Richard Branson’s space flight

UngainlyTitan · Jul 13, 2021

CleverNickName said:
Meh. I'm a civil engineer; I'm not all that impressed with luxury high-altitude plane tickets for the super-rich. If you want to impress me with your wealth, let's have a race to see which billionaire can improve the most bridges, or remove the most garbage from the ocean. Maybe a race to see who can build the most efficient desalination plant?

The suggestion that these rockets are somehow making life better for everyone because of the amount of money changing hands and the technological breakthroughs? I don't know what to say to that except there are other hands to put money into, other sources that it could trickle down from, and other technologies that could be improved upon. The problem is that they are all boring. --sigh--

I understand where you are coming from but the issues of tackling poverty, infrastructure or anything else is a deeply political one and not allowed by site rules. I actually believe that tackling these issues is one of political will. Or at least persuading enough people that the attempt should be made.
But given our current system, one will have billionaires and given that, billionaires funding a space program is less bad than funding a small war somewhere.

FitzTheRuke · Jul 13, 2021

Grendel_Khan said:
Don't forget the assumption that these are baby steps toward the eventual goal of colonizing space, a deeply dorky outcome that ignores all the inhospitable-but-unclaimed territories here on Earth, and that assumes we can somehow outrun climate collapse (something that billionaires could pour their money into averting, and get legitimately great attention for). But part of the issue there is that if you're the type of billionaire dead set on becoming a space tourist, you probably also just blithely assume the world is going to innovate itself out of catastrophe. A highly cool way to think, given that the climate disasters are already happening, and there's not a single solution in sight.

Solutions will come at the 11th hour, after an unfortunately awful lot of people have died. It isn't necessary for it to happen that way. It's a huge waste. But it seems most likely to me at this point.

J.Quondam · Jul 13, 2021

FitzTheRuke said:
Solutions will come at the 11th hour, after an unfortunately awful lot of people have died. It isn't necessary for it to happen that way. It's a huge waste. But it seems most likely to me at this point.

Honestly? I fear it's already the 13th hour now.

Grendel_Khan · Jul 13, 2021

FitzTheRuke said:
Solutions will come at the 11th hour, after an unfortunately awful lot of people have died. It isn't necessary for it to happen that way. It's a huge waste. But it seems most likely to me at this point.

I hope you're right, but I don't see any evidence suggesting even that sort of bittersweet outcome. If anything the pandemic has shown just how terrible the most powerful nations are at responding to a complex global threat, and how utterly useless and disconnected billionaires are when we most need them. And there's no vaccine for this problem. Even if there was one, it's looking more and more like it's just too late for that. The assumption that human life is a constant, that we're the main characters and all future catastrophes are just some echo of previous plotlines that we overcame with gumption and grit just doesn't make sense to me. Sometimes the party's just over.

CleverNickName · Jul 13, 2021

ardoughter said:
billionaires funding a space program is less bad than funding a small war somewhere.

That is a dubious binary if I've ever seen one.

FitzTheRuke · Jul 13, 2021

Grendel_Khan said:
I hope you're right, but I don't see any evidence suggesting even that sort of bittersweet outcome. If anything the pandemic has shown just how terrible the most powerful nations are at responding to a complex global threat, and how utterly useless and disconnected billionaires are when we most need them. And there's no vaccine for this problem. Even if there was one, it's looking more and more like it's just too late for that. The assumption that human life is a constant, that we're the main characters and all future catastrophes are just some echo of previous plotlines that we overcame with gumption and grit just doesn't make sense to me. Sometimes the party's just over.

It's possible that we'll be "too late", but from everything I've observed, including this latest pandemic, it seems to me that once things get really bad (bad enough that we can't ignore/blame/pretend othewise any more, then we tend to get together and get stuff done. (Some of us keep ignoring/blaming/pretending, but enough of us get motivated to get stuff done.) Then we'll figure it out.

On a slightly different but adjacent topic - I'd be totally against our attempts to Go To Mars. I think it's the height of foolishness. BUT if we can learn how to put people on Mars and not have them die than we can figure out how to live here (on the only planet we are suited to). ALSO, if we find out how terrible Mars is, we might start thinking about taking better care of Earth.

Stephen Shomo · Jul 13, 2021

"And in addition to bringing along photographs of his family, he reportedly kept a promise to honor victims of the Pulse Massacre in Orlando, Fla, by wearing an LGBTQ Pride rainbow ribbon aboard his Virgin Galactic spaceship when it flew 50 miles above the earth on Sunday."
Read more: Richard Branson Wore A Pride Ribbon In Flight To Edge Of Space

FitzTheRuke · Jul 13, 2021

CleverNickName said:
That is a dubious binary if I've ever seen one.

It may ignore all the other, better options, but it's not wrong. It is definitely better for billionaires to go to space than to fund wars. That I can confidently agree with. It's better than a LOT of things they could spend their money on. Unfortunately, it is also worse than a lot of things that they could spend their money on, but that's another story...

CleverNickName · Jul 13, 2021

FitzTheRuke said:
It may ignore all the other, better options, but it's not wrong. It is definitely better for billionaires to go to space than to fund wars. That I can confidently agree with. It's better than a LOT of things they could spend their money on. Unfortunately, it is also worse than a lot of things that they could spend their money on, but that's another story...

Right, but literally everything else is also better. There are more options here than just "spaceships or war."