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Documents reveal NASA’s internal struggles over renaming Webb telescope

4 points by ryzvonusef 5y ago

wolverine876 5y ago
> “The problem for most of the astrophysics community is not the decision itself, but the lack of rationale to explain why this is the appropriate decision. (For some people, the problem is the decision.)” He also pointed out that NASA had not transmitted the decision broadly, but rather e-mailed Nelson’s one-sentence statement to a small group of news outlets, including Nature. “That is hardly the kind of transparent process that gives the external community confidence,” he wrote. Contempt for others is trendy, IME: Contempt for people with different experiences and ideas, for vulnerable people (by powerful people), in fact, when I talk to many people in ~ the last couple of years, contempt seems like their goto response to almost anything. It's an obviously destructive and evil trend, which harms the contemptuous, the targets, and their relationships and communities. I've lost important relationships to this bizarre behavior. And I suspect these days that makes it more popular - people show contempt for those things too. Being genuinely open-minded, tolerant, and respectful has great value to you and to others. You learn and grow far more - contempt is nihilism, accomplishing nothing, destroying much. Those things are fundamental to good relationships, and to democracy - respecting others is fundamental to believing they have the right to vote and speak.
vpbusvltsmtk 5y ago
Currently, most people when they hear James Webb, they think of a telescope named after some random guy. They dont think of some guy that was insensitive or whatever to gay people. You change the name and people will then think: the telescope named after they guy that fired the gay people but was then changed to the current name. Names are names, NASA maybe shouldn’t have named it after Webb and was a mistake. How much money and controversy to we need to pay when we can just apologize or something and move on with discovering more about the universe.

4 points by ryzvonusef 5y ago

> “The problem for most of the astrophysics community is not the decision itself, but the lack of rationale to explain why this is the appropriate decision. (For some people, the problem is the decision.)” He also pointed out that NASA had not transmitted the decision broadly, but rather e-mailed Nelson’s one-sentence statement to a small group of news outlets, including Nature. “That is hardly the kind of transparent process that gives the external community confidence,” he wrote. Contempt for others is trendy, IME: Contempt for people with different experiences and ideas, for vulnerable people (by powerful people), in fact, when I talk to many people in ~ the last couple of years, contempt seems like their goto response to almost anything. It's an obviously destructive and evil trend, which harms the contemptuous, the targets, and their relationships and communities. I've lost important relationships to this bizarre behavior. And I suspect these days that makes it more popular - people show contempt for those things too. Being genuinely open-minded, tolerant, and respectful has great value to you and to others. You learn and grow far more - contempt is nihilism, accomplishing nothing, destroying much. Those things are fundamental to good relationships, and to democracy - respecting others is fundamental to believing they have the right to vote and speak.

vpbusvltsmtk 5y ago

Currently, most people when they hear James Webb, they think of a telescope named after some random guy. They dont think of some guy that was insensitive or whatever to gay people. You change the name and people will then think: the telescope named after they guy that fired the gay people but was then changed to the current name. Names are names, NASA maybe shouldn’t have named it after Webb and was a mistake. How much money and controversy to we need to pay when we can just apologize or something and move on with discovering more about the universe.