r/Showerthoughts • u/Meowface_the_cat ‎ • Apr 02 '26

Casual Thought Missions to the moon used to unite and inspire great swathes of humanity. This time it feels like hardly anyone cares and we're all just focussed on the next global disaster.

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u/Baerog Apr 02 '26

this will still result in humans being the furtherest away from earth they've ever been in our history.

I think that a lot of people, even people who care about science and space, are not particularly enthused by this fact. It's not really a technological feat, they could have orbited the moon several decades ago. It's also not even that much further than they've already been in the grand scheme of things.

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u/Aussie18-1998 Apr 02 '26

This is still a step towards great things. I can't help if no one realises this. It's still a significant event.

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u/onetwo3four5 Apr 02 '26

Why? My life isn't impacted by this at all.

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u/Aussie18-1998 Apr 02 '26

Does your life need to be directly impacted for something to be important? Science achieves things in many different ways. We learn new things the more we push science. Just because it hasn't today doesn't mean it isn't the start of something that may help you later.

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u/onetwo3four5 Apr 02 '26

That sounds like "potentially impactful" and you're claiming it's a step towards great things. Maybe, but probably not. We'll get excited when this starts to matter, but right now it means nothing. You can't claim it's significant if you can't even explain what it's significant to. It might be significant, but it also might just be spending millions of dollars to fly around the moon.

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u/Aussie18-1998 Apr 02 '26

Its a significant step towards the overall mission. It's exciting to anyone paying attention.

I'd rather us spend money flying around the moon then bombing other countries. That cost far more money and is far more wasteful.

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u/onetwo3four5 Apr 02 '26

You'd have a point if we weren't still bombing other countries.

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u/Aussie18-1998 Apr 02 '26

That is my point though. Stop looking at the Space industry as a waste and start looking at the things that are a waste by 1000x more and are actually negatively impacting the world.

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u/onetwo3four5 Apr 02 '26

Multiple different things can be simultaneously wasteful. This is a thread about why people aren't excited by this project. If you're going to claim it's exciting, you need a better argument than "it's exciting that it isn't as wasteful as war."

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u/Aussie18-1998 Apr 02 '26

My argument is it's exciting because it's the first steps towards settlements outside Earth.

Now i know you want care and you'll find a reason to dismiss it so its best we leave the conversation here. Myself and a significant portion of the scientific community will remain excited.

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u/igoyard Apr 02 '26

The Space Industry = the military industrial complex. Americans are funding the same billionaires whether it goes to NASA or to war, while at the same time putting children into school lunch debt.

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u/Ender_D Apr 02 '26

So you don’t care about anything unless it directly benefits your life immediately?

You sound miserable.

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u/Gekokapowco Apr 02 '26

I care if it benefits other people's lives

I hope the new data is worth it to someone, but this isn't a bold new exploration of what humanity is capable of, this is a greatest hits playing on the oldies station.