and watch it there. It's only 6 minutes or less. More time than that and you'll just aggravate your hemorrhoids.
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