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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WalterBright 27 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

When the first transcontinental railroad was proposed and being built, it was beset with controversy and skepticism.

But when it opened, it exceeded the wildest expectations of its most optimistic boosters. It transformed the country overnight.

A similar thing happened with the first transatlantic cable.

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grosswait 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Let’s revisit this comment in 5 years. I’m not convinced HN critics know more about this than SpaceX does.

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GMoromisato an hour 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.

	▲	WalterBright 19 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		What I find silly is the certainty that critics have that SpaceX will fail. When I started my own business, everyone thought it was doomed to failure. Friends, enemies, acquaintances, all of them. Except my dad. He believed in me, though he had no idea what I was doing. Musk is in good company with the crazy people who build the first tunnel under the Thames, the nuts who laid the first transatlantic people, the morons who dug the Panama Canal, and the fools who built the first transcontinental railroad. Me, I bought me some SPCX.