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SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

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Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#871
post #857
post #602

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what you mean by "moving humanity forward". Just technological advancements without other considerations? In my opinion it should at least require reducing human suffering, and if ao he has done more harm than good

There are millions of people in Africa and rural areas around the world who have access to the internet because of these satellites. This massively reduces human suffering. Millions of people can now get medical information, farming, manufacturing techniques, talk to experts around the world. Connecting people to the wealth of human knowledge has a huge impact on reducing suffering. It also just directly saves lives…

Government could be the creator of this just like it was with GPS. We are very tolerant of government innovation and infrastructure when it’s a military resource. But when it’s a pure public good everyone claims it’s wasteful or less efficient than the private sector.

Why do we need to let this be a monopoly controlled by one person. A king in a board room is still a king.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#872
post #679

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its more the other way around. Its mostly used by the wealthiest few percent, the majority of the world has to pay for the damage it causes.

As long as the externalities are paid for, I don't see the problem. Musk has made the world a worse place in many ways, but I don't see how this is one of them.

I price the externalities at infinite price. They cannot be paid.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#873

Please stop this. How did we collectively accept that it's ok that a private company can forever change how our sky looks like (especially at night) for the generations to come? This is so dystopian but it seems nobody cares. The most important thing is to have fast internet to watch cool AI-generated videos. So depressing.

i think you need help

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#874
post #569

I have started to see what I think are star link satellites at night on walks with my kids. It actually makes me sad to see that on person owns the night sky and is changing the literal stars my kids will grow up with. It feels different when it’s the government that theoretically represents people but when it’s one person that feels truly depressing.

Which government ? And based on the past few month, if your are thinking of the US governemnt; I can assure you that it is actively being harmful to me. I have no love for SpaceX but at least I can take a subscription or invest and the stock and pretend that those satellites are beneficial to me. There isn’t a single US government owned satellite that is not actively harmful to me at the moment.

Its working for me. Have you ever thought of moving to a territory where your properly represented? If your in the u.s. i think you can still walk across the Canadian border.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#875

A couple of billion people are doing to join the global middle class over the coming decades. They don’t have pre-existing cable and phone networks that have been in the ground for 50+ years they can incrementally upgrade to broadband. Rich countries spend trillions getting to the point where most people have some sort of wired broadband option. If newly middle income countries want to pursue the same route, it will…

but is providing access to internet for billions of people worth not being able to see the big dipper as clearly at night? I say yes, but only just barely

Rather than deciding for them from your bubble of privilege in your fiber-connected utopia, you could just ask these poorer countries if it is worth trading global full, high-speed internet access for "not being able to see the big dipper as clearly at night".

Or just watch what they do when presented with the choice.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#876
post #835

SpaceX needs to claim there’s a need for 100k more satellites to prop up unreasonable valuations. This is no different than Elon claiming Tesla owners would be renting out their cars as FSD taxis while at work (next year, we swear guys!!!) In a functioning economy he’d have faced criminal charges for knowingly misleading investors and customers about a dozen times over by now. It’s one thing to set lofty goals intern…

Would you feel the same way if he attached good faith probability estimates to those claims?

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#877

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It feels different when it’s the government that theoretically represents people but when it’s one person that feels truly depressing. I worked on technology for years that the FCC effectively killed for stupid reasons. So it’s heartening to me that someone can still just do stuff and build things. It’s amazing. If you asked me 10 years ago I would have thought that getting something like Starlink off the ground wo…

except it's not so much about do stuff and build things, it's about literally raping the planet, extorting and exploiting everyone including retirement savings, and also to "move fast and break things" which we know understand better was really meant to mean "remove accountability for the richest people", a.k.a. remove public oversight. Taxes for the poor, and the money goes to multi-billion dollar corps. Vaccines? R…

> shutdown of that allegedly "criminal organization" (his words), USAID.

Even the President of Mexico, who hates Trump, agreed on that one: https://www.newsweek.com/trump-musk-unexpected-ally-push-shu...

“This agency has funded everything from research projects to groups that oppose the government. In Mexico, 'Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción' has received proven support from this agency. So how is it that these so-called 'aid' agencies get involved in politics?" Sheinbaum questioned.

Likewise The Nation, which hates Trump and Musk: https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/usaid-trump-musk-... (“Trump and Musk’s war against the agency should be opposed on principle. But we can’t overlook that USAID has been a destructive arm of American imperialism for decades.”).

There’s lots of rich countries to do this aid. China is investing in infrastructure without interfering with local politics. The world’s military hegemon has too much of a conflict of interest to do this job.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#878

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people want to live in Star Trek, but don't want to look up and see McKinley Station in the sky...

You've never been to a dark sky area and seen how many Starlinks are flying around in the sky already. Its not one object in the sky.

It is inevitable. There are other companies and other countries.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#879
post #496

I have started to see what I think are star link satellites at night on walks with my kids. It actually makes me sad to see that on person owns the night sky and is changing the literal stars my kids will grow up with. It feels different when it’s the government that theoretically represents people but when it’s one person that feels truly depressing.

I wonder if (this part specifically) is a solvable problem? Is it their altitude that causes them to shine? Perhaps finally a commercial use for Vantablack?

It’s not the visual that bothers me. It’s the evidence of a monopoly that is being built that will dominate humanity for the benefit of literally one person

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#880

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Change is inevitable. I love seeing artificial objects in space, because it shows that we, humanity, are finally getting there. Elon doesn't own space, he just happens to be the one who is currently best at making it reachable. There is plenty of space for everyone else, and others will get there, eventually. I could eat myself up with envy over the money he's making from it... or be glad that it's at least someone g…

I didn’t say I am against change. I said I am against one man owning a monopoly on a common good. If technological progress requires monopolies and the road toward serfdom is that really a path we want?

There are other companies who have also begun and there will other countries doing it as well.
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