This week the New York Times published an Op-Ed lamenting the fact that with Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon, turned out to be the death knell of significant exploration and advancement of our space discovery.

While NASA had full plans for continued exploration and discovery beyond mere landing on the moon, once the race against the Russians was won, the political will for space discovery was lost.

On one hand its difficult to justify the cost of a significant focus on space exploration during our current economic recession.  In fact, some would find it difficult to justify the cost even during times of economic “expansion” as long as our nation poverty rates continue to be in double digits overall (and almost double for persons of color.)

Those are fair points.  And yet, when I think about all of the amazing scientific advances (in space and elsewhere) that occurred during my parent’s lifetime, it feels as though we’ve entered a period of discovery-stagnation and a stagnation in our national curiosity and thirst for advancement.

To be far, its possible that our since of excitement over innovation has simply changed focus over the last couple decades.  Certainly in the world of silicon, advancements are coming at an exponential rate.   Computer technology is rapidly evolving, almost so quickly that I think sometimes I take it for granted. 

But we also see that innovation based on marketability seems to be the only sort of innovation making significant headway.   We have rapid computer technology innovation because private businesses believe the technology is highly profitable.

That’s great, but what happens to the science that isn’t “popular” in a market-economy?  The answer is that there may be situations in which we want the government to subsidize some of our scientific pursuits.   And the government certainly does this.  However, the level at which the government (i.e. the people, through taxes) support science has dramatically declined over the years.

Which leads me back to my original point:  whether it be space exploration, or quantum investigation, I feel like the rate of our discovery and breakthroughs has stagnated as the priorities of our culture shift.  I don’t have the answer for how we find the balance between supporting the creativity and innovation of humanity with providing for the general welfare of our citizens.   But I’m not sure we’ve struck the right balance as it stands.