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Bezos Says He’ll Spend ‘Amazon Lottery Winnings’ on Space Travel
- cryptoz 9y ago> James Watson, who co-discovered the structure of DNA, advised Bezos to spend just a quarter of his fortune on space exploration, so he can take care of this planet’s needs. “ This is an odd opinion to have here. I thought Bezos was clear that Blue Origin is all about protecting the Earth in the first place! The stated goal of Blue Origin is to stop all mining and manufacturing on Earth, to move it off-world, and leave Earth a peaceful place to live and generally hang out. The entire purpose of Blue Origin is to stop humanity from resource-extracting-and-polluting Earth's oceans, land and water. I cannot envision a way Bezos would be better suited to personally spend his money on solving Earth problems than the way he has just posited.
- imglorp 9y ago> stop humanity from resource-extracting-and-polluting Earth's oceans, land and water I'm not sure I see the connection. I'd argue most of the damage we're doing to the earth is not industrial: overfishing the oceans, raising cattle, slash and burn agriculture, extracting and burning hydrocarbons, transportation, waste disposal. Moving industry off planet is fine but we still need to address these things. Now, if you want to move a bunch of humans off planet, that would be super.
- cryptoz 9y agoPerhaps I oversimplified. Bezos would also like to move millions of people off-planet as well. Additionally, it's not just mining and manufacturing, but nearly all of humanity's Earthly activities can be done in space. There is some more details about his vision in this WaPo piece: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/jeff-bezos-pulls-back-the-curtain-on-his-plans-for-space/2016/03/09/a0716c7e-e5f4-11e5-a6f3-21ccdbc5f74e_story.html?utm_term=.d391ad598df4 https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/jeff-bezos-p...
- Mediterraneo10 9y ago> Bezos would also like to move millions of people off-planet as well. In Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy, one of the points made is that even with multiple space elevators, you could never move more people off the planet than are being born on it at the same time. Consequently, space exploration is not a cure for overpopulation. KSR researched this 25 years ago, has the math on that changed?
- castle-bravo 9y agoA more humble suggestion for saving the Earth: re-plant the trees that went into packaging Amazon's deliveries.
- PhasmaFelis 9y agoPaper and cardboard generally come from fast-growing pine plantations. Those are replanted as soon as they're harvested.
- modeless 9y ago> The stated goal of Blue Origin is to stop all mining and manufacturing on Earth, to move it off-world, and leave Earth a peaceful place to live and generally hang out. Wow, I hadn't heard Blue Origin's vision stated like that. I think it's a great idea. Elon Musk gets a lot of press for his "Mars backup plan" vision; why doesn't Blue Origin promote their vision more heavily? Here's Bezos talking about it: https://www.geekwire.com/2016/interview-jeff-bezos/ https://www.geekwire.com/2016/interview-jeff-bezos/ And interestingly, it's a vision he has had in some form since at least high school: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/for-bezos-the-post-represents-new-frontier/2013/08/10/ba7cfeb6-013c-11e3-9a3e-916de805f65d_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/for-bezos-th...
- remir 9y agoIf we want to protect the Earth, then we need to address the elephant in the room which is the insane number of humans on the planet and the resources needed to keep them alive. It's crucial that we help third world countries rise from poverty so women can get an education and be something else than baby making machines. Bill Gates is doing wonderful things in this regard.
- wrycoder 9y agoI would like to see him put a big chunk into a fusion research skunkworks.
- Scoundreller 9y agoWould make sense to help power AWS... Who knew they do own some solar and wind assets: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/sustainability/ https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/sustainability/
- ty_a 9y agoBezos is an investor in General Fusion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Fusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Fusion
- hownottowrite 9y agoThe article's profile image of Bezos eating an iguana should be an article all by itself.
- BrazeBeefNoodle 9y agoYeah that was gross. I used to have pet iguanas, so that pic was just about as disturbing as seeing that platter with a dog or cat on it.
- hownottowrite 9y agoReminded me of this: Bezos had ordered a dish called Tom’s Big Breakfast, a preparation of Mediterranean octopus that includes potatoes, bacon, green garlic yogurt, and a poached egg. “You’re the octopus that I’m having for breakfast,” Rutledge remembers Bezos saying. “When I look at the menu, you’re the thing I don’t understand, the thing I’ve never had. I must have the breakfast octopus.” [0] [0] https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2014/july/matt-rutledge-woot-has-a-new-deal-mediocre-corporation/ https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2014/july/...
- comboy 9y agoIt was my first reaction too, but when you think about it, a steak or some bacon probably wouldn't seem disturbing and these animals have way more advanced brains.
- goshx 9y agoNext time you are in the Florida Keys you may give it a try. That's how they are solving the overpopulation.
- exclusiv 9y agoI don't find it to be a big deal. Everyone in my group tried iguana in Curacao where it's illegal to hunt them. They're absolutely everywhere but you can eat the ones that are farm raised so they show up on the menu at many places. But yeah if you have a pet iguana your perception will be vastly different. If you come from an island full of them where it's normal to eat them then you wouldn't think twice about it. If you're somewhere in the middle of that spectrum you'll either be the curious type, the snakes/lizards are gross/not for food type, or be the non-adventurous type. I wouldn't make a habit of eating iguana or horse or other things many would consider oddities but if I'm visiting a place where it's part of their culture I'll see what it's about.
- schrototo 9y agoHow about he spend it on paying his workers a living wage?
- drharby 9y agoBecause thats his perogative?
- saudioger 9y agoprerogative, and yeah - if you're the richest person on the planet it would be nice if the employees that got you there weren't living paycheck to paycheck.
- chii 9y agobut he may not be so rich if his workers didn't live paycheck to paycheck...
- PhasmaFelis 9y agoI don't understand why you think this is a good argument. There are plenty of things people are allowed to do that they really shouldn't.
- drharby 9y agoIts not a justification, it is a matter of fact that his decision making is not dependent on the masses' value system outside the realm of law. Thats what anti trust laws are for. I perceive any such talk that he should spend his money a certain way as propaganda.
- PhasmaFelis 9y agoSo your argument is "anything you can legally get away with is morally acceptable"?
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- PhasmaFelis 9y agoYou'd think he could put some of that money towards not abusing his own employees. https://gizmodo.com/reminder-amazon-treats-its-employees-like-shit-1792642652 https://gizmodo.com/reminder-amazon-treats-its-employees-lik...
- cmdli 9y agoCould a space enthusiast explain the utilitarian point of space travel to me? Space is cool, but it seems like most of the posited uses for space are either extremely speculative (asteroid mining) or a "solution" to a doomsday scenario (a small colony surviving if humans can't survive on Earth).
- Moncefmd 9y agoFrom a technology point of view, one of the collateral benefits of space exploration is that the technology and science that will come from that effort can be used elsewhere.
- btkramer9 9y agoLiving in space or another planet requires the highest levels of sustainability. Necessity is the mother of invention. Everything learned in space will be used on Earth where applicable.
- keyme 9y agoLet me ask you this: when you think about our future in 100-200 years, what do you see? Do you really see us sitting around here and just being? Just stagnating? Waiting for the real-estate and resources to finally run out? If you don't, or hope that it's not what all of this amounts to, the only question remaining should be "if not now, then when?".
- pw 9y agoKinda sad to see when organization like the Against Malaria Foundation and GiveDirectly could absorb hundreds of millions in additional funding. I know long-term thinking, break-through technologies, blah, blah, blah, but spending $3000 to save a life via mosquito nets or $500/year to raise someone out of extreme seem like easy, immediate wins that should be prioritized.
- civilian 9y agoYep. This has way higher priority than even most other charities too. Sometimes I compare the policies of "homeless maintenance" in the US to what it could be done in the third world. I would re-allocate funds in a second if I was hegemon.
- blackbagboys 9y agoThat's great that he gets to spend the massive amounts of wealth he's accumulated through monopolistic business practices, ruthlessly exploiting his labor force (or his "contractors" labor force) and avoiding taxes on his pet hobby, but I'd prefer we just take the money and spend it on things people actually need.
- jacknews 9y agoYes, I was going to say, it's not a "lottery win" at all. All his employees have contributed to the pot (their salaries are less than the company profits+capital gains), and as the company owner, he's the automatic winner.