James GleickDec 1, 2024

This seems so science-fictiony that most people won't take it seriously. That would be a bad mistake.

Not only are we messing up the planet, we're also inadvertently shutting our door to space. When we're shut in, we're probably shut in for ever.

And when I say "we" are shutting that door, I mean mainly Musk.

https://robertvanwey.substack.com/p/the-imminence-of-the-destruction

The Imminence of the Destruction of the Space Program

New calculations put the date much closer than we should be comfortable with

The Evidence Files
Show threadCassandrichDec 2, 2024
@gleick I'm not convinced shutting the door isn't a good thing. It completely cuts off both the TESCREAList narrative about "good of the future trillions of human minds across the galaxy at the expense of every real person here now except the billionaires" and the prospects of space capitalism. We don't need space; it's awesome to explore but not essential to survival or happiness.
Show threadIrenes (many)Dec 2, 2024
@dalias that feels wrong to us, emotionally, but we don't have a principled argument
Show threadIrenes (many)Dec 2, 2024
@dalias weather satellites are the really big thing that ground-based tech is considerably less useful for, so there's that
Show threadDavid PDec 2, 2024
@ireneista @dalias correct me if I'm wrong, most weather satellites are usually in geostationary orbits at around 35,000 km.
Show threadIrenes (many)Dec 2, 2024
@pewnack @dalias sure, and how are we going to conduct repairs or launch new ones?
Show threadDavid PDec 2, 2024

@ireneista @dalias

Well, yeah. A tad difficult.

Show threadIrenes (many)
@pewnack @dalias would that it were otherwise :/
Dec 2, 2024 at 7:56amWeb