Feudalism in the 21st Century

Societies function thanks to a system of written and unwritten rules designed to protect and make the lives of individuals comfortable; they are the basis of what is called civilization. Higher civilizations take into account not only the human species, but also lower forms of life: animals and plants.

Now it can happen that obedience in following the law is not demanded of all individuals to the same extent. There seems to be a feudal system that grants generous privileges to the favorites of the powerful, but demands meticulous adherence to the law from individuals who are less well-liked. This discipline is not intended to protect fellow human beings or nature, but to inflict as much damage on the enemy as possible. For example, the good citizen is mercilessly punished if he cuts down the wrong tree in his garden, but the operator of a wind turbine is allowed to destroy entire forests in order to install his towers with the turbines.

The left-wing political milieu has implacably declared the protection of nature to be its sovereign territory. The mostly green ladies distribute privileges and punishments according to their view of good and evil. What they particularly hate are men who are distinguished by intelligence, success and humor, and who would do that more than a certain Elon Musk. He will not escape the wrath of the Erinyes.

Super Heavy and the Chop Sticks

Elon planned the fifth launch of his Starship. At 121 meters, the spaceship towers over most church towers, and the diameter of nine meters results in a living area of ​​over 60 square meters – per floor. You can then make yourself comfortable on the journey to Mars. The lower 70 meters and 1500 tons, called “Super Heavy”, provide the propulsion during the first flight phase, the upper part houses the engines and fuel for the rest of the journey, as well as the payload.

During the test flight, Super Heavy was supposed to return to Earth after seven minutes and its work was done and be picked up from the air by the “chop sticks” on the launch tower, just like we do with California rolls in the sushi bar (we now know that this worked ). The second stage was supposed to fly halfway around the world to the Indian Ocean and land gently there (this also worked). However, the launch required approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which in turn includes a declaration of environmental safety. And this delayed the launch considerably.

The eardrums of whales

The US Fish and Wildlife Service, with Director Martha Williams, and the National Marine Fisheries Service, with Dr Janet Coit, had concerns: the second stage plunging into the sea could hit a shark and fatally injure it. In order to quantify this risk, Musk asked for data on the distribution of sharks in the Indian Ocean. The data did exist, but it was not released so that it would not fall into the hands of poachers hunting for shark fins for the fine cuisine of five-star restaurants. Eventually the data was released and computer simulations were able to prove that the risk to the shark was infinitesimally small. Very reasonable. So was the go-ahead now? Not at all – what about the whales? The same procedure again, and Musk was able to eliminate the whale risk. However, he qualified his statement by pointing out that every whale’s time comes. Then there was the hurdle of how to prevent the rocket from exploding underwater and causing hearing damage to the submarine inhabitants.

Just as Musk has overcome gravity, he has also overcome the pitfalls of a jealous, woke political establishment and, with the successful launch on October 13, set a milestone in the conquest of space that was enthusiastically celebrated around the world.

By Hans Weber hans.weber@pragueforum.cz