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Comment Re:Alternatives (Score 1) 242

I already had an alternative for years: my ISP. It has this free service where you login with your account, and pick [chosenname].go.ro - and that's it. Of course, some might consider it as rather limited but I think its more than fitting for a home user.

Comment Re:Yes, for any mission (Score 1) 307

That is EXACTLY the mentality I am talking about.
1. people willing to give their lives for scientific advancement = suiciders.
2. according to 1. -> they're crazy.
3. You judge everyone according to your morally superior filter, even deny their rights because they conflict with what you've been taught is "normal" (OK, that mostly applies to all cultures).

Maybe those people would rather live heroically for one year than sit on their asses as couch potatoes for 50-60 years. Yeah, I know they would give up tens of thousands of burgers, not to mention all those tons of ribs and bacon, which definitely MUST be crazy...

Comment Re:Yes, for any mission (Score 1) 307

I can't think of any purely scientific suicides either

Giordano Bruno?
He refused the offer of a full recantation, which led to his burning on the stake.
Marie Curie - her research led to her death by radiation poisoning.
Harry Daghlian (arguably) - he died trying to prevent a nuclear meltdown from happening.

There were also many scientists who performed dangerous experiments on themselves and lived to tell the tale.

Comment Re:Yes, for any mission (Score 5, Interesting) 307

This is the mentality of modern (western) civilization, where comfort (or its perception) supersedes the willingness to risk your life or even face certain death after a task is accomplished. People from other countries might not exhibit the same mentality, though. They would see life and achievement differently, and that's mainly because they haven't "advanced" that much, therefore their minds aren't fully set on that "life is sacred" BS. Sorry, but I think that's utter BS.
Many technological and scientific advances from the past were done with sacrifice (e.g. Marie Curie, reaching North Pole, South Pole, exploration of Africa). Of course, today's scientific exploration has been made more secure, and we've gotten accustomed to that idea. And we're right, in most cases, but there's still the odd activity which would only be possible through taking huge risks, including volunteers marching to certain death for the purpose of scientific breakthrough. The alternative would be to just curl up in a corner and ignore that scientific branch until further notice, aka "when it's safe" - and in a small amount of cases that would equal "never" or "in hundreds of years".
Which leads us to this specific thing we're talking about, which is space exploration. You can't "simulate" that, you have to go out there and do it. That involves risks, and there's plenty examples from our recent past where space exploration made victims. True, they weren't sent to "certain death" but the outcome was the same nevertheless.
This whole "it's unethical to have such a mission" thing is artificial, and is a byproduct of modern, Western mentality which values life more than anything else, including an activity which might literally "save the planet" someday (space exploration, that is). I find it ironic that one is willing to sacrifice themselves for things such as religious or political belief but at the same time science is a big no-no of a reason.

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