James Lileks responds to the comments by Patrick Stewart I linked to yesterday. Pertinent quote:
“The 63-year-old British actor says manned missions are too expensive. ‘It would take up so many resources, which I personally feel should be directed at our own planet,’ he said.
Making movies takes up many resources which could be directed at our own planet. For that matter, millions of pounds are spent in England annually for theater productions. I propose a ten-year moratorium on all stage shows, with the money distributed directly to our own planet. And after we have gotten things right on this planet we can get back to such frivolous luxuries as theater. What’s that, you say? theater employs many people? Theater inspires imaginations, adds to our store of knowledge, helps us define what it means to be human?
And exploring other words doesn’t, eh. Noted: the future of humanity shall consist not in getting this place right but watching angry Pinter screeds about that wretched meat we know as our own flawed species. And when we leave the theater we can look up and behold an infinite world we must never pollute. “
