Outrage ensues online after billionaire's massive new yacht spotted at dock in San Diego: 'Since when?'

A megayacht owned by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has prompted a conversation on Reddit about these extravagant vessels.

Zuckerberg's 390-foot long, $300 million yacht, known as the Launchpad, was pictured docked in San Diego, with the images later shared with the r/SanDiegan community.

The vessel's presence split opinion. On one side, there were the folks who considered this an overly efxtravagant display of wealth.

"Since when has ostentatiousness been the goal?" one user said.

"Rich people are so often oblivious to how disgusting they look," added another.

But one user pointed out the potential benefits of boats like these.

"Most here hate on them, but the engineering and crews of these have contributed to science and drove down science costs significantly," one person pointed out, noting that they used to work in oceanography. "Scientists utilize these ships of opportunity to study wildlife and physical oceanography at sea."

Do those benefits outweigh the damage these enormous vessels cause, though? Charity Oxfam produced a report that found an ultra-rich European with a yacht is responsible for as much carbon pollution as what the average European would create in 585 years.

What's more, Oxfam found the pollution produced by the world's richest 1% of people exacerbates global inequality, world hunger, and premature deaths.

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Yes, these vessels have the potential to be utilized for scientific advances. But that ignores the fact they are also predominantly a personal plaything of the super-rich.

These enormous vessels use up significant resources and create lots of planet-warming pollution in construction. When out at sea, they harm marine ecosystems by dumping sewage (per QZ), and they interfere with marine animals' communication abilities.

If the rich understood their polluting impact or were penalized for it, they might reconsider the need for such an unnecessary investment.

Orcas have been recorded striking boats at an increasing rate, perhaps because of the issues they cause with communication and the fact that many have been caught up in fishing gear. One Redditor suggested that maybe they could be enlisted to help strike back at this particular vessel.

"That's right orcas, this one right here," they jokingly commented. "We'll let your cousins out of Seaworld to help."

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