Erik: A lot of places benefit from science funding including Utah but the bulk of the science going on in this state and most others is privately funded by for profit corporations and in some case private and not for profit organizations. In some cases it's in combination with government money like Huntsman. I don't think anyone is suggesting that the government should stop funding science research but let's not forget that there is a lot of progress being made in the private sector and science would not come to a screeching halt if Federal funds dried up and I include space in that. While a scientist may not be motivated by money often the company paying him to do the research and supporting him or her is. They need profit to continue to invest and expand. Private companies use profit to expand and grow, if all they did was pocket their profits they would soon be out of business. Every company I have worked for churns profit back into the business and when I ran my own business I put all of my "profit" back into the business. We all know the exceptions but that is not the rule. Profit is not evil, profit like money in neutral; it can be used well or poorly. Stop paying a scientist and you'll find out quickly where their priorities are. While the most valuable doctors you know may not be motivated by money they rely on medicines and treatments from profit driven companies. Again profit is not evil. And again try not paying your doctor. Certainly money is not the only motivator and many in science and medicine take their professions very seriously but we all need money to live. NASA is a civilian agency but its roots are military, all of the original astronauts were military offices, now we routinely see civilians going on missions and this is a credit to the maturing of space exploration. However the military today spends more on space than NASA. I really wonder where we really are on space access??? I'm not so sure we shouldn't put NASA's budget up for a vote, I think it has more support than you might believe. When NASA announced the end to the Hubble servicing missions it was public outcry that changed the minds of NASA and congress. Yeah, people did care and we'll have the Hubble for a few more years as a result, I think we all agree that's a good thing. I also don't think there are too many people that would object to the tax dollars that went to support the Apollo missions either. Remember how many people showed up for the Mars watch a few years ago? There is a real interest in space and people see it as ennobling, maybe it suffers from poor PR but I think space exploration is a science people really like and enjoy and support - willingly. NASA just needs a good ad agency. Robert Taylor ___________________________________ Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:14:38 -0800 From: <zaurak@digis.net> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] OT: Government and science funding To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Message-ID: <20081112161438.72DCABC0@resin18.mta.everyone.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Richard, Utah benefits greatly from government funding. I doubt a science would progress much without it, scientist I know are not motivated by profit. The most valuable doctors I know are the least paid. Capital for space innovations comes form government spending in concert with free market. Space exploration is not covered by constitution, I would not put its funding up to vote. I say to Kevin Poe, right on brother. Erik