Hacker News Reader

What technological advancements would be impossible for a civilization that can't go to space?

Those aliens have no gps and worse internet. Flight travel and shipping is more expensive too. Weather forecasting is more difficult. They never create Starlink.

> and shipping

I want to mention that this would only be for heavier than air based airborne shipping. Liquid based shipping is unaffected by gravity. Archimedes' principle has the buoyancy force as the weight of the displaced liquid. The gravitational effects cancel out. Also, dirigibles would be possibly more useful here as, again, gravity cancels out.

Something neat I remembered, great comment all the same, thank you.

Internet is almost entirely terrestrial. GPS (for civilian use) could be replaced with a land-based network of transmitters (like GSM network).

Satellites mostly.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com