Nidhish Balakrishnan's ToK Blog

 History has had its share of both crippling dictatorships and fair democracies, as well as visionary dictatorships and corrupt democracies. Many countries such as Libya and Burkina Faso reached their peak under firm dictator rule, but countries like France and the USA are examples of countries that have reached their peak under democracy. This goes on to say about how a certain country's prosperity depends on the development of the region during the dictatorship or democracy, as well as the leaders themselves.  For example, Burkina Faso and Libya were very underdeveloped during the establishment of the dictatorship, and by the end of it, they were developed enough and started to prosper under a democratic form of government. For example, Thomas Sankara, the first dictator of Burkina Faso led the country to a golden age after leading a coup on the French leader then. However, the deputy of Thomas, Blaise Compaore led a coup against Thomas Sankara and became the second dictator...

 Astronauts and cosmonauts spend a big chunk of their life studying astronomy and undergoing isolation training to take place in outer space expeditions in order to collect planet samples and perform surveys for a decade or more. They might not get to see their children grow up, nor have a chance at a normal life. Yet, for the acquisition of knowledge, they are passionate enough to throw it all away and dedicate their lives to outer space travel. Countries spend billions of money and resources on fuel, rocket blueprints, rocket parts and rocket simulations.  Is the knowledge we acquire really worth it in the end? The answer might be subjective due to the depth of knowledge regarding the subject varying from person to person. An informed opinion would be that it is worth the sacrifices because collecting planet soil and air samples would help scientists judge if it was suitable for migration if Earth was reaching its limit as a planet where humanity can prosper.  However, ...