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SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

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Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

#481

Post by hackuser »

leereeves wrote: post #477
hackuser wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hitler and Lenin were fringe. I don't see a contradiction between fringe and power. > Perhaps corporate media ... There is so much confusion packed into that statement, it's hard to respond. All I'll say is that the election was in no way a mandate for racism. And why would anyone want to argue that it was?

Lenin, whose politics set the course of a world power for nearly a century, was fringe? What's your definition of fringe? "Things you disagree with"? Bannon was Trump's adviser during his campaign and even before that, Trump's statements were consistent with Bannon's and Breitbart's. Whether those statements were racist is a debate that's been held a thousand times and is not worth rehashing.

My definition is the accepted meaning of the word.

> Whether those statements were racist is a debate that's been held a thousand times

I disagree; it is not a matter of debate. In fact, I've never heard anyone but the most dedicated apologists say otherwise. The racists generally have said that they don't care, which I believe.

Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

#482

Post by hackuser »

irrational wrote: post #316
imw wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because they're numerous doesn't mean they're not a lunatic fringe.

It depends on how you define fringe. If you define it as something small on the edge of something much larger then being numerous would seem to preclude their being fringe. But if you define it as something extreme in relation to something else than it probably does qualify as fringe. Though it would help if you clarify how it is extreme in relation to something else (Seriously, this would be helpful. I have no time…

Let me urge you to follow politics more closely; all our lives and welfare depend on an informed citizenry. Here are a couple of very efficient ways:

* Subscribe to The Economist and read it weekly. It's designed for busy people but has real, sophisticated information and exceptional breath of coverage. It's a bit right of center, but not ideological (except their obsession with the free market solving every problem), and very credible.

http://www.economist.com/

* Read this news summary daily. It's a bit left-of-center, but again non-ideological and the coverage is exceptional.

https://www.justsecurity.org/category/news/

* Check the headlines at the NY Times. They are criticized by all sides for being biased against them, an excellent sign of good journalism. Their editorials are left-of-center, but ignore them and read the news:

http://nytimes.com

In about 20 min a day, you'll be better informed than almost everyone you know. Final tip: Skip all editorials, columns, talk radio - 99% is either uninformed, intended to twist things and manipulate you, or both.

Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

#483

Post by leereeves »

hackuser wrote: post #481
leereeves wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lenin, whose politics set the course of a world power for nearly a century, was fringe? What's your definition of fringe? "Things you disagree with"? Bannon was Trump's adviser during his campaign and even before that, Trump's statements were consistent with Bannon's and Breitbart's. Whether those statements were racist is a debate that's been held a thousand times and is not worth rehashing.

My definition is the accepted meaning of the word. > Whether those statements were racist is a debate that's been held a thousand times I disagree; it is not a matter of debate. In fact, I've never heard anyone but the most dedicated apologists say otherwise. The racists generally have said that they don't care, which I believe.

If you mean the dictionary definition:

> Those members of a group or political party holding extreme views

Then that's simply a subjective term, as is "extreme". By that definition "fringe" expresses nothing more than your opinion.

Thus, when you say Trump and Lenin were fringe, all you've done is clarify where you stand politically.

Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

#484

Post by manigandham »

CaptSpify wrote: post #468
wscott wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And this is intended to generate a significant amount of revenue You gotta appreciate the honesty. It is so unusual that we still look at this trying to see the angles.

One of the good impressions that I get from Musk: Money does not seem to be his goal, but rather a side-effect of good technology. Unlike a lot of other people who seem to use good technology as a means of achieving money. He seems genuinely eager to get projects started and self-sustainable so that they can outlive him and push humanity forward.

> Unlike a lot of other people who seem to use good technology as a means of achieving money.

There's nothing wrong with this. In fact many pure tech projects fail completely because they don't understand how to make money, ultimately helping no one.

Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

#485

Post by dv_dt »

manachar wrote: post #128
katzgrau wrote: post #7

Free, global internet access is the next step toward a smarter, more progressive planet. I don't even care about the speed - if the only thing users could access was wikipedia, I'd still personally donate to the project. I cannot emphasize how important democratizing knowledge is to me (and many others).

Spreading true (well, at least less wrong) information is a noble goal. Unfortunately, I'm not sure we're not seeing such information availability providing avenues towards a smarter, more progressive planet. Instead, the internet seems to be helping people create cocoons of ignorance and "evidence" to support even the most specious claims - such as the world being flat. Knowledge does not seem to be enough. Wisdom a…

I suspect that if not for the internet, one wouldn't even know the cocoons existed.

Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

#486

Post by deedub »

Tuna-Fish wrote: post #79
andrepd wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still. What's the cost of deploying 800 sattelites vs cost of fiber infrastructure for 6 million people?

In cities, the fiber, or even some form of local wireless, is much cheaper. However, in more rural areas the satellite system can well end up the cheaper choice. The interesting part is what building 4425 satellites does to the economics of making satellites. Right now, most satellites are one-offs, or at most made in a series of 10 or so, handmade to exact specifications for maximum reliability and built for 25+ yea…

Interesting when you say "However, in more rural areas the satellite system can well end up the cheaper choice."

You mean a satellite system can well end up your ONLY choice. If you're rural there are no choices besides dial up and satellite. Satellite is a reseller selling hughesnet.

Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

#487

Post by Mikeb85 »

M4v3R wrote: post #352
Mikeb85 wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The flat earth thing is a joke, no? I mean it's gotten pretty elaborate, but it seems as though they're always dropping sarcastic hints here and there...

No, unfortunately it is not a joke. There are people sincerely believing that the earth is flat (some also believe it is hollow and we live inside it) and actively trying to convince others to believe the same. Search for "flat earth" on YouTube and you will see hundreds of videos by many different authors, sometimes with tens of thousands of views. They try to come up with arguments for pretty much any proof you wil…

Hmm, I always thought the elaborate and ridiculous explanations were merely an embellishment of the joke. Kind of like the Church of the FSM. That's a lot of mental gymnastics, it's easier to believe the world is round and whatnot.

Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

#488

Post by sctb »

hubert123 wrote: post #326

It is not unthinkable that the NSA has faked the moon landing and pictures of earth with photoshop / film equipment. You havent been above earth, so how do you know? I think you should be less arrogant at the prospect of somebody having a different opinion than you. Even the astronauts could be fooled, remember that they only ever see space through a sheet of glass, whether it's from inside the space station or their…

We detached this flagged subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12985097.

Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

#489

Post by lvs »

metafunctor wrote: post #314
lvs wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can always jam whatever bands it operates on. They can make it illegal to tx/rx in those bands.

I'm imagining a super narrow directional beam pointed at the satellites. You cannot jam that, and even detecting it would mean you need to be really close. It can still be made illegal, of course.

Nah, it wouldn't be that hard to jam the inbound signal, especially within cities. The sat can't really focus a beam in the way you're imagining.

Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

#490

Post by greglindahl »

cmurf wrote: post #285
hackuser wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think you're overstating the effect of fringe communities on the internet. Some believe that fringe information was a major factor in the U.S. Presidential election. A leader of a fringe community is the chief political advisor to the most powerful person in the world-elect.

I'd hardly call white nationalism fringe, it's self evidently been here a long time although in the daily discourse it's been ignored, or wished it wasn't as overt as it is. Well, this election showed otherwise. But that is not the only factor. There are probably a dozen stewing issues and Trump managed to ride the coat tails of quite a few of them, not least of which is some people who didn't want Trump president co…

This turnout estimate turned out to be wrong. See http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/no-voter-turnout-wasnt-w... for a closer-to-final number.
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