Pick a Planet

 

It might not seem obvious, the connection between these two stories, and maybe I have too much time on my hands or it’s late, but give me a minute. Story one is that the Saudis seem to have foiled a plot where small planes filled with explosives were to be flown into a European airliner as it was landing or taking off. Story two was that the British Mars probe probably crashed which would explain why it hasn’t sent back a signal.

The idea of loading a small plane with explosives and flying it into a landing jetliner is about as horrific as one can imagine. Sure, it wouldn’t murder as many people as they did on Nine-Eleven, and it is hardly as terrible as the destruction that WMDs would inflict, but that is only a matter of scale. It says that there are enough sociopaths out there with the resources to slaughter innocents in the name of their god.

No, that isn’t news. But it somehow codifies the real threat that exists against us all. The orange alert level may indeed be right -- based on fact or coincidence -- which could portend a new chapter in our history of tragedy. Maybe I’m alone in feeling angst at this time, but I truly would believe there is some force watching over us if we could avoid a second attack.

Especially one that uses planes. A hundred years after the Wright brothers, the notion that someone who has learned the wonder of flight could use a plane to kill innocent people crosses the line for me. Their own deaths are not nearly enough.

Meanwhile, scientists in Britain are left wondering in silence what happened to their Mars probe. I’m wondering why they sent one up in the first place. The United States was there in 1976; I remember watching the first photos from the Red Planet transmitted back to Earth from our Viking I spacecraft. And while that was exciting, there really wasn’t a reason to go back.

Especially with our world the way it is today. The only way we can put an end to terrorism such as what the Saudis allegedly stopped is by eliminating the motivation of anyone to commit such acts. Whether it is in Sri Lanka or Belfast or Istanbul or New York, such behavior sets back civilization, almost irretrievably. We cannot progress as a species until we can live in a free world that provides food, clothing, shelter, health care and opportunity for all its denizens.

Call it extortion or benevolence, it is the only sound investment in our future. Otherwise, someone somewhere will be unhappy enough to say so in the worst way.

In order to meet this enormous challenge of eradicating lethal poverty, we must direct our scientific efforts to meet our redefined needs of producing food, reducing population, and cleaning up our pollution. Exploring Mars or similar esoteric ventures when children are starving too death is enough to drive even healthy minds to distraction.

And that’s SetonnoteS...I’m Tony Seton.

 

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