My daughter and I disagree on the Thirty Meter Telescope.
Construction was to begin a couple of weeks ago but the road was blocked by protestors, and the protests grew and then went viral on social media. The TMT would be the largest telescope on earth (although they are supposedly building one of similar size in Chile) and would be the 14th telescope on Mauna Kea, our tallest, most beloved, and, yes, sacred mountain. It will take ~10 years to build, will cost $1billion, and be 180 feet tall. The protestors say enough already.
Personally I am entranced by the above photo taken from the Hubble. I want to know more about the origins of the universe and the nature of dark energy and dark matter. Supposedly the TMT will allow our gaze to reach new edges of what is known and imaginable.
But my daughterʻs disapproval of the TMT troubles me. If she, and most of they young people her age, donʻt want it on that mountain, then what is the point of building it? It is more important that we honor their nascent sense of the wild and sacred than to build another machine, even one as relatively benign as a telescope. Even one that could bring us more beautiful images than the one above. They will only be images after all, and we have lots of images already. What we need more than images is the ability to love the land and protect it from destruction by those who do not know how to love the land. If the TMT must be sacrificed to nurturing that love, so be it.
1 comment:
You got me thinking, like you always do. You make excellent points concerning the next generation, BUT they don't know what they don't know- neither now nor in the future. The simplest test is this: if the ancient Hawaiians had this technology, would they use it? I think they surely would.
I think agreeing to dismantle it date certain is a good idea, and it wouldn't bother me one bit if they decided to build it somewhere else.
Post a Comment