jack@jackbreid.com
While most of my work is focused on specific projects on Earth, I can’t help but have thoughts about other topics, including our present society and our potential future in space. Sometimes these thoughts manifest in a coherent piece and are collected here.
Originally published on the Mapscaping Podcast in August 2022
After I responded to a question of his on Twitter, host Daniel O’Donohue invited me on for a discussion of how satellites manage attidue determination and control.
Available: https://mapscaping.com/podcast/how-to-keep-your-satellite-pointing-at-earth/
Originally published in the Cambridge Day in August 2022
A short eulogy for the closing of MIT campus to the public. I wrote this for The Tech, only to find out that they don’t really publish things during the summer. Cambridge City Councillor Burhan Azeem encouraged me to submit it to the Cambridge Day instead, who promptly published it.
Originally published in The Space Review in March 2022
A short piece challenging the Frontier metaphor for space and substituting it with one inspired by William James, which has far more mixed implications.
Available: https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4345/1
Written in 2021
This was a piece originally intended for the Science Policy Review. It was in fact requested of me and Erin Rousseau by the editors of SPR. Once we wrote it and it went through a couple of revisions, however, they felt that it was too anecdotal and too much of an argument piece, rather than a scientific paper. It never ended up finding a home despite me being quite fond of it.
Originally published on The Engineering Commons podcast in July 2015
In one of their early episodes, the hosts of this podcast dicussed engineering ethics and specifically mentioned the engineering ethics class at Texas A&M, which I had recently taken. After I wrote in with some comments and a personal perspective on the course, they invited me on for a dicussion of engineering ethics and Samuel Florman’s book “The Existential Pleasures of Engineering.”
Available: https://theengineeringcommons.com/episode-87-existential-engineer/