Comment by harimau777
14 hours ago
I think you missed the core of their question: What has actually gotten better in practical terms for the average American?
14 hours ago
I think you missed the core of their question: What has actually gotten better in practical terms for the average American?
> What has actually gotten better in practical terms for the average American?
Starlink has made connectivity cheaper and more available. Earth imaging has made various food production processes more efficient. Weather forecasts have become more accurate.
If you’ve genuinely missed the massive economy that LEO has become, it will be a fun thing to catch up on.
> Starlink has made connectivity cheaper and more available.
Yeah that's working out great for the average American isn't it (https://natlawreview.com/press-releases/2026-consumer-trust-...)
> Earth imaging has made various food production processes more efficient.
I'm not even going to bother sourcing the fact that food prices have only massively gone up negating any gains in productivity. The average American struggling to buy basics like eggs and meat aren't feasting on more efficient food production.
> Weather forecasts have become more accurate.
I'm sure the growing homeless population is happy to know they can better predict the weather they'll be sleeping in.
This is all totally worth supporting a nazi billionaire
> that's working out great for the average American isn't it
Yeah. It did. My neighbour’s rates went up. He switched to Starlink.
> not even going to bother sourcing the fact that food prices have only massively gone up negating
This is like arguing fertilisers are useless because prices went up.
> homeless population
Not super relevant!
> all totally worth supporting a nazi billionaire
Nobody said that. But it doesn’t mean the benefits go away.
2 replies →
Do we apply a bar this high for any other company/job/business? Saving gov/tax money aka "billing NASA 1/20th what SLS does" doesn't count as worth it to you?
Reusing rockets reliably rather than "throwing them away" is a great achievement and I'm surprised people have to justify it on HN
> Reusing rockets reliably rather than "throwing them away" is a great achievement and I'm surprised people have to justify it on HN
You can milk a cow only a set number of times!
Yes, because you're not designing the cow. Progress on rocketry (and reusability) is not completed, btw, there's a lot still to improve.
Stock prices indicate the present value of all future dividends, so it's not about what has happened but about the risk-adjusted expected value of all which is to come.
What probability you assign to arrive at that expected value and how you adjust for risk is on you.