[CharlesW]

> If we lose that essence of humanity where we feel wonder and awe looking up into the night sky, then we lose one of the prime movers of discovery and science.

Do we? Anecdotally, I grew up in the country and mostly didn't give the night sky a second thought, and yet have always been pretty obsessed with space-related fact and fiction.

[abdullahkhalids]

Some cultural artifacts continue to exist because the experiences of past generations are passed down through teaching and stories. But if not restrengthened, they die out. Right now, we are zero or one generation away from large swaths of human population having interacted with the full night sky. What happens in two more generations when 99% of humans are able to see only a handful of starts at any given time? That is when you start losing, but at that point it is already too late.

[factotvm]

Yes, I believe we do. I only need think of the math discovered solely to predict the stars to know that without the night sky, we are different. To say nothing of the poets.