Open Letter to Doyin’s Brother
First off, Doyin is my colleague at Wakanow … I read this article yesterday, and showed her. She said her brother would be interested … long story. This morning, I got a 9 minute voice note from him about his opinion on the article … Really thoughtful stuff too. I’ve decided to write an open letter to Damilola. He’s the one in quotes.
Impending Space Race between USA and China
Talking about a space race or a space war, is a lack of understanding of the fundamental concepts of how government programs actually work. The Soviet vs USA race was a vanity project.
Seriously? The Space Race was the climax of the Twentieth Century, if you don’t count that guy with the weird mustache. It was two heavy-weight champions in an arm wrestling match.
Russia was the first country to send a man to space and take photos of the far side of the moon.
Yep, we’ll probably never be able to fully picture just how awesome cold war USSR was. They were like the Diomedes to USA’s Achilles.
USA was the first Nation to put a Man on the Moon.
The space race is good for public opinion and morale. Especially when facing an existential threat like the threat of the nuclear holocaust that both sides faced during the cold war.
Nothing like a good Space Race to take your mind off an impending apocalypse.
The space race politicians/governments had various agendas. For the Russians, it was to whip-up public support. Especially in a country where civil rights were non-existent.
Was it public support solicitation as much as it was a show of might to prevent an attack? Both countries weren’t satisfied with having to share their victory in World War II. This sparked a series of power-demonstrations including this monstrosity.
For USA, the space race was an opportunity to invest in military tech. In fact, Head of NASA was the same guy who invented rockets for Hitler in Nazi Germany.
Hmm, a fact check says you probably are talking the Chief Architect of the Saturn V who also invented the V-2 Rocket for Nazi Germany.
What is China’s goal in the mars colonization project? It’s a vanity program aimed at whipping-up support for the communist party. A communist system of government is much weaker than a western (democratic) system of government. In a democracy, people feel like they have a role in government, unlike in communist of totalitarian systems.
I’ll tread carefully here for obvious reasons …. However, I do not believe China to be vain. At some point I did, when I heard about their ghost cities. But recently, not anymore. Their actions (the ones we hear about) are premeditated and pointed at solving one or more current and future problems).
Also, how is democracy stronger than a communist system of government? I do not get this one.
China will always work hard to ensure that their people have jobs and their companies can get contracts in Nigeria, and they can send Chinese citizens to serve as expatriates in Nigeria and make our governments let them take resources (such as timber) to be processed in China.
#no comment#
That’s also why the Chinese government would never support the Nigerian Government when it tries to develop the country.
Letting the goose that lays the golden egg fly free is never a good idea.
The Americans won the space race by putting a Man on the Moon, which the Russians were never able to do.
No self-respecting country wants to be second place.
In the western system of education and government, dissent is allowed, unlike in totalitarian systems where dissent is tantamount to treason and rebellion.
Nigeria “practices” a western system of government. Dissent is never truly encouraged anywhere.
We are a generation that does not remember the effects of Tienanmen Square.
I’d heard about the almost-a-revolution by Chinese students from my Dad.
I don’t remember the effects either. I don’t know much about pre-Tienanmen-Square China.
The Chinese government cripples any attempt at dissidence which is seen manifested in its great Internet Wall which finds and prevents access to content on the Internet that may instigate contempt for its government.
They probably won’t see this article either, which is a good thing. (I hope)
A lot of technological breakthroughs in the old space era have found their way into the civilian section. Such as the memory foam and fly-by-wire system.
Okay, the memory foam blew my mind …
They have gotten to the point where billions of dollars are being spent to achieve small levels of advancement.
Well, the simple stuff has probably all been invented …
China might be the first to land a person on Mars. But a china in fifty years is not worth as much investment as an America in fifty years. Why? America is a democracy and will always remain one. A Chinese democracy is impossible.
I understand how being a democracy or not affects a nation’s attractiveness, however I do not understand how that makes investing in a Nation more effective. China is communist (I guess) and lots of people still go there to do business. Almost everything I use is as least partly made in China. This doesn’t seem to be likely to change in the future.
Rather, interest in China is increasing. We keep seeing innovation from them that is incredible. For the 21st century, that’s a pretty big deal.
Maybe USA will find a way to win this one like they’ve been known to.
Till then, the universe is probably keeping her fingers crossed for a Declaration of Ownership of the Sovereign Annex of the People’s Republic of China on Mars.
