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Cosmic
lawsuit comes from far reaches of reality
Our
view
Looking
up to the cosmos on a clear night brings
feelings of joy and bewilderment to many,
whether they are the sparks of midnight
romance or the sense of feeling insignificant
in a universe much larger than ourselves.
When Russian astrologist Marina Bai looks to the stars, she sees a system of
spiritual and life values not to be tampered with. This is exactly why she
is choosing to sue NASA for $300 million.
According to Bai, NASA’s recent efforts to collide a probe, appropriately
titled Deep Impact, into a comet to learn more about solar composition interferes
with the natural life of the universe and violates its natural balance.
That’s quite a statement for anyone to make, much less use as a fundamental
justification in an international lawsuit between two countries that not too
long ago were racing each other to the moon.
Bai is certainly entitled to her astrological beliefs, though her statements
about the fundamental construction of the entire universe will probably not
measure up in court, much less be provable.
The real truth is that no one of any nation knows much of anything about the
universe—except perhaps Stephen Hawking, who is already busy explaining
a brief history of time in a nutshell for mankind.
Bai’s complaints against NASA seem very much self-centered when considering
NASA’s goals of common knowledge for mankind.
Refering back to John F. Kennedy talking about the exploration of space at
Rice University, “We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge
to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the
progress of all people.
For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience
of its own.”
Bai’s conscience, though, seems even more self-absorbed with her asking
for such a large amount of money in a case that’s unconvincing at best.
If
she were to ask for any amount of money
to console her emotional damages, it
should be reasonably closer to the scope
of her astrological business, which cannot
be worth $300 million — not in
this universe, anyway.
Let’s not forget the fact that no one owns the vastness of space, leaving
her terrestrial complaints ungrounded.
To quote Kennedy once more, “There is no strife, no prejudice, no national
conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest
deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation
may never come again.” |
