Would we live in a world that would look like "Tomorrowland" or "EPCOT" if the "Space Race" never ended?

[CmdrShepN7]

I see all this amazing tech emerging like "Vertical Farming", "Lab Grown Meat", "Fusion Power", "Fully Reusable Rockets", and "3D Printed Houses" that are resistant to wildfires and could be built faster and cheaper than traditional housing.









And that makes me wonder what our world be like today if the 1960s space race continued or if the Cold War superpowers chose to invest in science rather than war.

I heard the 1960 space race gave birth to modern computing.

https://www.fastcompany.com/9036275...to-modern-computing-and-gets-no-credit-for-it

If the space race continued past 1972(last Apollo Mission) would we have more advanced computers, more advanced smartphones, more advance movie CGI, more advanced video game consoles, and more advanced "AI"?

Would electric cars show up earlier(Through tech from making crewed Moon and Mars rovers)?

Would 3D Printer technology have advanced faster and we would see 3D Printed houses in the 2000s or early 2010s?

Would we get vertical farming and lab grown meat(Got to keep finding better ways of feeding astronauts on missions deeper into the solar system) earlier?

Would we get better solar power and nuclear power from Moon and Mars bases(Since they are further from the Sun than Earth solar power wouldn't work too well)?





Would we get better batteries?

I heard NASA made something called a "Solid State Battery".

https://www.nasa.gov/aeronautics/na...esearch-exceeds-initial-goals-draws-interest/

Perhaps that would be something that would be useful in the fight against "Global Warming".

I heard that nuclear powered rockets could get people to Mars faster than regular rockets and that NASA was test firing a nuclear powered rocket in the Nevada desert but Nixon cancelled it due to the Soviets not going to the Moon or Mars with humans.



Kim Kardashian actually brought attention to it.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowb...rnia-community-impacted-nuclear-meltdown.html

I wish Hollywood celebrities would inspire young Americans to at least think about science and technology again.

Would there be asteroid mining by the 90s or 2000s?

Would we get "Laser Communications" earlier? A few years ago NASA launched something called "LCRD" and it sounds like something out of a sci fi movie.



If a longer space race did give us electric cars, vertical farming(traditional farming requires fertilizer which is made in polluting petrochemical plants), asteroid mining, and better solar power as well as nuclear power then the world of today would at least be a less polluted world.

Imagine a world where "Cancer Alley" did not grow or was even diminished or phased out altogether.



Imagine a world where "Cattle" had better lives lowering the chance of bird flu and mad cow disease thanks to lab grown meat accelerated from the Moon and Mars missions.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I wouldn't look forward to much. We gained a lot of what our life is now because of NASA. Calculators, powerful computers, Teflon, cell phones and so much more because we supported it via ours and rich folks taxes. We walked on the moon in 1969, 56 years ago. All you have to do is remember this pasts weeks launch of the New Rockets to know just how far we have fallen. When that crap is privatized profit becomes the motivation not discovery.

It was costly to run the space program but it paid off big time in ways that most of us cannot fathom. However, it was operated by "the people" not the wealthy and look what was accomplished. Damn we cannot see beyond today now and until things change we never will again. Defund research and you get nothing because no one is looking for anything.

People make jokes about the boomer generation, and the "get off my lawn" attitude. If one takes a second to think about that it is the boomers children and grandchildren that are actually the ones that are worried about their lawn. Figuratively speaking!

 

[CmdrShepN7]

I wouldn't look forward to much. We gained a lot of what our life is now because of NASA. Calculators, powerful computers, Teflon, cell phones and so much more because we supported it via ours and rich folks taxes. We walked on the moon in 1969, 56 years ago. All you have to do is remember this pasts weeks launch of the New Rockets to know just how far we have fallen. When that crap is privatized profit becomes the motivation not discovery.

It was costly to run the space program but it paid off big time in ways that most of us cannot fathom. However, it was operated by "the people" not the wealthy and look what was accomplished. Damn we cannot see beyond today now and until things change we never will again. Defund research and you get nothing because no one is looking for anything.

People make jokes about the boomer generation, and the "get off my lawn" attitude. If one takes a second to think about that it is the boomers children and grandchildren that are actually the ones that are worried about their lawn. Figuratively speaking!

What would the world be like if NASA spending stayed at 60s levels?

 

[Goofyernmost]

What would the world be like if NASA spending stayed at 60s levels?

The 60's are not what I'm talking about. Of course, we spent a lot in the 60's because previous to then we had no programs to speak of. All the infrastructure had to be built, all that research had to be instituted to enable us to do what we did to begin to achieve what we achieved. No one just waved a magic wand and Poof, there it was. Also note that by 1969 when we actually accomplished the moon landing, it the cost had dropped dramatically and rose again slightly around the time of the shuttle program.

What we spent at startup is part of the technology that we appreciate and use today. However, startup costs is naturally going to be more expensive than just maintaining the system. We are so stupid as a society when we only understand what it costs and not how it benefits us in ways that aren't all that obvious and seemingly connected.

I'm not saying that we absolutely need to go to the moon again, but we are nowhere near that ability to send a human beyond that and it will be a long time before it might happen, if ever. But, leaving it to billionaires to accomplish and then share it is like trying to carrying water in a colander. It never leaves where it begins. We do the paying and they keep all the water.