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Walter Percy Inspired Essay (strange objects in the Cosmos)


hey_millie 2 / 5  
Feb 24, 2010   #1
I am inspired by this quote to write my essay:

"Why it is that of all the billions and billions of strange objects in the Cosmos -- novas, quasars, pulsars, black holes -- you are beyond doubt the strangest?"

- Walter Percy

The topic for the essay is:

Choose an issue of importance to you - the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope - and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation.

The issue of importance will be: Human potential/ ability. I want to write a perspective look at it as if another life form was to stumble upon the earth and witness humans and our behavior, culture, etc...

I am interested to see your responses to this quote...
EF_Kevin 8 / 13,321 129  
Feb 25, 2010   #2
My first thought upon reading the quote is that it sounds like a way to make fun of somebody. People have said things like this to me before, ha ha. I think your idea is fantastic... one challenge you will have will be that you need to come up with the way that the extra-terrestrial observers will think and how they will interpret the way humans live.

We are indeed a pretty strange group.

Will you be criticizing humanity at all or just talking about human potential. It is a tough one, because the explorers who discover earth must be more advanced than us if they can explore space like that.

Maybe you can keep it mysterious and not say much at all about the observers... let the reader figure out that they are beings from other parts of the galaxy, but do not "spoon feed" that info to the reader. I look forward to seeing what you write!
OP hey_millie 2 / 5  
Mar 1, 2010   #3
I ended up finalizing from a totally different direction. But still wrote about "space related" issues.

The final copy.

The Importance of Outer-Space Exploration for the Sustainability of Human Life

With such extreme life sustaining issues on earth in an era of tightening our belt, the NASA budget will increase by $6 billion this year. Space exploration has taught us a lot about our universe and physical reality, even leading to technological advances, yet some still question the need for funding outer-space exploration. Some see it as a waste of money by cutting into the Federal budget and would like to see those funds allocated to address issues here on Earth. However, the very reasons by which we explore space could be the fundamental reasons for the preservation and sustainability of the human race in generations to come. It is seen throughout history, that when civilizations reach their threshold for sustainability, they will find new lands to acquire resources; when their land is in jeopardy from the effects of the environment; they will relocate; and when given the opportunity for advancement, society will advance as a whole.

As the world population continues to grow geometrically, great pressure is being placed on arable land, water, energy, and biological resources to provide an adequate supply of food while maintaining the integrity of our ecosystem. Though resource conservation efforts have become a popular trend and could extend our resources, they still may not count for the population increase, which is projected to be more than 12 billion in less than 50 years. This is double what Earth's population is now. So will conservation efforts really be enough? If not, it may be especially important to find habitable planets containing the organic compounds that are significant to the biological processes of a living organism. As research increases and our knowledge of what exists outside our home planet expands, that which seems absurd in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in the next. But if the discovery here on Earth of tough little organisms living miles below ground, frozen in polar ice and living in the broiling waters of deep-sea vents indicates anything, it's that biology emerges in very improbable places. If it can occur on earth, there is possibility it can occur elsewhere. This was proven so most recently when the 2009 NASA LCROSS mission found significant sources of water, raising the possibility of virtually self-sustaining colonization. In continual expeditions, the same has also been found on Mars.

In a recent statement at the International Space Conference in Israel, NASA administrator Charles Bolden told the press,

One of my jobs as the NASA administrator is to work in coordination with the Secretary of Defense for protection of the planet, and it means trying to locate and identify things that threaten the planet, be they asteroids or big rocks or what

This comes as no surprise when you consider that the planet itself may be under close atmospheric disruption which could ultimately affect us adversely. The impact last summer of an object with Jupiter, witness by Hubble, among other telescopes, got a lot of attention in NASA and the White House, he said. "That got everybody's attention, up to President Obama," Bolden said. "I think you will see us devote a little bit more time. You're going to see one of the things that we do is devote more time and energy to understanding near Earth objects and things that threaten the planet from outside." Though the probabilities of a cataclysmic collision are low, the greatest dangers are from not knowing enough about the universe in which we live in. Devising the capability of averting disaster, space exploration could mean the very survival of the human race.

More so to our advantage today, space exploration has provided us with many technology spin-offs that advance our society and benefit us as a whole. These new technologies provide us with new jobs, industries and saved lives. A prime example is the kidney dialysis machine which has kept and still keeps many people alive. Stemming from the Apollo mission, NASA developed a chemical process that was able to be utilized by us as individuals. A new artificial heart came from technology used in space shuttle fuel pumps. NASA technology was used to create a compact laboratory instrument for hospitals and doctor offices that more quickly analyzes blood, accomplishing in 30 seconds what once took 20 minutes. Special lighting technology developed for plant growth experiments on space shuttle missions is being studied to treat brain tumors in children. These are just but to name a few though the possibilities are endless. These sources for technology research have benefited us many ways in the field of medicine. This advances our society as a whole and at the level of the individual to greater enhance their own life or even extend it.

Given the positive evidence for continued space exploration, I am excited for the future of outer-space advancement. Though the issues we face on earth remain evident today, it is my hope that people will look towards the future and give space exploration as a means to support a future. Questioning why we would further explore this vast unknown area of one our greatest human achievements would be the same as questioning why we produce music, art or movies. It is a great technological human achievement that must be expressed. In other words, the sky is not the limit!

The not too distant future:

Camellia A. Thistleton

123 Hill Drive

Mars
EF_Kevin 8 / 13,321 129  
Mar 3, 2010   #4
Use a hyphen: With such extreme life-sustaining issues on earth in...
But this sounds like the issues sustain life. You actually mean "issues associated with the preservation of life and the eradication of poverty" I think...

Nice job!

...threaten the planet. be they asteroids or big rocks or what ----- I thought asteroids WERE big rocks!I would delete this part.

One trick for excellent writing is to try to always put a noun after the word "this":
This fact comes as no surprise when you ...
That is not an important rule, just a nice trick for good writing.

:-)


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