4 ms·

Meteors exist, and there's nothing you can do to stop it, aside from clearly uneconomical shielding of every roof of every home. Its arrogance to think we are

Meteors exist, and there's nothing you can do to stop it, aside from clearly uneconomical shielding of every roof of every home. Its arrogance to think we are immune from unexpected and sudden death because we are humans. Also, cars and trucks occasionally do drive through homes, if the homes are next to large roads. Its rare, but far more common than space debris. Also, keep in mind these space debris, even if they hit homes, are unlikely to kill, a 10cm diameter ball (Aka 80cm^2 = 0.008m area) is unlikely to hit someone in a 100m^2 home.

foobar1962 2y ago
> Also, cars and trucks occasionally do drive through homes, if the homes are next to large roads There is a Tesla in space. No homes are safe. Anywhere. In. The. Universe.
- datascienced 2y ago
  That Tesla is in a sun orbit.
  - cseleborg 2y ago
    Should we send them a warning? Maybe they haven't spotted it yet? It's our junk after all...
  - pjerem 2y ago
    Every time I remember we have a Tesla orbiting in our solar system, I remember how stupid we are as a species.
    - datascienced 2y ago
      At least it should have some scientific instruments and fold out solar panels.
    - pfdietz 2y ago
      > Every time I remember we have a Tesla orbiting in our solar system, I remember how awesome we are as a species. Fixed that for you.
      - pjerem 2y ago
        I wasn’t thinking we are not. We can be - and are - both.
iJohnDoe 2y ago
You have good points, but I specifically stated space debris.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago
  > I specifically stated space debris Why is getting killed by space debris is less pleasant than getting killed by a meteorite? The point is there is a background risk of sky-born peril. There is tremendous opportunity in putting things in orbit. Given the frequencies of any damage or injury from extra-atmospheric debris, of our or nature's making, it would be surprising if the marginal benefits gained from optimising for more safety would outweigh the opportunity cost. We should look for cheap optimisiations that reduce the risk of peril. But eliminating the possibility is impossible; pursuing massive reductions in risk absurd.
  - jjav 2y ago
    > Why is getting killed by space debris is less pleasant than getting killed by a meteorite? In terms of liability, we (society) usually make a distinction between nature and events produced by humans. If a hurricane falls a tree and it collapses your house, that's just nature. If someone is cutting that tree and they do it wrong and it collapses your house, you'd hope they are liable.

foobar1962 2y ago

> Also, cars and trucks occasionally do drive through homes, if the homes are next to large roads There is a Tesla in space. No homes are safe. Anywhere. In. The. Universe.

datascienced 2y ago
That Tesla is in a sun orbit.
- cseleborg 2y ago
  Should we send them a warning? Maybe they haven't spotted it yet? It's our junk after all...
- pjerem 2y ago
  Every time I remember we have a Tesla orbiting in our solar system, I remember how stupid we are as a species.
  - datascienced 2y ago
    At least it should have some scientific instruments and fold out solar panels.
  - pfdietz 2y ago
    > Every time I remember we have a Tesla orbiting in our solar system, I remember how awesome we are as a species. Fixed that for you.
    - pjerem 2y ago
      I wasn’t thinking we are not. We can be - and are - both.

iJohnDoe 2y ago

You have good points, but I specifically stated space debris.

JumpCrisscross 2y ago
> I specifically stated space debris Why is getting killed by space debris is less pleasant than getting killed by a meteorite? The point is there is a background risk of sky-born peril. There is tremendous opportunity in putting things in orbit. Given the frequencies of any damage or injury from extra-atmospheric debris, of our or nature's making, it would be surprising if the marginal benefits gained from optimising for more safety would outweigh the opportunity cost. We should look for cheap optimisiations that reduce the risk of peril. But eliminating the possibility is impossible; pursuing massive reductions in risk absurd.
- jjav 2y ago
  > Why is getting killed by space debris is less pleasant than getting killed by a meteorite? In terms of liability, we (society) usually make a distinction between nature and events produced by humans. If a hurricane falls a tree and it collapses your house, that's just nature. If someone is cutting that tree and they do it wrong and it collapses your house, you'd hope they are liable.