Gil Scott-Heron - Whitey On the Moon (Official Audio)

Is this in some way related to Bezos and Musk's antics? There's a recording on YouTube. Only two minutes, worth a listen: ▶ this video

No, the argument is that there's plenty to learn, and it's all very interesting, but it doesn't stand up against people's very real needs here on Earth. I'm about the biggest fan of space you'll find, but even I, sadly, find the ethical calculus unassailable. Manned spaceflight won't accrue material benefits for ten generations or much more, and meanwhile human beings are dying of treatable or curable diseases, suffering under poverty, and living without access to clean water. This spoken-word work from 1970 conveys the sentiment well: ▶ this video

There's a great Gil Scott Heron song with the same theme. In his case it was poverty and healthcare among African Americans in the 60s, not cancer. ▶ this video

Yeah, that's the take I have been looking for a spot to drop. ▶ this video I believe that folks in the US are, by a large margin, the most highly propagandized group of people in history. It's hard to watch stuff like this. It's not that I don't understand that comparatively space exploration is small compared to the associated costs of the boots that might hit the ground today.

> IMHO, "tech optimism" reached its peak in 1969 when Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the Moon. Not everyone was so optimistic. You just didn’t hear about it on mainstream media ▶ this video

Well sure, if you're looking to be angry you can tie anything into your interests. But actual criticism of the moon landing is soberly connected to reality: ▶ this video I'm just saying there's a reason why moon landing is such a funny topic to discuss—if you do deeply care about it enough to deviate from the accepted narrative, that's very odd.

> I'm sure Uyghurs in China would not give a damn about AI. Which reminded me of "Whitey On the Moon" [0] [0] ▶ this video

The past wasn't optimistic, we merely ignored negative Nancies because they had nothing to say. In the last 10 years for some reason we gave them the megaphone and let them dictate how everything is done. Exhibit A: ▶ this video

Previous generations also had it easy. Generally speaking technological advancement isn't blocked by motivation but by other concerns, namely funding. Personally, I'd rather fix healthcare if we're going to spend political capital. ▶ this video remains as relevant as ever

> But those aren't caused by resources diverted to space exploration. Going to space IS politics. It is, essentially, a vanity goal for a whole society. The resources diverted are, essentially, mindshare and political. It is only fair then that people ask why we as a society look to space when we have so many problems here, just as it was fair to ask why so much attention was given to the race to the moon rather than, say, civil rights [1]. [1]: ▶ this video

> A human being landing on Mars would probably be the single most watched event in human history. I'm actually skeptical about that. It certainly would be the "single most watched event in human history" among geeks interested in space, and probably among geeks in general and nationalists of the country that did the landing, but I suspect it's a biased projection to extend that attitude to all of humanity. Objectively, it's likely that stuff like the opening days of some war or the 9/11 attacks would be more watched than a Mars landing. Apropos: Gil Scott-Heron - Whitey On the Moon (Official Audio): ▶ this video

I think while it's impressive to think that the moon landings achieved an incredibly bold and complicated task, it just shows what's possible if you siphon off a big chunk of GDP into big projects and an organization capable of execution. A lot of that wealth since has been distributed around the globe, or poured into industry, medicare or social security. With that global wealth distribution, incredible medical advances have been made, and we have blown past the UN millennium goals. It's all a matter of priorities. Gill Scott Haron had this funny critique of Apollo program. ▶ this video With that said, not all priorities are chosen well in my opinion. The vast economic capacity required for a program like a moon landing have since been sequestered by shareholders benefiting from the returns of selling consumer data, building guided missiles, and seeking rents on privatized access to healthcare.