this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2023
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They aren't solving any actual issues. They are just hogging resources and wasting them on their dream projects. They are taking away resources that others need to survive.
Yeah, I agree. I don't think absolutely any value came from Jeff and Elon going to space in penis shaped rockets.
Dreams are great, but we need those with means to give back more to society. We don't need mars colonies, we need common sense solutions to corporate greed, stagnating wages, and the growing threat of unchecked, privately-owned AI.
Worst part is that they will not deliver on their ludicrous promises because they are only meant to bedazzle people and pump up stock prices.
Starlink? Cheaper, partly reusable rockets for whatever satellites people find useful?
Physicist here. Thermodynamics always wins.
It really doesn't matter what we do on the earth -- as long as people and industry exists, we will heat the planet. Either faster (greenhouse gasses), or slower (increasing albedo to capture more sunlight, adding energy with nuclear reactors, etc.).
There are effectively three very long term solutions: (1) kill all humans, and let nature recover -- at least until the output of the sun crosses some threshold in about 250 million years where the Earth fries. (2) Large scale geoengineering, like solar shades between the earth and the sun, or similar means of reducing incoming sunlight. (3) Move all industry off the earth.
Now, these are all very long term scenarios. The problem is, if we don't work towards the technology required to do one of three, all of humanity is doomed eventually. Space tech may seem like a vanity project by the rich, and honestly it often is, but it is also advancing civilization in the direction required to turn Earth into Eden in the far future.
If you look at the planet from far enough away, you stop seeing individuals, their triumphs or their suffering. You just see "solar energy capture cross section".
Humans are natural, therefore our industry is natural. There's nothing wrong with industry (as long as it's mindful of pollution), we just need cleaner power generation.
To anyone reading the comment I'm replying to: earth has a natural system-wide balance to moderate its temperatures.
More detail here: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/EnergyBalance
Signed, your local friendly-ish curmudgeon of a mechanical engineer.