Charlie Stross

RE: https://tane.codes/@tanepiper/116337081981568251

Same for me, too. And Elon Musk took all the joy out of his big rocket launch (and occasional explosion) livestreams when he unmasked as full nazi in public. And the Russian space program? Dead to me.

We should just get back in the sea. Our species is done.

7:47amWeb
Show threadnick13h ago
@cstross I tell you what, it's really done a number on my nicey-nicey "try to see the good in everyone" bullshit too.
Show threadjwz13h ago
@cstross But the billionaires have ruined submarines too.
Show threadDaniel Carosone13h ago
@jwz @cstross or was that the other way around? Bit of both, perhaps.
Show threadbenji_w13h ago
@jwz @cstross I dunno about ruined... I'm kind of looking forward to another billionaire's submarine excursion.
Show threadKristen9h ago
@benji_w @jwz @cstross Me too.
Show threadCharlie Stross13h ago

@jwz

I blame Ian Fleming. He didn't just invent James Bond, he invented the Bond Villain trope. And now a whole bunch of billionaires have decided to spend their wealth Torment Nexusing their way into real life Bond Villainy.

Which is why we need James Bond. Not the camp secret agent but the original—a socialist government's on-payroll assassin for killing threats to democracy (and the crown). (I mean, come on: Elon Musk is a dead ringer for Hugo Drax per the Fleming novel: Nazi rocketer ...)

Show threadBrian Swetland13h ago
@cstross @jwz I feel like, for American billionaires at least, blame falls on our educational system (thus their poor reading comprehension taking entirely the wrong lesson from the books they love) and our healthcare system... can you imagine if Elon could have seen a therapist instead of buying Twitter?
Show threadCharlie Stross12h ago
@swetland @jwz Elon is a product of the South African Apartheid-era education system. Satya Nadella is a product of the Indian school system. And so on. The billionaire elite are multinational and their dysfunctions are globalized.
Show threadBrian Swetland12h ago
@cstross @jwz Absolutely. I do think it's not unreasonable for the US to take a good share of the blame for not doing anything about Elon before (or after) it got this bad.
Show threadM Schommer12h ago

@cstross
But killer only after hours while working as a renowned ornithologist.

@jwz

Show threadhaihappen6h ago
@musevg @cstross @jwz She, because people of that ... character, ignore women they are not attracted too, should be a product of the system that is now using her to fix itself:
Poor parents, juvenile detention, army, army medic, pharmacist, intelligence asset, reactivation and side-promoted to intelligence officer, specialist for the re-stablishment of the dread crown's will to stabilize society, one rich corpse at a time.
Show threadRightSprung will not comply11h ago

@cstross @jwz

Oh Man, I wish it weren't true, but this is spot on.

Show threadjwz4h ago
@cstross I'd also settle for a Captain Nemo at this point.
Show threadChristof Damian 💙💛13h ago
@jwz
But in a good way!
@cstross
Show threadOblomov11h ago
@jwz @cstross what? Submarines are the only thing that managed to get the better of them. (OK, submersibles, but still)
Show threadbovaz11h ago
@oblomov @jwz @cstross Orcas were doing numbers on yachts for a bit. I'm hoping that spermwhales get involved next.
Show threadJulesJones12h ago

@cstross I realised yesterday that a) I wouldn't have even known it was happening if I hadn't seen it on social media, because I don't watch the news half the time, b) I didn't care that I nearly missed it.

And I hate them for sucking the joy out of it. I sat up to a ridiculous hour the night Columbia was scheduled to take off. I vaguely thought about waiting an extra half an hour before going to bed last night for the scheduled time for the injection burn and decided a decent night's sleep before Eastercon was more important.

Show threadmatthiasm12h ago
@cstross And Musk being a Nazi isn‘t nearly as entertaining as the Nazis in the „Iron Sky“ movie.
Show threadToni Aittoniemi12h ago
@cstross Same same. Space exploration by nazis might as well not be happening. Can’t pretend enthusiasm when the rockets deliver payloads dedicated to deepening divides and entrenching power.
Show threadDan Hatton12h ago

@cstross

Reminds me that, in the very early stages of the current invasion of Ukraine, the Russian personnel then on board the ISS made a statement of support for the defence of Ukraine. I hope those folks are OK, although somehow I doubt it.

Show threadSchroedingers_Cat11h ago

@cstross Everything that people enjoy, they make about themselves and money. And so take the joy out of it.

It always sucks. I used to enjoy coding, but it has stopped being fun. And AI is taking the last fun out of it.

Show threadTubemeister11h ago
@cstross I’m sort of hoping it might still change when they’re actually going for boots on the moon, but yeah, so far it’s decidedly shrug.
Show threadCharlie Stross9h ago
@Tubemeister Trump will use the phone call as an opportunity to harangue the crew for including a woman, a non-white, and a foreigner—then sell shares in his project to build a golf course on the Sea of Tranquility (which is of course a grift: "It's out of this world!"), not realising they're not actually landing this time.
Show threadTubemeister9h ago

@cstross Yeah he’ll make it all about him somehow, slather his ugly mug all over it and thus the whole thing is tarnished.

And the deja vu is rather strong. Crook in the White House, war they’re going to lose, going to the moon. It’s 1969 all over again.

Show threadDarwin Woodka5h ago

@Tubemeister @cstross

Well that IS when they thought America was great

Show threadFlittermouse 🎸🥁🎹🏳️‍⚧️🐩10h ago

@cstross
Not giving up yet. We knew who Wernher von Braun was when he was scooped up from working on V2 to developing the technology for the Americans and when he moved to NASA. A decorated major in the SS.

Okay, so he may not have been volubly in favour of "racial purity" and other nonsense. He did, however, employ Jewish slave labour to develop a weapon he knew was likely to be used to kill thousands of civilians (it did, though the human cost was borne mostly by those Jews. @cstross

Show threadJaime Robertson8h ago
@Flittermouse @cstross
A Rabbi I used to know once told about his grandfather’s deli in Huntsville Ala., and how as an infant he was bounced on the knee of a frequent customer named Werhner von Braun.
Show threadJaime Robertson8h ago
@cstross Same. Though my space nerdery began to wane during the Reagan era.
I’m still following the current mission, but not nearly as much as I would have. It’s a little comfort knowing that the project predates Trump—who tried to kill it.
Show threadNeil Morford8h ago
@cstross I think that the main reason the US is going back to the moon is because the orange shitgibbon wants to say that he's the first president to do it. In his mind, Apollo doesn't count.
Show threadMedea Vanamonde 🏳️‍⚧️7h ago

@cstross @tanepiper

Rich people ruin everything.
Because they can.

Show threadOlivier Roux (moose)5h ago
@MedeaVanamonde @cstross @tanepiper also often because they like it.
Show threadDarwin Woodka5h ago

@cstross

I am happy Artemis is going well and the crew is doing well. I'm not really following it though. Like others here I don't watch the news, and mostly see what goes by on social media.

I do hope it all goes well and that we are learning some good new science. It's nice to see us get back into space again!

Show threadGLC5h ago

@cstross

I don't care about this particular moon stunt as it's not actually interesting and doesn't have much to do with the moon.

But the general idea of gradually building up our technology to where it was half a century back does appeal to me. And if we did that for our bridges as well, I'd also be pleased. We certainly could, should the spirit move us.