What If? Paths Not Taken

Abstract

I think the point of this exercise in counterfactual thinking is two-fold first, to recognize that not only have choices been made in the past that defined the character of what has happened and that different choices were possible and would have led to different outcomes, and, second, that we are currently making similar choices for the future. Today s choices obviously will have significant long-term consequences for space development. Decision-makers have an image of a desirable future when they make choices, but they also realize that the link between current choice and desired result is always uncertain. As the philosopher Yogi Berra is often quoted as having said, "making predictions is hard, especially when they are about the future."