Comments on: A House hearing on astrobiology seems alien to some

By: David

David — Sat, 22 Feb 2014 20:11:05 +0000

Coastal Ron and some others need to do research. The so called republicans are really democrats and the democrats are socialist. Except they want socialism for everyone but themselves. The two world organizations that rank each countries corruption has rated obama much more corrupt than bush ever was. That’s bad cause bush was terrible. The rich have gotten richer and the poor, poorer in three years under obama, than eight years under bush. He has surpassed bush in every bad catagory in half the time. They are facts. Republicans are criminals but the democrats are beyond redemption.

By: Rand Simberg

Rand Simberg — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 17:07:35 +0000

None of those are serious threats this century, compared to (e.g.) biowarfare, or a massive solar event like the Carrington in 1859, which would hurl us back into the 19th century overnight and probably starve millions. Technology will mitigate environmental problems.

By: Nom de plume

Nom de plume — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 23:42:59 +0000

Yes, she is, my apologies, and I was thinking “threat to our way of life on earth.” Seems to me this century it’s a toss up between overpopulation, threat to our oceans/fisheries, and climate change. But now we’re off topic, so let’s move along.

By: Hiram

Hiram — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 20:42:56 +0000

“Itâ€™s kind of crazy to judge Congressional â€œproductivityâ€ by how many laws they pass.”

Very true. Every one of those 47 failed versions of the ACA repeal was of higher quality than the previous one, I have to assume. They were just reaching for quality, and didn’t dare settle for anything less than the highest.

But actually, with regard to “improvement on the level of debate”, there was no debate in this hearing. None whatsoever. There was complete agreement that what we really needed to do we probably couldn’t afford to do.

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 20:19:01 +0000

One has to agree that overpopulation isn’t a threat to life on Earth. No one will die because they’re living too close to their neighbor. By the same token, hydrogen bombs and rogue asteroids aren’t threats to life on Earth, though they can certainly cause trouble if the former are misused and the latter have the wrong trajectory. Of course, guns don’t kill people either.

By: Arthur Dent

Arthur Dent — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 17:52:45 +0000

Cuz some guy with a blog on the internet says so.

By: Stephen C. Smith

Stephen C. Smith — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 17:22:18 +0000

The video of the hearing is now on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-WbXT280Q0.

By: Rand Simberg

Rand Simberg — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 17:11:02 +0000

Professor Seager is a woman. And that was a dumb answer. Overpopulation isn’t a threat to life on earth at all, let alone the greatest one.

By: Rand Simberg

Rand Simberg — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 17:09:54 +0000

It’s kind of crazy to judge Congressional “productivity” by how many laws they pass. There is no shortage of federal laws. Shouldn’t the quality of the laws passed be a factor?

By: Stephen C. Smith

Stephen C. Smith — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 15:10:47 +0000

Maybe Posey thought the hearing was about astrology and was asking them to tell his future.