points by bix6 3 days ago | 0 comments
In what world is Elon getting to blanket the sky with tens of thousands of satellites a representative government?
[–] krapp 3 days ago
He's a private citizen and he's allowed to do it because it isn't illegal.
[–] happytoexplain 2 days ago
Using legality to defend against a criticism that we don't live in a representative system is circular logic.
[–] krapp 2 days ago
No it isn't, because in a representative system what is legal is a function of the will of the people who elect the representatives to write and vote on laws. It's legal because the people don't care enough to have it be otherwise, and so the representative system reflects that.
[–] wat10000 2 days ago
[–] happytoexplain 2 days ago
I'm not agreeing necessarily - it's honestly hard to say. There are a lot of pros and cons to convince the electorate of. But there is certainly the simple universal problem of money putting a thumb on the scale in representative governments.
[–] wat10000 2 days ago
I 100% agree that there's a problem of money putting a thumb on the scale. But I don't understand why that would even be relevant here. As far a I've seen (I'm not an expert but I have been following SpaceX since before they put anything into orbit) there has been no undue political influence in getting Starlink authorization to launch their constellation. We live in a system where things are permitted by default. There's no reason for the FAA or the FCC or whatever other regulatory bodies to deny it. Musk is gleefully using his money to put his thumb on the scale in other areas (spending nine figures in the recent elections is obscene) but why would he even have bothered here?