XPost: sci.space.policy, sci.physics   
   From: jfindley@cinci.nospam.rr.com   
      
   In article <599e18cf$0$20581$b1db1813$7968482@news.astraweb.com>,   
   benj@nobody.net says...   
   >   
   > On 8/23/2017 7:00 PM, jacob navia wrote:   
   > > Le 20/08/2017 à 17:45, Doc O'Leary a écrit :   
   > >> For your reference, records indicate that   
   > >> "Robert Clark"  wrote:   
   > >>   
   > >>> I haven't seen how much these teams have spent developing their   
   > >>> robots but   
   > >>> considering they are privately funded, and many using university   
   > >>> students to   
   > >>> do the research and construction, there's no doubt they cost less   
   > >>> than the   
   > >>> NASA developed robots.   
   > >>   
   > >> Can you really say something is cheaper when you externalize costs by   
   > >> exploiting free labor to produce it?  Are there going to be any actual   
   > >> *jobs* for the people they?re using, or is this going to be yet another   
   > >> cycle of telling kids they need to go to college, and then shoving them   
   > >> into a job market that no longer values the skills they learned?   
   > >>   
   > > Thanks for this message.   
   > >   
   > > A little bit of rational thinking is really welcome.   
   >   
   > Shows how little science is understood by anyone. But why should they?   
   > Brainless journalist fill their heads with fantasy nonsense hourly. Crap   
   > is king.   
   >   
   > Point is science isn't a "job". Making cars is a job. Building houses is   
   > a job. inventing cellphones is a job. Hell, even making up fantasy   
   > stories and selling it as "news" is a job. But science is a vocation.   
   > You do it to further human civilization and the human race. The fact   
   > governments have found that they can fund scientists who are normally   
   > poor and dedicated to build things like better ways to kill people or   
   > better ways to watch people. Real scientists won't sell out like that   
   > which happily limits the quality of the weapons and spy tools in most   
   > cases.   
   >   
   > And what is sold out science? It's all the government stuff you see like   
   > NASA where basically the job is to spend "free money" (tax dollars) and   
   > try to generate a new fantasy to grab even more. For a long time science   
   > was a part time hobby. Done by rich folks as a diversion and by   
   > university people whose actual "job" was teaching the next generation.   
   > But WWII and the Atomic bomb changed that. Suddenly it was obvious that   
   > science could give politicians power. And even better they could use   
   > other people's money (or in our case no money at all just a promise that   
   > some future generation would pay you back) to get that incredible power.   
   > And the world changed for the worse.   
      
   This reads like sour grapes from an acedemic that's never worked a "real   
   job" in his life.   
      
   You're painting with an extremely broad brush there.  In every   
   profession and every place of employment there are people who care about   
   what they're doing and how it's bettering life on this planet and there   
   are people who are there just to get a paycheck (and everything   
   inbetween).   
      
   For example, the custodian at my dorm when I was in college truly cared   
   about what he was doing and truly cared about the students he was   
   serving.  Most of us there (well, the ones who didn't have our heads up   
   our asses) appreciated him greatly.   
      
   Jeff   
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