I very much understand the frustration on display here about the setback to science from this decision. But (admitting up front that I don&#x27;t know a lot about the specific cultural context) I&#x27;m surprised by the lack of sympathy being shown for the people who evidently hold this space sacred.<p>All the (great!) scientific rationale in the world doesn&#x27;t change the fact that this fits <i>really</i> well into the age-old pattern of Western societies barging in and imposing their will on other cultures. Pretty much every step of the displacement and marginalization of native peoples in history was seen as perfectly justified by the Western societies carrying it out. Now, personally, I&#x27;m much happier with the argument &quot;we must seize this unique scientific opportunity&quot; than with &quot;we must seize these natural resources for a profit&quot;. But I expect that from the point of view of the native community, the result feels pretty much the same either way. I&#x27;m not happy with the pattern in Western history of condoning this sort of imperialism, and I&#x27;d very much like us as a society to quit it.<p>(And for the record, I can&#x27;t shake the feeling that if it turned out that the Temple Mount in Jerusalem had turned out to be the ideal site for this telescope, most people would not be so immediately dismissive of the voices raised in opposition to building it there. Heck, I even expect there would be more sympathy if the best place for the telescope were a &quot;secular sacred site&quot; like Mount Rushmore: &quot;Don&#x27;t make Honest Abe wear a flying saucer for a hat!&quot; the nation would cry, and nobody would accuse them of &quot;tribalism&quot;.)