The settlement of a civil case typically includes a provision that neither party admits liability. Have you ever been involved in a significant lawsuit over a large sum of money? You can easily spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a lawyer, or a team of lawyers and sometimes more. You can easily spend hundreds of hours a year with these lawyers or on your case. You may have to turn over personal documents such as health and financial records to the other side. Plus there is significant worry and stress. If you are a rich celebrity and can write a check and make it go away, many will do that, even if they aren’t liable.

In a certain sense, I’m shocked at how similar the pictures are, despite 80 years of technology, trillions of dollars in funding, and an observatory in space versus on the earth.