by With its unsubtle allusion to a 1980s cult classic, that’s the headline for my latest piece in Independent Australia. Key points Nothing has changed in the basic physics that makes space travel, beyond the minimal scale achieved in the 1960s, essentially impossible. On the contrary, advances in physics have shut off every theoretical loophole that might have permitted us to exceed the limit imposed by the speed of light. Nor has there been any reduction in the massive amount of energy needed to propel even a single person into space. The world is facing challenges that threaten our very existence, from pandemics to climate catastrophe to nuclear war. We can’t rely on fantasies of escaping into outer space. Nor we can afford a system that delivers a huge proportion of our
Topics:
John Quiggin considers the following as important: World Events
This could be interesting, too:
John Quiggin writes Not CRT but critical thinking about race
John Quiggin writes The tribute vice pays to virtue.
John Quiggin writes All politics is global
John Quiggin writes Luck and fate in politics
With its unsubtle allusion to a 1980s cult classic, that’s the headline for my latest piece in Independent Australia. Key points
Nothing has changed in the basic physics that makes space travel, beyond the minimal scale achieved in the 1960s, essentially impossible. On the contrary, advances in physics have shut off every theoretical loophole that might have permitted us to exceed the limit imposed by the speed of light. Nor has there been any reduction in the massive amount of energy needed to propel even a single person into space.
The world is facing challenges that threaten our very existence, from pandemics to climate catastrophe to nuclear war. We can’t rely on fantasies of escaping into outer space. Nor we can afford a system that delivers a huge proportion of our collective income to a handful of irresponsible adventurers.