[EastToWest]

I think it is rather dumb and annoying. Dystopian? Far from it.

Do you consider a plane flying by with a banner behind it dystopian? Isn't this more or less the same kind of thing?

[ghodith]

Seems to me that some people use dystopian to mean “bad and like something you would see in a dystopian novel/movie.” Which in most cases cashes out to ‘bad and high-tech’

[8fGTBjZxBcHq]

I do consider that similarly bad yes.

[EastToWest]

Bad, sure, we both agree.

Dystopian has a very specific meaning though.

From Cambridge dictionary: relating to a very bad or unfair society in which there is a lot of suffering, especially an imaginary society in the future, or to the description of such a society.

I fail to see how one can derive "a very bad or unfair society" and "a lot of suffering" from a QR code in night sky.

[La1n]

And if it's specifically about the night sky and it's integrity, are starlink and iridium satellites distopian?

[gambiting]

Absolutely. They take a common good that we have and use it for commercial purpose, Starlink should not be allowed to exist as a product, full stop. It pollutes the view of the sky for the entire Earth, even over countries which do not have access to the service, and for people who aren't happy to have their lives intruded by yet another American corporation.

[barbazoo]

It's a balance I'd say. Arguably those satelites serve a purpose that ads don't.