| ▲ | rafram 18 hours ago |
| I feel so, so mixed about this. It’s going to be unambiguously good for wilderness rescue and disaster response. But I like camping and hiking in remote areas in order to remove myself from the world. And I think the lack of connectivity discourages unprepared people from taking on more than they can handle in the wilderness. If the wilderness becomes fully connected, will it spoil that feeling? Will it lead to the last few truly remote places in the US suddenly being overrun with TikTok crowds? I honestly have no idea, and it’s a little scary. But it feels like an anachronism that we don’t already have worldwide connectivity, and I guess this was just bound to happen. |
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| ▲ | Gare 18 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| There are virtually no unconnected places in most of Europe yet wilderness is still dangerous. It is good that rescue services can help you if accident happens (and it can happen even to the adequatly prepared). |
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| ▲ | growt 17 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | „There are no unconnected places in most of Europe“
Then you haven’t traveled with the German railway yet! | | | |
| ▲ | rafram 18 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Definitely. But when Apple released their Satellite SOS feature, I expected that to remain the cutting edge for a while, and for all devices to eventually gain very limited satellite emergency call capabilities. Instead, it seems like we’re going straight from most devices having zero connectivity in the (US) wilderness to all devices having connectivity everywhere in the world, as soon as next year. That’s a lot of change to come all at once. | | |
| ▲ | okdood64 10 hours ago | parent [-] | | Sounds like the future. And a good one at that. The pros far outweigh the cons. If someone can't disconnect purposefully to be with nature, then that's on them. |
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| ▲ | 71bw 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | >There are virtually no unconnected places in most of Europe yet wilderness is still dangerous. eg. 50.30819551805026, 16.50959758078629 |
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| ▲ | leoh 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I doubt it is going to work very well so just hold your breath for the moment. Also the space junk issues are becoming formidable, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is all gone in 5 years, if it exists at all. Or else I’d like to believe. |
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| ▲ | creatonez 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Satellite phones are not some special new thing anyways |
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| ▲ | spacebanana7 14 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| There’s something of a parallel with the last hikers who walked in unmapped territory. We may be the last hikers to walk in unconnected territory. |
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| ▲ | okdood64 10 hours ago | parent [-] | | Satellite phone and communicator devices have been around forever. | | |
| ▲ | rafram 10 hours ago | parent [-] | | And they’ve been very expensive, subscription-based, and limited: no direct access to the internet, just location pings and text messages (which sometimes have to be preprogrammed). Nothing at all like what Starlink is talking about. |
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| ▲ | system2 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Garmin InReach has existed already for years. It didn't take the feeling away from me and I felt more comfortable having it in my backpack just in case. Wilderness adventures shouldn't be life or death experiences. |
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| ▲ | carabiner 9 hours ago | parent [-] | | Starlink here, which includes data, is a huge jump from emergency SOS on Inreach. I do think we'll lose some of the magic of outdoors experiences when we can check nytimes.com and Reddit in the backcountry. |
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| ▲ | jrflowers 18 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| People have been making TikTok videos in the wilderness this entire time, they just wait until they get service to upload them. |
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| ▲ | rafram 18 hours ago | parent [-] | | Sure, and people were making YouTube videos in the wilderness before that, but the accessibility that came with TikTok and Instagram created a phenomenon increased demand tenfold at many parks. That’s why you have to win a lottery to hike Angels Landing in Zion now. Now we get wilderness livestreams! What will that do? | | |
| ▲ | jrflowers 17 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | > Now we get wilderness livestreams! What will that do? My guess is there will be some more wilderness livestreams streams, largely made by the people that are already going out to these places to produce content. Are you particularly worried about a group of people that so far had no interest at all in taking pictures or videos in the wilderness but will now show up in droves to make competing bits of strictly-live content? Who are these users?? | | |
| ▲ | rafram 11 hours ago | parent [-] | | It was an example, and maybe not a very good one. My point is that this will allow anyone to be an active content creator while they’re in the wilderness, which makes it quicker, easier, and much more appealing to create that type of content. | | |
| ▲ | jrflowers 9 hours ago | parent [-] | | In another comment you pointed out overtourism but in this comment you seem to be saying your concern is that it will be easier to create content… for the people that are already there? Who cares if people make content or not while they are there? Your issue is either not wanting people on their phones in parks — which you cannot control — or not wanting people in parks at all, which not only can you not control but that would also be a downright insane desire. The reason why parks exist and are maintained is that people go to them. If nobody goes to a park, there is no incentive for upkeep or staff. Much (or virtually all) of the wilderness that you have enjoyed in your life is available to enjoy because people before you enjoyed it and made it accessible to you in some way. That is how parks work |
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| ▲ | handfuloflight 17 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | > Now we get wilderness livestreams! What will that do? Encourage others to explore the wilderness? | | |
| ▲ | bdangubic 17 hours ago | parent [-] | | or like most other tech - do the opposite “why would I explore in person when I can watch it from my couch” |
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| ▲ | reed1234 13 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | How more demand for national parks a bad thing? | | |
| ▲ | rafram 11 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | The crowds are completely unmanageable in some parks, and it’s destroying the ecosystems and natural features that the parks were built to exhibit. Ever heard of Fossil Cycad National Monument? Designated in 1922, and by 1957 all the fossils had been taken. There was nothing left to see. The national monument was abolished. That’s what’s at risk from overtourism. | |
| ▲ | jmb99 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | If you’ve never been, I’d recommend visiting Lake Louise in Alberta. However, when I last visited in 2019, the lake base was packed nearly shoulder to shoulder at 7am. Hiking the trail to the tea house was like walking a sidewalk in NYC at 9am, just a little rougher and steeper. I’ve heard it’s only gotten worse since Covid. Is it selfish to want to be able to enjoy one of the most beautiful spots in Canada without it being crowded? Absolutely. But the sheer volume of people makes in a completely unenjoyable experience, not to mention the dangers of erosion/wilful destruction/litter/etc that over-toured nature spots eventually succumb to. The nice thing right now is that there are many, many places to go that most people won’t, due to lack of accessibility, lack of cell service, etc. By breaking down barriers, you open the floodgates. I used to despise gatekeeping, wanting everyone to be able to experience as many joys as possible. But when seeing what happens when the masses get access to delicate niches, my opinion shifts. Maybe I’m just getting older and grumpier though, so take it with a grain of salt. |
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| ▲ | jes5199 16 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | surely there are other wildernesses? is demand so high that there aren’t any left? |
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| ▲ | aaomidi 18 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| Honestly, lack of connectivity completely makes these places you speak of inaccessible for a lot of people. |
