My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness • Hacker News Board

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#131

Post by the_doctah » Sat, Oct 08, 2022, 3:24 PM UTC

ThePhysicist wrote: post #14

I like him, he seems to be a thoughtful person. I once listened to his album (which has a great cover of the song "Common People", that jokes about how rich people see the world [1]), in which he reflects on the death of his previous wife, who drowned in their pool, I found that quite touching as well 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ainyK6fXku0

I don't know, I feel like I've read several "What celebrity is an asshole in real life" threads on Reddit and there seem to be plenty of stories about him being a complete alcoholic and asshole.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#132

Post by ilaksh » Sat, Oct 08, 2022, 3:24 PM UTC

INTPenis wrote: post #38

This was very well written, very insightful and humble. Considering he's usually an asshole to people IRL. But I guess he just comes off that way when he wants to convey his truth to people. Not completely foreign to myself, having discovered that I'm actually autistic in my late 30s. That explained a lot. Anyways, this overview effect is something I always felt, even without going into space. I always felt we were w…

We absolute don't want a world government if its going to be the same ineffective and often harmful paradigm as one of the existing governments.

However, we also need to significantly revise the way that government and money work. They need to become high technologies. More than that, we need those technologies to be built around more encompassing and well-rounded ideologies.

These are huge challenges. But the alternative to working on them is to just accept the status quo.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#133

Post by MerelyMortal » Sat, Oct 08, 2022, 3:26 PM UTC

Kiro wrote: post #37

MerelyMortal wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He basically went up an untethered elevator and saw a very limited view of Earth. He did not orbit Earth and did not see or experience the same things as the others.

Wasn't he in the same ship as Shatner?

mouth insert foot

Thank you for pointing that out. I still feel like it's not the same thing that people who orbit experience. Of course some people think differently, and I'm sure Bezos and Shatner think very differently. Of course who I am to speak; the highest I've been is in an airliner (so far).

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#134

Post by seydor » Sat, Oct 08, 2022, 3:26 PM UTC

pohl wrote: post #118

seydor wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Those are unscientific things. I didn't expect that what i said would be considered controversial. We live in extraordinary challenging times and people should steer away from sentimental fluff.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#135

Post by loceng » Sat, Oct 08, 2022, 3:29 PM UTC

BobbyJo wrote: post #124

loceng wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 lead…

Your flippancy about mass extinction leads me to believe you aren't internalizing any of the suffering therein, or the loss. Extinction happens, and, more broadly, death happens. However, we don't stand and deliver a eulogy composed of "idk, people die, no big deal" at a family member's funeral. Immense loss imparts grief.

What exactly did I say that made you think I don't take life seriously?

From all I can see is you incorrectly simplified what I said to a strawman argument of '"idk, people die, no big deal"'.

The reality is over the last 10+ years, without going into any details, I've been working towards and exponentially being closer and closer to helping humanity survive and change course as quickly and efficiently as possible; the current issue is a lack of adequate communication and organization, and properly designed tools, systems, and protocols - along with most major existing systems having been captured partly or fully by bad actors who seem hellbent on destabilizing society to prevent them from being held accountable, as well an attempt to gain full control over everything and everyone.

But being a realist is important if the odds are unknown, like how Elon is aiming for and where all signs point to him being successful creating a colony on Mars far sooner than later as a backup plan, backup site for humanity - when even 5 years ago that wasn't even on anyone's radar; seeing exponentials, as Elon has said, are very difficult for people to see - but that is where hope, along with automation and technology leveraged and utilized for good, in the right organization for the right purposes, is what can very quickly right the spaceship called Earth; unimaginably quickly - that even those who see and setup these systems following foundational principles will be surprised by their speed of development and uptake.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#136

Post by ShamelessC » Sat, Oct 08, 2022, 3:32 PM UTC

dang wrote: post #89

ShamelessC wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why was this flagged? Shatner clearly refuses the champagne.

It broke the site guidelines and therefore was correctly flagged. Whether or not HN commenters owe superbillionaires better, they definitely owe this community better if they're participating in it. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Fair enough! I'll dig through these later, although I'm guessing it is the inflammatory nature of the comment tht led others to flag it.

If only people flagged this sort of thing consistently. So it goes.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#137

Post by loceng » Sat, Oct 08, 2022, 3:33 PM UTC

titzer wrote: post #123

loceng wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 lead…

Sadly, it's the mad pursuit of said dollars that seems to be the primary driver behind our voracious appetite to consume nature.

Good thing then most of the riches in the near future available will be from space exploration and mining, that may then redirect the greedy to direct their resources to that endeavour?

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#138

Post by capableweb » Sat, Oct 08, 2022, 3:34 PM UTC

seydor wrote: post #134

pohl wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Those are unscientific things. I didn't expect that what i said would be considered controversial. We live in extraordinary challenging times and people should steer away from sentimental fluff.

Sentimental fluff?

To be human is to have emotions, being sentimental is one type of emotion you can feel. Especially if you feel like Earth is currently being overrun and destroyed by humanity at breakneck speeds. To feel emotional about this OK, as long as you also stay grounded and realistic.

But we should not hide our emotions, it's possible to be both emotional and rational.

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#139

Post by purplerabbit » Sat, Oct 08, 2022, 3:44 PM UTC

zfxfr wrote: post #127

purplerabbit wrote: post #115

This piece reminded me of this music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjNssEVlB6M (it's a bit slow but the visuals are great)

Is it the official music video though ? I thought the original one was the one they did in China with a copy of the eiffel tower ?

There were two official music videos for this song. This is the one I prefer :)

Re: My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness

#140

Post by RestlessMind » Sat, Oct 08, 2022, 3:44 PM UTC

ajsnigrutin wrote: post #17

ethanbond wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Euphoria of the 60s? In the US at least, I’d suggest that too was a distraction from the horror of what was going on at that time. You know, your friends getting taken to a jungle halfway across the world to come back with no legs, broken psyches, and a society that had turned its back on them.

It's not like things changed after... iraq, iraq 2, afghanistan, syria and many others... dead kids from all over US and europe losing their lives for some rich people to get richer. Somehow occupying sovereign countries and killing kids is a bad thing only when putin does it.

> a bad thing only when putin does it.

Here is a key difference between Russia and the US/Europe. When Iraq war is bad, thousands of people can march across American/European cities without a fear of getting jailed. People can run for elections hammering their opponents on voting for a monstrous war (Obama trounced Hillary and others) and win. And that makes a difference (Syria - US/Europe didn't go there; in fact, the world afterwards wished that the US had gone to fight against Assad to prevent further tragedies).

Vs what is happening in Russia? I heard demonstrators and political opponents are jailed. Even an old lady, who survived the siege of Leningrad and dared protest against Putin, was taken away by the police. That is what makes US regime much much better than Putin's.