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Europe is trying to leave Starlink behind

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31–40 of 79 posts

Re: Europe is trying to leave Starlink behind

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never understood the fetishization of long working hours. If there is a job where you can meaningfully work 80+ hours a week, the same (and often better) results can be achieved with more employees working fewer hours. If the work can't be split like that, it's probably demanding enough that you can't sustain more than 20-30 productive hours a week in the long term. It's possible to mix reasonable hours of deman…

then why does spacex have superior outputs?

It made choices that turned out to be good in retrospect. And it's young enough that it hasn't turned into a stagnant bureaucracy yet.

Technology is not magic. If you can do something, others can do it as well, if they want. Established organizations often fail at that, because they don't want to be successful. They might want to be successful in principle, but in practice, the personal interests of the people in charge override the interests of the organization.

Re: Europe is trying to leave Starlink behind

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never understood the fetishization of long working hours. If there is a job where you can meaningfully work 80+ hours a week, the same (and often better) results can be achieved with more employees working fewer hours. If the work can't be split like that, it's probably demanding enough that you can't sustain more than 20-30 productive hours a week in the long term. It's possible to mix reasonable hours of deman…

then why does spacex have superior outputs?

What do you mean by superior output?

Re: Europe is trying to leave Starlink behind

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

then why does spacex have superior outputs?

It made choices that turned out to be good in retrospect. And it's young enough that it hasn't turned into a stagnant bureaucracy yet. Technology is not magic. If you can do something, others can do it as well, if they want. Established organizations often fail at that, because they don't want to be successful. They might want to be successful in principle, but in practice, the personal interests of the people in cha…

in 2001, Eutelsat transitioned into a private company, Eutelsat S.A., and later became Eutelsat Communications S.A., headquartered in Paris, France. In 2023, Eutelsat merged with OneWeb, a company founded in 2012, to form the Eutelsat Group.

Essentially, just as old as SpaceX.

So, how does one ensure a company continues to make good decisions? Have a very flat structure, and have alot of smart people work insanely long hours. If you hire twice as much people to match the 80 hour weeks, you no longer have a flat structure and >> "the personal interests of the people in charge override the interests of the organization."

You are right, technology is not magic, you've just got to want it more than anyone else. SpaceX wants it, Europe would rather have their maximum of 48 hours a week. Which is actually halarious, i don't think i've worked under 48 hours a week in my entire adult life. 50 is usually expected, 60 if you want good performance reviews and 70 if you want a promotion.

Re: Europe is trying to leave Starlink behind

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by superior output?

Tons to space.

Because the USA is a big economy where people speak only one language. Would Elon Musk be able to create same success if he started Starlink or SpaceX in Norway?

Re: Europe is trying to leave Starlink behind

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It made choices that turned out to be good in retrospect. And it's young enough that it hasn't turned into a stagnant bureaucracy yet. Technology is not magic. If you can do something, others can do it as well, if they want. Established organizations often fail at that, because they don't want to be successful. They might want to be successful in principle, but in practice, the personal interests of the people in cha…

in 2001, Eutelsat transitioned into a private company, Eutelsat S.A., and later became Eutelsat Communications S.A., headquartered in Paris, France. In 2023, Eutelsat merged with OneWeb, a company founded in 2012, to form the Eutelsat Group. Essentially, just as old as SpaceX. So, how does one ensure a company continues to make good decisions? Have a very flat structure, and have alot of smart people work insanely lo…

And before 2001, Eutelsat was an intergovernmental organization. You can't get rid of legacy baggage just by rebranding yourself. You need to get rid of existing stakeholders, directors, and managers. And to discard the existing organizational structures and organizational culture.

It's not possible to keep making good decisions indefinitely. Every organization eventually regresses towards mediocrity. Maybe incentives ruin things, maybe administrators learn how to game the system, or maybe the environment changes and the way the organization operates is no longer adequate.

Re: Europe is trying to leave Starlink behind

#39

One web needs ground based gateways, which isn't really an option in warzones. These gateways will be immediately targeted. The only option is to used space based lasers for relay. Of which, spaceX is the only entity on the planet with this technology. Love or hate Elon, he's been able to turn himself into a very powerful figure on the world stage through technology alone. If you think him having complete control ove…

> spaceX is the only entity on the planet with this technology.

Rocket Lab is in talks to purchase Mynaric, a German company which specializes in laser links.

https://spacenews.com/rocket-lab-to-expand-into-laser-commun...

Re: Europe is trying to leave Starlink behind

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never understood the fetishization of long working hours. If there is a job where you can meaningfully work 80+ hours a week, the same (and often better) results can be achieved with more employees working fewer hours. If the work can't be split like that, it's probably demanding enough that you can't sustain more than 20-30 productive hours a week in the long term. It's possible to mix reasonable hours of deman…

then why does spacex have superior outputs?

> then why does spacex have superior outputs?

  * The dictate of fail fast and iterate quickly, along with simplification of mechanisms and ample compute power.
  * Not being mired in the bureaucracy of committees and government bodies to answer to
Yes, being enabled by a billionaire with a dream made a huge difference. But that's not a guarantee, as there's been 3 such billionaires and only one SpaceX.
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