I'm always so alienated (sorry) by the excitement around things like this. People start fantasizing about FTL and space arks and there is just no evidence that any of that is possible, desirable, effective, anything really.
I know I'm a killjoy, but I do think there's something negative about the impact of science fiction on engineers. Like, the people who tend (no offense) to be the most literal, black and white thinkers get exposed to art and instead of processing it as the output of human creativity, they start to imagine that it's desirable or even real.
You can't imagine someone getting excited about difficult problems as an engineer? And you can't imagine why there's creativity involved?
I don't know, it feels like you can't process the output of human creativity.
I love human creativity. I don't like pseudo-science, especially coming from people who believe they are above it (and fall prey to it anyway).
there is clear reason why this would be desirable for many, the others - sure.
> Like, the people who tend (no offense) to be the most literal, black and white thinkers get exposed to art and instead of processing it as the output of human creativity, they start to imagine that it's desirable or even real.
Why can't you process their fantasizing about it as an output of human creativity?
No, it doesn't seem very creative to me.
I don't think I've ever sounded so cynical in my life, but something about the way sci-fi fandom bleeds into real science really makes me deeply uncomfortable.
cynicism and critique are comfortable positions imo. i appreciate the relatively newfound cultural shift back towards earnestness (although i can already feel the pendulum starting to swing back)
I generally see myself as an earnest person, but some kinds of earnestness read as cynical to me.
skimming your comment history, to me you seem very comfortable occupying the sociocultural critic position which is to some degree inherently cynical imo. i say that because i also recognize it in myself
Yeah, but I'm only cynical in relation to what I see as the orthodoxies of the kind of people who post on HN.
When I say it like that, it sounds pathetic. And in fact, it is. Yet, here we are.
> No, it doesn't seem very creative to me.
You don't think exploring a problem/possibility space (heh) that is probably unobtainable is an effort in creativity?
It is creative as long as you acknowledge it's unobtainable. But in threads like this, fantasy and reality tend to blur.
There is too much fantasy about distant habitable planet and not enough about making a planet in solar system habitable or building artificial habitats
The second is likely easier than the first
Not just likely easier. Far easier. They're so far apart on any reasonable effort scale that the comparison is basically meaningless.