Well, all this is interesting to me, anyway, and that's what matters here. The Internet is a terrible thing for someone like me, who finds almost everything interesting.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Neil Armstrong 1930-2012
Neil Armstrong died today, and I thought this video clip of the first Moon landing would be appropriate.
Back then, we were still willing to do something, even if it took tax money. Back then, we still believed in America - in our institutions, in our government, and in our people. Back then, we weren't convinced we were in decline.
We had plenty of faults back then, but we hadn't lost America's traditional "can do" attitude. Both political parties still 'believed' in science, and both parties were willing to put America ahead of their partisan political ambition.
In many ways, we've progressed since then. Let's never doubt that. But we've also lost something. Thirty years of 'trickle-down' economics has destroyed our economy, as well as our confidence. We're less inclined to invest in America. We're far less inclined to take bold steps. We've lost our courage.
Or maybe we've just misplaced it. We've still got our heroes. We just don't back them anymore. Firemen are considered to be just greedy public employees, sucking on the government teat, no matter how many children they rescue from burning buildings.
And astronauts? What astronauts? America has to buy a ticket from other countries just to get into space! Forget about the Moon or Mars. We'd rather give tax cuts to people who already have everything.
It's sad that Neil Armstrong lived to see that. But it's sadder that he didn't live long enough to see us regain our senses and reclaim our ambition.
Perhaps our decline can be summed up in an old George Carlin joke:
"A man attempting to circle the Earth in a hot-air balloon died today when he stepped out of the balloon to admire it from a distance."
Maybe that's part of our problem; have we become a victim of our own success?
As kooky as Ross Perot was, he did get one thing right: "Success breeds arrogance and complacency."
Speaking of the "can-do" attitude and the space program, I'm reminded of the Apollo 13 accident. I've seen a few documentaries about it and I thought the Tom Hanks movie was brilliant. What impressed me was the attitude of everyone involved; "something's broken, let's fix it," was the order of the day.
Nowadays, it's all about assigning blame. If the Apollo 13 accident were to happen today, I think there would be a high probability you would see this on Faux "News:" "Apollo 13 crisis: Are Democrats to blame?"
Neil Armstrong led by example. He didn't stand there and admire his handiwork. He shunned fame and fortune and kept his head down. He checked his ego at the door.
We should heed the words of his family in their press release:
"While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves.
"For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."
Note that I'm a big science fiction fan, and one thing I loved about classic science fiction was the... engineering mindset so much of it had. The attitude was just as you said, "something's broken, let's fix it."
The idea was that problems had solutions, and all we needed was to be smart enough to find them. Of course, the assumption was also that we'd be determined enough to keep looking and courageous enough to do whatever it took.
But now,... I don't know. We've lost that, somehow. But we did this to ourselves. Our problems are man-made, so we can certainly apply human ingenuity to fix them. But we've lost our ambition. We've lost our confidence. We've lost our courage.
We used to invest in America. At the very least, we used to invest in America's children. Tomorrow was going to be better than today. And thanks to that investment, it was.
But now, we want to hoard our money. We want to huddle in the dark, afraid of what the light might show us. And we're willing to accept a slow decline, as long as we don't have to work at it.
Well, people turn conservative when times are bad. So conservatives make sure that they stay bad - indeed, that they get worse and worse all the time. It's become a vicious circle. And as we we try to break out of it, they drag their feet.
I'm a skeptic. I think it makes sense to have reasons for what I believe, so I apportion my belief to the evidence. You're welcome to disagree. Please, tell me I'm wrong. I probably don't agree with anyone about everything. Why should disagreement be a problem? Check the Pages section below for series posts and links to book reviews and game posts, as well as contact info. Unfortunately, I rarely blog at all, anymore. So don't expect new posts. - Bill
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true. - Robert Wilensky
It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong - Richard Feynman
The general root of superstition is that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss, and commit to memory the one, and pass over the other. - Sir Francis Bacon
When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Speculation is perfectly all right, but if you stay there you've only founded a superstition. If you test it, you've started a science. - Hal Clement
No matter how many times a theory meets its tests successfully, there can be no certainty that it will not be overthrown by the next observation. This, then, is a cornerstone of modern natural philosophy. It makes no claim of attaining ultimate truth. In fact, the phrase "ultimate truth" becomes meaningless, because there is no way in which enough observations can be made to make truth certain and, therefore, "ultimate". - Isaac Asimov
The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion. - Treaty of Tripoli, passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate and signed by President John Adams (1797)
I don't doubt the sincerity of dowsers, but even after we've demonstrated that they can't produce results that are any better than chance they'll still go away believing in their abilities... It is like the mother whose son is caught shoplifting on tape. She wonders why someone would want to frame her child by producing a fake video. - James Randi
During many ages there were witches. The Bible said so. The Bible commanded that they should not be allowed to live. Therefore the Church ... imprisoned, tortured, hanged, and burned whole hordes and armies of witches, and washed the Christian world clean with their foul blood. Then it was discovered that there was no such thing as witches, and never had been. One does not know whether to laugh or to cry. - Mark Twain
Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives' mouths. - Bertrand Russell
A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything. - Friedrich Nietzsche
I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends... that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them. - Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.
This is not about proof. Science does not use proof. We favor evidence, and the work consists largely of the slow accumulation of evidence in support of ideas, not magically potent proofs that establish an idea as unassailable. - PZ Myers
No, people don't expect government to solve all their problems. But they sense, deep in their bones, that with just a slight change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all. - President Barack Obama
The formula was very simple: build this really flexible, really open economy, tolerate creative destruction so dead capital is quickly redeployed to better ideas and companies, pour into it the most diverse, smart and energetic immigrants from every corner of the world and then stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat. - Shekhar Gupta
We are prodding, challenging, seeking contradictions or small, persistent residual errors, proposing alternative explanations, encouraging heresy. We give our highest rewards to those who convincingly disprove established beliefs. - Carl Sagan
We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. - Richard Dawkins
120 million of us place the big bang 2,500 years after the Babylonians and Sumerians learned to brew beer. - Sam Harris
To kill a man is not to defend a doctrine, but to kill a man. - Michael Servetus, burned at the stake in 1553
Democracy is not about majority rule; it is about minority rights. If there is no culture of not simply tolerating minorities, but actually treating them with equal rights, real democracy can't take root. - Thomas L. Friedman
We cannot absolutely prove that those are in error who tell us that society has reached a turning point, that we have seen our best days. But so said all who came before us and with just as much apparent reason. - Thomas Macauley, 1830
It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important. - Martin Luther King, Jr.
We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven into an age of unreason if we dig deep into our history and remember we are not descended from fearful men. - Edward R. Murrow
The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence. Science is simply common sense at its best - that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic. - Thomas Huxley
There is no absurdity so obvious that it cannot be firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to impose it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity. - Arthur Schopenhauer
Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person's life, freedom of religion affects every individual. ... Erecting the "wall of separation between church and state," therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society. - President Thomas Jefferson
To be elected in America, no matter from what party, the candidates have no choice but to year after year pledge to lower taxes further and further. We have become the nation of Ken and Barbie, looking good but very poor at the math. - Rack Jite
Invisible Pink Unicorns are beings of great spiritual power. We know this because they are capable of being invisible and pink at the same time. Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them. - Steve Eley
We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics. - President Franklin D. Roosevelt
I have been attacked by Rush Limbaugh on the air, an experience somewhat akin to being gummed by a newt. It doesn't actually hurt, but it leaves you with slimy stuff on your ankle. - Molly Ivins
In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican. - H. L. Mencken
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. - Winston Churchill
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2 comments:
Perhaps our decline can be summed up in an old George Carlin joke:
"A man attempting to circle the Earth in a hot-air balloon died today when he stepped out of the balloon to admire it from a distance."
Maybe that's part of our problem; have we become a victim of our own success?
As kooky as Ross Perot was, he did get one thing right: "Success breeds arrogance and complacency."
Speaking of the "can-do" attitude and the space program, I'm reminded of the Apollo 13 accident. I've seen a few documentaries about it and I thought the Tom Hanks movie was brilliant. What impressed me was the attitude of everyone involved; "something's broken, let's fix it," was the order of the day.
Nowadays, it's all about assigning blame. If the Apollo 13 accident were to happen today, I think there would be a high probability you would see this on Faux "News:" "Apollo 13 crisis: Are Democrats to blame?"
Neil Armstrong led by example. He didn't stand there and admire his handiwork. He shunned fame and fortune and kept his head down. He checked his ego at the door.
We should heed the words of his family in their press release:
"While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves.
"For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."
Nice, Jeff!
Note that I'm a big science fiction fan, and one thing I loved about classic science fiction was the... engineering mindset so much of it had. The attitude was just as you said, "something's broken, let's fix it."
The idea was that problems had solutions, and all we needed was to be smart enough to find them. Of course, the assumption was also that we'd be determined enough to keep looking and courageous enough to do whatever it took.
But now,... I don't know. We've lost that, somehow. But we did this to ourselves. Our problems are man-made, so we can certainly apply human ingenuity to fix them. But we've lost our ambition. We've lost our confidence. We've lost our courage.
We used to invest in America. At the very least, we used to invest in America's children. Tomorrow was going to be better than today. And thanks to that investment, it was.
But now, we want to hoard our money. We want to huddle in the dark, afraid of what the light might show us. And we're willing to accept a slow decline, as long as we don't have to work at it.
Well, people turn conservative when times are bad. So conservatives make sure that they stay bad - indeed, that they get worse and worse all the time. It's become a vicious circle. And as we we try to break out of it, they drag their feet.
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