
Modern use of the word ‘moonshot’ mocks Apollo - jajag
https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2019/1/233518-hey-google-whats-a-moonshot/fulltext
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neilv
Quote:

> _Teller 's pragmatic, iterative, product-driven approach to innovation is
> the exact opposite of what the U.S. did after Kennedy charged it to "commit
> itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on
> the moon and returning him safely to the earth." Letting Silicon Valley
> steal the term "moonshot" for projects with quite different management
> styles, success criteria, scales, and styles of innovation hurts our
> collective ability to understand just what NASA achieved 50 years ago and
> why nothing remotely comparable is actually under way today at Google, or
> anywhere else._

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ARandomerDude
Alternative explanation: it's a hyperbole that recognizes, rather than mocks,
the Apollo program.

~~~
taeric
I agree it isn't mocking. It is an appeal to the goodwill the Apollo program
had, though. Often used to gain extra respect for whatever someone is doing,
even in failure.

Worse, it is used to excuse and invent new practices that are not tried and
true. Which is, ironically, exactly the opposite of how we got to the moon.

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Finnucane
Why am I not surprised that X is run by the grandson of the guy who tested the
idea of using atomic bombs to dig canals and shooting down missiles with bomb-
powered X-ray lasers.

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Tepix
Haigh is right. Unicorns, Moonshots, ... these days it's even considered
"disruptive" if you offer a couple of scooter for rent. Whom are you
disrupting exactly?

~~~
Munksgaard
Normal flow of traffic?

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d--b
It's not that they mock Apollo, it's just that they're not talking about
Apollo at all. Had the expression been "starshot", or "uranusshot", it would
have been understood as mocking the Voyager story?

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fizwhiz
ACM just got the HN hug of death

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simias
Indeed:
[https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https%...](https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https%3A%2F%2Fcacm.acm.org%2Fmagazines%2F2019%2F1%2F233518%2Dhey%2Dgoogle%2Dwhats%2Da%2Dmoonshot%2Ffulltext)

It's an interesting article built on a flimsy premise IMO. Languages evolve,
expressions evolve. It's like those people who insist that "3rd world
countries" still should only refer to countries that weren't aligned during
WWII.

A "moonshot" is generally used nowadays to describe a very ambitious project
with high risks of failure. Nothing more and nothing less.

Still, I always enjoy reading about the Apollo project and the Space Race so
once I got past the hair-splitting premise it made for an enjoyable read.

~~~
jajag
The point the article is making is that a true moonshot is a project of
incredible scale and ambition, and that we're loosing something by allowing
the modern usage of the word.

~~~
brightball
Modern usage of words are abused in all sorts of formats. I don't think
moonshot is going to get any special treatment here any more than "all out
blitz", "hate", "nazi", "socialist", etc.

Social media in today's culture is almost built to destroy the meaning of
words by overusing them for everything.

~~~
TheBranca18
The fact that the word literally means itself and its opposite based on use
for emphasis is another good example of this.

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AstroJetson
The issue in my mind is that Teller didn't really understand what the
challenge was. The author of the article was pretty good in stating that it
was a seemingly impossible task with a unrealistic deadline that got pulled
off by a lot of engineering heroics.

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detcader
Let me make sure I'm understanding this right: It's not merely enough for it
to be culturally taboo to criticize spending $20 billion a year on space
missions -- we now have to watch out for accidental microaggressions?

~~~
lm28469
It's 2019, if you breath chances are you're pico-aggressing someone. People
spend more time being outraged about something than time actually trying to
solve (or even understand) the underlying issue.

The best part is that people are sensitive about topics that have nothing to
do with them. Ask Buzz Aldrin what he thinks about "moonshot" he'll probably
tell you he doesn't give a flying fuck. Let's call it outrage by proxy.

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thrownblown
And here I thought this was going to be a better way to to test my gql
components...

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jhbadger
It is a misleading metaphor. I work in cancer research where the current
endeavor is called the Cancer Moonshot. Then again, it is probably better than
in the 1970s when it was called the War on Cancer.

~~~
lawlessone
>War on Cancer.

would probably get more funding that way..

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topmonk
Archived version [https://archive.fo/TRUSa](https://archive.fo/TRUSa)

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andy_ppp
I don't think an article with this clickbait headline should be on HN to be
honest. Horrible "journalism".

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moron4hire
It's generally considered to be "the rules" that what should not be on HN is
questioning what should and should not be on HN.

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andy_ppp
Fair enough, it really annoyed me for some reason.

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kingkawn
All meaning is saved and spent in equal measure.

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forgottenpass
The Valley is currently dead-set on spending all the good will "tech" has
built over the decades and running away with the profits before people wise up
to the fact they were promised tools but got Skinner Boxes and a corporate
surveillance state.

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JustSomeNobody
And you're getting voted down because the truth hurts.

