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The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory System

schmidtsciences.org

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Re: The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory System

#21

Post by dlevine »

BigTTYGothGF wrote: post #13
closewith wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Other than a guy made a bunch of money and is spending it how he wants. A guy has woken up to the fact that he'll be remembered as a villian and is trying to whitewash his reputation.

It worked for Alfred Nobel.

It seems to have worked for Bill Gates as well. He definitely did some not so nice things when starting and running MS - I think it unfortunately goes with the territory of running a successful company at scale. But subsequently he has become more know for his philanthropy.

Re: The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory System

#22

Post by A_D_E_P_T »

amelius wrote: post #3
closewith wrote: post #2

The age of plausibly buying a legacy is gone, so these vanity projects inspire more cynicism than anything else.

Well, this is better than what Bezos is using his surplus money for.

Bezos is one of the best, though? Blue Origin, the Long Now foundation, and I could go on all day. I don't know of too many other billionaires so willing so spend vast sums on the Heinleinian dreams of their youth.

Re: The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory System

#23

Post by skeeter2020 »

A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #22
amelius wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, this is better than what Bezos is using his surplus money for.

Bezos is one of the best, though? Blue Origin, the Long Now foundation, and I could go on all day. I don't know of too many other billionaires so willing so spend vast sums on the Heinleinian dreams of their youth.

I don't believe it's a net benefit to the world when a single person fundamentally changes entire economies, captures a significant portion of the resource stream and then maybe a some point redirects a portion of of it to their pet projects. Although I strongly support shooting tech bros and politicians into space (one way; even better)!

Re: The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory System

#24

Post by RealityVoid »

adventured wrote: post #20
coderjames wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't support trying to save the planet? The Bezos Earth Fund: https://www.bezosearthfund.org/

The planet will be just fine. It measures consequential time in many millions of years. You mean: support saving humanity.

I mean, yeah. When people way saving the planet they mean saving humanity. That's exactly it. A barren rock does no one no good. I don't get it why people hang onto this expression, it's as if you heard that George Carlin bit and now that's your anchor to reality.

Re: The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory System

#27

Post by WD-42 »

Lots of weird marketing speak on here for an astronomical observatory. “Modular design that leverages economies of scale” what? These are telescopes, not telephones. There’s a very small amount of scientific grade ones in existence and they are all different.

Best of luck to them anyway.

Edit: it looks like the Argus array at least is a project out of Chapel Hill. Better info here: https://argus.unc.edu/specifications

Schmidt probably helping fund it.

Re: The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory System

#28

Post by uSoldering »

melling wrote: post #14
closewith wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Other than a guy made a bunch of money and is spending it how he wants. A guy has woken up to the fact that he'll be remembered as a villian and is trying to whitewash his reputation.

I forget why he’s a villain. Did he do something at Google? He’s sort of a lesser known figure to me.

Eric Schmidt is, in his own words, an arms dealer now and is driving the R&D of autonomous A.I. weapons.
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