Is the invention of rockets a good thing?

[Ethanadams]

Call me crazy but is the invention of space flight a good thing. I know that we have gotten excellent technology out of it like cellphones and such but the main reason for rockets was in ww2 to bomb places without planes saving your country lives while costing the foes thousands and we as a world perfected it now with icbm missiles we can basically end the world with a touch of a button. So wouldn't it have been better is rockets were never invented costing is most of today's tech but saving the world from something straight out of fallout?

Please have a discussion below and no fighting or going in circles

and please prove me wrong about this

[Bill Phil]

First off: Rockets were fireworks at first.

Second off: Rockets =/= spaceflight

Third off: Yes, it is a good thing. Modern civilization couldn't really function all that well without it. GPS, Communications, weather. Weather satellites can help to save thousands of lives. Communication sats can connect people like never before. And GPS lets us not have to use sextants or map and compass to find our position.

Spaceflight is a great thing.

[Ethanadams]

Yes but the possible destruction of most populated area is not a good thing

[Slam_Jones]

The "worst case scenario" should NEVER prevent scientific advance.

I'm sure there were cavemen that were terrified of fire... but it didn't kill us all, did it? I mean, it could, but what matters is how it's used.

Technology is, at it's core, neither good nor evil. It's all about how it's used...

Edited April 14, 2015 by Slam_Jones

[Tommygun]

Yes but the possible destruction of most populated area is not a good thing

You can still deliver nuclear weapons by aircraft and intercontinental range ground-launched cruise missiles.

Where there is enough will, there is a weapon system that will get it there.

[TheCanadianVendingMachine]

Naw man, we can't have houses. What if one falls down? Then we're all screwed. Therefore, lets get rid of any building.

[RainDreamer]

Is the invention of fire a good thing then? Fire has claimed so many lives through out history too.

Let's just say an invention itself is pure knowledge and one a person put a use to it, it becomes good or bad or neutral depending on how it is used.

[Kryten]

I don't think it would exactly make a great difference to somebody whether the atomic weapon being dropped on them is from a missile or a bomber. Particularly as removing rockets makes jet bombers practically invulnerable.

[r4pt0r]

A majority(don't ask for a source, I'm making this up) of all great scientific advances began as a military technology.

[vger]

I don't think it would exactly make a great difference to somebody whether the atomic weapon being dropped on them is from a missile or a bomber. Particularly as removing rockets makes jet bombers practically invulnerable.

Therein lies a similar dilemma.

To say that spaceflight is bad because it's built upon missiles that were built to kill, is analogous to saying nuclear energy is bad because it has been used for killing.

Science is like a syringe. Inherently neither good nor evil. It is up to the individual to decide whether to fill it with a healing medicine, or a deadly poison.

Edited April 14, 2015 by vger

[razark]

Should we have ever made sharp rock flakes?

Sure, modern technology like that makes skinning animals easier, but I can also use them to skin Joe in the next cave over. Maybe we'd be better off without all this high technology with the potential to harm people.

[Bill Phil]

Yes but the possible destruction of most populated area is not a good thing

Neither is the lack of weather knowledge.

[Brethern]

Call me crazy but is the invention of space flight a good thing. I know that we have gotten excellent technology out of it like cellphones and such but the main reason for rockets was in ww2 to bomb places without planes saving your country lives while costing the foes thousands and we as a world perfected it now with icbm missiles we can basically end the world with a touch of a button. So wouldn't it have been better is rockets were never invented costing is most of today's tech but saving the world from something straight out of fallout?

Please have a discussion below and no fighting or going in circles

and please prove me wrong about this

Look at it this way, is it better to live under the threat of nuclear weapons or live in a world where the destruction of nuclear weapons is unknown, where whoever has the more powerful military has a better chance of winning a war.

[cpast]

Rockets were invented *way* before WWII. The British had them in the Napoleonic Wars. The Chinese had them far earlier.

[gooddog15]

Every invention is sort of like a double bladed knife. One side, could be used to cut leather, while the other could hurt someone, and all of this potential is miraculously balanced on the tip.

I have a computer, which can do amazing things, but that doesn't mean I couldn't "accidentally" high five someone in the face with it.

[r4pt0r]

I have a computer, which can do amazing things, but that doesn't mean I couldn't "accidentally" high five someone in the face with it.

You know, I could think of better evil things to do with a computer, but I like your example. More than that, I like your enthusiasm.

[Ethanadams]

Yes I know that science isn't inherently evil but with great power comes great responsibility and just one person who hates let's say Russia and has a icbm. Russia's dead mans hand defense system would activate causing pretty much world destruction all from one person. Not from science.

or how about this a single 10 megatonne nuclear device is deadanate 150 km above America causing the emp to wipeing out almost all electronics all because the missile was made

(ps don't get me wrong I love space flight missiles and nuclear energy but this thought has been nagging at me for a while now)

Edited April 14, 2015 by Ethanadams

[Brethern]

Yes I know that science isn't inherently evil but with great power comes great responsibility and just one person who hates let's say Russia and has a icbm. Russia's dead mans hand defense system would activate causing pretty much world destruction all from one person. Not from science.

or how about this a single 10 megatonne nuclear device is deadanate 150 km above America causing the emp to wipeing out almost all electronics all because the missile was made

(ps don't get me wrong I love space flight missiles and nuclear energy but this thought has been nagging at me for a while now)

Without those missiles we' probably would be dead already.

[Bill Phil]

Yes I know that science isn't inherently evil but with great power comes great responsibility and just one person who hates let's say Russia and has a icbm. Russia's dead mans hand defense system would activate causing pretty much world destruction all from one person. Not from science.

or how about this a single 10 megatonne nuclear device is deadanate 150 km above America causing the emp to wipeing out almost all electronics all because the missile was made

(ps don't get me wrong I love space flight missiles and nuclear energy but this thought has been nagging at me for a while now)

What about the casualties of hurricanes? More would die if they had not much of an idea beforehand.

A car is great for transportation, but can be used as a weapon. Like airplanes. It's not the invention or the mechanism it is the people using them.

[Slam_Jones]

-snip-

or how about this a single 10 megatonne nuclear device is deadanate 150 km above America causing the emp to wipeing out almost all electronics all because the missile was made

-snip-

Or how about this scenario: a giant asteroid is on an impact course with Earth. Without the invention of rockets, we have literally no way to stop it (and probably wouldn't even see it til it's too late), and the extinction of mankind is assured.

Or, thanks to technology, we can spot it, waaaaay out there, realize the danger, and launch a rocket to redirect it away from us.

The point is, there's an infinite "what if" scenarios out there, and it doesn't do much good to dwell on them in fear.

edit: Also, without rockets, we wouldn't have cell phones, (How do you think the satellites got up there?) and likely tons of other modern technology that we typically take for granted.

Edited April 14, 2015 by Slam_Jones

[michaelsteele3]

inb4flamewar

But I believe it was a good invention, and always will believe it.

[Robotengineer]

Given any technology X, X is not good or bad, X is just applied information, its up to us to decide what to we do with it.

[Ethanadams]

Tats my point that technology isn't bad or good but as I said before one person could if he really whanted to bassicly end 6.5 billion lives

[Slam_Jones]

Tats my point that technology isn't bad or good but as I said before one person could if he really whanted to bassicly end 6.5 billion lives

So that should answer your question. The invention of rockets is neither good or bad, it just is.

Just like the internal combustion engine.

Just like paper.

Just like a sharpened edge.

Just like a bullet.

[Ethanadams]

Okay thank you for proving me wrong because I was pretty share I was wrong

please excuse while I go make a fareagate cage