Neal Stephenson has a post in Slate on space stasis:
It is illuminating here, though utterly conjectural, to imagine a dialog, set in the offices of a large telecommunications firm during the 1960s, between a business development executive and an engineer.
Biz Dev Guy: We could make a preposterous amount of money from communications satellites.
Engineer: It will be expensive to build those, but even so, nothing compared to the cost of building the machines needed to launch them into orbit.
Biz Dev Guy: Funny you should mention that. It so happens that our government has already put $4 trillion into building the rockets and supporting technology we need. There’s only one catch.
Engineer: OK, I’ll bite. What is the catch?
Biz Dev Guy: Your communications satellite has to be the size, shape, and weight of a hydrogen bomb.
by Rebecca Skloot is the first non-fiction book that I’m reviewing. And as the healthcare debate is winding up, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks deals with medical research and ethics and the impact of technology on people’s lives. And as the author traces the history of Henrietta Lacks cells through the medical world, many issues are raised where there are no answers (easy or hard).