Pthigrivi

Another great source (if you can get your hands on it) is Paolo Soleri’s Arcology: The City in the Image of Man. Also fun for Simcity 2000 nostalgia.

A man out of time. Videla would have loved you.

Whats wild to me is that even after everything we’ve all seen the stans have no idea why this dude is absolutely reviled. Did folks rip a few chapters out of your history books or what?

This is my hope. I don’t particularly buy into the Big Man theory of history and that cuts both ways. Institutions—corporate, government or otherwise are made of thousands of individual people and their fates are, under the best of circumstances, structural. Under the worst of circumstances, that is when top-down idiosyncrasies rather than deliberate, organic decision making takes hold, you end up with stupid, ego-driven ideas overriding the process. As a top level manager Isaacman has the choice to be an honest, deliberate seeker and interpreter of the available data. He has the chance to advise the executive and legislative branches honestly, courageously, and without bias. That would put him a cut above his predecessors. My worry, not listed by you, is that he will be an ethically agnostic yes-man. But I don’t know the man, maybe he’ll surprise me. I only know the process by which he was chosen and it doesn’t lend me to optimism.

On the list of things I think we agree on SLS really should be scrapped. Is there a way Starship or New Glenn could deliver Orion in a fairing? Is there a reason?

I mean I wouldn't accept the appointment from this administration for reasons you could probably guess, but imagining I was somehow stuck with it I just would not respond to a post phrased this way because it's a deeply weird comparison. Like if someone said "Our exploration of space will be our Great Leap Forward" or "We will annex Mars like the Sudetenland" you would expect some raised eyebrows. There are less awkward ways to communicate to the public on this stuff. On the overall goal I personally think the exploration and eventual settlement of Mars is really interesting, at least from a scientific standpoint. I'd suggest we get our feet wet on the moon first with testbed habitation and long duration missions on extraplanetary surfaces, but a scientific mission to Mars in the next 6 years would be incredible. My reference to Dubai is somewhat satirical. Mars is fascinating from a scientific standpoint but it doesn't really have a strong economic case. It's not like it has economically exportable resources. The only value it presents to corporate investment is that it's a legal, political, and moral tabula rasa. It's jurisdictionless. I think humanity is likely to bring all of its current baggage with it, and without a core democratic structure the people who fund it initially will have complete power over the people who live and work there. For lower level laborers there will be no escape and no recourse for abuse. I think Dubai is probably a decent comparison for how this might actually become lucrative for a few, a utopian mirage masking a the ruthless exploitation needed to make it economically viable. I poke fun because in a way this is also kind of analogous to the subjugation of the American west,--the ruthless exploitation of labor and a lawless approach to land and governance on behalf of a privileged class of settlers, plantation owners, and robber barons. Manifest Destiny stands as one of the two great crimes of our short, bloody history. Id prefer not to replicate that as we explore other planets. And again I don't think Isaacman took the time to unpack all that. Maybe we should though?

For sure. History is complicated. I don't think there's a way for me to respond without fully hopping over the fine line of on-topic, non-political chat. I think we just have a difference of opinion on appropriate ways to approach this kind of thing. I don't actually think Isaacman lauds the massacre of native peoples. I don't think he thought very much about it. I was just poking fun at him for sucking up.

Its a joke dude. Manifest Destiny? Really? It’s a bit odd to consider the systemic ethnic cleansing of North America “Inspiring”.

More likely this article, but on Mars. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html?callback=in&code=NMQ1ZMQXZTUTMMJKMS0ZZJFHLTK0MJETZJFKN2I0NTKWZWU1&state=d808ea2f1cb44a56871d0a6f722e228a

To be fair “Like the Trail of Tears, but in space!” Sounds exactly like how mars colonization will probably go at this point.

Or maybe just a bigger drone ship out of the Port of Los Angeles? At least as a temporary measure for testing. And I think they've got a good shot at it. Not guaranteed of course but they've already demonstrated plausibility. They may even need to abandon the heat tiles for some other thermal system, I guess we'll see. Fortunately BO is looking a little less stuck in the mud and Stoke looks really promising so hopefully there will be competing strategies if one or 2 ideas don't work out. SLS is looking crazy out of date at this point. Im surprised it hasn't already been cancelled.

Second link? And I didn’t throw out the first one out of nowhere. Elon’s companies have a pretty horrendous reputation for worker safety, and sexual and racial harassment. I think both Tesla and SpaceX have had incredible achievements and its a true testament to all of those incredible people doing the actual work, but those achievements have come in spite of rather than because of Elon’s leadership. He’s very, very good at pulling in billions in PE from Goldman and Saudi princes. Certainly they don’t care who lives or dies if number go up. And in the world we live in maybe that giant pile of money is all that matters and no one else cares either. Im sorry but I can take no moral comfort in it. Elon absolutely has worse personal moral failings but the one that has earned him the most money and notoriety is essentially his ability to be the Edison of his day. Not so great an inventor or even intellectually interesting in any substantial way, but he is acutely adept at taking credit for the achievements of better, more talented people and presenting them as his own to the eager, not so discerning masses in a media savvy way.

I think Boeing is actually the perfect example of what happens over time when you let companies regulate themselves. They become irrationally risk tolerant corporate basket cases. So sure! Lets take the brakes off this train! Get that death toll up to something newsworthy! https://cbsaustin.com/amp/news/local/lawsuit-claims-safety-protocol-lapse-in-workers-death-at-tesla-gigafactory https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a62919131/tesla-has-highest-fatal-accident-rate-of-all-auto-brands-study/

Thats because you think there’s a difference.

I suppose we’ll see. Doesn’t seem like the off chance of an errant heat tile plowing through a commercial airliner or some hut in Africa matters very much, certainly not when compared to shareholder returns and the kickbacks they buy. Chances of killing a bunch of people for money are very low after all. I mean only a handful of people die from salmonella and botulism each year. There can’t be much harm putting Perdue and Tyson in charge of the FDA, right?