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Well, when I look at the national security risks that the United States faces, I believe the most serious threat is the United States itself. Our divisiveness is the single greatest threat to our future economy, security, and liberty, and public opinion polls show that a frightening majority of Americans believe President Joe Biden stole the 2020 election, which is completely false. So, I believe that our society's chronic ignorance, distortion, and divisiveness pose a fundamental threat to this country. So I'm very anxious about it." - Amy Zegart, Episode 7, February 1, 2022.What occurred with digital media is that we no longer judge success based on breadth of reach. We assess success using a unit called engagement, which means how many people retweeted your item. How many people have commented on it? How many people shared it on Facebook? How many people reacted aggressively and left a critical comment? And, of course, the secret of digital media is that the most extreme readers and viewers are always the most engaged, so all of these sources began catering to their most extreme readership." - Bayta Ungar-Sargon, episode 5 (January 25, 2022Which brings up, I guess, a last issue in this: I believe conservative intellectual muscles atrophied in the 1990s, partially because they won a lot of conflicts and were complacent. And they won many of those battles with the sledgehammer of deficits. "We can't do X or Y because we can't afford it" has become a fairly simple, one-size-fits-all response to a wide range of concerns. And while it may have won the argument in the short term, it came at the expense of others leaving complaining, asking.

Well, is that the only reason we can't afford it.

How about when we can afford it? So, what do we do with them? So, rather than debating the merits of what the state's rightful function is, what it should and should not be doing, it simply became an exercise in accounting." - Andrew Coyne, Episode 1, January 18, 2022.The James Webb Space Telescope is a one-of-a-kind, big infrared telescope that will be launched in 2021 aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana and will be positioned around 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth.Its goal is to investigate the early stages of our universe's history and shed light on the genesis of solar systems, including our own. It has now begun to return stunning images of what our world looked like billions of light years agoIt is a fantastic feat, and its brightness serves as a counterbalance to the daily barrage of negative news. We are regularly reminded of how poorly governments perform, with swiftly growing prices, war and misery in Ukraine, and food shortages causing hunger in poor countries. Can our wonder at the Webb telescope's technological marvel of discovery help us understand our own world?NASA, the European and Canadian Space Agencies collaborated to develop the telescope. Its primary industrial partner was Northrop Grumman, and it is presently operated by the Space Telescope Science Institute.

The NASA animation below depicts the evolution.

of the cosmos since the initial Big Bang and how far back we may be able to "see" the Universe develop.The Webb telescope is a remarkable example of technological ingenuity and collaboration. The mirrors are made of ultralight beryllium and feature a 6.5-meter primary mirror composed of 18 pieces that unfold when deployed. It requires a tennis court-sized sunshield to reduce heat from the sun, earth, and moon, which is crucial for detecting infrared signals used to make photographs of space. The Webb telescope also has sophisticated cameras and spectrometers capable of detecting extremely low signals, as well as a cryocooler to keep them from overheating.The CSA supplied two important components to the telescope, both built in collaboration with Honeywell. The precise guidance sensor enables the telescope to detect and concentrate on objects of interest. The Near-Infrared Imager Slitless Spectrograph allows astronomers to investigate photos of distant galaxies taken just after the Big Bang. In exchange, Canada obtains a guaranteed part of the telescope's observation time.These technologies are supplying astronomers all across the world with photos and information that are amazing in their clarity of detail and provide fresh insights about how life began. The Washington Post released an excellent interactive narrative about the early pictures, which I recommend you read.

There are photographs of never-before-seen galaxies.

including those with billions of stars, dying red stars, black holes, and the substrate for the production of new hot stars.These findings do not yet have practical applications, but they will help us better understand our universe, and as we have previously seen, practical application of scientific knowledge will eventually follow and benefit our daily lives.We have once again realized the importance of international cooperation and collaboration between the public and commercial sectors.In Canada, the CSA's objective is to "advance knowledge of space through science and ensure that space, science, and technology provide social and economic benefits to Canadians." Regardless of the financial constraints we have now, we must invest more aggressively in scientific discovery and training for the men and women who will be the scientists of today and the future.Canada has fallen behind in sponsoring the discoveries that will define our future. We have a lot to offer in the areas of aerospace, computer science, sustainable energy, mining, and biomedical engineering, to mention a few. Public-private collaborations have the potential to produce and market innovative technology, as well as build sectors that generate jobs and revenue.