6 ms·

It's not only the pollution. The world is "unwillingly" giving up space spots to a company that can use those satellites as technological weapons. What happens

It's not only the pollution. The world is "unwillingly" giving up space spots to a company that can use those satellites as technological weapons. What happens when a Chinese/India/Russia(Insert any non-Anglo "bad" country) decides to emulate them , I would happily bet my left kidney the _commentariat_ here would not be so happy.

panick21_ 4y ago
> space spots What does that even mean? You can't see them unless you have highly speziallised equipment. And in terms of physical spots, space is absurdly huge, space is not really a limited resource.
- wmf 4y ago
  It seems like they're keeping a ~10 km buffer zone around each satellite which does add up. Between Starlink, OneWeb, and Kuiper a bunch of shells have already been taken.
  - panick21_ 4y ago
    Those are current technological limitation the same way Montana farmers in the West didn't have barbed wire. Tracking and control technology is constantly improving. Just like as with airplane safety humanity will improve with increase use.
bpodgursky 4y ago
If Russia wants to use satellites as technological weapons, I don't think they're going to ask the FCC for permission.
AtlasBarfed 4y ago
Would they provide a usable broadband alternative to the broomstick-up-butt treatment I get from the telcos? Hell yes I'd take them. Oh they'd steal my data? Well, so does everyone on this site and the telco I have now. Consider this, Mr Geopolitical power. Do you want the US with this weapon, or sit on our ass and let China deploy one now that SpaceX has shown how powerful it is? This is the single greatest Western soft power weapon since the iPhone. And you're begrudging it? Come on.
- UmbertoNoEco 4y ago
  I am latin-American Mr "I think Anglo is the world default", in our region the US has been a much more pernicious force in history than China,by several orders of magnitude. I understand we are just simple apes that love to think tribally (the logical part of our brain is shut off) but I would expect one is aware enough to understand there are other "tribes", specially when worldwide one's group does not reach double digits as % of population.
  - weaponizedlinux 4y ago
    Playing the "Holier-than-thou and I think Americans are assholes" card combo by itself is not countering their point.
    - ncmncm 4y ago
      It is correct that Starlink is not motivated to act for your benefit, any more than for this individual. Your interlocutor has long experience with such things. So do we, really; are Starlink's incentives aligned any different from AT&T's? A few years back, AT&T took a half $billion from US taxpayers to build out fiber to rural neighborhoods. One comes to within 1/10 mi of my house. But they were not obliged to light any of it. They did not. That fiber sits dark, more than a decade on.
- ncmncm 4y ago
  This is not the US. This is a privately held corporation answerable to nobody. Whose benefit do you imagine they will exercise their power on behalf of? Yours? US voters'?
  - concordDance 4y ago
    US corporations are significantly controlled by US laws. These laws can do things like stopping them serving enemy countries. (The recent Russia sanctions are an example) That is power.

panick21_ 4y ago

> space spots What does that even mean? You can't see them unless you have highly speziallised equipment. And in terms of physical spots, space is absurdly huge, space is not really a limited resource.

wmf 4y ago
It seems like they're keeping a ~10 km buffer zone around each satellite which does add up. Between Starlink, OneWeb, and Kuiper a bunch of shells have already been taken.
- panick21_ 4y ago
  Those are current technological limitation the same way Montana farmers in the West didn't have barbed wire. Tracking and control technology is constantly improving. Just like as with airplane safety humanity will improve with increase use.

bpodgursky 4y ago

If Russia wants to use satellites as technological weapons, I don't think they're going to ask the FCC for permission.

AtlasBarfed 4y ago

Would they provide a usable broadband alternative to the broomstick-up-butt treatment I get from the telcos? Hell yes I'd take them. Oh they'd steal my data? Well, so does everyone on this site and the telco I have now. Consider this, Mr Geopolitical power. Do you want the US with this weapon, or sit on our ass and let China deploy one now that SpaceX has shown how powerful it is? This is the single greatest Western soft power weapon since the iPhone. And you're begrudging it? Come on.

UmbertoNoEco 4y ago
I am latin-American Mr "I think Anglo is the world default", in our region the US has been a much more pernicious force in history than China,by several orders of magnitude. I understand we are just simple apes that love to think tribally (the logical part of our brain is shut off) but I would expect one is aware enough to understand there are other "tribes", specially when worldwide one's group does not reach double digits as % of population.
- weaponizedlinux 4y ago
  Playing the "Holier-than-thou and I think Americans are assholes" card combo by itself is not countering their point.
  - ncmncm 4y ago
    It is correct that Starlink is not motivated to act for your benefit, any more than for this individual. Your interlocutor has long experience with such things. So do we, really; are Starlink's incentives aligned any different from AT&T's? A few years back, AT&T took a half $billion from US taxpayers to build out fiber to rural neighborhoods. One comes to within 1/10 mi of my house. But they were not obliged to light any of it. They did not. That fiber sits dark, more than a decade on.
ncmncm 4y ago
This is not the US. This is a privately held corporation answerable to nobody. Whose benefit do you imagine they will exercise their power on behalf of? Yours? US voters'?
- concordDance 4y ago
  US corporations are significantly controlled by US laws. These laws can do things like stopping them serving enemy countries. (The recent Russia sanctions are an example) That is power.