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Re: [vsnet-chat 6103] Re: [AAVSO-DIS] Re: NMO Campaign > Well, it seems that having more than one VSO in the world is somewhat > redundant. Certainly a waste of time to format and submit observations to > multiple places - I would rather spend the extra time observing! > > Yes, each may have their specialties, but a lot of effort is duplicated. > The costs of physical facilities, computer hardware, personnel, etc. is > inefficient just to do the similar things in slightly different ways. > > I think it would be wise to head towards one worldwide organization, maybe > "IAVSO"? that combines all the existing ones as various branches of > specialization into the one. Well, it may not be a science matter, but should require a comment. Our world is more redundant than you may suppose. Why there is a necessity of different computer architecures? Why there is a need for different operating systems? Why there is a need for different search engines in the world? Everything sounds like "a lot of effort is duplicated". The reason why we are in pursuit of diversity in science would be comparable to ecological diversity. Diversity essentially requires redundancy. In contrast to the world of definitions (e.g. ISO or SI; we probably don't need a special reason to require diversity in measuring units, such as meter and mile), application and neccesity in science are more dynamically varying. The world of variable stars is probably most diverse among single topics in astronomy. There is no comparable field which deals with solar, stellar, AGNs, QSOs, GRBs, novae, supernovae, explosion, eclipses, pulsation, accretion disk, black hole, microlensing, multiwavelength correlation, surveys, catalogs, and many, many! I don't think any authority in a single organization can cope with these matters sufficiently to requested modern standard of expertism. This point is essentially different from other more specialized fields of astronomy. A combination of different groups with different interests or modalities would be a better selection for a quick adaptation to always coming changes. Naturally there would be a necessity of a certain degree of hierarchy and communication between different groups, and these forums are indeed exquisitely playing these roles! Regards, Taichi Kato
Return to the Powerful Daisaku Nogami
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