[...]As it has turned out, space is actually from Venus. People have hardly travelled anywhere at all—although a scandalous amount of money has been wasted on the conceit that voyaging across the cosmos is humanity's destiny. Instead, what has happened is inward-looking and Venusian in an almost touchy-feely way rather than outwardly directed. Most of the satellites in orbit round Earth look down, rather than up, and the biggest mental change wrought by spaceflight has been not an appreciation of the vastness of the universe, but rather of the smallness, fragility and unity of Earth.
[...]
The lesson of the past 50 years, however, is that the more humanity discovers about space, the rarer and more precious life on Earth seems. For the moment Venusian voyages to understand mankind's home planet are better than Martian ones to understand how to abandon the mother ship.
Uit: The Economist: Spacemen are from Mars
Wanneer is het verstandiger om ergens van weg te lopen? Wanneer is het de moeite om te blijven?
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