> When a Kid loves space and rockets, when he spends countless time reading science-fiction books, it's because to him it's fun, fascinating and exciting, not because it's supposed to feed starving children. I doubt an adult rocket scientist or engineer is fundamentally different. Deep down he just doesn't give a crap about starving children in Africa.
While I agree with the emotional motivation (hell, I'm a geek because of Star Trek, and note that includes me wanting all of humanity to have a bright future), I very much disagree with the conclusion that a rocket scientist "doesn't give a crap about starving children". Not only giving a crap is not related to being a space enthusiast, I'd wager that on average, your rocket scientist (or even space geek) has more things to say about the hunger problem than an average person.
Not only many of them care, they actually have the intellectual tools to rationally address the topic.
And RE video games, space and world hunger tangent downthread - only today I saw people debating environmental issues on a Kerbal Space Program forum. So nope, those dicussions in fact are there (usually in a subforum dedicated to off-topic discussions).
While I agree with the emotional motivation (hell, I'm a geek because of Star Trek, and note that includes me wanting all of humanity to have a bright future), I very much disagree with the conclusion that a rocket scientist "doesn't give a crap about starving children". Not only giving a crap is not related to being a space enthusiast, I'd wager that on average, your rocket scientist (or even space geek) has more things to say about the hunger problem than an average person.
Not only many of them care, they actually have the intellectual tools to rationally address the topic.
And RE video games, space and world hunger tangent downthread - only today I saw people debating environmental issues on a Kerbal Space Program forum. So nope, those dicussions in fact are there (usually in a subforum dedicated to off-topic discussions).