Marshall @ Reporter Exchange 🦊

You, the individual, are the media now

Citizen journalism as a continuation of the Enlightenment Central to Elon Musk's strong commitment to citizen journalism is the idea that each individual has the power to think for themselves and contribute to the public conversation. Collecting and confronting all points of view is the best approach to get to the truth, as opposed to delegating the task to a selected few journalists. “Let the people choose the narrative and let the people determine the truth” is one of Elon Musk's key mottos for this new form of journalism. This idea strongly resonates with Immanuel Kant's definition of an enlightened society in the text What is Enlightenment: “If I have a book that understands for me, a spiritual advisor who has a conscience for me, a doctor who decides upon a regimen for me, and so forth, I need not trouble myself at all. I need not think, if only I can pay; others will readily undertake the irksome business for me. That by far the greatest part of humankind (including the entire fair sex) should hold the step toward majority to be not only troublesome but also highly dangerous will soon be seen to by those guardians who have kindly taken it upon themselves to supervise them; after they have made their domesticated animals dumb and carefully prevented these placid creatures from daring to take a single step without the walking cart in which they have confined them, they then show them the danger that threatens them if they try to walk alone. Now this danger is not in fact so great, for by a few falls they would eventually learn to walk; but an example of this kind makes them timid and usually frightens them away from any further attempt. (...) That a public should enlighten itself is more possible; indeed this is almost inevitable, if only it is left its freedom (...) namely, freedom to make public use of one’s reason in all matters. (...) The public use of one’s reason must always be free, and it alone can bring about enlightenment among human beings.” Immanuel Kant, An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment, 1784

Polaris Dawn Flight Day 3 Update Early Thursday morning at 7:58 a.m. ET, the Polaris Dawn crew successfully completed the world’s first spacewalk – also known as an extravehicular activity (EVA) – from Dragon at 732.2 km above Earth.    Shortly after arriving in space on Tuesday, the crew began a two-day pre-breathe process, designed to prevent decompression sickness while also preparing the crew for the environment inside the EVA suits by gradually lowering Dragon’s cabin pressure and increasing the oxygen concentration.    Then on Thursday, the crew donned their suits and initiated Dragon seat rotation, suit tare, and the heads-up display and helmet camera checkouts. The 106-minute spacewalk officially began at 6:12 a.m. ET when suit pressurization started, the nitrogen purge was initiated, and pure oxygen (O2) was flowing into the suits. A secondary flow of oxygen primarily helped provide cooling to the suits, which would come in handy during the spacewalk.    Once suit leak checks were complete, the crew and ground teams gave the go for Dragon to initiate venting, which took the cabin’s pressure down from ~8 psi to below 1 psi – nearly to the vacuum of space. Simultaneously, Dragon repositioned its trunk to face the sun ahead of the hatch opening.    Mission Commander Jared Isaacman opened the hatch and for the first time, four astronauts were simultaneously exposed to the vacuum of space. Jared and Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis separately exited the spacecraft and individually performed a series of suit mobility demonstrations to test the performance of the spacesuit in the vacuum environment of space. Mission Pilot Kidd Poteet and Mission Specialist Anna Menon remained seated, managing suit umbilicals and monitoring vital support systems and telemetry on Dragon’s displays.   Upon completion of their individual EVAs, the hatch was closed, Dragon re-pressurized to 14 psi, cabin oxygen and pressure levels confirmed, officially completing the suit testing alongside the first commercial spacewalk and the first EVA from a Dragon spacecraft.   Throughout the EVA, stunning visuals were afforded by Dragon’s cameras and the spacesuits helmet cameras as the crew orbited between 184.9 x 732.2 km above Earth.   Following the spacewalk, the crew took time to rest and recuperate, enjoying a well-deserved meal before posting from space for the first time on X using Starlink high-speed internet. The crew concluded the day by connecting with their families and settling in for their sleep period ahead of Flight Day 4.