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watching this, I'm reminded of the sheer magnitude of the civilizational project we are all a part of, how immense it is that humanity is capable of achieving such feats. it's easy to look at these pixels and miss their significance, but take some time to consider it
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RT @astroferg
Here's a highly compressed 1080p preview of my footage. This is easily the best launch footage I have ever captured, stay tuned for the full launch to land…
https://twitter.com/astroferg/status/1614861722975883270
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watch the full video, too. take some time out of your day (< 10 mins), put it up on a big screen, and sit still. really think about what's happening here, what it takes to make this possible, how incredible it is that our species has gotten to this point
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RT @astroferg
Here is the complete footage:
https://youtu.be/zLxlLslhGxU
https://twitter.com/astroferg/status/1615333569060081664
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consider the sheer force of the rocket plume, how scorchingly hot and intense it must be, how quickly anything in its path would be incinerated; what a Promethean triumph it is to have mastered the use of flame to such a degree, starting from a simple campfire.
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the orchestration of the booster seperation, the level of precise control necessary to time their thruster adjustments & engine firings just right, so as not to get blown off course by the main rocket
the trajectory planning & microoptimizations necessary to land them precisely
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the physics, hardware engineering, materials science, fabrication & testing necessary to build these artifacts in the first place
the logistical complexity of the supply chain requisite to provision materials
the business complexity needed to organize these disparate efforts
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so much more work across so many domains that it boggles the mind to try and account for it all
and yet, this happened; we can see the evidence w/ our own eyes
puts our petty quotidian struggles into perspective a bit, don't it? that if people are capable of so much, so are we
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I get caught up in the details of my small corner of the world, fiddling with bits to optimize some small processes, relatively isolated from society at large
watching this, a part of me exclaims "wtf am i doing dicking around w/ nonsense when theres Grandeur to Accomplish"
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but then I remind myself how these projects wouldnt be possible w/o the rest of the economy doing its thing; every (successful) business solves someone's problems
civilization is massively complex and every part has its place in the Great Gantt Chart
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RT @pee_zombie
this is exactly it, for me; everywhere I go, all i see is the enormous complexity of our supply chain, the massive feat of social engineering a globalized industrial ci…
https://twitter.com/pee_zombie/status/1331092174071623680
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relating your small contribution to society back to the greater project can provide a connection to meaning, purpose; it's all too easy to lose sight of what its all for
increasing our capabilities enables survival and flourishing both
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RT @pee_zombie
escaping the confines of our gravity well is prerequisite to attaining the next level of energy utilization capability, which will in turn accelerate our self-reinvention; as capabili…
https://twitter.com/pee_zombie/status/1393636606645575681
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we do seem to be missing a Purpose Narrative as a society, here in the decadent West; most people seem to not really have any notion of what its all for, what we're working towards, even in the short term
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RT @pee_zombie
in such a world the existence of public institutions is no longer as self-justifying as it previously mightve been; w/o a consensus reality, what hope is there of broad alignment on goals? how can we agree on where …
https://twitter.com/pee_zombie/status/1511820743969017859
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with the broad rejection of traditional religions as meaning-making frameworks and the allergy to Soviet-style propoganda, what path is left towards societal alignment on a shared purpose? and w/o one such, how to justify the ugliness & pain of the world?
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RT @pee_zombie
many so-called "adults" are spiritually children ; who can blame the zealous youth for not seeing a path forward? for rejecting Chesterton's civilization? the world…
https://twitter.com/pee_zombie/status/1327110853792063488
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the lines seem to be redrawing themselves along attitudinal splits; those who see a future of growth vs those who believe mankind has lost the right to consume resources
these attitudes are more or less incompatible & at the root of much culture war
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RT @pee_zombie
I see those who'd hold back human progress out of fear, tribalism, politics, or depression, as my spiritual enemies; there cannot be agreement btwn us when our values ar…
https://twitter.com/pee_zombie/status/1472004598378414088
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ultimately, any ideology that constraints its own growth past a certain point won't survive long enough to be meaningful; the real risks lie in ecoterrorism. if the degrowth faction wants to control not just their own, but others behavior too
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RT @pee_zombie
attitude towards this sort of technology is highly predictive of several ideological schisms, including attitudes towards bioessentialism, class, and squeamishness
I look forwa…
https://twitter.com/pee_zombie/status/1410690235596476422
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my hope is that spreading awareness of accomplishments such as these, proving that Greatness is still possible, will inspire hearts to shift from the doomer to optimist camps
we are capable of so much; our story has hardly yet begun
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when you're deep in support infrastructure of civilization, it's important to be reminded of where the frontier is and why it matters
I'm deeply appreciative to those who make the effort to bring this sort of content to a greater audience
inspiration is a valuable public good