Balance
I've not managed to find a balanced opinion on this issue (not knocking El Reg here, they are reporting on other peoples statements and are not themselves "space experts"). It seems to divide into "This is the end of all astronomy as we know it and don't come running to us when an asteroid hits us" and "seriously, there is nothing at all to worry about here". Presumably the truth is somewhere in the middle.
I will admit to finding the "oh, it's just for cat pictures" a bit tiresome though. Starlink at least have said that their pricing will probably be based on ability to pay. i.e. cruise ships, airlines, etc. full of (comparatively) rich people will pay full wack to get their cat pictures but remote villages in less developed areas of the world will not. They may even get the equipment/bandwidth for free and can then get access to health information, education, etc., etc. So there is opportunity for genuine global social good to occur here and that does need to be considered along with the other positive/negative aspects of these large shiny constellations...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
