MAUNA KEA PROBLEM

These below are my views/comments on the issue (for anyone interested) which were previously published @
URL: https://www.patreon.com/posts/astronomy-faces-28990973
"Astronomy Faces A Field-Defining Choice In Choosing The Next Steps For The TMT"
Posted by Ethan Siegel @ Aug 9 at 1:00am

First of all:
Are Native Hawaiians the real/true owners of Hawaii?
Are Native Americans the real/true owners of North America?
Are Native Australians the real/true owners of Australia?

History of our world clearly shows that each & every piece of land keeps changing owners!
Which ones of those are the real/true owners?

IMHO, there is really/truly no such thing as any group of people being the real/true/permanent owners of any piece of land on Earth!

&, IMHO, peaceful protests are OK, but I would not call blocking a road peaceful protest!

Also, IMHO, all issues like this should/must be resolved using democracy, as USA being a democratic country!
(Meaning a state-wide public referendum in Hawaii!)

I remember reading about many years ago that Native Americans were protesting
& trying to prevent NASA from doing something on the Moon, by claiming Moon is sacred for them!

So, all the countries need to stop sending "stuff" to Moon, because it is sacred to Native Americans?

Or, all the countries need permission each time (thus effectively making Native Americans owners of the Moon)?

If I was representing the astronomers & the protesters said to me:
"You all must leave because this mountain is sacred to us!"
Then I would answer:
"We will stay because this mountain is even more sacred to us!" :-)

If we compared, all contributions of Native Hawaiians to human civilization, in their whole history,
against/versus, all contributions of astronomical observatories on top of Mauna Kea,
(for example) within last 40 years, which side we really think would be (much) greater???

IMHO, if Native Hawaiians really valued/cared Mauna Kea, then they would be really proud that
it serves whole humanity so greatly, thanx to all astronomical observatories it hosts!!!

IMHO, comparing sacredness of Mauna Kea (to Native Hawaiians),
to sacredness of Vatican (to Christians) or sacredness of Mecca (to Muslims), etc, is UTTERLY RIDICULOUS!!!

If it was really that sacred then:
Where were they when the 1st astronomical observatory was about to be build?
Where were they when the 2nd astronomical observatory was about to be build?
Where were they when the 3rd astronomical observatory was about to be build?
...
Where were they when the 13th astronomical observatory was about to be build?

So they realized how sacred it is @ the 14th???
How about anybody try to build anything like that @ Vatican or Mecca today & see what happens???

PRESIDENT IMPEACHMENT OBSESSION

I myself clearly remember that, throughout presidency of Barrack Obama from Democrat Party,
(some) politicians of Republican Party were (obviously) obsessed w/ presidential impeachment!
Because, they kept trying to use one reason/excuse after another for presidential impeachment!

& it is also obvious that, (some) politicians of Democrat Party are obsessed w/ presidential impeachment
& so, they are keep trying to use one reason/excuse after another for presidential impeachment,
throughout presidency of Donald Trump from Republican Party!

First of all, IMHO, presidential impeachment should/must be tried/done only in truly extreme situations!
& only when reason(s) for it, is/are very clearly/obviously justified, to almost all of USA citizens!
Because, if presidential impeachment is done/succeeds using any "minor technicality" kind of reason/excuse,
it would ONLY INCREASE POLITICAL/SOCIAL POLARIZATION in the country, instead of really solving any problem!

Also, very obviously, if either/both political parties keep trying to do presidential impeachment,
it would ONLY INCREASE POLITICAL/SOCIAL POLARIZATION in the country, instead of really solving any problem!

IMHO, elected politicians of both political parties really need to ask themselves:
Why USA public elected me?:
"To join/lead the fight against the other party"
OR:
"To serve the country/public by helping/supporting all new laws good for the country/public"
(Which often require finding ways to work together w/ politicians of the other party!)

BUILDING DESIGN STANDARDIZATION PROBLEM

Imagine that, whenever someone wanted to buy a car, if that car was designed & built from ground-up!
Imagine that, how much more time it would take to produce each car & how much more each car would cost!
& also realize, all repair & maintenance costs would be much higher!

& yet, realize that, that is the exact situation w/ building design & construction today!
Each building project is designed & built from ground-up!

Now imagine a future world where/when, there was a global standard set of (free) building designs of all kinds!
So where/when-ever, someone wanted to build any kind of building project, (s)he would just choose one or more of the standard building designs!

Imagine that, all building designs in the standard set, are designed for certain max limits for earthquakes & bad weather & fire etc.
(So that all buildings in the world would have the same/standard level of strength/durability against all kinds of disasters!)
(They also should/must provide same max limit for time durability (against rusting etc)!)

Imagine that, over time, each building design in the set was modified/replaced w/ improved versions!
(& new designs kept getting added as needed/wanted, also!)

Imagine that, each building design is also designed to be (de)constructed fast/easy/cheap (like LEGO!?)!

Imagine that, there could be multiple standard building design sets:
For example, imagine a set for military buildings, which have much higher strength & durability standards!

Also, IMHO, this kind of full standardization would be especially perfect for using Shipping Container Architecture to solve global cheap housing problem!
Imagine, giant metal skeleton buildings (built like LEGO), which just provide slots for standardized Shipping Container housing units!
Imagine, each giant building has a robotic system that can take a housing unit from a truck waiting below & insert it to any slot in the building & vice versa!

STREET SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS R NEEDED

Many cities in the world already have street surveillance cameras & IMHO all cities should/must have them!

Why?

Imagine a future, where/when all cities & towns have street surveillance cameras @ all their streets.
Imagine, they also have Facial (& Voice) (& License Plate) Recognition Tech!
Imagine, their videos also processed in real time by AI systems!

Realize, then, all criminals could be quickly found/caught!
Realize, then, all kinds of crime committed on the streets could be quickly detected & recorded as evidence!
Realize, then, all kinds of (traffic) accidents on the streets could be quickly detected & recorded as evidence!
Realize, then, all kinds of terrorist attacks on the streets could be quickly detected & recorded as evidence!
Realize, then, any dangerous people/vehicles could be tracked (& recorded) everywhere they go!
...

What about privacy?

We already live in a world almost everybody (on the street) have camera phones!
There is really no way for anybody on the street to have/expect privacy anymore!

Also, IMHO, general public is NOT obsessed w/ privacy, quite unlike what self-appointed "privacy advocates" always claim/pretend!

But how we could really know street surveillance cameras are effective against crime (for example)?

First of all, not all crimes are committed on the streets!
So, we must look @ & compare (for before & after) crime statistics, for only crimes committed on the streets!
For example, how many crimes on the streets in each year & how many of those criminals caught later & how long took to catch those criminals!

Also, realize, since not all crimes committed on the streets, it would be best to extend usage of such cameras as much as possible!
So, putting/using them @ all public places (not just streets) would be the best (like airports & stadiums & ...)!