Moana don't care

As Zim noted, the 30-meter telescope is not going to be built. The old Keck 'scope is still doing some science up Mauna Kea, but the TMT is NGH.

TMT is a rabbit in a racecourse. It is dangled in front of dogs, who are American taxpayers. Hawaii will gladly take those taxes. Hawaii might even deserve them. But those moneys are not going to build TMT.

People like Zim who like science but don't get to spend their money on the science they want, could complain about Rent Seeking and about what a shame these Polynesians represent to the spirit of Moana, maybe even about how G-d created Mauna Kea whose heights the Hawaiians never even inhabited; but that is all so much hobbitspeak against the highelves (to channel Yarvin). The Hawaiians have to want the science. Right now they want Zim's tears. Those tears to them are sweeter than a banana daiquiri.

Honestly the Aceribo observatory had similar - but it had one clear advantage: it was expendable. Mauna Kea is a Chile in the northern hemisphere, a mountain surrounded by nothing and over the cloud-layer. This is not easily replaced. What else do we do - erect a 'scope 4.145 km up some Aleutian mountain? I don't know about the cloud-cover. It might have to be raised up a tower.

The only solution is to make Mauna Kea expendable. That is: to build the 'scopes in space.

Meanwhile, don't fund any astronomy in Hawaii. At this point it's nothing but an excuse for nerds to get their unis to pay for their trips to Hawaii - maybe enjoying some, ah, "arr en arr" from the local traffickers. Those nerds can pay their own way.

HE HAOLE HUPO KEIA 10/20: Take it from the source - read the comments.