earth like planet found in another solar system

within 50 years there will be upwards of 12 billion people on planet earth, I think it might just be a necessity to find a few other places for us to be.

what do you think people are going to do when we run out of room.
 
X_FIREFALCON said:
I'll join you in that weird boat, Howard. Unfortunately, though, when you're surrounded by people who are putting their money into trying to get you killed, you can't just exclusively turn to the stars and trust that things will be okay while you aim to understand the universe. In an ideal world, though, I - for one - would favor things if this world outgrew its differences, pooled its collective resources, and aimed to jointly turn to the stars as one unified species.
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Great, yeah, let's unite the world, pool our collective resources... and what if the new, united government decides it doesn't want to spend money on space exploration? You'd be kinda screwed then, don't you think? Monopolies are bad - and if they're bad in business, they're a million times worse in government.

As for putting money into trying to get you killed... I daresay your government is investing money into keeping you alive. Granted, sometimes they spend too much, and sometimes they do things which specifically put you at risk (...thereby forcing them to spend more money on defence that they otherwise wouldn't need), but the general idea is always your protection. So, it's not like they could stop spending money on defence without any painful consequences. If you have any doubts about that, you should remember that one of the first things the US did after independence was dismantle the "unnecessary" Continental Navy. Not a decade passed before the unnecessary turned out to be vital, and the costs of maintaining a navy turned out to be smaller than the price America paid for not having a navy.

I dare say Quarto's an Accountant at heart with the way he's crunching these numbers. :)
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Huh? Where did you see me crunch any numbers? I don't deal with numbers, I deal with common sense - and common sense dictates that until NASA can effectively get around our own solar system, money spent on distant barely-distinguishable specks is money wasted. It's like if Switzerland decided to conquer the world... would it make sense for them to start financing a navy before they gained access to the sea? :p
 
Quarto said:
I really don't much like people who drop into the middle of a perfectly appropriate and reasonable discussion and tell one side or the other to calm down - it's just plain bad manners :p.
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I don't really like it when some people are all excited about posting something and other people jump in to spoil it.

Quarto said:
Huh? Where did you see me crunch any numbers? I don't deal with numbers, I deal with common sense - and common sense dictates that until NASA can effectively get around our own solar system, money spent on distant barely-distinguishable specks is money wasted. It's like if Switzerland decided to conquer the world... would it make sense for them to start financing a navy before they gained access to the sea? :p
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I don't think that's a good analogy - the Swiss actually had an important role in discoverying this exoplanet.

"The goal is to find life on a planet like the Earth around a star like the Sun. This is a step in that direction," said study leader Stephane Udry of the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland. "Each time you go one step forward you are very happy."
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Space for the benefit of public welfare
Space activities include much more than the exploration of the Earth, the solar system and the universe. The significance of its role in social and economic development and its importance for Switzerland’s competitive standing, jobs and quality of life are becoming increasingly apparent.
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