@rbreich

Why go to Mars?
≠=============

I have some philosophical questions, about the Mars missions, that I invite your thoughts on. I am a sci-fi fan and watch, read and write sci-fi myself. However, lately I have been wondering along the following lines:

Why are we funding Space missions with public money, when there is an underclass of people who are homeless, and hungry, and don't have their basic needs met? These people are marginalized, and too broken to cross the systemic hurdles that prevent them from voting. They are invisible to both, the leaders/politicians, and the bourgeoisie, who are kept entertained by bread and circuses ( Domino's and NFL ), too distracted to notice the stinky bum shivering on the sidewalk, who hasn't eaten a decent meal in days. We look away from the poor, thinking that they are suffering their own karma. Or maybe they are ne'er do wells, who should have studied and worked as hard as us?

They are actually co-equal to us. While government pays for Mars missions, with Public Funds ( let's get real and start calling it Public Funds, instead of "taxpayer money", which is misleading ), these people suffer. If they had any control over public money, they would shout, "GIMME EAT!", and not "let's send people to the Moon, or Mars, while I starve".

We have what Einstein called "a perfection of means, and a confusion of aims".

I would love to see human beings travel to Mars, and beyond. Yet, if we don't address our problems here, on Spaceship Earth 🌎, we will get to Mars, and recreate the same mess, and end up trashing the planet, and wanting to move to the next planet.

While going to Mars is a good idea, it should not be a priority for humanity, while we have poverty and war, and while Earth is being deforested and polluted.

With that in mind, please give me your thoughts.

#Earth
#Mars #Space #Artemis #Moon
#government #GovernmentSpending
#EqualRights #Justice
#Democracy #homeless #homelessness #poverty
#SciFi #ScienceFiction
#SpaceTravel #QuestionForGroup

#SpaceX
#BlueOrigin

Microsoft is under fire for threatening a security researcher with criminal investigation.

It's rare to see near-universal condemnation from the #infosec community, but #Microsoft threatening a #security #researcher has done it.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/29/microsoft-under-fire-for-threatening-security-researcher-with-criminal-investigation/

Microsoft is going to crash and burn soon, imho.

The world can no longer rely on American companies software, when #Trump may order Microsoft to deny access to a country, or worse, order backdoors in the software.

#France is showing #Windows the door, and replacing it with #Linux, for #DigitalSovereignty, #security and Billions of Euros in cost savings.

#India , known for its #jugaad ( frugality and innovation ) may soon follow suit. When that happens, the center of gravity shifts towards #FreeSoftware and the game changes.

#MSFT has seen the sharpest declines in its entire existence, this year.

We are in the Free Software world, approaching the time when, if you say, "I have a computer program you can use, but I won't show you the source code, and you have to pay me for it, and you can only use it on my terms, and you have to pay for upgrades, and I can declare your computer obsolete and make you buy another if I decide.", you will be laughed out of town.

https://rant.li/ashwin/castles-made-of-sand

#GovernmentSpending