5 ms·

Why are do so many people have hard/bad people about billioners going to space? At least they are doing something which pushes some tech forward.

by ssijak 5y ago

amelius 5y ago
Because they are paving the way for space tourism.
dspillett 5y ago
A large part of it is thinking what else the investment could do, like asking every medical scientist that isn't trying to cure cancer/AIDS/C19/... why they are wasting time on whatever else they are doing. Another chunk is probably common or garden variety jealousy flavoured with the source of a little us-v-them! With Tricky Dicky (sorry, sir Tricky Dicky) particularly there is the matter that he was asking for government (and thereby tax payer) handouts to help his bits of the air industry only last year. There are similar complains for others wringing the pennies out of the 99.9% to fund their plaything projects, by pushing their workers to the point of not having decent toilet breaks and provision for other essentials for instance.
mmustapic 5y ago
Because the tech is useless for anything else besides billionaires going to space.
- GordonS 5y ago
  I'm not sure if your comment is missing a '/s'?
probably_wrong 5y ago
I think it's a sign of the different way of thinking about problems between SV types and "regular" people. SV: this investment will revolutionize technology, and will give us an amazing ROI over the next 50 years. This could pave the road to whatever comes after the cell phone and change our entire world! Regular people, in the meantime, are scrapping by to gather enough to feed their children, drowning in debt, and/or working in terrible jobs (sorry, "gigs") to make those same billionaires richer. "Whatever the next iPhone in 50 years will be, maybe" is not really high on their priorities.
- ssijak 5y ago
  There will always be somebody who have more, even when you are a billionaire, somebody who is smarter, faster, better looking, what is the point of being grumpy about it. It won't make your job less terrible. But actually spending time to think about how to make it less terrible will.
bell-cot 5y ago
IANAS (...not a sociologist), but I suspect the biggest issue is the ever-so-conspicuous flaunting of extreme wealth. The "proper plutocrat" should be pretty private about his superyacht, multiple mansions, etc. If only because the "little people" can get pretty angry if their noses are rubbed in certain unpleasant realities. (And as others have noted, Sir Richard's "tech" looks, to the Average Joe, about as relevant and useful as a fleet of gold-plated private jets.) Elan seems pretty aware of this. SpaceX's YouTube videos really talk up the idea that their Starlink service means "internet, finally" for a whole lotta average-at-best folks living in less-well-off areas. Similarly, their Starship development carries a pretty loud tone of "America's future greatness is being invented and built by Real American Men right here".

Why are do so many people have hard/bad people about billioners going to space? At least they are doing something which pushes some tech forward.

by ssijak 5y ago

Why are do so many people have hard/bad people about billioners going to space? At least they are doing something which pushes some tech forward.

amelius 5y ago

Because they are paving the way for space tourism.

dspillett 5y ago

A large part of it is thinking what else the investment could do, like asking every medical scientist that isn't trying to cure cancer/AIDS/C19/... why they are wasting time on whatever else they are doing. Another chunk is probably common or garden variety jealousy flavoured with the source of a little us-v-them! With Tricky Dicky (sorry, sir Tricky Dicky) particularly there is the matter that he was asking for government (and thereby tax payer) handouts to help his bits of the air industry only last year. There are similar complains for others wringing the pennies out of the 99.9% to fund their plaything projects, by pushing their workers to the point of not having decent toilet breaks and provision for other essentials for instance.

mmustapic 5y ago

Because the tech is useless for anything else besides billionaires going to space.

GordonS 5y ago
I'm not sure if your comment is missing a '/s'?

probably_wrong 5y ago

I think it's a sign of the different way of thinking about problems between SV types and "regular" people. SV: this investment will revolutionize technology, and will give us an amazing ROI over the next 50 years. This could pave the road to whatever comes after the cell phone and change our entire world! Regular people, in the meantime, are scrapping by to gather enough to feed their children, drowning in debt, and/or working in terrible jobs (sorry, "gigs") to make those same billionaires richer. "Whatever the next iPhone in 50 years will be, maybe" is not really high on their priorities.

ssijak 5y ago
There will always be somebody who have more, even when you are a billionaire, somebody who is smarter, faster, better looking, what is the point of being grumpy about it. It won't make your job less terrible. But actually spending time to think about how to make it less terrible will.

bell-cot 5y ago

IANAS (...not a sociologist), but I suspect the biggest issue is the ever-so-conspicuous flaunting of extreme wealth. The "proper plutocrat" should be pretty private about his superyacht, multiple mansions, etc. If only because the "little people" can get pretty angry if their noses are rubbed in certain unpleasant realities. (And as others have noted, Sir Richard's "tech" looks, to the Average Joe, about as relevant and useful as a fleet of gold-plated private jets.) Elan seems pretty aware of this. SpaceX's YouTube videos really talk up the idea that their Starlink service means "internet, finally" for a whole lotta average-at-best folks living in less-well-off areas. Similarly, their Starship development carries a pretty loud tone of "America's future greatness is being invented and built by Real American Men right here".