During our brief stay on planet Earth, we owe ourselves and our descendants the opportunity to explore—in part because it’s fun to do. But there’s a … - Neil deGrasse Tyson

During our brief stay on planet Earth, we owe ourselves and our descendants the opportunity to explore—in part because it's fun to do. But there's a far nobler reason. The day our knowledge of the cosmos ceases to expand, we risk regressing to the childish view that the universe figuratively and literally revolves around us. In that bleak world, arms-bearing, resource-hungry people and nations would be prone to act on their "low contracted prejudices." And that would be the last gasp of human enlightenment—until the rise of a visionary new culture that could once again embrace the cosmic perspective.

I am trying to convince people--not only the public, but lawmakers and people in power--that investing in the frontier of science, however remote it may seem in its relevance to what you're doing today, is a way of stockpiling the seed corns of future harvests of this nation... Advancing a frontier--history has shown--has advanced a culture ever since the industrial revolution got underway.

Early Riser, might you be?
Want a spectacle for free?
Before sunrise you will see
Two bright stars — planets they be.

The brightest one is Venus.
Outshining Jupiter’s light.
Catch both before they’re consumed
By all of morning twilight.

What we value in CIVILIZATION: Agriculture, Architecture, the Arts, Transportation, Communication, Health, Wealth, Security.

All pivot on enlightened investments in Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, & Mathematics. "STEAM".

Without them, we descend into the Dark Ages.