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True, but to a limited extent. Recent successess of SpaceX, RocketLab etc. seem to have reinvigorated interest of the young engineering generation in space exp
by inglor_cz 5y ago
True, but to a limited extent.
Recent successess of SpaceX, RocketLab etc. seem to have reinvigorated interest of the young engineering generation in space exploration to a degree unseen in the 1990s. Working on a Mars rocket is much cooler than working on user tracking systems in some giant tech corporation.
Watching something like Starship really launching from the Earth beats hundreds of hours of video games squarely.
- oriolid 5y agoThis sounds a lot like the people at SpaceX, RocketLab, etc are actually building rockets to entertain themselves.
- inglor_cz 5y agoYes, and the point is that this entertainment isn't virtual and that it actually pushes the entire civilization forward instead of causing a hedonistic stagnation.
- 21723 5y agoRecent successess of SpaceX, RocketLab etc. seem to have reinvigorated interest of the young engineering generation in space exploration to a degree unseen in the 1990s. Working on a Mars rocket is much cooler than working on user tracking systems in some giant tech corporation. Private progress into space shouldn't be celebrated. If rich people get there first, they'll use it for ill. What Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk's forays into space, and the news frenzy around them, show is how embarrassingly we've let our government, with R&D underfunded for decades, fall behind. It's not impressive that a billionaire can take a space trip. Big fucking deal. We put someone on the Moon in 1969 and haven't been back since the '70s.
- inglor_cz 5y agoHumans in general are capable of evil, not just private actors, and I fail to see how governmental activity in space was, on average, more honorable than whatever Musk or Bezos are planning to do there. By far the most space-interested arm of a government is the military and plainclothed spies. Neither are particularly morally virtuous.