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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jian" data-source="post: 9888171" data-attributes="member: 78087">Prioritising is really very hard. It's easy for me to say that we should fund all the research, because it's obviously correct and I'm not having to find the budget. If it costs $100bn* (I'm just pulling numbers out of my posterior at this point) to put a couple of guys on the moon to do some interesting but unproven research and it costs the same to produce a breast cancer vaccine, well, I know where I'd vote to put the money. But it's rarely that straightforward. A breast cancer vaccine that reduces mortality by 5% and costs $1m a dose is not terribly worthwhile.*Also note that this would buy nationalised healthcare at current international prices for the US population for about 2 months, as a social programme comparison.I'm honestly rather sceptical about the psychological or cultural value of manned space flight, because I'm not sure enough people care. The ISS is something everyone seems pretty happy with (and it produces valuable research) but putting a couple of people on the moon seems like it'd be rather more controversial (and people will want to have the debate about whether to spend the $100bn that way), so I'm not sure the psychological benefits are there. Sure, it's rah-rah bread-and-circuses but I'd really rather not embrace that model of government, you know?</blockquote>