Hacker News Reader

Comment by doublerabbit | Hacker News Reader

Re-posting because I don't feel the flag is fair.

---

Personally, I dislike all this interest in space.

What has it done for the actual planet we live on? Day by Day we destroy this planet wasting resources that are finite and yet we dream to live on another planet. Why? Just so we can do the same?

How much toxic waste is in the world today? How much obsolete technological waste is there in this planet and why are we not investing the same amount of money on cleaning this planet? I'm sure I'm going to be down-voted for being pessimistic but its the truth.

Outer space is for the rich who've outgrown expensive yachts and will be that way if not forever. If we can't handle society on this planet how are we suppose to handle it on a new planet? You really think once technology is supportable they're going to let us use it?

View on HN

It sounds like your issue isn't with space exploration but with the human race.

As such you could make these kinds of dismissive posts about every single human endeavour, why just complain about space research?

If you have these kinds of serious issues about humanity as a whole what are you doing to solve these problems that you perceive? It sounds to me like you're caught in a negativity loop and it isn't a good place to be in. If that's the case try and find something that you enjoy or take interest in and speculate about how you could make it better.

> If you have these kinds of serious issues about humanity as a whole what are you doing to solve these problems that you perceive?

I have an on-going list with idea's I'd like to attempt. But I don't have the funding to carry them out. So I have to work, invest my own money with a limited target in attempt to help out.

I've started taking night classes in environmental studies, I daily go out and pick up trash. I don't eat meat, I recycle. I do all I can do. Every day I try to discover new methods on how I can do my part. If I didn't have to work, I could be focusing on research and working to a better environment but that's not possible. I'm doing all I can with the resources I have available with me but those itself are limited.

> If that's the case try and find something that you enjoy or take interest in and speculate about how you could make it better.

As much as I would like to, I can't. It's not like I can self-invest my time when I have to work eight hours a day to just allow myself to live. As much as I would love to start inventing to come up with new strategies, it's not possible. The interests I do have are underfunded, inaccessible without some sort of scientific degree and a life style where you have time for education.

Why we spend a lot of money on stupider shit imo. How many billions of dollars are invested in sports every year? What about video games? Porn? Travel for leisure? The list goes on.

How is space exploration different than these arguably frivolous activities? Should humans not use any resources for things that don't address these pressing issues you are talking about? I believe there are enough resources and wealth on earth to do all of these things, however, I, like you, disagree with how exactly the resources are being distributed. However, I don't think we need to single out space exploration, which I believe has potential for progress and expands human knowledge, as something we shouldn't be doing because of this unequal distribution.

I do agree with your sentiment about space increasingly being for the rich, with private companies and space tourism on the rise. However, I don't think all space exploration is and has to be this way

> Re-posting because I don't feel the flag is fair.

You earned that flag just for saying downvotes "prove your point", let alone the petty arguing.

But sure, reposting the first half of that comment without the extra hostility is pretty reasonable.

I disagree that it wasn't so much as an argue but more wanting a debate. I want to know more, this is how I currently see things. Show me a new light, show me the light of how I am wrong that we are not heading in to an environmental crisis.

Retrospectively I do agree that the whole edited, down-votes comments may of been childish. But when people can just walk on by, down-vote without any justified meaning to why the down-votes are, I call them out; I do the same in real life.

<What has it done for the actual planet we live on?

Just about every technical advancement has benefited from space race everything from reducing size of electronics to the rumble strips on the side of the highway.

Well, from a practical perspective, with advanced space travel and space mining and manufacturing abilities we can produce solar shades to counter global warming.

I think there are a few reasons you're getting downvotes, but they're involved enough that few are going to spare the effort to explain.

For example, all three of your last sentences are going to be strongly disagreed with and some people are going to read both a lack of thought on your part and a flawed way of thinking (ie. In terms of narrative, memes, drama) into those sentences and will decide it's not worth trying to engage and instead will just try and get rid of your message/you.

And I'm sure with advance study and research we could collect oil out of the polluted seas, digest litter. We didn't need solar shades 50 years ago. Why are we needing them now?

And just because we need them now doesn't make fair reason to space ventures.

Excluding the childish editorial remarks I made, the questions in which I pointed out are serious and are all pressing issues we currently face.

If they can be involved on clicking on a down arrow, they should be able to invest in to why they are clicking the down arrow. There was no attempt to fuel drama.

Do you not believe people can focus on multiple different efforts? What makes you think this is 0 sum?

The current living-climate. How today is in the world. The freedom we have today.

Those who are funding the space ventures are the ones who currently control the today and they don't exactly make it a pleasant place to be.

> Do you not believe people can focus on multiple different efforts

No, not really. Maybe if lucky but are you able to focus on multiple different efforts with the time and energy available?

I personally find the world a pleasant place to be.

Between our technologies, standard of living, relative peace, pushing exploration etc etc we're most definitely in a golden age relative to any other historical period. The problems we face are such that they relate to a continued and long term existential survival as a race and higher order concerns instead of mostly individual day to day survival for a majority of the worlds population and the fact we've even gotten far enough as a species to face such problems is in and of itself to be celebrated.

Hard times bring the most opportunity :)

And yes I personally focus on multiple different interests to a degree I make tangible impacts in all of them.

Energy is the baseline fundamental for everything. Wars have been fought for this precious resource.

Currently we get it from fossil fuels, which is running out, heavily pollutes, and destroys the natural ecosystem. Nuclear was discovered, but it’s super complicated to handle and radioactive. Renewables are hit and miss, and must require a massive energy storage system in battery or water storage potential energy. Solar doesn’t always shine. Wind doesn’t always blow.

But in space, energy is infinite. For as far as we can see.

The problem is getting up there, and bringing it back down to earth.

But, what if we can harness it? In the form of solar collectors, and beam it back down to earth as microwaves or lasers. We can have vast fields of microwave collectors that can convert this energy back into electricity. Or laser receptors that can convert the laser back into electricity. No more pollution. No more environmental degradation. What you get is pure, clean, energy. All year round, day or night, rain or snow.

The challenges are great. The impossibilities are high. But the consequences of not achieving this is far worse.

Space solar is pointless given there are plenty of deserts with lots of sunshine all around the world that can be tiled with solar panels. Just need a little bit of energy storage.

And need to get rid of the pesky people who live there with their needs and wants and their bombs and their guns.

... and transmission. Getting energy from Sahara to Stockholm with tolerable losses is no easy feat.

5% losses IIRC.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com