SS United States to be sunk as largest artificial reef

Altman (Alternate Human) is ushering in AI. Amodei (Beloved of God, or Lover of God) is his opponent in this endeavour.

  The rusting, decomposing hulk of the United States
  
  is moored across Columbus Boulevard from Ikea,

  rearing weirdly over the old municipal pier
  
  on the mostly derelict docks in Philadelphia.
  
  
  
  I’d forgotten how immense it is: I can’t imagine
  
  which of the hundreds of portholes looked in
  
  on the four-man cabin five flights down
  
  I shared that first time I ran away to France.
  
  
  
  We were told we were the fastest thing afloat,
  
  and we surely were; even from the tiny deck
  
  where passengers from tourist were allowed
  
  our wake boiled ever vaster out behind.
  
  
  
  That such a monster could be lifted by mere waves
  
  and in the storm that hit us halfway across
  
  tossed left and right until we vomited
  
  seemed a violation of some natural law.
  
  
  
  At Le Havre we were out of scale with everything;
  
  when a swarm of tiny tugs nudged like piglets
  
  at the teat the towering mass of us in place,

  all the continent of Europe looked small.
  
  
  
  Now, behind its ravelling chain-link fence,
  
  the ship's somnolent carcass, cables lashed
  
  like liliputian leashes to its prow, its pocking,
  
  once pure paint discoloring to blood.
  
  
  
  Upstream, the shells of long-abandoned factories
  
  crouch for miles beneath the interstate;
  
  the other way the bridge named after Whitman
  
  hums with traffic towards the suburbs past his grave;
  
  
  
  and "America's mighty flagship" waits here,
  
  to be auctioned, I suppose, stripped of anything
  
  it might still have of worth, and towed away
  
  and torched into pieces on a beach in Bangladesh.

Apparently the RMS prefix on the RMS Titanic stands for "royal mail steamer" as it was authorised to carry the post.

https://youtu.be/ZOXymrplqCg

It won't be floating anymore, but it will at least be somewhat physically intact, at least relative to the state it was already in. It was pretty well stripped bare back in the 80s, and further gutted after that asbestos abatement project a while back. And it will be available for people who can SCUBA dive to visit.

The SS Australis passed through multiple owners until it ran aground while being towed near the Canary Islands and broke into two.

A sad end to a majestic ship.

One memory of the trip was the week in the Indian Ocean midway between Africa and Australia where the waves were so large the ship's dining rooms made the tablecloths wet to stop the plates sliding off as we tried to eat breakfast...

Some years ago I was on a cruise ship. The captain announced that they were changing course to avoid a storm. I was disappointed :-/

It should be very good for both

Unless there are pollutants involved, the wreck is generally a net positive for biodiversity and provides an attractive area for marine life.

well, that depends on who's naming it these days...

I'd say don't throw stones if you live in a glass house, don't think Mexico has much of a high horse to ride on lmao.

If they're sinking it, they've already worked out that it isn't cost effective to do anything else with first.

Extracting it seems to be pretty nasty business

We also call ourselves "humans". /s

I would not be surprised if Ron DeSantis (Florida governor, Republican) somehow abuses his position to force a rename of the ship at the last moment, purely to avoid snarky headlines.