61–70 of 120 posts
How did a brief amusement ride into sub-orbital space advance spaceflight?
To reach orbit, you need to go one part up and four parts sideways. This flight was only the vertical component - essentially just 20% of the minimum bar for useful space activity.
> Neither side is necessarily wrong. It is reasonable to both be uncomfortable with Bezos' extreme wealth and what that means for society but also recognize that Blue Origin has advanced spaceflight. How did a brief amusement ride into sub-orbital space advance spaceflight? To reach orbit, you need to go one part up and four parts sideways. This flight was only the vertical component - essentially just 20% of the min…
> What the legion critics of Bezos and Blue Origin miss is that the company legitimately has the goal of ultimately saving planet Earth. > Bezos has a compelling vision for space, and it is entirely genuine. > He has the vision. He has the money. But at the age of 57, does he have enough years or willingness to ensure Blue Origin’s success? The central thesis of the article seems to boil down to the above quotations,…
If it came to the point where he had to sacrifice things he actually cares about to help others with no benefit to himself or his ego I would bet Bezos net worth that he wouldn't lift a finger. Maybe convincing himself he's working to save humanity is how he justifies not doing something really useful with his wealth, like saving tens of thousands of people from suffering and dieing of starvation, instead of playing billionaire space games.
> What the legion critics of Bezos and Blue Origin miss is that the company legitimately has the goal of ultimately saving planet Earth. > Bezos has a compelling vision for space, and it is entirely genuine. > He has the vision. He has the money. But at the age of 57, does he have enough years or willingness to ensure Blue Origin’s success? The central thesis of the article seems to boil down to the above quotations,…
This is just my own speculation, equally as invalid as the authors, but at most I'd say Bezos thinks his goals are entirely genuine, but it's entirely based on narcissism and wanting to be the only one smart/powerful enough to save us. If it came to the point where he had to sacrifice things he actually cares about to help others with no benefit to himself or his ego I would bet Bezos net worth that he wouldn't lift…
> What the legion critics of Bezos and Blue Origin miss is that the company legitimately has the goal of ultimately saving planet Earth. > Bezos has a compelling vision for space, and it is entirely genuine. > He has the vision. He has the money. But at the age of 57, does he have enough years or willingness to ensure Blue Origin’s success? The central thesis of the article seems to boil down to the above quotations,…
This is just my own speculation, equally as invalid as the authors, but at most I'd say Bezos thinks his goals are entirely genuine, but it's entirely based on narcissism and wanting to be the only one smart/powerful enough to save us. If it came to the point where he had to sacrifice things he actually cares about to help others with no benefit to himself or his ego I would bet Bezos net worth that he wouldn't lift…
"projects in the works to support moving heavy industry from the surface of our planet into space. ... To set humanity on this environmentally sustainable path" How is moving - literally - heavy industry into space environmentally friendly?
There's no environment in space, so displacing heavy industry on Earth (which does have an environment) with industry in space would theoretically be a good thing. This depends on exactly where in space you do this, though, and the number of rocket launches on Earth required to support heavy industry in space could have a significant impact on the environment.
A space elevator could potentially be much better, but none of these private companies are pursuing space elevators.
Investing money into developing renewable energy power for heavy industry makes infinitely more sense, but isn't as cool as launching rockets. IIRC the Gates Foundation is investing in a solar powered method for smelting steel.
> The problem is that by beginning his company with a focus on space tourism and flying on the very first mission himself, Bezos only plays into the hands of critics. I'd frame it as Bezos demonstrated supreme confidence in the rocket by being personally on the first manned flight.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right, because of that famous economic principle that monopolies create the best and most efficient technologies, and competition is bad.
Monopolies are efficient, that's why they exist and survive. The bad part is that they can capture all the economic profit from an activity. But there doesn't necessarily matter for leisure activities like space travel.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is just my own speculation, equally as invalid as the authors, but at most I'd say Bezos thinks his goals are entirely genuine, but it's entirely based on narcissism and wanting to be the only one smart/powerful enough to save us. If it came to the point where he had to sacrifice things he actually cares about to help others with no benefit to himself or his ego I would bet Bezos net worth that he wouldn't lift…
He could start by treating his own employees like humans. There's a great mass of "humanity" whose lives need improving and they're called Amazon workers.