| ▲ | moojacob 4 hours ago |
| Didn’t read the full article but it starts with > The jet was perhaps the pinnacle of American engineering excellence. Its retirement signals an end to an era of American culture—and ambition. End of American ambition? SpaceX landing is rockets… today! That’s apples to apples also, both aerospace. In other fields we have literally taught computers how to talk. |
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| ▲ | Leonard_of_Q 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| The Atlantic writes for its owners as well as its readership, both of whom consider it unsavoury to compliment their homeland without adding multiple caveats. |
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| ▲ | jquery 42 minutes ago | parent [-] | | Considering who the current face of the country is and how we are acting on the world stage, it’s the least they can do. | | |
| ▲ | dcrazy 24 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | This is why the right gets away with saying liberals hate America. Because as long as there is anything to criticize about America (which there always will be), some people simply cannot make a single truly positive statement about America, or even things that happened in or came from America. Slate is even worse than The Atlantic in this regard. | | |
| ▲ | mathgeek 10 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | > This is why the right gets away with saying liberals hate America. This is a form of victim blaming. The right side of American politics gets away with it not because the left complains, but because the right doesn’t get punished at the polls for doing it. | |
| ▲ | cma 8 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | Finally the explanation for why the Trump campaign slogan "Keep America Great" resonated so well against that kind of opposition backdrop. |
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| ▲ | throw-the-towel 28 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | How is this kind of ritual flagellation supposed to mitigate Trump though? |
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| ▲ | GMoromisato 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I agree with you, and I would have expected Ian Bogost to take a more holistic view. Talking about why, for example, Boeing never build a larger passenger airplane, or why the Concorde is no longer flying, would actually make for an interesting analysis of technology and business. Why did the progression from the Wright brothers to the 747 not continue for the next fifty years? The answer has to do with physics and economics rather than lack of American ambition or excellence. |
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| ▲ | sidewndr46 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I find the whole thing a little odd. The 747 seems to be a great aircraft. It's also a quad jet and the change in regulations for ETOPS makes twinjets a no brainer for reducing cost. There's no reason to hurry and up and get rid of them, many will continue in cargo service for many years. But there isn't any reason to build big quad jets any longer |
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| ▲ | rayiner 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| America is currently leading the way in both commercial aerospace and AI simultaneously. This feels like a decade old article. |
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| ▲ | jquery 44 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| The most interesting thing about SpaceX is how it convinced a lot of otherwise sober people that data centers in space was a $50 septillion addressable market. You might laugh and think I’m joking but a lot of people seriously fell for the nonsense in the public filing, which should’ve been a one way ticket to SEC jail. |
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| ▲ | grosswait 35 minutes ago | parent [-] | | Let’s revisit this comment in 5 years. I’m not convinced HN critics know more about this than SpaceX does. | | |
| ▲ | GMoromisato 8 minutes ago | parent [-] | | What I find silly is the certainty that critics have that SpaceX will fail. No one can predict the future, and it's absolutely possible that orbital datacenters will fail (either for technology or business reasons). But: 1. Without a time machine, we cannot be certain. 2. If forced to choose, I would rather root for their success and be wrong than root for their failure and be right. |
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| ▲ | Rover222 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| Glad to see your sentiment. I’m so tired of the reflexive self flagellation of a lot of Americans. It’s often based in ignorance. |
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| ▲ | rootusrootus an hour ago | parent | next [-] | | It is very tiring. I get why Europeans might enjoy taking shots at us (though at one point I'd have said it was more of a good natured ribbing, given that Europe's history is also many Americans' history), and I fully understand the armies of bots spreading invective ... but the constant dogging on America by our own citizens is sad. I'm sure a lot of this outcome is intentional, but nobody fights back. America is many things, has done many things. Some great, some not so much. Americans themselves should at least be honest about seeing the good parts even if nobody else will admit it. And if we're going to keep progressing forward we need people to be on board in good faith. /soapbox rant over | | |
| ▲ | wolvoleo 8 minutes ago | parent [-] | | Not American but I feel the sentiment. I'm planning to change nationality soon as 'my' own country is also on the same right-wing conservative track. I'm not interested in making things better anymore. I just want to break with them forever. They deserve no more admiration or loyalty. I don't believe in national pride or even of sports teams. My loyalty is always conditional, as long as my ethics align. I can imagine some Americans feel that way too. |
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| ▲ | llbbdd an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | Agreed. A lot of my countrymen have forgotten that America generally kicks ass, it's sad to see. |
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