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Planet of interest.
Planet of interest.
Neil deGrasse Tyson is probably the last person to suggest NASA falsify the threat of alien invasion to play on humanity's fears. I also doubt he'd suggest that the space agency exploit America's religious conservative movement with "proof" that said aliens are governed by demons.
But just for the sake of argument, let's you and I go there.
Along with my Stuff to Blow Your Mind co-host Julie Douglas, I had the honor of interviewing Dr. Tyson last week on the motivators for space exploration and his upcoming book Space Chronicles.
He stressed that while the whole "exploration is in our DNA" argument is fine and dandy for multibillion-dollar space projects, it simply doesn't work past the $10 billion funding ceiling. Here's what he had to say:
The only drivers that really stimulate people to spend money are war and economics -- and the third one, which is less common today, is the praise of royalty or deity. There was a day when you could invoke one or both of those and get anything done. You get the pyramids and all the church building in Europe, the cathedrals of England. You could do that if there is a power above you that you fear or you want to praise. But that doesn't happen much anymore. That leaves war and economics.
