There are a lot of things to cover, so I may just deal with it in pieces.
As the science channels are fond of telling us, when it comes to things that can wipe out the human race, we aren't anywhere near running out of them. One of the most common mega-disasters is, of course, a celestial body impact.
What bothers me (along with the prospect of imminent death) is that we are in the precarious situation of being aware that there's a danger, but having no clue what to do about it.
Let me give a concrete example. A group of average people is walking along and sees a lion coming their way. It's just like a comet/asteroid threat: it's coming, you can see it, and you know that if something isn't done, you'll all die. Now, we can understand this. It's a direct threat and we would all know it's deadly. AND, we would all know there are things we could do with things we are familiar with that would stop it. Theoretically.
Say what? The group of people know that there is a list of things that may work, except that nobody has ever tried them. Yes, it's like seeing the lion (remember that lion?) coming over to check out the luncheon menu and... Your group starts to sweat!
There's a certain tension in this scenario. They think that a giant fly swatter might work. Or a pocket nuke. Or a big solar-powered trap. Or... You see the issue, I hope. By the time the group decides what the best weapon is, develops a version suited to the threat, and goes through the engineering study to build the thing, the lion will be under a nearby tree wondering about dessert.
I don't think this is the way to deal with a cosmic impact threat. Or a lion. We know damn well that the things are out there. We know that given the number of unknowable variables, it is simply a matter of time before something takes a wrong turn and ends up in our laps. And as we discover the sheer number of players, it becomes a shorter and shorter time before we have the lion at our door.
The bottom line here is that we can't afford to wait for 2025 or so to fly the next space truck. We need to get it up, perfect it, and start engineering our lion-killer. If we whine about the budget and put it off, it will be us and not him on that menu!
More later...
