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Jameson Lopp | 1 months ago (raw) | export | reply | flag +4 
 As the cost of launching payloads continues to drop we should expect to see decentralized networks and DAOs expand beyond Earth's gravity well and out of reach of nation states. Blockstream Satellite was just the first proof of concept.

H/T Daniel Suarez for exploring this idea in Critical Mass
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SpacemanSpiff | 1 months ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag 
 Starlink caches some streaming content on the satellites already. Biggest problem with data centers in space is thermal management. Vacuum is a very good insulator (the best, technically). I think it will only make sense for data or processing that puts high value on not being on Earth for some reason, at least until some application can pay the tab for
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MachuPikacchu | 1 months ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag 
 There’s also access to much more energy than here on earth which may entice the bitcoin mining industry in the long run.

If we ever manage to mine asteroids efficiently then we can expect very large solar arrays parked in a tighter orbit around the sun and used for bitcoin mining among other things. Hard to imagine a cheaper and more reliable energy source than that if we’re already out there.
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SpacemanSpiff | 1 months ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag 
 Biggest issue is thermal management. There will be applications that value being off Earth enough (Starlink serves some streaming content from orbit already). But Earth is an excellent heat sink and vacuum is an excellent insulator. The enabler will likely be something like space solar power or mirror reflectors (god help us) that provide really large shadows and a structure to hang pipes on for ~free.