PHYSICS

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"Vrase rizi kai as' ton pousti na sfirhzei" I recently read an article on nuclear propulsion systems that could be used for spaceships. The article can be found at the following URL : http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/nuclearmars_000521.html . It was very interesting and I would suggest to anyone who is interested to read the article. Anyway the content of the article is not important (but I am planning to dedicate a page to nuclear propulsioned spaceships which I think are the future, and should be the present, of space exploration). The important thing is a letter to the editor of the article : A reader in Nepal responds to Greg Clark's article "Will Nuclear Power Put Humans On Mars?" To the Editor: It all sounds so nice. But what about the Earth and its inhabitants? What about the fact that despite all this great technology and plans to advance it, human beings are still suffering from the worst kinds of diseases, poverty and ignorance that are inexcusable, irrational and entirely preventable? A small fraction of the money spent on these technological endeavors and pursuits could rid the planet of the four major diseases that ravage it. There is nothing new under the sun. I am not at all impressed. ########## ####### Nepal This is an opinion that I hear, or read, very often and it irritates me every time. It so happened that I was reading this letter while the television was showing an advertisement of eyeliners, with very beautiful models which had incredibly beautiful eyes. I instantaneously thought: What a waste of money and human power. Don't you think? When a new scientific project is announced, for example let's say Mars Exploration, you will always hear someone saying that it is a waste of money and that the world is suffering and that a fraction of that money would save the world and other such, the list I can say, foolish things. Let's take for example the cosmetics industry. Is there anyone that disagrees that cosmetics are not a vital product for the human existence? (If someone disagrees I would like to hear his thoughts on the subject vagelford@oocities.com) If you consider only the money that are spent in research and development of these products and compare it with, let's say, NASA's budget of research and development I think you will find the difference overwhelming. I am not even trying to compare the budgets spent in basic and fundamental science. Fundamental science is being neglected. Very few people understand the problem that this situation can create. An easy example are microchip technologies. These technologies have reached their physical limits. So we need a new technology. New design architectures will solve temporarily the problem. The breakthrough will be made by basic science which is solid state physics. Any way science and technology is the easy escape goat for those who want to blame someone for the problems of our society. The most disappointing thing is that most people believe them. I believe the reason is that people are not familiar with science and that is a problem that must be solved. What do you think about all these? Send me e-mail or write in my guest book.

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