3 ms·

Oh man, struggling to channel dang here. How to respond constructively. Probably the best thing to do is flag and ignore, but I can't pass this up. If people a

Oh man, struggling to channel dang here. How to respond constructively. Probably the best thing to do is flag and ignore, but I can't pass this up. If people are interested in going somewhere, who are you to denigrate their ambitions? What is wrong with dreaming of orbiting the planet? How does that dream fall short? Is it a weak dream for a midwestern child, landlocked a thousand miles in every direction, to want to see the ocean? Is it a weak dream for a city child, blocked by light pollution, to want to see the stars? What kind of comment is this? What does it even mean to have a "better" dream?

lostlogin 5y ago
Oxfam’s Deepak Xavier vented about the billionaire-hobbies issue early this week. https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/billionaires-blast-space-billions-suffer-planet-earth https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/billionaires-blast-s...
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
colordrops 5y ago
Everyone is required to fix the worlds problems before doing anything else. At least that is how the thinking goes, which is absurd in most cases. Though there is some nuance here considering Bezos' absolute detestable behavior climbing on the backs of abused workers to get to this point. It's an old story, as expressed by Dr. Seuss in his story Yertle the Turtle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yertle_the_Turtle_and_Other_Stories#%E2%80%9CYertle_the_Turtle%E2%80%9D https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yertle_the_Turtle_and_Other_St...
- unfunco 5y ago
  Maybe Jeffrey Bezos will return a changed man and give his warehouse staff proper piss bottles instead of used drinking water bottles.
zzzeek 5y ago
it's an entirely appropriate dream for a child. for a society with enormous intractable problems such as global warming, income inequality, and fascism, it's pretty lame.
- aerovistae 5y ago
  It's lame to dream of space until utopia is achieved? Until life is perfect, NASA should be shut down? Do all 7.5b people on earth need to dream of solving the same problems? Is eliminating diversity of dreams constructive? If your teenage daughter told you she wanted to go to school to be an astronaut, would you tell her that was lame?
- ericd 5y ago
  Well, I’d say that few things are likely to really drive home to people how insignificant the little power struggles we spend so much of our life obsessing about as going up into space and looking down on everything, and then looking out into the infinite void. If it makes everyone who can afford to go more circumspect about that, I think it’ll have been completely worth it, even ignoring all the useful stuff that’ll come out of it. Also, off topic, but thanks very much for all the things you make, they’re wonderful.
- Seanambers 5y ago
  It is a quirk of evolution that this kind of thinking is around. This defeatist unwillingnes to do. Imagine if man had never ventured from Africa, or from the trees to the savannah - I bet even back then there were those who chose to stay behind. Where are they now? There is something so unimaginative about this kind of thinking it's really off putting. As a society one should always strive to do better in all areas, not only in the areas you deem worthy.

lostlogin 5y ago

Oxfam’s Deepak Xavier vented about the billionaire-hobbies issue early this week. https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/billionaires-blast-space-billions-suffer-planet-earth https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/billionaires-blast-s...

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

colordrops 5y ago

Everyone is required to fix the worlds problems before doing anything else. At least that is how the thinking goes, which is absurd in most cases. Though there is some nuance here considering Bezos' absolute detestable behavior climbing on the backs of abused workers to get to this point. It's an old story, as expressed by Dr. Seuss in his story Yertle the Turtle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yertle_the_Turtle_and_Other_Stories#%E2%80%9CYertle_the_Turtle%E2%80%9D https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yertle_the_Turtle_and_Other_St...

unfunco 5y ago
Maybe Jeffrey Bezos will return a changed man and give his warehouse staff proper piss bottles instead of used drinking water bottles.

zzzeek 5y ago

it's an entirely appropriate dream for a child. for a society with enormous intractable problems such as global warming, income inequality, and fascism, it's pretty lame.

aerovistae 5y ago
It's lame to dream of space until utopia is achieved? Until life is perfect, NASA should be shut down? Do all 7.5b people on earth need to dream of solving the same problems? Is eliminating diversity of dreams constructive? If your teenage daughter told you she wanted to go to school to be an astronaut, would you tell her that was lame?
ericd 5y ago
Well, I’d say that few things are likely to really drive home to people how insignificant the little power struggles we spend so much of our life obsessing about as going up into space and looking down on everything, and then looking out into the infinite void. If it makes everyone who can afford to go more circumspect about that, I think it’ll have been completely worth it, even ignoring all the useful stuff that’ll come out of it. Also, off topic, but thanks very much for all the things you make, they’re wonderful.
Seanambers 5y ago
It is a quirk of evolution that this kind of thinking is around. This defeatist unwillingnes to do. Imagine if man had never ventured from Africa, or from the trees to the savannah - I bet even back then there were those who chose to stay behind. Where are they now? There is something so unimaginative about this kind of thinking it's really off putting. As a society one should always strive to do better in all areas, not only in the areas you deem worthy.