this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2026
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[–] halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 39 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I'll take anyone that's been able to experience the Overview Effect.

The overview effect is a cognitive shift reported by some astronauts while viewing the Earth from space. Researchers have characterized the effect as "a state of awe with self-transcendent qualities, precipitated by a particularly striking visual stimulus". The most prominent common aspects of personally experiencing the Earth from space are appreciation and perception of beauty, unexpected and even overwhelming emotion, and an increased sense of connection to other people and the Earth as a whole. The effect can cause changes in the observer's self concept and value system, and can be transformative.

A 2018 questionnaire survey of 39 astronauts and cosmonauts found that humanistic changes predominated over spiritual changes. In particular, the survey found a moderate degree of change in the Perceptions of Earth subscale (Earth as "a beautiful, fragile object to be treasured"), which significantly correlated with subsequent involvement in environmental causes.

Immediately after his October 2021 Blue Origin flight, William Shatner told founder Jeff Bezos, "What you have given me is the most profound experience. I hope I never recover from this. I hope that I can maintain what I feel now." However, in October 2022 he recounted that it took hours for him to realize why he wept after stepping out of the spacecraft: "I realized I was in grief for the Earth." He later said that "I saw more clearly than I have... (the) slow death of Earth and we on it." His biography Boldly Go recounted that "it was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered. The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness. Every day, we are confronted with the knowledge of further destruction of Earth at our hands... It filled me with dread. My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration; instead, it felt like a funeral."

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 26 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Except the Amazon guy. His takeaway from his suborbital flight was that it would be cool to place factories in orbit.

[–] halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'll re-clarify... Any non-CEO that's been there.

It seems that the mental bullshit that enables someone to operate as a large company CEO can even overpower something that brings normal people to tears.

Knowing this, how are we not putting them into asylums for the safety of the rest of society?

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

There was talk about going to mars a while back. I say we let them.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 month ago

I'll provide the O-rings.

[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 2 points 1 month ago

Trump's.... This is it? Of all the billions and billions and trillions of star systems and I only get to fuck up this one tiny blue dot in one of them? Who made this universe? I want to demand that he or she, but mostly he give me more planets to fuck up. He doesn't deserve all knowledge about all planets with living life in them!......

40 days and 40 nights later....

Anyway, so a big Jesus comes to me. Big fellow, crying, very burly. He comes to me and says. He says, Mr president, says. He. He says to me. To me. He says. Mr president. Crying the big burly fellow. And remember, its jesus. I found him. Well some would say he found me. Yeah I locked him up. Told him to not be a little bitch and give us, give me more planets. He says to me. I told him I'd release him if he give us more planets. Its up to him really, if he wants to free himself. He says Mr. President, I'm here to now the lawn. I says not now mother effer! I always say it like that, I coined, well I 100 dollar billed the phrase "mother effer". Not now, because I was never given my pace price I want more planets. I'll be their acting president. I'm what you call a good actor, a great actor actually. Don't know if you watched but there's a little thing called "home alone too" and star in that movie. I deliver the most wonderful dialogue. I says. So jesus, he's at the detainment facility. He's a bad hombres, won't give us planets!

[–] Widdershins@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

Don't forget that baldheaded fuck cut off Shatner saying something profound so he could spew shit out of his own mouth

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Imagine thanking Jeff Bezos for giving you the opportunity to appreciate the fragile beauty of Earth by launching you into space with high-carbon-cost fuels...

[–] halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Rocket launch emissions are visual but in reality a small portion of overall carbon, about 0.1% of all emissions. Even accounting for the difference in altitude where they are exhausted, it's a tiny fraction.

The fucking cows in the beef industry produce a lot more carbon emissions than every rocket launch. Approximately 12% of all carbon emissions in the world every year. You just don't see it coming out the exhaust so you don't think about it. It's the reason that reducing beef consumption alone is one of the fastest ways a regular person can effect an actual real world tangible change to carbon emissions.

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

No argument there, but the key take away was about thanking Bezos for the opportunity. Maybe Blue Origin alone is a small fraction of global emissions, but Bezos' corporate empire is responsible for much more than that.

[–] halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I wasn't even referencing Blue Origin there, I was referencing ALL rocket launches. BO is a very tiny sliver, they hardly launch shit because all they do is a handful of tourism flights that don't even go to orbit. Actually, BO is the worst of the bunch currently because their launches still don't actually have a use other than tourism.

At least SpaceX and ULA launches send satellites to orbit, resupply payloads, and crew to the ISS. Starship is working towards modern Moon and Mars missions, and while SLS is a boondogle created by legacy Space companies and Congress, at least it has a generally good goal. BO is still just making the engines ULA now uses, and futzing around with their first orbital rocket with mixed results.

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 month ago

That's not really the point I was trying to make, but thanks for the somewhat adjacent info, I guess?

Still doesn't change the fact that Bezos' companies are a major contributor to the destruction of the planet and its environment