On one of Apollo missions they've read from Bible, Book of Genesis [1]. I wish they did something like that here - and I'm not even a Christian, let alone religious. They did relay some beautiful message [2] though. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4tDZye57D4 [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELslc6O4UVk
I sure hope they don't. Even just the hint of connecting this achievement to the supposed Christian nature of the US would reinforce a lot of the bad things in the world right now. Namely, that we're actively at war in the middle east (Christianity and Judaism vs Islam), in a burgeoning cold war with China (more Christianity vs "godless" communists), and run by an increasingly fascistic administration (the ties betwe…
I imagine you're quoting rhetoric, but anyone describing China as "communist" hasn't seen the scale of shopping malls and consumerism here.
It's pretty depressing that on a corner of the internet that's supposed to be a gathering of tech/geeks/nerds/stem people, discussing topics that "good hackers would find interesting", it's seemingly impossible to have a single thread about something like this that isn't almost entirely negative or political bickering.
Hacker culture has deep political and philosophical roots, it's intrinsic to the community.
I just came across this poem a few days ago and had the opportunity to think about it. It’s a valuable perspective to hear. As someone prone to getting caught up in the breathless excitement about science, progress, human achievement, etc., it is a hard truth that these things are abstract and not relevant for people who are struggling with day-to-day life, particularly when those struggles are a result of the same g…
Kind of a false dichotomy. How about medical care as a right for a big abstract concept? He's not anti-science here, he's against the inequality of its distribution.
The poem itself seems to mix several things (It is a poem, and can say whatever it wants of course). What parent said doesn't preclude medical care as a right for a concept, though.
Also, a cursory search says around 2 trillion are spent on healthcare (effectively or not is irrelevant in this context) and NASA moon exploration costs $90B. Doesn't feel like these are all mutually exclusive.
> That doesn't seem a lot to explore a new frontier and expand the scope of humanity. There is no gain in knowledge from this mission. It's more like cheering for your favorite soccer team.
> There is no gain in knowledge from this mission This is wrong. We’re learning a lot about the new life-support systems. (Courtesy of the ESA.) We’re also going to learn more about the heat shield on 10 April.
Yes true, but these are all technologies required for humans in space. Toilets in space, as intriguing the topic and discussion are, are only needed because we decided to go there. I think the tech is interesting but the human unification vibe is tainted at the least.
I don't think it's actually a useful perspective at all. The poem is racial resentment repackaged as a means to guilt trip people into feeling bad about adventure, science, and exploration. Unless they were pretty well read at a young age, most millennials probably first experienced this poem in the film First Man, where it is read as a backdrop to Apollo 11 traveling to the moon. It's a great scene because the juxta…
Is it meant to guilt trip people? Or is it an honest expression of the frustration (and yes, racial resentment) that the author feels? This is why I consider it a useful perspective to hear. I read this as a human being simply saying “this is how I feel in these circumstances”. It’s uncomfortable, and I don’t believe that space exploration should be gated on solving poverty and inequality, but it is important to unde…
You could plausibly argue that the poem, when it was written, was meant as an honest expression of frustration, but the context in which it was deployed makes whatever original intent of the author irrelevant. The whole point of the poem's deployment once it was published was to say "white people are wasting money on a moon rocket, they should be spending money on inner city black poverty". Otherwise I think you're reading a bit too much into it. There's nothing more to learn or understand from this poem. "Don't spend money on rockets and going to space, spend it on entitlements and 'fighting' poverty". We get it.
I see that "whitey on the moon" is back. If it makes you feel better, the amount of money the United States spends on space is a very small percentage compared overall entitlement spending. There is always going to be some level of inequality, so your maxim that we should only spend money on space exploration when those problems are solved just isn't workable. The enormous amount of money the United States spends on…
1. Do you think that it is the mission that is misguided, or the methods, in "solving" inequality and poverty? 2. What would you rather the money be spent on?
> Kind of a false dichotomy. That’s precisely my point. Some stanzas in the poem suggest that there’s a direct connection between the moon mission and his poverty. > The man just upped my rent last night > cause Whitey’s on the moon > Was all that money I made last year > For Whitey on the moon? And my point then was that I can see and empathize with his frustration, but I don’t feel it’s a singularly correct perspec…
But he's not blaming his poverty on "whitey on the moon" but the lack of healthcare. There is an opportunity cost to war, Moon/Mars missions etc.
There is an opportunity cost to everything. Moving money from energy research to food programs may mean not having an energy breakthrough that could potentially cut down food costs (and a lot of other things) dramatically in the long run.
It's pretty depressing that on a corner of the internet that's supposed to be a gathering of tech/geeks/nerds/stem people, discussing topics that "good hackers would find interesting", it's seemingly impossible to have a single thread about something like this that isn't almost entirely negative or political bickering.
There simply isn’t denying the political nature of this mission. Majority of statements from NASA about it specify America’s need for space dominance, thank the Trump administration, and assert American exceptionalism in some other way.
The discussion on HN simply reflects the rhetoric which comes from NASA.
Another recent commentator wrote here that he's responsible for "millions" of dead via the curtailing of USAID. I'm a bit skeptical of estimates that vary by 3 orders of magnitude.
For the sake of argument let’s say that number was accurate. How would you feel about that?
I'm not engaging in convicting people without concrete evidence.
There is literally not many things in life I hope so much for than starship success. Sounds strange perhaps but I just love space and I hope it succeeds. Funnily I absolutely despise Musk at the same time for being absolute buffoon
> I absolutely despise Musk at the same time for being absolute buffoon Buffoonery is harmless, why despise him for that?
Tell that to the 100k+ people he killed by abruptly and illegally halting usaid