Consider the greatest good for the greatest number
If the Thirty Meter Telescope is built, 31 people will be very upset. Another thousand or so upset but less so and a few thousand more disappointed, but not really affected. If it is built seven billion people will benefit in some small way that they will probably never be aware of, while a few thousand will benefit in the short run by a chance to earn more and a few hundred at best will participate scientific advances to benefit those other seven billion.
If TMT is not built, 31 people will feel vindicated. A few hundred will feel smug. Thousands will feel something was accomplished, but won’t be sure what it was. Another few hundred will miss some career opportunity, and seven billion will miss out on some tiny part of an advance they won’t know they missed.
Of course, the long term benefit might be a discovery on the order of fire or electricity or life on another planet.
What is the greatest good for the greatest number?
Ken Obenski
Kaohe
DARE Day raises concerns
Fellow Americans, who might still be with us today had they not sacrificed their lives on the beaches of Normandy, and similar settings across Europe, in order to defeat the militant oppression that ultimately plunged the entire world into horror in the 1930s and 40s, just 80 odd years ago, would wonder if they were seeing it all starting up again had they witnessed our police showing off their armored vehicles, machine guns, combat gear and attack dogs to school children dressed in yellow for DARE Day on May 21 in an obscene demonstration of control and the message of obedience to doctrine and the mob mentality it spawns.
Are we unaware of what is rearing its ugly head around the rest of the country with police departments who project this kind of authoritarian control?
Rather than showing off their cachet of deadly force perhaps the police should try being an integrated part of our community instead.
Hopefully next year the kids’ yellow T-shirts won’t be replaced by brown shirts and their slogan chanting won’t be in German.
Kelly Greenwell
Kona
Kudos to Kealakehe Elementary
Mahalo to Kealakehe Elementary School for including our One Earth Message project in its recent Science Day activities.
We are proud to be working with NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto in our grass-roots initiative to include a message to ET on the spacecraft. This project was conceived and is led from the Big Island, and we hope our community will play an important role in shaping this million-year message to the Cosmos. More info about how people can participate is available at OneEarthMessage.org
Jon Lomberg
Galaxy Garden Enterprises
Honaunau