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[–] 16 points 9 months ago (2 children)

China builds world's first 20GW microwave

For some reason it took me at least 5 reads to notice the word weapon in the title properly.

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  • [–] 42 points 9 months ago (69 children)

    can disrupt or damage Starlink satellites

    Mr. Xi, fire when ready.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago (5 children)

    There is an issue with that, if the starlink saterlites were destroyed they would no longer be able to make avoidance menovers. This could very quickly lead to a cascade of massive crashes that pretty much means we will never be able to leave the earth for a long time.

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  • [–] 8 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    Not true. Starlink are in a very low orbit and regularly (1 or 2 a day) will simply burn up themselves as they fall out of orbit.

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  • [+] 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)
  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    that will decimate the ozone layer in 15-30 years.

    🤦
    I always thought of de-orbiting just to burn-off as a waste, but now this.

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  • [+] 2 points 8 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago

    The researchers suspect this would help shrink the ozone hole that forms over the South Pole every year,

    Ok, so there seems to be a silver lining.
    A lesser Ozone hole during a certain period.

    Now just to know if the Ozone decimation is winning over this little phenomenon.
    Either way, the LEO satellites seem to be to big a mess for their worth, unless you are just considering their military worth.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago
  • [+] -34 points 9 months ago (61 children)

    Damn, what do you have against global internet?!

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  • [–] 23 points 9 months ago (25 children)

    Sovereignty is a huge issue here - handing control of critical infrastructure to a US oligarch is just begging to be coerced and exploited.

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  • [+] -11 points 9 months ago* (24 children)

    Same applies to all social networks and MS Windows, right? Just making sure I’m tracking - these are also hated here? Things that rich people own manufacturing of? What about cars? They’re pretty much govt spyware now too. Just wondering how far this govt coercion hatred extends into everyday life.

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  • [–] 18 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    Unironically, yes. I don't know if you're trying to make that scenario sound ridiculous, but I can assure you that it very much is not. At least outside of the US.

    It's not everyone at the moment, but the IT people who are paying attention are freaking the fuck out. I legitimately think Microsoft, AWS, and GCP will lose substantial market share overseas in the next 24 months.

    Consider that much of the rest of the world has started trusting China more than the US. Now think about the US CLOUD Act. What person in their right mind is going to feel comfortable hosting their company's most sensitive data within jurisdictional reach of whatever the fuck is going on over there?

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  • [–] -3 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Oh I agree! But I still drive a car and use windows when I have to. I don’t want to, but to avoid it is currently quite a life nuisance. And that’s I suppose how I feel about those who use Starlink.

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  • [–] 10 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

    Same applies to all social networks and MS Windows, right?

    The only social networks I willingly use are Fediverse instances, none I'm registered on are hosted in the US.

    No device in my house runs Windows. Linux is an upgrade, I recommend it.

    Things that rich people own manufacturing of?

    As a socialist, I believe the working class must seize the means of production, and am doing my part in building that future for us all.

    What about cars? They’re pretty much govt spyware now too.

    Yes, I despise the 'smart' features shoved into cars, televisions, etc.. I am also active in /c/fuckcars, I am critical of their overuse and rarely use one.


    Now, none of this is necessary for us to recognize that giving the US control of important infrastructure is dangerous. But you did ask. And many governments are also moving away from US infrastructure, although more slowly.


    As for Starlink, its common use is the result of laziness and neglect. Satellite internet is clearly not the cheapest, fastest or most efficient for most of its customers to get modern internet infrastructure. Governments should be reducing their citizens' need for Starlink as a serious priority, by building internet infrastructure.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (7 children)

    Yep people here hate windows. We hate cars, for reasons aside from spying as well they just generally suck.

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  • [–] -1 points 9 months ago (6 children)
  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (4 children)

    People still drive but only because we have no choice most of the time. In a lot of places particularly the US and Australia it's impossible to participate in society without owning a car or people thinking there is something wrong with you.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (3 children)

    I did it for years in the city but can’t anymore.

    So yeah, anyhow, that’s my point.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (2 children)

    What's your point? People have to do things they hate? Why not develop that thought further? WHY do we have to, and is a world where we have to less often (or not at all) possible?

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (4 children)
  • [–] -1 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    Yeah, in search of answers. Not to defend a point.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (2 children)

    Why do you use the phrase "that's my point" if you're not trying to make one. You seem confused

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  • [+] 11 points 9 months ago (4 children)
  • [+] -11 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    It seems I stepped on a landmine. My bad. I truly didn’t and don’t realize that satellite internet is destroying humanity but I hear now it’s the guy that started the company that is so I have to hate those too.

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  • [–] 8 points 9 months ago

    Starlink has been proven to be utilized for dubious activity to undermine sovereignty (see Mossad coup attemptin Iran as a most recent example). It hides under the guise of global internet for those who otherwise wouldn't have access but seeing as how it comes at the cost of western imperial overreach, having solid counter measures ain't a bad idea.

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  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago

    Think about iran, where they had to jam the starlink signal to keep the cia agents from murdering everyone (they paid per murder).

    Now if usa attacked a less powerful country without jamming technology, the cia agents could get their orders and data over starlink, and use that to murder everyone.

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  • [–] 15 points 9 months ago (22 children)

    That it's owned by ... the person who owns it.

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  • [–] 24 points 9 months ago

    I also have a problem with overengineered inferior solutions to investing in improving and expanding what is cheap and works very well and that will negatively impact future space projects.

    You know, his entire shtick.

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  • [+] -31 points 9 months ago* (20 children)

    Oooooo. Wow ppl really just gonna hate everything he touches eh?

    Remind me why. Is it mainly because of his attempt to reduce government spending, his views on trans, his Asperger’s, or his odd approach to reproducing with women?

    SpaceX has 10k employees that aren’t Elon ya know.

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  • [–] 19 points 9 months ago (11 children)

    Him being a nazi pedophile is probably what most people take issue with.

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  • [+] -10 points 9 months ago (10 children)

    Yes I understand that’s the party line. I was hoping for something more concrete but now it feels like this is being answered in bad faith so we can shut it down

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  • [–] 11 points 9 months ago (9 children)

    What party line? It's the truth? He's in the Epstein files begging to go "party" on the island. He hit multiple nazi salutes on camera. It's not a line it's a statement of fact Elon Musk is a nazi pedophile.

    Bad faith is when people point out my idol is fucking evil.

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  • [+] -8 points 9 months ago (8 children)

    I genuinely saw the man making a hand gesture out to all the people. I didn’t see, nor have I even seen, any sign or symptom that he’s actually a Nazi.

    The pedo thing, eh that’s pretty inconclusive that he was touching underage women because he asked to go to a party imo. I prefer a bit more damning evidence.

    The man isn’t my idol. I hate a lot of his personal life and the way he appears to treat woman.

    I truly am thinking independently, and I understand that your view on the world is different. Is this all it takes for you to say pedo Nazi or is there more?

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  • [–] 9 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    I was hoping you were genuinely concerned about the most effective and equitable solution to get such an important utility to as many people as possible but clearly you're just here to defend the weird billionaire

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  • [+] -8 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    I am concerned. I didn’t bring up billionaire. I just wonder why we damn a whole company of 10k ppl doing cool science shit because we don’t like the CEO.

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  • [–] 9 points 9 months ago

    I don't think you can call something that can be shut down by a single company "global internet"

    I have problems with the satellites sure, but fundamentally the whole premise is flawed.

    Also spacex isn't exactly doing great ok engineering compared to ULA and other industry leaders. Feels a bit weird to put them on a pedestal.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago

    He's a white supremacist who grew up in apartheid South Africa, comes from a family of racists (look up his grandfather, Elon is doing everything he can to carry on his legacy), and regularly promotes racist conspiracy theories. If you genuinely haven't seen any signs that he's a Nazi then you haven't been fucking paying attention.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (2 children)

    Please just go back to Reddit. You're just here to try to wreck this community, and we all know it.

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  • [–] 0 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    I’m sorry you feel this way. I haven’t been on reddit in years. I’ll limit or block Lemmy.ml, tension high af in here. Clearly I wandered into an echo chamber I don’t belong in!

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  • [–] 0 points 9 months ago

    It's not that you don't belong, it's that you engage in rhetorical strategies that are emotionally abusive while writing apologia for nazis.

    It's just the paradox of tolerance. If we tolerate Nazi apologia, that's all the site will become (just like Twitter). If I were a mod, your comments defending musk's Nazi salute would be deleted and you would be permanently banned, but I'm not a mod. So, I'm asking nicely.

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  • [–] 11 points 9 months ago (4 children)

    I already see this is going to be a fruitless discussion with those proposed discussion points. "His attempt to reduce government spending" 🤣 "attempt".

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  • [+] -13 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    not even sure what you’re laughing abt. but fair to say it’s not going to be fruitful given this response.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago* (2 children)

    He didn't do anything to reduce government spending other than dismantling agencies investigating him for malfeasance. That was a lazy cover to steal government data while simultaneously destroying any accountability for his crimes.

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  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    his Asperger’s

    As an autistic person, don't you FUCKING DARE defend his use of that fucking card for the horrible way he acts.

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  • [–] 7 points 9 months ago (5 children)
  • [+] -9 points 9 months ago (4 children)

    Huge fan of Alec, seen most his vids and yeah I caught that earlier this week, including the full ending.

    I agree with and love every bit of that video except for that part about Starlink. Everything in his video aligns with my view of the world and I learned a ton of stuff as well, but I feel like this one I would have to sit down and think about a lot more.

    It seemed out of place in the video in fact. I brushed it off and didn’t go further down the rabbit hole, but nothing he said changes my mind immediately on this particular matter. Everything else in the video made total sense and easily defensible.

    I am realizing now that perhaps this was simply a cheap jab at Elon - Just because everyone hates Elon right now. You have me thinking and maybe I’ll rewatch it and think through this a lot more. I don’t recall him saying anything specific against Elon himself. Prob a dramatic eye roll?

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  • [–] 8 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    What didn't make sense about his point?

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  • [+] -6 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    IIRC his point was that 5G to every household is better than an ISP satellite constellation. That felt like it was ignoring so much including national security (for USA at least), global impact, and upgrade costs.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 child)

    (Edit: made a more formal comment closer to the root of the thread)

    Why? Launching shit into space is hard as fuck and has an enormous carbon footprint. You can build A LOT of cellular infrastructure for the same cost and impact.

    And building your internet infrastructure in your own territory instead of floating in space will make it a lot harder for China to shoot with their badass microwave canon.

    And I'm just a common idiot, but I'd wager upgrading satellite infrastructure is going to be slightly more expensive than terrestrial infrastructure. There's a reason we're still using a lot of satellite infrastructure from the 1980s.

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  • [–] -1 points 9 months ago

    Starlink satellites are disposable from the start. They have a five year lifespan before deorbiting and burning up. So launches continue forever. So basically upgrades just come as they come, the mechanism is already in place. No clue on how costs compare with upgrading hundreds of thousands of terrestrial towers every 10 years or whatever is needed.

    Agreed that domestic benefits would require far more analysis than I’m capable of.

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  • [–] 12 points 9 months ago* (4 children)

    We are at levels not even styropyro can compete with

    What does a microwave weapon do?

    Edit: can jam drone signals etc

    I thought at first, it could pop people like a kitten in a microwave

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  • [–] 9 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    like a kitten in a microwave

    Wtf is this something you do?!

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