Surveillance from Space?—Part 2

I often think how much more technologically advanced in space humanity could be, had we not invested so much time and energy on warfare. The US space program, for example, consumes a tiny fraction of the money that the military receives. I find it frustrating that Americans often criticize the space budget as being exorbitant, while quietly accepting the enormous amount of money expended on weapons and the military. 

NASA has achieved many impressive feats in space. Some of them have attracted lots of public attention, such as planting human footprints on the Moon, but the more meaningful (and less popular) accomplishments have been in the space science realm—the tremendous telescopes (like Hubble and now the James Webb scope), the geological surveys of Mars, and the lengthy missions to Jupiter and Saturn and their moons. These NASA programs have given us invaluable information about our solar system and outer space—that will inform and allow future space flight and the ongoing understanding of our cosmos.

But these peace-time space science missions of humans are far less interesting and sexy for citizens. How many movies can you remember about the boring aspects of space science? How many news articles have you read about peace-making activities? In contrast, have there not been a plethora of violent movies on space? Think Star Wars or Independence Day. Do the media not feature many articles about human activities on the International Space Station, while they ignore the complex—if not mundane—scientific experiments done there?

When we read about UFOs or advanced outer-space civilizations, it is easy to become fearful that we may be threatened by these advanced societies. Maybe this is an inappropriate response. If we could manage to eliminate our aggression towards each other, maybe we could be allowed to join the Intergalactic Union. Maybe they are waiting to see if we awaken to the truth and discard our war-like behavior.