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From: phil@amdcad.UUCP (Phil Ngai)
Newsgroups: net.columbia,net.philosophy
Subject: Re: Escape tower for shuttle orbiter?
Message-ID: <11047@amdcad.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 25-Mar-86 03:07:19 EST
Article-I.D.: amdcad.11047
Posted: Tue Mar 25 03:07:19 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Mar-86 04:48:21 EST
References: <9696@ucla-cs.ARPA> <588@qantel.UUCP> <2593@genat.UUCP> <12610@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <11035@amdcad.UUCP>
Reply-To: phil@amdcad.UUCP (Phil Ngai)
Distribution: net
Organization: AMD, Sunnyvale, California
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Keywords: life vs. megabucks
Xref: watmath net.columbia:2704 net.philosophy:4655

In article <11035@amdcad.UUCP> mike@amdcad.UUCP (Mike Parker) writes:
>Money is trash ( ask Reagan, or just look at his deficit spending ) we just
>print it, if a shuttle is so valuable, we print x billion dollars and make
>one. Memories and human relationships are not replaceable, the price of

I don't believe you can print money at will indefinitely. I also don't
believe money is trash. Among other things, money is a measure of the
amount of time human beings have to spend to build something.  Why is
it better for 10,000 Rockwell workers to spend their lives
constructing an Orbiter to be thrown away to save seven lives?

This reminds me of the argument against 55 MPH's supposed safety
advantage. Although your expected lifetime may be increased because
your chances of dying in an auto accident may be reduced, the number
of useful hours in your expected lifetime may be reduced if you have
to spend many more hours behind the wheel of your car.

It could be the same with the Space Shuttle. If we sacrifice an
Orbiter to save the astronauts, society gains 7 * 50 man years at a
cost of (random numbers here) 10,000 * 5 man years. Is 350 > 50,000?
Perhaps.  The astronauts were among the best our society has.  But
don't assume that human lives are not invested in each Orbiter we
build or that money is trash.
-- 
 "Welcome to the Hotel California...
  You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."

 Phil Ngai +1 408 749 5720
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