Because it's a short bit of worth-reading hard sci-fi written by someone known to much of the HN community who's not known for writing engaging fiction, but clearly capable of it.

So, it's interesting on few levels, but probably divisive in terms of audience (i.e., you're either going to like it or hate it).

The story is part of a bigger narrative, so it's here because it's part of the thread he's been tugging on for a few months. Feel free to ignore.