9 ms·

Watching Jeff Bezos Go to Space Was More Depressing Than Inspiring

83 points by amznbyebyebye 5y ago

jacknews 5y ago
giant dick makes maiden trip
amznbyebyebye 5y ago
“Perhaps someday Bezos might reveal that he was, as former astronaut Col. Chris Hadfield dared to hope on his CNN panel, brought back down to Earth metaphorically as well as physically by experiencing the planet he’s so thoroughly conquered from so many miles away. For now, though, the visual of the richest man in the world fist-pumping his way out of a rocket and into a giddy champagne toast says more than either he or the gushing pundits ever could.”
- Corrado 5y ago
  I think if this happened an Bezos has such a revelation, then this whole thing might have been worth it. However, given that his ex-wife seems to be spreading her wealth around and he hasn't caught the "bug" yet, I think this seems like a very remote possibility.
sydbarrett74 5y ago
Pay attention to what Bezos does, not what he says. Based on this, I can only conclude that he's a fuckwad of the first order.
galkk 5y ago
Some people will complain even in paradise.
- IntelMiner 5y ago
  I'm not sure what paradise is to be drawn at billionaires racing each other to space while the planet we all live on is in shambles on so many levels
  - wrnr 5y ago
    Why put salt on your potatoes while there are still people starving of hunger. Envy the billies all you want it won't make their live any worse or that of the poor any better.
    - zpeti 5y ago
      To people like the commenter it's much better if everyone is suffering than if some people aren't and some are.
    - 123pie123 5y ago
      I envy the billionaire bank balance, but it's not the money that makes you happy (above a certain level) but the options it allows you to do. obviously people are not keen on the actions /options that JB has choosen to make. Especially when you hear the stories of his employees and how much tax he pays
    - 8note 5y ago
      If you're gonna take the salt from the starving person to do it, it's probably a good idea to skip the salt
  - taway_scott 5y ago
    I think you should read this: https://launiusr.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/why-explore-space-a-1970-letter-to-a-nun-in-africa/ https://launiusr.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/why-explore-space-... I had similar views until 5 years ago and questioned almost every new investment/endeavour by people that required significant upfront capital investment but I think this letter has changed a lot of my thinking process.
    - input_sh 5y ago
      There's no "space exploration" to be done 50-70 miles above ground. Billionaires charging other billionaires for 10 minutes above the imaginary "space line" has nothing to do with space exploration.
- lvs 5y ago
  Oh, so this is paradise that I'm living in? Well that's wildly underwhelming.
xyzal 5y ago
I hoped a little he would stay in space.
sidcool 5y ago
What is the general opinion of HN? SpaceX tests/launches are met with much aplomb compared to Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic. My opinion: There is definitely a billionaire brag race on the space frontier, but I do think it's going to benefit space exploration overall.
- sascha_sl 5y ago
  SpaceX is a bad replacement for a well funded NASA, but they're at least interested in doing similar sorts of things whereas Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are purely for tourists in barely-space. I mean, the entire Blue Origin stream was an extremely annoying fake-hype sales pitch for the less than 1% of viewers who could actually afford it.
  - zpeti 5y ago
    > SpaceX is a bad replacement for a well funded NASA Please, explain exactly how you came to this conclusion. And use numbers, costs of R&D, costs of launches, etc. I'm absolutely baffled you could think this.
    - FeepingCreature 5y ago
      SpaceX is a bad replacement for a well-funded NASA with a clear mission that advances human exploration of space, without being beholden to political corruption, and with a driven and dedicated administrator. Of course, so is NASA itself.
    - greesil 5y ago
      SpaceX doesn't seem super interested in science, like you know probes 'n stuff. I would say that NASA was never super interested in reducing the cost to access space though. They complement each other very well.
    - ksd482 5y ago
      SpaceX is for profit, so it’s goals need to be profitable monetarily. NASA is government funded so it can focus on important things that may not be profitable monetarily.
triggercut 5y ago
Watching Wally Funk go to space almost makes up for it... almost.
raz32dust 5y ago
It's a sign of the growing inequality and desperation of the 99%. I think space tourism is a nice milestone for mankind. But people are feeling hopeless about their own future - they are not able to see any opportunity in this for themselves. Anti-rich sentiment is exploding along with general hopelessness with climate change and covid.
unclekev 5y ago
I couldn’t care any less about watching rich people launch them selves to the edge of space. I would much rather spend my time watching rich people launch things into space that will end up benefiting everyone like SpaceX using a Tesla as the dummy payload for the Falcon Heavy test flight. I understand the whole 'space tourism' thing, but the reality is that it's only going to be the Jeff Bezos and Richard Bransons of the world who will be able to afford this stuff for a long time to come. The scientific return from space tourism from companies like Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin seems far less important than the work that companies like SpaceX are doing. I'm not sure what point I'm trying to make here, But i just feel that rich folk launching them self to the edge of space is more entertainment/marketing vs actual scientific progress.
- andi999 5y ago
  To me this isn't really space travel. I think they shd aim at circling the earth at least once.
  - bongoman37 5y ago
    Yea, Russia did better in the 60s. This is nothing to brag about seriously.
- pvitz 5y ago
  SpaceX launching a Tesla into space for a test flight is firstly benefiting SpaceX and then Tesla. It is first and foremost a commercial entity working for profit and not scientific progress. That might be a side-effect, but I wouldn't frame it like that.
  - unclekev 5y ago
    I don’t disagree, but the "side-effects" of the things that SpaceX are doing for profit are much more substantial than any "side-effects" from any 'space tourism' company. Like with Dragon - SpaceX returned NASA/Americas ability to fly NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station for the first time since 2011. SpaceX developed the first NASA-certified commercial human spacecraft system in history. Indeed SpaceX is a commercial entity working for profit, Just like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, but I'd much rather throw my support behind the companies where the scientific benefits will flow much quicker into the public arena vs "rich dudes competing to get to the edge of space so they can call themselves astronauts"
username91 5y ago
It bothers me that the article makes no reference to Wally Funk, the pilot - she's now the oldest person to have gone to space. Maybe it's cheesy of me to get a kick out of 'records' like that, but I enjoy that a lot more than caring about who commissioned the flight.
- dkdbejwi383 5y ago
  She's achieved a lot more of substance in her life, compared to the big warehouse magnate.
- dundarious 5y ago
  By all means be happy for someone nice getting to do a cool thing, but it’s quite naive to be bothered by someone not mentioning this token gesture born of pure PR.
brodo 5y ago
This website is unusable and randomly reloads every couple of seconds. (Firefox mobile) Reader mode does not work.
pope_meat 5y ago
People really are getting fed up with billionaires. Everyone on HN: how can so many people be wrong? the self awareness, it's lacking.
- emptyparadise 5y ago
  We're a community of temporarily embarrassed CEOs after all.
- cinntaile 5y ago
  Their own quality of life is probably not very high for various reasons, billionaires are more a symptom of this trend rather than a direct cause imo. It just makes them an easy scapegoat.
AYBABTME 5y ago
I don't understand why people dedicate so much of their daily energy hating on billionaires' hobbies. The real waste of resource, in my mind, isn't in billionaires spending their pocket money in space exploration. It's in the millions of average persons dedicating 2 or 3h of their 16h/day budget on negative thoughts about other people's lives, poisoning their mood and ruining the 13 to 14 other hours they have left awake in those days. Whereas a positive outlook on things would probably provide them with a state of mind more fertile for ideas and improvements. I think a lot more human ingenuity-capacity is wasted in jealousy and resentment of others, than what these billionaires may be spending on their hobbies. * * * I think the Blue Origin/Virgin Galactic "buy a tourist flight to space" is not my cup of tea, and I'd rather they were doing actually useful industrious space exploration stuff. But I think their puerile vanity hobbies are also not bad for technological advancements. The engineers working on this are going to develop more skills and knowledge, and that will not be lost. It'd be better if it was to do science or some industry, but it's not a net negative either.
- ElvisTrout 5y ago
  The billionaire class are destroying our planet and exploiting us. If people spent as much time hating them as others do brown-nosing them we’d live in a better world.
- dave_sullivan 5y ago
  That's fine and all if you're talking about people in your immediate social circle. Why waste time worrying about what someone else has? But then there's this overall trend of stagnating wages for everyone except owners of capital. Industries become more and more concentrated. Billionaires get richer. We have trillion dollar companies, while inflation is increasing. We're told "Don't be a hater, let billionaires do their thing!" But then they don't pay taxes and they spend their money on space bullshit. The world they are trying to create is not a better one. They are a hog on resources and the human race is right to be sick of it. Fuck them, they should pay taxes and everyone should stop worshipping them like some kind of golden calf. It's not about being a hater, it's about stopping an economic tumor from getting any bigger.
durnygbur 5y ago
Last time humans landed on the Moon on 1972. On 2021 we have perfectly egocentric billionaires who muliplied their fortunes on ongoing pandemic... merely lift above the atmosphere.
- timeon 5y ago
  Red Bull guy at least jumped from the space 9 years ago. This was meh.
johnwheeler 5y ago
I’m no Bezos fanboy, but the man did build a spaceship company. Let him fly a damn spaceship.
- Corrado 5y ago
  I'm conflicted. On the one hand, he did fund a spaceship company. On the other, I'm not sure how much input he had into the actual construction of a spaceship. It's kind of like how a person that builds a hot-rod car gets much more respect from me than a person that buys a Bugatti supercar. WooHoo, you can whip out your checkbook and write a $1MM check. Big deal. That other guy worked on the suspension and knows how the fuel system works. That's much more impressive.
  - johnwheeler 5y ago
    To me it comes down to Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, and specialization. We live in a market economy where you trade one form of specialized goods and services for another; this being a most extreme example so still impressive. But I hear what you’re saying for sure. The relative value of all such specializations should weighed by the time commitment and expertise required for mastery and that experience measured on its own merits.
  - t0mbstone 5y ago
    It's true, he didn't actually build the space ship himself... He knew he didn't have the skills or manpower to build a rocket himself, so he assembled an organization of people who would help him build it. Then, he risked his own LIFE to be one of the first people to ride the rocket. If that's not putting trust in your engineers, I don't know what is. Sure, you can hate on him for being rich, but at the end of the day, the man knows how to build successful companies.
    - nyghtly 5y ago
      Oh, please. I took a greater risk driving to the grocery store this morning. Bezos's spaceship took 15 test flights before it got the all clear to carry human passengers. You know how they say that "there's no safer way to travel" than flying in an airplane? Well, now there is. "After 15 successful unoccupied test flights to space since 2015, Bezos finally declared it was time to put people on board. The Federal Aviation Administration agreed last week, approving the commercial space license." And when it comes to Blue Origin's success, the credit should be given to Bezos's existing fortune, not to his business prowess, as much as that played a role in the growth of Amazon. "Bezos has said he finances the rocket company by selling $1 billion in Amazon stock each year." https://apnews.com/article/jeff-bezos-space-e0afeaa813ff0bdf23c37fe16fd34265 https://apnews.com/article/jeff-bezos-space-e0afeaa813ff0bdf...
biasedbrain 5y ago
I don't get what is so depressing from the article? Because the rich can afford it, and the poor can't? How do they imagine it should work instead?
- nyghtly 5y ago
  It's depressing to watch as the unaccountable ruling class wastes all of our money on pipe-dreams and vanity projects. Meanwhile, the world is on fire. And what do I mean by "our money"? This is what I mean: 'Included in the many people that Bezos thanked Tuesday was “every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer. Because you guys paid for all this.” Bezos has said he finances the rocket company by selling $1 billion in Amazon stock each year.' The fact that Blue Origin exists in the first place is evidence of the insane levels of wealth inequality that now exist in our society. At this point, everything that Bezos does is an affront to our sensibilities. The King is riding on roller coasters while his serfs are peeing in bottles. https://apnews.com/article/jeff-bezos-space-e0afeaa813ff0bdf23c37fe16fd34265 https://apnews.com/article/jeff-bezos-space-e0afeaa813ff0bdf...
  - biasedbrain 5y ago
    He is rich because he provides you with stuff you want and are willing to pay for. Nobody forces you to buy from Amazon. It is not your money anymore if you gave it to him in exchange for his services.
cblconfederate 5y ago
> As our world quite literally burns and crumbles around us You could say that statement on any year ever. That's not valid criticism. For one thing , branson and bezos are apparently boomer-era entrepreneurs obsessed with largesse. For another, humans are not ready for space, we ve been there, and lost interest in going back. The next humans to go there should be genetically modified and technologically supplanted so they can make use of space, not just "go there". The world has a lot of tourism already, too much of it. Would be nice if these people spent their money on genetic/longevity research and brain-computer interfaces instead.
BatteryMountain 5y ago
It felt a bit cringe to me, the whole vibe of it just seemed off. The presenter's adoration/reaction was very cringe/over the top for me.. even the engineer guy's face kept falling.. watch it again.. imagine you put your efforts into something, building the rocket, then not being the one to fly it. And when they landed and all the camera men gathering around.. I thought "Is this it? Some guy just go to space for a few minutes and then have his pictures taken like it's some epic moment?" Meanwhile, we are in the middle of a pandemic, people suffering around the world, never mind amazon employee's issues, climate changing slowly starting to wreak havoc.. but hey, lets celebrate that guy going to space. Felt hollow in my stomach and not in a good way. When SpaceX landed those two rockets at the same time next to each other, I shed a tear of how insignificant my own career is, where with this event I felt nothing but hollowness.
shellfishgene 5y ago
I found the Blue Origin live stream pretty awful, not only the extremely over the top female moderator paired with the almost silent Gary Lai, but also the constant cheering from the capsule seemed pretty fake somehow. This took away a lot from the technical feat and made it into a pretty cheesy ad for the company, which I guess it was. Also calling the passengers astronauts all the time, we get it, they sat in a chair for 10 minutes that technically went to space, yeez...
edem 5y ago
Touching the edge of space and launching something into orbit are __so much__ different. The latter is an order of magnitude harder than the former.
samecouldbesaid 5y ago
I’m starting to become doubtful that the world is better today than 50 years ago and I wonder if we’re on a path of decline. That’s my impression and it might be downvoted but it should be expressed. Every generation has countless events that mimic some rich guy burning money for something best described as a short joy ride. Yet, in the past it wasn’t so in the face of the misfortunate. I think that’s why suicide is increasing among the young. Sure, access to healthcare is better nowadays but I question if today’s environment is healthy or in fact unhealthy for not well off people. They’re kind of stuck in a system that forces them to stay alive as slaves to capitalism while the rich dance in their face. I even think the tide is turning on belief in free will and meaning the ones born into the worst circumstances will find current today even more absurd than their past generations.
deleted 5y ago
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mam3 5y ago
I think the most depressing is the celebration of something that is kilometers away from an achievement. Its just a pure ego trip from bezos. That said its not bad space interest more and more people these days
foxyv 5y ago
I think if he had managed this 5 years ago people would be excited. Now though, it just seems kinda meh? They hyped it up too much, like it was a huge accomplishment on par with the moon landing. It just fell flat to me. Like the bad acting you get in the lines before the Terminator ride at Six Flags.
bitwize 5y ago
Jeff Bezos launching his Syreen Penetrator into space has very "this is why we need a wealth tax" energy.
taylodl 5y ago
The world has 2,755 billionaires yet only 3 have had the vision and execution to create private companies that can launch into space. Only 3 countries in the world have ever launched humans into space - and now we can add 3 private companies to that list. This is an incredible achievement! From my personal experience the Apollo missions had a profound impression on me and my decision to go into a engineering/math/science career. Imagine the impacts these events can have on today's kids and what they decide to do with their lives? Bezos is talking about manufacturing in space, creating moon colonies - that's exciting stuff! I don't understand the apathetic meh reaction, especially from the tech crowd.

83 points by amznbyebyebye 5y ago

giant dick makes maiden trip

“Perhaps someday Bezos might reveal that he was, as former astronaut Col. Chris Hadfield dared to hope on his CNN panel, brought back down to Earth metaphorically as well as physically by experiencing the planet he’s so thoroughly conquered from so many miles away. For now, though, the visual of the richest man in the world fist-pumping his way out of a rocket and into a giddy champagne toast says more than either he or the gushing pundits ever could.”

Corrado 5y ago
I think if this happened an Bezos has such a revelation, then this whole thing might have been worth it. However, given that his ex-wife seems to be spreading her wealth around and he hasn't caught the "bug" yet, I think this seems like a very remote possibility.

sydbarrett74 5y ago

Pay attention to what Bezos does, not what he says. Based on this, I can only conclude that he's a fuckwad of the first order.

galkk 5y ago

Some people will complain even in paradise.

IntelMiner 5y ago
I'm not sure what paradise is to be drawn at billionaires racing each other to space while the planet we all live on is in shambles on so many levels
- wrnr 5y ago
  Why put salt on your potatoes while there are still people starving of hunger. Envy the billies all you want it won't make their live any worse or that of the poor any better.
  - zpeti 5y ago
    To people like the commenter it's much better if everyone is suffering than if some people aren't and some are.
  - 123pie123 5y ago
    I envy the billionaire bank balance, but it's not the money that makes you happy (above a certain level) but the options it allows you to do. obviously people are not keen on the actions /options that JB has choosen to make. Especially when you hear the stories of his employees and how much tax he pays
  - 8note 5y ago
    If you're gonna take the salt from the starving person to do it, it's probably a good idea to skip the salt
- taway_scott 5y ago
  I think you should read this: https://launiusr.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/why-explore-space-a-1970-letter-to-a-nun-in-africa/ https://launiusr.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/why-explore-space-... I had similar views until 5 years ago and questioned almost every new investment/endeavour by people that required significant upfront capital investment but I think this letter has changed a lot of my thinking process.
  - input_sh 5y ago
    There's no "space exploration" to be done 50-70 miles above ground. Billionaires charging other billionaires for 10 minutes above the imaginary "space line" has nothing to do with space exploration.
lvs 5y ago
Oh, so this is paradise that I'm living in? Well that's wildly underwhelming.

xyzal 5y ago

I hoped a little he would stay in space.

sidcool 5y ago

What is the general opinion of HN? SpaceX tests/launches are met with much aplomb compared to Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic. My opinion: There is definitely a billionaire brag race on the space frontier, but I do think it's going to benefit space exploration overall.

sascha_sl 5y ago
SpaceX is a bad replacement for a well funded NASA, but they're at least interested in doing similar sorts of things whereas Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are purely for tourists in barely-space. I mean, the entire Blue Origin stream was an extremely annoying fake-hype sales pitch for the less than 1% of viewers who could actually afford it.
- zpeti 5y ago
  > SpaceX is a bad replacement for a well funded NASA Please, explain exactly how you came to this conclusion. And use numbers, costs of R&D, costs of launches, etc. I'm absolutely baffled you could think this.
  - FeepingCreature 5y ago
    SpaceX is a bad replacement for a well-funded NASA with a clear mission that advances human exploration of space, without being beholden to political corruption, and with a driven and dedicated administrator. Of course, so is NASA itself.
  - greesil 5y ago
    SpaceX doesn't seem super interested in science, like you know probes 'n stuff. I would say that NASA was never super interested in reducing the cost to access space though. They complement each other very well.
  - ksd482 5y ago
    SpaceX is for profit, so it’s goals need to be profitable monetarily. NASA is government funded so it can focus on important things that may not be profitable monetarily.

triggercut 5y ago

Watching Wally Funk go to space almost makes up for it... almost.

raz32dust 5y ago

It's a sign of the growing inequality and desperation of the 99%. I think space tourism is a nice milestone for mankind. But people are feeling hopeless about their own future - they are not able to see any opportunity in this for themselves. Anti-rich sentiment is exploding along with general hopelessness with climate change and covid.

unclekev 5y ago

I couldn’t care any less about watching rich people launch them selves to the edge of space. I would much rather spend my time watching rich people launch things into space that will end up benefiting everyone like SpaceX using a Tesla as the dummy payload for the Falcon Heavy test flight. I understand the whole 'space tourism' thing, but the reality is that it's only going to be the Jeff Bezos and Richard Bransons of the world who will be able to afford this stuff for a long time to come. The scientific return from space tourism from companies like Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin seems far less important than the work that companies like SpaceX are doing. I'm not sure what point I'm trying to make here, But i just feel that rich folk launching them self to the edge of space is more entertainment/marketing vs actual scientific progress.

andi999 5y ago
To me this isn't really space travel. I think they shd aim at circling the earth at least once.
- bongoman37 5y ago
  Yea, Russia did better in the 60s. This is nothing to brag about seriously.
pvitz 5y ago
SpaceX launching a Tesla into space for a test flight is firstly benefiting SpaceX and then Tesla. It is first and foremost a commercial entity working for profit and not scientific progress. That might be a side-effect, but I wouldn't frame it like that.
- unclekev 5y ago
  I don’t disagree, but the "side-effects" of the things that SpaceX are doing for profit are much more substantial than any "side-effects" from any 'space tourism' company. Like with Dragon - SpaceX returned NASA/Americas ability to fly NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station for the first time since 2011. SpaceX developed the first NASA-certified commercial human spacecraft system in history. Indeed SpaceX is a commercial entity working for profit, Just like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, but I'd much rather throw my support behind the companies where the scientific benefits will flow much quicker into the public arena vs "rich dudes competing to get to the edge of space so they can call themselves astronauts"

username91 5y ago

It bothers me that the article makes no reference to Wally Funk, the pilot - she's now the oldest person to have gone to space. Maybe it's cheesy of me to get a kick out of 'records' like that, but I enjoy that a lot more than caring about who commissioned the flight.

dkdbejwi383 5y ago
She's achieved a lot more of substance in her life, compared to the big warehouse magnate.
dundarious 5y ago
By all means be happy for someone nice getting to do a cool thing, but it’s quite naive to be bothered by someone not mentioning this token gesture born of pure PR.

brodo 5y ago

This website is unusable and randomly reloads every couple of seconds. (Firefox mobile) Reader mode does not work.

pope_meat 5y ago

People really are getting fed up with billionaires. Everyone on HN: how can so many people be wrong? the self awareness, it's lacking.

emptyparadise 5y ago
We're a community of temporarily embarrassed CEOs after all.
cinntaile 5y ago
Their own quality of life is probably not very high for various reasons, billionaires are more a symptom of this trend rather than a direct cause imo. It just makes them an easy scapegoat.

AYBABTME 5y ago

I don't understand why people dedicate so much of their daily energy hating on billionaires' hobbies. The real waste of resource, in my mind, isn't in billionaires spending their pocket money in space exploration. It's in the millions of average persons dedicating 2 or 3h of their 16h/day budget on negative thoughts about other people's lives, poisoning their mood and ruining the 13 to 14 other hours they have left awake in those days. Whereas a positive outlook on things would probably provide them with a state of mind more fertile for ideas and improvements. I think a lot more human ingenuity-capacity is wasted in jealousy and resentment of others, than what these billionaires may be spending on their hobbies. * * * I think the Blue Origin/Virgin Galactic "buy a tourist flight to space" is not my cup of tea, and I'd rather they were doing actually useful industrious space exploration stuff. But I think their puerile vanity hobbies are also not bad for technological advancements. The engineers working on this are going to develop more skills and knowledge, and that will not be lost. It'd be better if it was to do science or some industry, but it's not a net negative either.

ElvisTrout 5y ago
The billionaire class are destroying our planet and exploiting us. If people spent as much time hating them as others do brown-nosing them we’d live in a better world.
dave_sullivan 5y ago
That's fine and all if you're talking about people in your immediate social circle. Why waste time worrying about what someone else has? But then there's this overall trend of stagnating wages for everyone except owners of capital. Industries become more and more concentrated. Billionaires get richer. We have trillion dollar companies, while inflation is increasing. We're told "Don't be a hater, let billionaires do their thing!" But then they don't pay taxes and they spend their money on space bullshit. The world they are trying to create is not a better one. They are a hog on resources and the human race is right to be sick of it. Fuck them, they should pay taxes and everyone should stop worshipping them like some kind of golden calf. It's not about being a hater, it's about stopping an economic tumor from getting any bigger.

durnygbur 5y ago

Last time humans landed on the Moon on 1972. On 2021 we have perfectly egocentric billionaires who muliplied their fortunes on ongoing pandemic... merely lift above the atmosphere.

timeon 5y ago
Red Bull guy at least jumped from the space 9 years ago. This was meh.

johnwheeler 5y ago

I’m no Bezos fanboy, but the man did build a spaceship company. Let him fly a damn spaceship.

Corrado 5y ago
I'm conflicted. On the one hand, he did fund a spaceship company. On the other, I'm not sure how much input he had into the actual construction of a spaceship. It's kind of like how a person that builds a hot-rod car gets much more respect from me than a person that buys a Bugatti supercar. WooHoo, you can whip out your checkbook and write a $1MM check. Big deal. That other guy worked on the suspension and knows how the fuel system works. That's much more impressive.
- johnwheeler 5y ago
  To me it comes down to Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, and specialization. We live in a market economy where you trade one form of specialized goods and services for another; this being a most extreme example so still impressive. But I hear what you’re saying for sure. The relative value of all such specializations should weighed by the time commitment and expertise required for mastery and that experience measured on its own merits.
- t0mbstone 5y ago
  It's true, he didn't actually build the space ship himself... He knew he didn't have the skills or manpower to build a rocket himself, so he assembled an organization of people who would help him build it. Then, he risked his own LIFE to be one of the first people to ride the rocket. If that's not putting trust in your engineers, I don't know what is. Sure, you can hate on him for being rich, but at the end of the day, the man knows how to build successful companies.
  - nyghtly 5y ago
    Oh, please. I took a greater risk driving to the grocery store this morning. Bezos's spaceship took 15 test flights before it got the all clear to carry human passengers. You know how they say that "there's no safer way to travel" than flying in an airplane? Well, now there is. "After 15 successful unoccupied test flights to space since 2015, Bezos finally declared it was time to put people on board. The Federal Aviation Administration agreed last week, approving the commercial space license." And when it comes to Blue Origin's success, the credit should be given to Bezos's existing fortune, not to his business prowess, as much as that played a role in the growth of Amazon. "Bezos has said he finances the rocket company by selling $1 billion in Amazon stock each year." https://apnews.com/article/jeff-bezos-space-e0afeaa813ff0bdf23c37fe16fd34265 https://apnews.com/article/jeff-bezos-space-e0afeaa813ff0bdf...

biasedbrain 5y ago

I don't get what is so depressing from the article? Because the rich can afford it, and the poor can't? How do they imagine it should work instead?

nyghtly 5y ago
It's depressing to watch as the unaccountable ruling class wastes all of our money on pipe-dreams and vanity projects. Meanwhile, the world is on fire. And what do I mean by "our money"? This is what I mean: 'Included in the many people that Bezos thanked Tuesday was “every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer. Because you guys paid for all this.” Bezos has said he finances the rocket company by selling $1 billion in Amazon stock each year.' The fact that Blue Origin exists in the first place is evidence of the insane levels of wealth inequality that now exist in our society. At this point, everything that Bezos does is an affront to our sensibilities. The King is riding on roller coasters while his serfs are peeing in bottles. https://apnews.com/article/jeff-bezos-space-e0afeaa813ff0bdf23c37fe16fd34265 https://apnews.com/article/jeff-bezos-space-e0afeaa813ff0bdf...
- biasedbrain 5y ago
  He is rich because he provides you with stuff you want and are willing to pay for. Nobody forces you to buy from Amazon. It is not your money anymore if you gave it to him in exchange for his services.

cblconfederate 5y ago

> As our world quite literally burns and crumbles around us You could say that statement on any year ever. That's not valid criticism. For one thing , branson and bezos are apparently boomer-era entrepreneurs obsessed with largesse. For another, humans are not ready for space, we ve been there, and lost interest in going back. The next humans to go there should be genetically modified and technologically supplanted so they can make use of space, not just "go there". The world has a lot of tourism already, too much of it. Would be nice if these people spent their money on genetic/longevity research and brain-computer interfaces instead.

BatteryMountain 5y ago

It felt a bit cringe to me, the whole vibe of it just seemed off. The presenter's adoration/reaction was very cringe/over the top for me.. even the engineer guy's face kept falling.. watch it again.. imagine you put your efforts into something, building the rocket, then not being the one to fly it. And when they landed and all the camera men gathering around.. I thought "Is this it? Some guy just go to space for a few minutes and then have his pictures taken like it's some epic moment?" Meanwhile, we are in the middle of a pandemic, people suffering around the world, never mind amazon employee's issues, climate changing slowly starting to wreak havoc.. but hey, lets celebrate that guy going to space. Felt hollow in my stomach and not in a good way. When SpaceX landed those two rockets at the same time next to each other, I shed a tear of how insignificant my own career is, where with this event I felt nothing but hollowness.

shellfishgene 5y ago

I found the Blue Origin live stream pretty awful, not only the extremely over the top female moderator paired with the almost silent Gary Lai, but also the constant cheering from the capsule seemed pretty fake somehow. This took away a lot from the technical feat and made it into a pretty cheesy ad for the company, which I guess it was. Also calling the passengers astronauts all the time, we get it, they sat in a chair for 10 minutes that technically went to space, yeez...

edem 5y ago

Touching the edge of space and launching something into orbit are __so much__ different. The latter is an order of magnitude harder than the former.

samecouldbesaid 5y ago

I’m starting to become doubtful that the world is better today than 50 years ago and I wonder if we’re on a path of decline. That’s my impression and it might be downvoted but it should be expressed. Every generation has countless events that mimic some rich guy burning money for something best described as a short joy ride. Yet, in the past it wasn’t so in the face of the misfortunate. I think that’s why suicide is increasing among the young. Sure, access to healthcare is better nowadays but I question if today’s environment is healthy or in fact unhealthy for not well off people. They’re kind of stuck in a system that forces them to stay alive as slaves to capitalism while the rich dance in their face. I even think the tide is turning on belief in free will and meaning the ones born into the worst circumstances will find current today even more absurd than their past generations.

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mam3 5y ago

I think the most depressing is the celebration of something that is kilometers away from an achievement. Its just a pure ego trip from bezos. That said its not bad space interest more and more people these days

foxyv 5y ago

I think if he had managed this 5 years ago people would be excited. Now though, it just seems kinda meh? They hyped it up too much, like it was a huge accomplishment on par with the moon landing. It just fell flat to me. Like the bad acting you get in the lines before the Terminator ride at Six Flags.

bitwize 5y ago

Jeff Bezos launching his Syreen Penetrator into space has very "this is why we need a wealth tax" energy.

taylodl 5y ago

The world has 2,755 billionaires yet only 3 have had the vision and execution to create private companies that can launch into space. Only 3 countries in the world have ever launched humans into space - and now we can add 3 private companies to that list. This is an incredible achievement! From my personal experience the Apollo missions had a profound impression on me and my decision to go into a engineering/math/science career. Imagine the impacts these events can have on today's kids and what they decide to do with their lives? Bezos is talking about manufacturing in space, creating moon colonies - that's exciting stuff! I don't understand the apathetic meh reaction, especially from the tech crowd.