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Fears that reform in the former Soviet Union will be impeded by ignorance of market economics should be matched by the suspicion that the policies of experienced free market governments are undermined by ignorance of arithmetic.
The economic benefits of NASA's programmes are greater than generally recognized. The main beneficiaries may not even realize the source of their good fortune.
Our understanding of the Universe may be shaped in part by the circumstance that our knowledge of it derives exclusively from people like ourselves, but what if very different forms of life exist?