Free Republic

<p>There's a forum tonight in our nation's capital to discuss the benefits (and I hope, the pitfalls) of international cooperation in space.</p> <p>There are two traditional arguments for it. The first is that cooperation in space promotes cooperation on other levels, and promotes world peace in general. The second is that it saves money and makes projects affordable that wouldn't be if carried out alone.</p>

<p>Humankind is a pestilence — a malignant growth, ravaging and destroying everything that it touches.</p> <p>For the sake of the rest of the universe, we must confine the vile infection to the single planet that it now inhabits.</p> <p>That's the attitude of surprisingly many people (though not of your humble columnist).</p>