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Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres

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Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres

#601

Post by joe_the_user »

aylmao wrote: post #543
jamesgreenleaf wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Earth is going to die one day. The Sun will die too. There is no guarantee that intelligent life will survive on this single planet, even if we do a perfect job of taking care of it. Catastrophic, species-killing events can happen at any time. If we wish to ensure the long-term survival of the only intelligent life in the universe that we know about (as well as the survival of all the other creatures on Earth, wh…

> The Earth is going to die one day. [...] If we wish to ensure the long-term survival of the only intelligent life in the universe that we know about (as well as the survival of all the other creatures on Earth, who don't have our knowledge) then adapting, exploring, and surviving in space is what we must do. I think that's the gripe. We all wish to ensure our long-term survival, but worrying about becoming a multi-…

Yeah, the idea that current space initiatives have relationship to preserving humans from the destruction of earth is ridiculous and contemptable. Even an incredibly polluted earth experiencing runaway global is going to remain less hostile than anywhere else for a long time. And that's not saying the species would survive on such an earth.

Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres

#603

Post by mikewarot »

xyzzyz wrote: post #554
cwkoss wrote: post #547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neither Bezos or Branson achieved orbital velocities, which is the minimum bar for doing useful things related to space. It really is just a carnival ride - it's not about who's in it, its that they didn't actually achieve anything: what they built has no utility except as a dick-measuring contest. Orbit is a little bit of upwards velocity and a whole lot of sideways velocity. They only did the much simpler former. T…

> Neither Bezos or Branson achieved orbital velocities, which is the minimum bar for doing useful things related to space. Well, ICBMs are very useful, and only require sub-orbital velocities, though I don't necessarily want Bezos or Branson to get those.

ICBMs travel about 7km/s, Bezos and Branson both got up to about 1km/s, 1/7th of the speed, and 1/49 the kinetic energy.

ICBMs can be converted to carry a human in a tin-can on top into space, if you happen to find yourself in a space-race.

Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres

#604

Post by kennywinker »

throwawayboise wrote: post #42
LukeBMM wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd suggest that Jeff Bezos is unlikely to pay a meaningful amount in taxes (in this case, meaning "relative to the action" rather than "relative to his overall wealth"), regardless of what he does.

I mean, there's either a legal tax shelter he will take advantage of, or he'll pay the gift tax. People complain about the wealthy and giant corporations "paying no tax" but they are paying the minimal taxes that the law reqires, as we all do (any readers who voluntarily send extra money to the IRS are excepted).

Weirdly, a system where large sums of money are required to hold political power seems to result in low tax burdens for the ultra-rich. I can’t quite figure out how the two are linked tho… /s

Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres

#605

Post by xvilka »

maverick-iceman wrote: post #232
sigstoat wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The core fallacy is to assume whatever made Earth less than ideal will not follow us to the new destination. there are plenty of existential risks which can't "follow" anything, or happen to more than one planet simultaneously. does living on two planets eliminate all existential risks? no, and nobody has claimed that.

You see earthly stuff as a risk because all the positives are grandfathered in and you only see the negatives. Bats and pagolins, now are public enemy #1. In general animal reservoirs for viruses and species jumps can't possibly happen on Mars because there are no animals and no other specie. So we have eliminated that risk right? But....that also means no food, no ecosystem, no biosphere, basically absence of everyt…

> But that ship won't set sail for a long while.

Right. But you have to start to be able to reach that point. And sooner you start - the sooner you will arrive to it.

Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres

#606

Post by joe_the_user »

kelnos wrote: post #274
jamesgreenleaf wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Earth is going to die one day. The Sun will die too. There is no guarantee that intelligent life will survive on this single planet, even if we do a perfect job of taking care of it. Catastrophic, species-killing events can happen at any time. If we wish to ensure the long-term survival of the only intelligent life in the universe that we know about (as well as the survival of all the other creatures on Earth, wh…

I think part of the negativity is the expectation that we'll eventually screw up any other plant we inhabit as well. Which I think is true, unless we make some fundamental changes to our society. But I agree that it's important to make planetary colonization a priority now rather than waiting. We can -- and should -- develop the technology and expertise needed to build a settlement on Mars while simultaneously trying…

I think part of the negativity is the expectation that we'll eventually screw up any other plant we inhabit as well.

No, Mars or Venus are as hostile, more hostile probably than what would result if we screwed up the earth utterly. Radiation, lack of atmosphere, lack of sufficient gravity, lack of the resources that millions of years of life give. These aren't small problems.

Humans are extraordinarily dependent on the conditions of life on earth. That might be changeable in the long term but sending rockets into space isn't really related to such change. Extreme revolutions in biology and materials are whats needed.

Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres

#607

Post by xvilka »

coliveira wrote: post #236
Zelphyr wrote: post #9

All the critics lobbing cynicism against Bezos, Branson, and Musk saying, in essence, that their money is better spent here at home reminds me of a wonderful scene from The West Wing when one character asks why we have to go to Mars: "'Cause it's next. For we came out of the cave, and we looked over the hill, and we saw fire. And we crossed the ocean, and we pioneered the West, and we took to the sky. The history of…

> It's how we get to the moon and Mars and how we survive as a species. No, it's not we. It's them: billionaires and their friends. Other people will never go to the moon and mars because billionaires are using their money to lobby politicians in order avoid taxes and get more subsidies at our expense.

> Other people will never go to the moon and mars

Oh, they will. Someone should build the colony. Someone should do the work to maintain and grow the colony, etc.

Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres

#608

Post by malwrar »

aylmao wrote: post #543
jamesgreenleaf wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Earth is going to die one day. The Sun will die too. There is no guarantee that intelligent life will survive on this single planet, even if we do a perfect job of taking care of it. Catastrophic, species-killing events can happen at any time. If we wish to ensure the long-term survival of the only intelligent life in the universe that we know about (as well as the survival of all the other creatures on Earth, wh…

> The Earth is going to die one day. [...] If we wish to ensure the long-term survival of the only intelligent life in the universe that we know about (as well as the survival of all the other creatures on Earth, who don't have our knowledge) then adapting, exploring, and surviving in space is what we must do. I think that's the gripe. We all wish to ensure our long-term survival, but worrying about becoming a multi-…

I don't think Musk, Bezos, or Bransen are going to be solving war anytime soon. We can be concerned about human suffering while also being exciting about this possible incredible step forward for humanity. I could go to space in my lifetime, that's incredible to me and fills me with hope.

Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres

#609

Post by BugsJustFindMe »

mdorazio wrote: post #581
dmz73 wrote: post #550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is not that billionaires are spending their money on space exploration. The problem is that we have many billionaires and millions (billions world wide) are barely surviving. Do you want our species to expand to other planets with this kind of society? We will all end up being slaves if this keeps going on, not in 19th century sense but modern kind - forced to work endless hours just to scrape enough mone…

The issue with this line of reasoning is that money is generally not going to solve the problem of people barely surviving. In the vast majority of cases, sociopolitical issues are the root cause and throwing money at things doesn't really help. If you don't believe me, look at the history of aid to sub-saharan Africa. So there's no reason we can't both spend billionaires' money on space development and fix terrestri…

> In the vast majority of cases, sociopolitical issues are the root cause and throwing money at things doesn't really help.

This ignores the fact that extreme and worsening inequality is the sociopolitical issue people are talking about. That's literally a problem between where the money is and where it should be. Billionaires becoming billionaires by extracting value from the bent backs of workers is actually a problem that can be addressed by just moving money around.

If Bezos built a penis rocket _and_ fed and clothed and cared for the homeless until he only had even 1 billion dollars left, or if he shared his profits with his employees until he only had even 1 billion dollars left, nobody would mind the rocket (though people would still make fun of it for looking like a penis), and 1 billion dollars is still incredibly obscene.

Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres

#610

Post by superfrank »

spoonjim wrote: post #578
superfrank wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The truth is that a lot of people are hurting badly, and to watch others do extravagant things that don't make a difference for the bettering of humanity now just pours salt on the 'wound' of poverty. For many people, it's visible proof of the gaps getting wider and wider. I hear you there, but I don't understand why Musk gets a free pass then? He's just as rich as Bezos and just as out of touch with what the needs…

Because what Musk is doing is pushing a technological frontier that can create new technologies to serve humankind while Bezos and Branson are not. It’s like inventing a new kind of ship vs. buying a super yacht.

I don't know all the ins-and-outs of everything these three companies are working on, but I'm having a very hard time believing that not a single innovative technological has come out Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic. Especially since many Blue Origin employees are former SpaceX employees.
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