SpaceX Does The First Privately Funded Space Walk, Which Is A Huge Win For Capitalism
This is a huge for just the future. We have private corporations making explorations into space. The shift from only governments doing space stuff to the free market being able to get it going is awesome. Like everything looks way better than it did under any Apollo missions. Like those space suits look fire. Those space suits look like what they should in 2024. Not those clunky ones we have been using since the moon landing.
This mission, commanded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, aims to take its crew to an altitude of 870 miles, the highest reached by humans since the Apollo missions in 1972. The spacewalk is scheduled for the third day of the five-day mission, where two crew members, Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis, will exit the Crew Dragon spacecraft while tethered to it, testing newly developed spacesuits designed for such conditions.
Think about the implications of private corporations democratizing space travel. The Mayflower was technically a private corporation. We will be launching colonies to other planets in a decent time. Maybe in my lifetime but will definitely by my hypothetical grandchildren be space colonies or at least hotels.
This is truly inspiring. I mean Humanity is going to the stars, we may find out we are not alone. I know its kinda better if there are not other lifeforms in our immediate vicinity in that we won't be running back colonizing indigenous aliens type stuff, but what if there are but we don't know because of the dark forest theory?
The Dark Forest theory is a proposed explanation for the Fermi Paradox, which questions why we haven't detected signs of alien civilizations despite the vast number of potentially habitable planets in the universe. This theory posits that numerous advanced alien civilizations exist throughout the cosmos, yet they remain silent and potentially hostile, choosing to avoid detection by others. The primary motivation for this silence is rooted in a fear of destruction by other hostile and undetected civilizations. In this scenario, the safest course of action upon discovering another civilization is to eliminate it before it can pose a threat, leading to a "shoot first" mentality. This creates a tacit agreement of mutually assured destruction, resulting in all civilizations keeping quiet and hidden.
The Dark Forest theory attempts to explain the cosmic silence we observe, suggesting that the universe may be filled with civilizations too afraid to reveal themselves for fear of annihilation. Named after Liu Cixin's 2008 science fiction novel of the same name, the concept can also be viewed through the lens of game theory as a special case of a sequential and incomplete information game, where survival is the only win condition. While the Dark Forest theory presents a chilling perspective on interstellar relations, it remains one of many speculative solutions to the Fermi Paradox, lacking empirical evidence to support its claims.
Well not to freak you out: Heres the live stream
