5 ms·

> Except maybe labeling progressive (what's the definition of the progress, again?) democrats the ones who wouldn't go to space - ?.. Progressive democrats may

by zepto 5y ago

> Except maybe labeling progressive (what's the definition of the progress, again?) democrats the ones who wouldn't go to space - ?.. Progressive democrats may not be against space travel itself, but they are certainly against billionaires and corporations with large market caps. I have also heard a lot of progressives decry Musk for his goals to colonize mars when he could be spending his money to fight climate change or racial inequality on earth.

avmich 5y ago
> they are certainly against billionaires and corporations with large market caps True, but maybe we're talking about different definitions of "large market caps". Lately I'm seriously impressed by the apparent shortsightedness of VCs who aren't able to find and fund a reasonable SpaceX competitor. A few companies make promising moves - Orbital, Sierra Nevada, Rocket Lab, Masten Space - but all achievements are just too modest. One would think that 17 years after X Prize was won, VCs would be more fearful of missing out. And of course it's hard to believe that the deficit on the founders' side - while externally impressive, SpaceX mostly does something well known to the modern space engineers, with perhaps Starlink being the largest "side application". Casey Handmers, https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/ https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/ , tries to bring attention to the achievements, but maybe stopping a bit short when not discussing possible alternatives of the next years or decades. Of course, one may wonder what SpaceX would do next - by the time Starship lands first time successfully on Mars, it could be seen roughly as the first flight of Falcon Heavy or first landing of Falcon-9 booster.
avmich 5y ago
> a lot of progressives decry Musk for his goals to colonize mars when he could be spending his money to fight climate change or racial inequality on earth This is a long-established complaint to space developments as a whole. It was given a rather good answer - among other things, space development makes everybody on Earth richer right now. Don't think it's particularly enlightened people who would still make objections on these grounds.
- zepto 5y ago
  I think it’s progressive democrats. Make of that what you will.
  - avmich 5y ago
    I know several Bernie's supporters who're serious Elon's fans and quite knowledgeable in rocketry. At this point I suspect the anti-billionaires angle is at least somewhat misplaced.
    - Rebelgecko 5y ago
      The tipping point that made me unsubscribe from Bernie's mailing list was when he used billionaires spending their money on launch vehicle R&D to make a personal attack: "Jeff Bezos has so much money that he says the only way he could possibly spend it all is on space travel. Space travel. Have you ever heard of such a thing? It is absolutely absurd." As someone who has heard of such a thing, it seems absurd and shortsighted to criticize someone for doing work that helps bring us closer to being a multiplanetary species. Even though I'm sure there's an ego aspect, I think it's still laudable that Bezos is blowing his fortune on space travel instead of buying yachts full of cocaine. I don't think the anti-space rhetoric is unique to Bernie either. Representative John Culberson was a huge proponent of exploring the moons of Saturn and Jupiter. He's played a pivotal role in funding the Europa Clipper mission. His opponent ran attack ads criticizing him for funding space exploration. Her ad said that she'd focus on spending more money on local pork projects instead of hunting for extraterrestrial life.
      - zepto 5y ago
        > I think it's still laudable that Bezos is blowing his fortune on space travel instead of buying yachts full of cocaine. He’s doing both. https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/10/business/jeff-bezos-yacht/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/10/business/jeff-bezos-yacht/ind...

by zepto 5y ago

avmich 5y ago

> they are certainly against billionaires and corporations with large market caps True, but maybe we're talking about different definitions of "large market caps". Lately I'm seriously impressed by the apparent shortsightedness of VCs who aren't able to find and fund a reasonable SpaceX competitor. A few companies make promising moves - Orbital, Sierra Nevada, Rocket Lab, Masten Space - but all achievements are just too modest. One would think that 17 years after X Prize was won, VCs would be more fearful of missing out. And of course it's hard to believe that the deficit on the founders' side - while externally impressive, SpaceX mostly does something well known to the modern space engineers, with perhaps Starlink being the largest "side application". Casey Handmers, https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/ https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/ , tries to bring attention to the achievements, but maybe stopping a bit short when not discussing possible alternatives of the next years or decades. Of course, one may wonder what SpaceX would do next - by the time Starship lands first time successfully on Mars, it could be seen roughly as the first flight of Falcon Heavy or first landing of Falcon-9 booster.

avmich 5y ago

> a lot of progressives decry Musk for his goals to colonize mars when he could be spending his money to fight climate change or racial inequality on earth This is a long-established complaint to space developments as a whole. It was given a rather good answer - among other things, space development makes everybody on Earth richer right now. Don't think it's particularly enlightened people who would still make objections on these grounds.

zepto 5y ago
I think it’s progressive democrats. Make of that what you will.
- avmich 5y ago
  I know several Bernie's supporters who're serious Elon's fans and quite knowledgeable in rocketry. At this point I suspect the anti-billionaires angle is at least somewhat misplaced.
  - Rebelgecko 5y ago
    The tipping point that made me unsubscribe from Bernie's mailing list was when he used billionaires spending their money on launch vehicle R&D to make a personal attack: "Jeff Bezos has so much money that he says the only way he could possibly spend it all is on space travel. Space travel. Have you ever heard of such a thing? It is absolutely absurd." As someone who has heard of such a thing, it seems absurd and shortsighted to criticize someone for doing work that helps bring us closer to being a multiplanetary species. Even though I'm sure there's an ego aspect, I think it's still laudable that Bezos is blowing his fortune on space travel instead of buying yachts full of cocaine. I don't think the anti-space rhetoric is unique to Bernie either. Representative John Culberson was a huge proponent of exploring the moons of Saturn and Jupiter. He's played a pivotal role in funding the Europa Clipper mission. His opponent ran attack ads criticizing him for funding space exploration. Her ad said that she'd focus on spending more money on local pork projects instead of hunting for extraterrestrial life.
    - zepto 5y ago
      > I think it's still laudable that Bezos is blowing his fortune on space travel instead of buying yachts full of cocaine. He’s doing both. https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/10/business/jeff-bezos-yacht/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/10/business/jeff-bezos-yacht/ind...