On entropy and optimism

In a universe where entropy increases with time, one has no choice but to be an optimist. For in such a universe, the number of possible negative future outcomes (i.e. disorderly outcomes) will always exceed positive ones (i.e. orderly ones) by many orders of magnitude. Therefore, for animals like ourselves who can contemplate the future and be emotionally affected by what has not yet come to pass (and perhaps never will), an unbiased view of the future means a life of fear and worry.

Why the Ukraine crisis may be a good thing for the US space industry

It was the cold war that fueled the space race of the mid twentieth century. As the cold war drew to a close in the early 1990's, so did the space race. We are now in a strange situation where America, once a space superpower, not only has no manned space vehicles, but for the first time in decades, does not even have a TV show set in space.

As of this writing, America is relying on Russian Soyuz craft to get their astronauts into space -- a state of affairs the baby boomer generation would find bizarre. Also as of this writing, a crisis is brewing in Ukraine -- crisis that might very well end with Russia annexing a good part of the former Soviet republic and provoking the United States and its allies into a response. The response may not be military, but it may be enough for Russia to close the doors of its cosmodromes to American astronauts. The Deputy Prime Minister of Russia implied just this when he recently suggested that America send its astronauts to the International Space Station by way of trampoline.