[kbenson]

It's possible that in some respects those silly lines actually accelerate some aspects for getting off planet. They undoubtedly retard others as well.

For a very simplistic example, I doubt we would have been to the moon yet if not for those silly lines.

[eru]

Though, getting to the moon didn't really give us anything (apart from seeing it as a valuable thing in itself).

[mblakele]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_program#Legacy

  > Apollo stimulated many areas of technology. The flight computer design used in both the lunar and command modules was, along with the Minuteman Missile System, the driving force behind early research into integrated circuits. Computer-controlled machining was first used in the fabrication of Apollo structural components.

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spin-off_technologies

[eru]

Ok. I guess I'd have to make a more nuanced argument that the same amount of money would have gone further in terms of advances somewhere else.

[tterrace]

The lunar laser ranging experiment was used to observe the effects of relativity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Laser_Ranging_experiment