It’s Time to Think. This is a complex question, and the answer is not “we are a weak and lazy civilisation, if only we’d build build build instead”. We’ve put

It’s Time to Think. This is a complex question, and the answer is not “we are a weak and lazy civilisation, if only we’d build build build instead”. We’ve put the world’s mask factories where it made the most economic sense, and anyone willing to go out on a limb and move production to where it makes the least economic sense will be crushed by fellow capitalists. I sometimes wonder if nerds are subconsciously benchmarking our technological and economic progress against science fiction staples, which are great for firing the imagination but are a monumentally poor benchmark of actual progress. It’s very easy to utter the words “let’s colonise the galaxy”, but the logistical and technical barriers are formidable: in reality this undertaking is impossible for our civilisation, because we lack the knowledge that might allow us to do it (assuming that it is possible). Commercial innovation is a very thin crust on top of a large body of fundamental research, which is required to make things like economic supersonic flight a reality for millions. So before we can “build build build”, we must invest in fundamental research.