Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Trump's NASA cuts would destroy decades of science and wipe out its future

latimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

261–270 of 420 posts

Re: Trump's NASA cuts would destroy decades of science and wipe out its future

#261

Post by Whoppertime »

pstuart wrote: post #228
vlod wrote: post #188

The All-In-Podcast recently interviewed (1-1) Jared Isaacman (NASA admin nominee) about the bloat. Worth watching the whole interview ~1 hour. [0] Jared Isaacman: What went wrong at NASA | The All-In Interview https://youtu.be/6YdOjoaQTOQ?si=FUeL8mJ6LwHwO_B4&t=1275

There's no doubt that there's waste and inefficiency, but it would be nice if it was addressed by parties who are not hostile to the enterprise as a whole. The concept of a "DOGE" would be wonderful if it actually focused on efficiency of government spending rather than cover to destroy all ideological enemies.

The concept of "Diversity Equity and Inclusion" would be wonderful if it actually focused on ideological diversity and being welcoming to others rather than being a system designed to produce people with different skin tones and the same opinion, and acting as a racial spoil system

Re: Trump's NASA cuts would destroy decades of science and wipe out its future

#262

Post by deadbabe »

whatshisface wrote: post #153
deadbabe wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So we will see the end of James Webb telescope?

It's possible. It depends on how deep the cuts are and how much freedom scientists have in choosing. Scientists would prefer to save the major data collection projects, but the political side has stated a preference for manned exploration. What we know will be lost is all of the less politically armed but more useful small projects, including the ones that are used to study our home planet.

Well, manned exploration does sound pretty cool though.

Re: Trump's NASA cuts would destroy decades of science and wipe out its future

#263

Post by johannes1234321 »

chrisco255 wrote: post #204
johaugum wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. Early rockets included multiple private contractors like Douglas, Boeing and NAA, but those were basically government projects top to bottom. Single vendor commercial rockets are a recent (2000s) invention.

Think of how wasteful and inefficient multi-vendor rockets are as a concept. What complex machine would you engineer in such a way? Would you have the government, rather than buy cars from Ford, GM, Tesla, etc, instead contract out the production to one company for the motor, one for the frame, and one for the interior and instrumentation?

It was the only way to do it at the time, no company would have had the capacity for such a project, including reserves for damages. And even in private businesses it is common to outsource specific elements to external suppliers. The Saturn program was massive.

Re: Trump's NASA cuts would destroy decades of science and wipe out its future

#264

Post by bruce511 »

Whoppertime wrote: post #222
labster wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans want looting and authoritarianism, so that’s what they’re getting. There’s no excuses here after a majority of people voted for Trump’s return, with his repeated promises that he wouldn’t be held back this time around. We got exactly what we voted for — worldwide tariffs, sending the military to round up migrants, a military parade with tanks in DC, antivax boards — all of these things he talked about befor…

It's hard to hear people complain about looting and authoritarianism after watching these same people calling BLM mostly peaceful protest, and had no problem with the authoritarian policies passed during the COVID lockdowns https://fee.org/articles/george-floyd-riots-caused-record-se...

It's easy to play the hypocrisy card, theres plenty to go around.

However in this case you're presenting a false equivalency. Yes, there were issues with BLM. the people got out of control. But that's not authoritarianism- if anything it was a lack of authority with caused dome of those problems.

What you see with protests now is those with authority over-using that authority and wielding it as a weapon against the public.

And I'm not sure COVID lock downs are a useful measure of anything. It was a unprecedented event and countries all over the world had all manner of restrictions, lock downs, and so on. Millions of people died, over a million Americans. It's always going to be easy in hindsight to blame those in authority for doing too much, or too little, too fast or too slow.

Unlike most places, the US politicized the response, and even within the US the death rates varied from one state to the next. Anthropologists will be disecting covid data for generations to try and determine which approach was best.

Re: Trump's NASA cuts would destroy decades of science and wipe out its future

#265

Post by jfcnk »

user9999999999 wrote: post #213
davidw wrote: post #31

Well, yes, that's the point. Authoritarians want to consolidate power and loot wealth, not improve things or make the world a better place.

> or make the world a better place. Exactly. The past 163 days have only been about hurting people and cutting things down. There's no hopeful or optimistic rhetoric. Its just hate after hate after hate and blame. You cannot build a great country on this. But you most certainly can tear one down.

As Lincoln said I hope I have god on my side but I must have...

Same choice faces everyone but there are no Lincolns around. Its a nation of hustlers, podcasters and youtubers who dont really fight for anything other than views, upvotes and likes.

Re: Trump's NASA cuts would destroy decades of science and wipe out its future

#266

Post by FuriouslyAdrift »

sorokod wrote: post #98
whatshisface wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was at first, then Putin started having them murdered. If you think about it, there isn't much of a reason for the individual that is allowed to have all the power to share it with anybody.

The more accurate model for the Russian government is a Mafia family with Putin being the Capo dei capi. The murders are the visible symptoms of the various factions fighting each other.

Not Mafia but Vor... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thief_in_law

Re: Trump's NASA cuts would destroy decades of science and wipe out its future

#267

Post by bruce511 »

FuriouslyAdrift wrote: post #258
greenpizza13 wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ya know, deportations without due process is authoritarianism. So is attacking the media and ignoring the courts. I guess the blinders are up cause you love Trump. More power to you, man, but you are in fact the baddie.

Administrative court rulings is due process for immigration... that's the law. Admin court is part of the Executive branch. That's how the law is set up. Comprehensive immigration reform (which is sorely needed) can only come from the Congress (who have no incentive to act because everyone is so focused on the Presidency). Without the laws changing, the only choice is to enforce the laws as they are. Something that h…

Congress had an immigration reform act about to pass in 2024. It was killed because the Don first want it to happen under a Democratic president.

Its important to understand that congress explicitly enables this current behavior. In 18 months the people will have the opportunity to express their will. If your congress people are enabling this, then it's your responsibility.

Re: Trump's NASA cuts would destroy decades of science and wipe out its future

#268

Post by hyperman1 »

api wrote: post #99
Theodores wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is the art of the deal with Trump and I would say that he is a narcissist rather than authoritarian. Trump has a massive ego and I would have expected him to want the biggest rockets, and to pain them gold. If he did then I would denounce him for spending money on space when America has trillions of debt. I don't disagree with him on everything he says just because he said it. So, with space, my honest take is tha…

Narcissism is actually, in a sense, a very small ego, an enormously fragile sense of self that requires constant validation from outside. It looks a lot like an addiction, with withdrawal occurring when the 'fix' is not obtained. You can see this clearly in certain individuals with obvious narcissistic personality disorder where withdrawal of approval results in an insanely irrational tantrum where they basically rev…

I've never seen this behaviour trough that lens. Thanks, you've made me learn something unexpected today.

Re: Trump's NASA cuts would destroy decades of science and wipe out its future

#269

Post by Whoppertime »

WinstonSmith84 wrote: post #114
potato3732842 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>~"neither group is perfect, but it's their actual job to find and present the truth." And let me guess, the cops' job is to protect and serve? The situation is both more simple and less simple than that. Journalists and scientists effective top priority is to serve their employers. Sure they want to report the news and shape truth in the same way that cops want to catch real criminals but all of these people are emp…

you're mistaking journalists for propagandists. It's an easy mistake to do though, true journalists are rare in the world. Scientists are a problem to authoritarians simply because they are educated and will likely refute the bs of politicians, let alone authoritarians.

Who would you say was a real journalist as opposed to a propagandist during the COVID 19 era? I am not asking this as a gimme but out of curiosity of who you thought was a true journalist during a time where many journalists were acting as mouth pieces for the powerful

Re: Trump's NASA cuts would destroy decades of science and wipe out its future

#270

Post by FuriouslyAdrift »

Intralexical wrote: post #197
whatshisface wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A large part of our talent acquisition would stay home, as the Asian countries, especially China, are expanding their investments. American students would go to work in European universities due to the lesser language barrier. When the US was a developing country a large number of children of wealthy families were sent to study in Europe. I don't think the idea of looking outside the US for knowledge would be natural…

I think at least some of them will come up to Canada. No language barrier, and close enough geographically and culturally to keep most of your connections. We pay less but live longer on average. Seeing all this unfold is doing amazing things for our national pride, ironically.

Canada is on the brink of serious economic trouble...

Recession, housing costs, restricted immigration choices coming soon. This has been brewing for years but the US trade war sped up the timeline.

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/high-immigration-is-worseni...

Post reply on HN