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> 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 p

> 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 ago
  Perhaps 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 ago
A more humble suggestion for saving the Earth: re-plant the trees that went into packaging Amazon's deliveries.
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  Paper 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 ago
If 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.

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 ago
Perhaps 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 ago

A more humble suggestion for saving the Earth: re-plant the trees that went into packaging Amazon's deliveries.

PhasmaFelis 9y ago
Paper 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 ago

If 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.