[LargeTomato]

I'm surprised at the amount of people who enjoy EDA. I find him very irritating. Most people at my small space company find him extremely irritating. He is not a rocket scientist. He parrots silly buzzwords like "biomimickry" like a fanboy, not an engineer. He suggests things to Elon for how to do rockets that are just pants-on-head dumb.

His blind fanboyism and arrogance irritate so many people who work in space. I'm very surprised HN loves this guy.

[apendleton]

With respect, you and your company of people who are already subject matter experts are not his audience; his audience is people who are not experts and want to learn about this subject matter. Most people on HN are also not subject matter experts with respect to rockets, so in that respect, are probably much closer to his target audience on average than you are.

> He is not a rocket scientist.

That might well be a pro, not a con. Rocket scientists' core competency is designing rockets, not teaching, and subject matter experts often make poor teachers. If this were a case of some kind of hucksterism, where he's an ignorant layperson making shit up and passing it off as true in his educational content, I'd say there was some concern, but while he's apparently said some dumb shit on Twitter, it doesn't seem like you or most other commenters are pointing to anything factually inaccurate _in this article_, nor indeed do people tend to on his researched, long-form stuff generally (vs. some off-the-cuff tweet). In that sense, it seems like this content is as good a place as any for laypeople to learn about this topic, that it doesn't obviously suffer from his lack of formal training, and maybe benefits if it means his better able to translate technical content to non-technical audiences.

[sophacles]

Also, SMEs say dumb things all the time. I know I have in my area of expertise. Not so much in "official capacity", sure - I try to make sure any presentations or blog posts or whatever are accurate. But random ideas I have, or initial reactions to some new tech - sure I've shared my really bad ideas.

Frankly if there was a youtuber out there making high quality, good faith attempts at presenting weird networking stuff - I'd love it and probably link everyone that ever expressed mild interest to that stuff. The folks that make explainer videos well are far better than me at getting the important concepts across to neophytes, and then I can help them understand more if they are still curious. (also - if this exists and I just never came across it please link :D)

[WalterBright]

> subject matter experts often make poor teachers

I find it thoroughly fun to talk with subject matter experts. What I learn is amazing.

[apendleton]

I often do too! But I certainly also had some professors in college who were frankly just really bad at conveying their expertise in a way that was accessible to people who were not also already experts. Some SMEs happen to have good communication skills and can be really fun to talk to, but the systems that produce experts don't, in my experience, select for these attributes, so whether or not you get them is pretty luck-of-the-draw.

[kevviiinn]

HN is mostly software devs, as someone in the bio sciences whenever I see comments about my field they're nearly always wrong unless another person in the field is commenting which isn't very often. It seems like software devs like to think they understand things when it's just barely surface level knowledge, I don't know why

[nosianu]

I decided people are just having fun and it's nothing serious just water cooler chat and distraction before going back to work.

Subject: Something quantum mechanics.

Comment: "I'm not a physicist, but I think..." -- What do you think follows after such an opening? Exactly. It's fine though. I decided that the users decided that the site is at least 80% distraction and entertainment, and it still does so at a higher level than most others, so it's all good I think.

[was_a_dev]

I think this is the good, level-headed approach.

I do wish there were active equivalents for beyond software development.

[was_a_dev]

I'm always surprised how quickly a thread than isn't software related nose-dives.

Me and my colleagues joke about the weekly HN thread of people misunderstanding some physics article, or posing a nonsensical solution to a "trivial issue within physics".

[jamiek88]

Or sneering at any prose more expansive than a bullet list of facts.

[sho_hn]

Could you give me an example of his 'arrogance'? I've been watching his content for some time, and I'd say he's always been very upfront and transparent about being an enthusiast/fanboy and not an engineer. His concept is to be an audience insert and ask the stuff his non-professional audience would ask, as a sort of avatar. I would expect no more expertise from him than from myself.

If the people he interviews are humoring or correcting him, that's exactly what I would expect and is part of the value of the content really. He's giving them a platform and enthusiastic laymen a chance to ask dumb questions.

[LargeTomato]

I can't find the tweet where he suggests to Elon how to design the sides of the rocket. Elon just shuts it down. I've never once heard EDA push back on anything Elon says even though Elon can say some outlandish things every now and then. That blind fanboyism is annoying.

While not public, my friend was his liaison at Blue origin when he toured. He was extremely rude to the team at Blue. It actually surprised the media team how condescending he was.

In my personal experience, most people at my company don't like EDA. On the other hand they love Scott Manley. It's not about what you know it's about what kind of person you are.

[valarauko]

https://twitter.com/Erdayastronaut/status/144263153022495948...

[geophph]

+1 for Scott Manley

[martythemaniak]

No, he's not an engineer and he cannot build anything, he has no special insights or novel ideas. He is an educator that popularizes niche and inaccessible knowledge to a large audience and that large audience really appreciates his efforts. His work in popularizing space tech is a net benefit to your industry and thus your company.

[NikolaNovak]

Not sure, I have not encountered this author before, but frequently in many fields a fan / enthusiast perspective is different than professional / expert perspective.

[rpmisms]

He's incredibly annoying, but he knows his shit. He's like a crypto influencer who also happens to be a brilliant engineer. I watch his content because it's insanely informative, even though he reminds me of every con artist I've ever met.

[dotnet00]

That's a perfect description of the feeling I get when watching him. Something just feels slightly off enough that I fully expect some skeletons to come out of his closet at some point like with the vast majority of crypto influencers.

[rpmisms]

I mean, he's a divorced young guy, so the "fake" aspect probably comes from some pent-up trauma and hiding it. Could explain a lot of the vibe.

[twic]

I'm comparably bemused by the enthusiasm shown here towards some life sciences stuff. HN users are perhaps not the discerning polymaths you imagine.

[jaybrendansmith]

I think you need to compare HN to just about any other open forum. HN users seem gracious, knowledgeable and logical compared to the rest of the Internet. Yes, we do need HN equivalents in other fields, notably Physics, Life Sciences, and Rocketry.

[Gravityloss]

Compared to average YouTube, TV or magazine content he is excellent and in depth.

[ghostpepper]

Didn't he suggest something to Elon that Elon immediately decided to alter on an upcoming rocket? Doesn't sound like he knows nothing..

[LargeTomato]

I forget exactly what he suggested but I remember is being like kind of dumb. Elon was humoring him. This guy is absolutely not a rocket scientist. He's not even an engineer.

[sho_hn]

If I recall, Musk was explaining that on the Starship booster they had recently begun to use directed venting of ullage gases for control authority to save a seperate hot or cold gas thruster system and Dodd asked if this also applies to the ship. Musk then went "now that you mention it, we should look into that". During a visit a year or so later he then confirmed they had begun doing it on the ship too and that it had occurred to him as he was explaining it to Dodd.

It's of course unlikely that the engineering team wasn't already considering this, but it's also not like Dodd was suggesting anything, he was just asking a follow-up question. The way the conversations played out was Musk remembering to ask someone about it later to check the status of the plan or drive a decision, and later recalling that conversation when Dodd came by again.

[ghostpepper]

In my (lay) opinion, this is still evidence that he at least has some idea of what he's talking about and not all his suggestions to Elon are "pants on head dumb". I was never under the impression he actually suggested something the team had never thought of.

[twic]

Something about cold gas thrusters? https://www.ladbible.com/news/elon-musk-fixes-rocket-after-y...

[oh_sigh]

His audience is fanboys, not aerospace engineers. So it makes perfect sense.

He may be a fanboy but that fanboyism got him a trip to the moon.

[Diederich]

> His audience is fanboys

SpaceX fans?

[t3pfaff]

You can't be in the space industry or even a tangentially related aerospace sector and not be a fan of SpaceX. It's continuously been 10 years ahead of the rest of the industry. The entire industry did nothing but tread water for 50 years after Apollo despite massive technology and manufacturing advances. The space shuttle was one giant deadly 30 year step backwards.

SpaceX has an effective monopoly on low cost launches for a reason. The closest company to it in terms of low cost capability is Blue Origin which hasn't even been to orbit yet. No one but ULA or Roscosmos is close in terms of reliable either. The Space Industry would still be launching single use overpriced rockets to LEO without SpaceX revolutionizing it.

[lb4r]

Regardless of you think of him and his 'dumb' ideas, with 1.4 million subscribers he will probably inspire more people than work at your 'small space company' to become real rocket scientists themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if he does more for the future of space industry than most of those who currently work in it individually do.

With that said, if you find him irritating, then you find him irritating. Hard to argue with that.

[adolph]

> He is not a rocket scientist.

He doesn't represent himself as one either. Between he and Scott Manley and others there are a lot of kids out there who are pumped about space in ways that I never felt as a kid. Is it wrong to be enthusiastic about something that is not one's own life-work, to be exited about anything headed pointy-end-up, flamey-end-down? Look at the mission statement:

Everyday Astronaut’s mission is to bring space down to Earth for everyday people. To celebrate and lift up those who are helping humanity explore the world we live on and our place amongst the stars. We believe the best way to get people excited about space exploration is through education. By breaking down complex topics, it helps give some perspective and insight into the decisions made every day through the industry. We help remove the barriers of intimidating subject matter to help foster an excited public to cheer on those who are pushing the boundaries and help inspire future generations. The point is, rocket science is awesome, and you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to be excited.

[geocrasher]

His fanboy-energy is too strong, cannot stand him. And I don't even work in space. But I do work for a company called Rocket, so that's something I guess.