Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

LaunchTransient t1_issnlc0 wrote

Space junk is a serious problem because it poses a threat to all of our orbit-borne hardware. Weather satellites, telecommunications, mapping, Earth monitoring, space stations, etc, all at risk from space detritus.

And no, humanity could live on happily with full on kessler syndrome going on over our heads - it would just stymie our species ability to be a spacefaring civilization for centuries.

0

fnewieifif t1_issr24h wrote

>- it would just stymie our species ability to be a spacefaring civilization for centuries.

And there it is, the doomsday prophecy. Just give up more of your freedoms, give up your modern conveniences, and ostracize more of your countrymen and we the benevolent government will prevent doomsday for you. It's so formulaic.

1

LaunchTransient t1_issry2y wrote

Not really a doomsday. More like a "This is fucking inconvenient for our scientific advancement".

> Just give up more of your freedoms

Unless you are regularly launching rockets into orbit, I'm really not sure what freedoms you are giving up?

>give up your modern conveniences

actually this is more about protecting our modern conveniences

>ostracize more of your countrymen

Is there a pro-space littering faction? I had no idea.

I'm sorry to say, but life and civilization as a whole is an endless chain of identifying problems and resolving them. It's just that humanity has now achieved such capabilities and responsibilities that the scale and scope of the problems we face are far larger than we have faced historically.

1

fnewieifif t1_isssch4 wrote

Our politicians will solve that problem easily. They'll find a way to convince you to give up various freedoms and so on in order to make you feel like you're part of the solution.

>Is there a pro-space littering faction? I had no idea.

Look at that, already ostracizing.

0

LaunchTransient t1_isst0vq wrote

Ah, Paranoid Andy! I had no idea you had switched to a new account. Didn't recognize you there for a moment, do you still have enough tinfoil for the rest of the year? Your mum still asks us to check in on you sometimes, make sure you are getting the ready-meals she sends.

0

fnewieifif t1_issti9j wrote

Damn I'm good at predicting shit. You're already getting pissy and ostrasizing me for not believing that space junk is the most existential threat to humanity to ever exist lol

0

LaunchTransient t1_issv7d7 wrote

No Andy, I never said it was an existential threat, you assumed that.
I said it was a problem for space infrastructure, I never said it was a direct threat to humanity.

0