While many were excited to watch rich people get to space on technology developed by us commoners, I'll be the pooper. I promise this is not wealth envy. It is a complete disdain for a system that has been effective in most of us doing the work. It is a system that uses the intellect of most to benefit just a select few.
SPACE? Another billionaire free media advertising spectacle for the gullible?
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I wish I could feel the glee and excitement I see on the faces of too many reporters covering the Virgin Galactic launch of billionaire Richard Branson into "space." But I cannot help but look at it with contempt as it is the media exhilaration with Trump, just not for something that may not seem as evil but actually worse.
As a mechanical engineer myself, real scientific accomplishments really titillates me. This infuriates me because it endeavors to make money for a few rich people from a few rich people. They are commercializing the technology all Americans paid for over 60 years ago. And they are using some advancements from other technologies Americans paid for.
One should remember that the private sector, for all you hear, does not take as much risk as you would believe. They generally socialize their losses. In other words, they find a way for we-the-people to pay for it either through tax cuts, allowances, write-offs, or straight out pilfer of the treasury. But that is for another blog post.
As I watched "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," they broke in to cover the event. As I watched my taped episode of Fareed Zakaria GPS, they broke in to cover that story. I must commend Fareed Zakaria for giving it the best context thus far by having Neil deGrasse Tyson as his guest. He gave scientific accuracy to all the hype being carried by just about all of the networks.
He made it clear that while the U.S. Space Station is bare in space, Virgin Galactic's flight was not really a space flight. He gave scope and scale to how little was really accomplished. Technically speaking, we did more in 1961, 60 years ago, with limited technological advancement than was accomplished for the world by Virgin Galactic today. But it is hard to break through the hype.
Only the public sector can do space for the right purpose
I absolutely believe in space travel and all the research for it. But I think having billionaires expand on technology we all developed is a sell-out of the American people. We should continue with our tax dollars investing in research.
As Neil deGrasse Tyson said, that it took 60+ years for the private sector to execute is surprising. Of course, one should not be surprised. The private sector is profit-based. As such, they are not necessarily looking for innovation that does not have profitable mass appeal.
We must be responsible for researching and developing technologies to find and nudge life-extinction meteors and asteroids. That is not a job the limited-risk nature of the private sector would do.
After I posted the blog to the Coffee Party, I had an exchange that irked me. Here is the exchange.
Jerry Armstrong
It's wonderful. It was a worthy endeavor while also being a joy ride for a billionaire. So what. It promotes even more technology and space travel. The naysayers forget that it was rich people who sank money into "flying machines" a hundred years ago, which brought us where we are today. Only the narrow minded fail to see the advantage of a private citizen pouring money into space travel.
Egberto Willies
Jerry Armstrong Your response is the one that most frustrates me. If I rob you and then invest some of the loot in something that benefits the few makes it OK? Using your wordage, "Only the narrow-minded fail to see that the wealth of the rich is the capital that was not paid to those who afforded them the wealth they have." We are in a system that sanitized the theft from the masses through financial structures that abstract said theft.
Jerry Armstrong
Egberto Willies -- My comment = my opinion. I think you are being shortsighted. And I am not naive regarding the ultra wealthy.
Egberto Willies
Jerry Armstrong You are absolutely right. I am entitled to my informed opinion. But with all due respect, my response to you simply used your sentence construct to answer. It was not an opinion. My response is qualifiable and quantifiable. Unfortunately, because we were all initially wedded to a particular ideology, too often we try to fit reality into it as opposed to seeing things as they are. Here is a quantifiable and absolute statement. No billionaire earned their fortune. The masses created it for them. Our economic model makes that theft legal based on how the economic system works.
I was impressed with the number of positive responses. Over the years, I have noticed that more and more people understand what a system based on antiseptic legal theft is all about. I have always thought that those oppressed for decades or indoctrinated suffer from a version of Stockholm's syndrome. I know I suffered from it for the first few decades of my life. It was amazing the freedom one feels when the chains are cut loose from the mind. But the fact that there are women and people of color who support Trump and current Republicans are probative.
Creating an equitable society will always be difficult, but it must be persistent, respectful, and civil. Most importantly, we must try to meet people where they are. I must admit, it takes a lot to maintain civility, respect, and persistence when the ones you know who continue to be taken advantage of continue to be the mouthpiece and are defenders of the culprits and the system.
Today we saw a show, a con, and free advertising for a billionaire. And Bezos' endeavor is likely to be the same. We need a real public space program that tackles real problems. Let the billionaires play with their toys. But do not make their whims our policy. They are out first and foremost to make a buck. There is nothing wrong with that as long as it isn't at our expense and paid for with the American people's intellectual property.
Folks, let's stay informed and not allow the billionaires, corporations, and billionaires to alter the state of reality.
Please listen to the entire video, both Tyson's and my point of view.
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