Say what you want about Elon Musk but Irreal holds him in special regard because of a whimsical decision he made for SpaceX. Most observant folks know that Irreal is an admirer of Iain M. Banks\u2019 Culture novels. Indeed, the name \u201cIrreal\u201d is from an idea in one of those novels as the banner at the top of every post hints. Those stories are about an advanced interstellar civilization in which \u201chuman beings\u201d and sentient AI have equal status. There are several levels of AI intelligence, ranging from the barely sentient robots that performed routine chores to the super-intelligent \u201cMinds\u201d that ran the day-to-day operations of the Culture.<\/p>\n
The Minds lived in\u2014or perhaps had as their bodies\u2014giant interstellar ships. The Minds, like Musk, had a whimsical sense of humor and gave their ships\/bodies\/selves quirky names such as So Much for Subtlety<\/i> and Unfortunate Conflict Of Evidence<\/i>.<\/p>\n
One of SpaceX\u2019s innovations is the ability to recapture and reuse their launch vehicles. The recapturing of those vehicles is accomplished by landing them on drone ships. Here\u2019s a video of a recent recovery:<\/p>\n
\nFalcon 9\u2019s first stage has landed on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship pic.twitter.com\/CPoMMzPDgS<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 17, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n