Mission to Mars

It can be difficult to listen to the daily news when you see things from a different perspective. Somehow, I got saddled with a global view of things, a "big-picture perspective," and it's very hard for me to shake. I'm being genuine when I say that I often wish I could look at things on a much more local, individual level. I'd be a calmer, quieter person. I wouldn't be such a pain in the ass. 

For example, yesterday, as I was driving home from work, I heard a story on the radio about an effort involving students at some of our top universities (Duke, MIT, Stanford, UConn) to send a time capsule to Mars. They are now engaging in crowd funding this project, which will cost an estimated $25 million. The plan is to send a satellite, with the time capsule, on a rocket that is scheduled to launch in 2017. Now, I am normally a strong supporter of science and research, because I recognize that all of the world has benefited from the technological advances that came about from ideas that were once perceived as crazy, or at least impractical. And, maybe this is just a case of me getting old and jaded, rather than of me looking at the big picture. But, I couldn't help but feel a little exasperated when I heard this news story.

Seriously? This is what we're going to do with $25 million dollars? We're going to send a bunch of photos and videos and recordings of ourselves to Mars, where they will sit, untouched, forever because...wait for it....nobody lives there!?! Nobody even visits there! 

Setting aside the fact that time capsules have always seemed to me to be nothing more than ego stroking, I'm floored that a collection of brilliant young people would want to spend any of their intelligence on such a ridiculous project. There must be some important scientific knowledge that will be gained from this that I just cannot see. I'm not a scientist and I don't have the training and understanding that scientists have, so I must be missing something. Please, tell me I'm missing something!

When I heard they were raising $25 million from people paying, $1 at a time, to send their photos to Mars, I immediately thought of the Central African Republic, where a sectarian war has been raging for over a year, leading to a million displaced people and thousands of deaths. Today, about 20,000 people are trapped in 16 different communities because, if they leave their homes, they could get attacked before they can reach safety. Could we use $25 million to get these people to someplace safe, help them get re-settled, help them find jobs and get their kids in schools? Maybe.

I also thought of Syria. More than 6 million people have become refugees or been displaced by the civil war in that country. It's clear that $25 million would be a drop in the bucket to help those people, but gosh, it's better than nothing, right?

And, it's not just about the money, is it? I fully support space exploration. I support nearly all scientific endeavors, so it's painful for me to say this, but...shouldn't we be putting our great minds to work on clean water, healthy food, renewable energy, carbon-emissions reduction, and health care to every person on the planet? I mean, we should have nailed these things down by now, right? Hell, there are still people in the US that don't have the health care they need, while our politicians raise billions of dollars every year to get elected so they can go to Washington and make sure that those people continue to not have the health care they need! My perspective makes it hard for me to support any politician. When I look at one of them, all I see is someone who wants power in order to be powerful, not to help anyone. I don't see people who want to make things better. I see people who want to be powerful and rich and in charge. 

Are these the kinds of questions that philosophers wrestle with? Does anyone actually know a philosopher, someone who, when you ask, "What do you do for a living?" answers, "I'm a philosopher"?

Of course, it doesn't help that the Time Capsule To Mars web site declares that, "A focus market for educational engagement will include K-12-aged kids from all over the world." I've known for a long time that there were many people and organizations that viewed our public schools as opportunities to make lots of money, and I don't oppose making money, in general. We enjoy our standard of living because we have had generations of Americans who have focused on making lots of money, so I'm behind capitalism. I just don't like seeing people referring to students as a market, especially at a time in our history when our schools and the people who work in them are under attack. I became a teacher in 1987 and it's pretty much been a constant stream of attacks from politicians, business leaders, and pundits. My sister, Maggie, warned me about the damage Reagan would do back in 1984. I didn't realize that it was a turning point for public education. Maggie, you're like a prophet.

I seriously want a new perspective on things. Scientists, please help me see the value in this time capsule thing. Point out to me how I'm looking at it the wrong way.