SpaceX Launch Regulations and Absurdities

the limiting factor for SpaceX for Starship launch is regulatory approval.

The FAA is actually giving their approval,

but we're waiting for Fish & Wildlife to finish their analysis and give their approval.

That's why I posted,

I want to buy a fish license on,

which also refers to the Monty Python sketch.

Like, why do you need a license for your fish?

I don't know.

According to the rules, I'm told you need some sort of fish license or something.

We effectively need a fish license to launch a rocket.

And I'm like, wait a second, how did the fish come into this picture?

I mean, some of the things that I feel like are so absurd that I want

to do like a comedy sketch and flash at the bottom, this is all real.

This is actually what happened.

You know, one of the things that was a bit of a challenge at one point is that they were worried about

a rocket hitting a shark.

And now the ocean is very big. And how often do you see sharks?

Not that often. As a percentage of ocean surface area, sharks basically are zero.

Then we said, well, how will we calculate the probability of telling a shark?

And they're like, well, we can't give you that information because they're worried about shark fin hunters

going and hunting sharks.

And so, well, how are we supposed to,

we're on the horns of a dilemma then.

Then they said, well, there's another part of Fish and Wildlife that can do this analysis.

I'm like, well, why don't you give them the data? We don't

trust them. Like, excuse me? They're literally in your department.

Again, this is actually what happened.

And can you do an NDA or something?

Eventually, they managed to solve the internal probability of us hitting a shark is essentially zero.

Then there's another organization that I didn't realize existed until a few months ago that

cares about whether we would potentially hit a whale in international waters.

Now, again, you look at the Pacific and say,

what percentage of the Pacific consists of whale?

Like, I'll give you a big picture and point out all the whales in this picture.

I'm like, I don't see any whales.

Basically, zero percent.

If our rocket does hit a whale, which is extremely unlikely, beyond all belief,

that is the,

fate had it,

a whale has some seriously bad luck.

It's the least lucky whale ever.

I mean, this is quite absurd.

The bureaucracy of this, however it emerged.

Yes, well, I mean, one of the things that's pretty wild is, for launching out of Vandenberg in California,

they were worried about seal procreation, whether the seals would be dismayed by the sonic booms.

Now there have been a lot of rockets launched out of Vandenberg, and the seal population

has steadily increased. So if anything, rocket booms are an aphrodisiac,

based on the evidence. If you correlate rocket launches with seal population, nonetheless,

we were forced to kidnap a seal,

strap it to a board,

put headphones on the seal, and play sonic boom sounds to it to see if it would be distressed.

This is an actual thing that happened. This is actually real.

I have pictures.

I would love to see this. Yeah.

I mean, sorry, this is a seal with headphones.

Yes, it's a seal with headphones strapped to a board, and like, okay, now the amazing part is how calm the seal was.

Because if I was a seal, I'd be like, this is the end.

They're definitely gonna eat me.

How will the seal, when a seal goes back to other, you know, seal friends,

how's he gonna explain that? They're never gonna believe him. Never gonna believe him.

That's why I'm like,

well, you know, it's sort of like, it's like getting kidnapped by aliens and getting an anal probe, you know?

You come back and say, I swear to God, I got kidnapped by aliens and they stuck an anal probe in my butt.

And people are like, no, they didn't.

That's ridiculous.

Seal buddies are never gonna believe him that he gets strapped to a board and they put headphones on his ears.

And then let him go.

Twice, by the way, we had to do it twice.

Let him go twice.

The same seal? No, different seal. Oh, okay.

Did you get a seal of approval? Yeah, exactly. A seal of approval.

No, I mean, this is like, I don't think the public is quite aware of the madness that goes on.

Yes. Yeah. It's absurd.

Frickin' seals with frickin' headphones. I mean, this is the, it's a good encapsulation of the absurdity of human civilization,

seals and headphones. Yes.

So, what are the pros and cons of open sourcing AI to you as another way to combat?