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My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

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Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Everyone knows that you are the leader and you set the tone. This sounds more like a presumption taken on by an arrogant person. It's certainly not a given, as you suggest here.

It is more of an analysis of probabilities. I suspect that this was the case but of course I don't know. What probability would you assign to Bezos being seen as the leader/setting the tone in this situation?

I'm rejecting the premise indicated by your forward slash, that being a team leader and setting an emotional tone for everyone involved are synonymous.

The rest of the team had a sharp constrast to Shatner in their style of celebration, so which group wasn't following their leader's tone properly? And the group that was celebrating loudly was doing so independent of Bezos, but somehow required him to join in soon and give their tone his affirmation? It's an absurd idea. It makes no sense after just a bit of thought.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#112

With all respect to Shatner (first canadian space tourist iirc) I dont take much from these narratives. A rich/famous/connected person does a thing that we all want to do but cannot afford, something that requires insane amounts of energy/pollution. Then they turn around and talk of the profound experience and how it has made them a better person. Big deal. The pubic good is limited to a few interviews and an article…

But Shatner is an actor? I'm not sure I agree with the implication that one type of artist is better to send than another but I do agree that maybe we should consider the frivolous waste of sending people to space for joyrides when the cost is so high.

> but I do agree that maybe we should consider the frivolous waste of sending people to space for joyrides when the cost is so high.

Commercial space operations are sending celebrities to space because its seen as a wothwhile promotional expense. “We“, except to the extent that refers to the owners of these operations, aren’t involved.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#113

With all respect to Shatner (first canadian space tourist iirc) I dont take much from these narratives. A rich/famous/connected person does a thing that we all want to do but cannot afford, something that requires insane amounts of energy/pollution. Then they turn around and talk of the profound experience and how it has made them a better person. Big deal. The pubic good is limited to a few interviews and an article…

But Shatner is an actor? I'm not sure I agree with the implication that one type of artist is better to send than another but I do agree that maybe we should consider the frivolous waste of sending people to space for joyrides when the cost is so high.

Was an actor. He is in his eighties. His best days as an artist/writer (tekwar) are in the past.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But Shatner is an actor? I'm not sure I agree with the implication that one type of artist is better to send than another but I do agree that maybe we should consider the frivolous waste of sending people to space for joyrides when the cost is so high.

> but I do agree that maybe we should consider the frivolous waste of sending people to space for joyrides when the cost is so high. Commercial space operations are sending celebrities to space because its seen as a wothwhile promotional expense. “We“, except to the extent that refers to the owners of these operations, aren’t involved.

Have you looked i to how much government support is behind these projects? Setting aside any tax breaks, have you looked into the amount of restricted/classified tech involved? These ventures are not possible without massive government participation.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But Shatner is an actor? I'm not sure I agree with the implication that one type of artist is better to send than another but I do agree that maybe we should consider the frivolous waste of sending people to space for joyrides when the cost is so high.

Was an actor. He is in his eighties. His best days as an artist/writer (tekwar) are in the past.

He is 91 actually, and still does alot of funny TV and YouTube bits. I enjoy him as much now as in the past.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is more of an analysis of probabilities. I suspect that this was the case but of course I don't know. What probability would you assign to Bezos being seen as the leader/setting the tone in this situation?

I'm rejecting the premise indicated by your forward slash, that being a team leader and setting an emotional tone for everyone involved are synonymous. The rest of the team had a sharp constrast to Shatner in their style of celebration, so which group wasn't following their leader's tone properly? And the group that was celebrating loudly was doing so independent of Bezos, but somehow required him to join in soon and…

[deleted]

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#118
post #108
post #98

> It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered. The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness. Every day, we are confronted with the knowledge of further destruction of Earth at our hands: the extinction of animal species, of flora and fauna . . . things that took five billion years to evolve, and suddenly we will n…

Also technically an impossibility, since evolution would not be possible without extinction

Sure, there's no life without death, but you're kind of underselling the Anthropocene Mass Extinction a wee bit, aren't you?

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#119
post #108
post #98

> It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered. The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness. Every day, we are confronted with the knowledge of further destruction of Earth at our hands: the extinction of animal species, of flora and fauna . . . things that took five billion years to evolve, and suddenly we will n…

Also technically an impossibility, since evolution would not be possible without extinction

Not sure why you're being so downvoted, must be people who haven't read Darwin or know about mass extinction from things like floods and meteorites - like that wiped out most dinosaurs.

If we don't get society under "control" - and not through the ideological-tyrannical effort underway globally currently - but through voluntarily taking action through adequate organization of listening to and following competent leadership (voting with our dollars, say by buying a Tesla vehicle, etc) - then we'll probably destroy most humans/life on Earth anyhow and whatever survives will be able to continue to evolve; and maybe, if any humans remain, they'll be wise enough to pass on and successfully counter tyrannical forces that exist within the human genome.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#120

With all respect to Shatner (first canadian space tourist iirc) I dont take much from these narratives. A rich/famous/connected person does a thing that we all want to do but cannot afford, something that requires insane amounts of energy/pollution. Then they turn around and talk of the profound experience and how it has made them a better person. Big deal. The pubic good is limited to a few interviews and an article…

>>These adventures require so much energy that they will only ever be availible to an elite nanopercent of the population

The cost of launching to space has declined by orders of magnitude over the last 50 years and can be expected to decline by orders of magnitude more in the coming decades.

At one point, air travel was reserved for the richest of the rich, and today hundreds of millions of people fly every year. There's no reason the same couldn't happen with space flight.

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