[ExI] The Thirty Meter Telescope

[Will Steinberg]

I think an observatory of the heavens *should* be built on a sacred site.

I do think those opposed are sort of nitwits, but I think those who don't
recognize the use and importance of sacred sites are a different and more
bitter kind of nitwit.

If a site is treated as holy for such a long time it can have profound
effects on the human mind as a mental/cultural reservoir.  Similar to the
way any object is used to impart cultural knowledge which survives the
individual human (such as a tool or record-keeping instrument) which I like
to call 'prosthetic'.  A book and a wrench are both prosthetics--they
extend the abilities of humans to do what we will (or are determined to)
do.

If we do mining on a share of land, it will become a mine, and even if it
collapsed, humans living many years in the future could know that it was a
mine.  The existence of the mine encompasses everything within.  Or maybe a
school is a better example.  A school lasts longer than its pupils, and
serves as a continuous repository and source of cultural knowledge.

A school is a structure used to impart cultural knowledge in the form of
learning about the world and how it works, as well as (ideally though
commonly diluted) reverence for knowledge-seeking.

A temple is a structure used to impart cultural knowledge in the form of
reverence for the concepts of humility, dedication, curiosity, courage,
&c.  I would argue that it has equally profound and positive effects on the
human mind as a school.  In particular this sacred object has cultural
impact probably lasting since humans first discovered it, and teaches
dedicated stewardship to the Earth.  Which is a trait that is lacking in
the modern day and literally leading to the decimation of the whole human
civilization.

Some sacred sites may be co-opted by greed and lust, but so may some
schools.  Certain sites have been in continuous operation for thousands of
years--millennia of information, condensed into codes, and creeds, and
behaviors, and states of mind.  Of course this technology would be used to
take advantage of people.  Probably because those using it for good got
stepped on by those advantage-takers, as is often the case with valuable
pieces of land or technology.

I think that it's inevitable and good for some of these old things to merge
with modern tech, though.  There doesn't need to be a conflict here so it
is probably the result of poor mediation.  Due to people being selfish and
unempathetic.

When the Taliban blew up those Buddhist statues, were you like "Yeah, fuck
'em up boys!"?

P.S. There are records from ~2500 years ago of magnifying lenses.  Do you
think somebody could have realized they could use one lens to magnify the
other?  It seems likely.  Makes me wonder if there is perhaps a sparing
number of ancient (large) microscope-type devices.  Just a fleeting thought.
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