You are not “the science.” In fact, with statements like that, you are the Anti-science.
[Wednesday-morning update]
A “Cruz missile” drops on Fauci.
[Bumped]
All posts by Rand Simberg
The Raptor Crisis
This isn’t good news, but it’s probably not as bad as Elon makes it out to be. He’s got to motivate the team to fix it. At least the design seems to be sound. The issue seems to be production rate.
The Rise And Fall
Adding more money will not fix the problem; it may even make it worse because things have just gone over their heads. The expansion of private activity into outer space will create a still bigger challenge for the 20th-century state. Latencies in communication imposed by the limited speed of light mean that real-time control from the center will become impossible in principle. Even the Mars copter is largely autonomous.
Taken together, these developments suggest that the collapse we may be feeling — if one is in fact occurring — is not the fall of a hegemon but the crumbling of hegemony itself. It is probably driven by the drastic increase of complexity in the 21st century, represented by an ever-lengthening flood of bits which, if not understood, is psychologically indistinguishable from entropy. The world, like a team of wild horses, may have gotten away from the UN, Xi, Vladimir, and Joe because it’s gotten too dang complicated to control. Going back to historical metaphors, humanity may be reliving, not the fall of Rome but the fall of Babel.
Vernor Vinge, Neil Stephenson, and others saw this coming.
More Fodder For The Defamation Suits
The mob has apparently disenrolled Rittenhouse from ASU.
“Liberal” Hypocrisy
How it prevents the “liberal” agenda (scare quotes because there is nothing liberal about it).
NASA And Commercial LEO
I haven’t read it yet, but the NASA OIG report came out today.
On The Road Again
We left Denver today after the game, and are spending the night in Moab. On to Vegas tomorrow, then back in LA on Monday. Be good in comments.
Climate Models
CNN was suppressing the latest news on their bogosity, for some reason.
New Computer Problem
OK, now I’ve got severe lag on both mouse and keyboard, to the point that the machine is unusable. And it’s not a software issue; it is happening when I boot into either Windows or Linux. It’s wireless keyboard and mouse, but they’re brand new. Any ideas?
[Afternoon update]
I moved the USB dongle to a different port, and it’s fine now.
Happy Thanksgiving
I’m posting this from Windows in the new computer (I ended up using the Microsoft tool to build a boot drive). I’m loading software on it now, while following my Thanksgiving tradition of watching the Lions lose.
Given the events of the past year since the election, it’s hard to be thankful, but I’m guessing that we’ll have a lot more to be after the election next year, if the country survives the lunatics currently running it that long.
But we have our health, and we’re financially comfortable. I’m continuing to look forward to the next year, and years in space, and feel like we are finally on the verge of achieving the things I’ve been hoping for for decades.
Here are some interesting links: Why we should be thankful for the Pilgrims, and no, we didn’t steal the land from the natives. The latter isn’t a new piece, but it’s a useful corrective to those who oppose the settlement of space because it’s “colonialization.”
I hope that all of my readers are having a good day as well.
[Late-afternoon update]
It’s the four hundredth anniversary of the first Thanksgiving.