Letters from an Astrophysicist

by Neil deGrasse Tyson

What a fascinating experiment it would be if we all paid taxes by checking boxes on a form (which is basically what Congress does for every year’s budget cycle, but they do it with the populace in mind, not the individual). And suppose it was not a democracy, where majority rules, and you leave the box for NASA unchecked. What happens next? Do anti-tax compatriots come to your home and remove everything from it that was informed, inspired, influenced, invented, or enabled by the space program? That would make an interesting reality show: •Gone are the integrated circuits of the electronics you use. •Gone is the Weather Channel from your cable service. •Gone is your awareness of satellite maps (from any news source) that track developing storms, hurricanes, and tornadoes. •Gone is the GPS system in your car (time to buy paper maps again, if you can find someone who sells them). •Gone are all battery powered hand tools from your garage. •Gone are (some) of your loved ones from breast cancer because the space-imaging algorithm that detects cancer cells earlier than ever before would not have been used on them. •Gone is the collision warning system in your car, or in the car you might soon buy. •Gone is the information to you about asteroid Apophis, which is headed toward Earth right now, for a close approach on April 13, 2036. •Gone are all satellite news broadcasts from Europe and elsewhere around the world to your television. •Gone is your awareness that something bad happe...