Reply #37: We have squandered our greatness.

[Runesong]

We put have men on the moon, launched communication satellites that revolutionized communications. I remember the set of encyclopedias I had when I was a kid. Under "space" was 6 pages promising colonies in orbit and on the moon by the year 2000.

It is now 2004, and I am 35 years old. Where the f*ck are the rocket-cars? Sustainable energy? Jobs on offworld colonies?

As far as I can see, the only progress we have made in the past 30 years, is that we have become the bully of the world, we have lights in our sneakers and lightning-fast access to Britany Spears camel-toe pics.

As a child of the 70's and 80's, whose father was an engineer involved with the Apollo program, I look around at the world and our nation, and wonder "What the hell happened?" Our nation has accomplished great things. Now we are a bunch of selfish, apathetic zombies.

What do my kids have to look forward to, besides declining wages, a deteriorating environment, astronomical rents and real-estate prices that they cannot afford with a mere 5-digit salary?

China has been persueing a very agressive space program, and will be our technilogical superiors (and probably superiors in every other way) in the very near future. Chinese is a very difficult language for westerners to learn. I suggest you get started now.