Chinese Scientists Plan to Pull an Asteroid into Orbit Around Earth
Last week Chinese scientists wanted to divert an asteroid away from Earth. This week, they want to pull one into orbit around the Earth. What’s possible objections could anyone have to this idea?
“The idea isn’t simply to flirt with cataclysmic danger, but to bring a small object (they suggest a 10-meter object called 2008EA9 that will pass nearby in 2049) into a loop around the Earth so we can study it closely for a few years. If we can get the art of capturing asteroids orbitally down to a science, we could use it to temporarily make asteroids into Earth-bound satellites (orbiting at about twice the distance of the moon), mine them for minerals, and then send them on their ways.”
Very concrete example of the reckless and ubiquitous conquering mentality prevalent in industrial civilization, including science.
”[…] including science.” I fucking hate it when reactionaries think that their uninformed ideas of common sense trump the analyses of people who have literally devoted their lives to the subject. Conservative exploitation of this behavior is why we keep cutting funding to our schools and research initiatives. This behavior is what caused the Catholic Church to imprison and attack progress for thousands of years. It’s the same thing as subscribing to astrology, energy crystals, or other voodoo.
“Common sense” and intuition are not magic gifts from a genie. They’re heuristics formed from one’s own limited experience and knowledge, and to treat them like they’re something greater is just arrogant and ignorant.
(via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)
