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Unfortunately sending every millionaire into space for them to realize this is an hostile environment is taking us closer to earth destruction. Sorry to be sour

Unfortunately sending every millionaire into space for them to realize this is an hostile environment is taking us closer to earth destruction. Sorry to be sour about this, but people could just teach themself astronomy and realize there is no place out there to welcome us when the earth will be on the verge to become unlivable. Even assuming a colony of a dozen women/men is ever established on the moon or Mars, they will die in a matter or months or years once the tether to earth is broken. Reading this guy paid millions of $ to realize these basic facts fills me with overwhelming sadness too. Can his experience be of value for us? Given that he could have discovered what he just experienced by reading good books, I think this n+1 experience has zero value. Send human beings in space to perform scientific experiments. Period.

TYPE_FASTER 4y ago
Honestly, I had a really similar reaction to watching The Expanse.
hairofadog 4y ago
While I don’t disagree with your overall point, it’s worth noting that this essay is from the point of view of William Shatner, the actor who played the original Captain Kirk on the Star Trek TV series. I’m pretty sure he didn’t pay, and it sounds like he may have even been paid to go. My impression is that Shatner’s participation was the classiest part of the trip, which is really saying something. The moment after the landing when Jeff Bezos popped a bottle of champagne in Shatner's face while he was trying to express his feelings about the experience really summed it all up for me.
- hattori31 4y ago
  Video of the champagne for others looking for it https://youtu.be/9GQoHIBDogU https://youtu.be/9GQoHIBDogU
- Tarsul 4y ago
  Yes. You dont become the (2nd) richest person by caring about others.
novok 4y ago
There are about 608k UHNWI ($30+ million net worth) in the world, and I'm not sure if even $30 million is enough to have a space trip be a tourist trip that isn't too painful, and you have to be the kind of person that finds traveling to antartica appealing on top of that. So I'm not sure if many rich people could even afford or care to do this kind of thing anyway. But on the other hand, the shit that most green types focus on like plastic straws & grocery bags, meat, low flow showers, space tourism and such is usually very small percentage of actual environmental damage, while paradoxically ignoring the actual big causes such as gasoline motors, industrial processes, coal power plants, high water crops such as almonds, water & $$$ subsidies for agriculture, non-regenerative agriculture and fighting great solutions like nuclear power and EV cars. An effective environmentalist would shame people for buying almonds and tell them to eat pistachios instead, take the train / bike everywhere and lobby to get more nuclear power plants installed. I think it comes down to a combinations misplaced 'personal responsibility & morality' principle because you feel powerless, along with dislike of the rich wrapped in environmental concern, where people would cut off their nose to spite their face.
krapp 4y ago
I don't object to sending billionaires into space, only to letting them return. At least with a heat shield.
brundolf 4y ago
Setting aside the fact that this is William Shatner, and that he went for free- I would actually say millionaires/billionaires are probably the people who need to learn this lesson more than anybody.

TYPE_FASTER 4y ago

Honestly, I had a really similar reaction to watching The Expanse.

hairofadog 4y ago

While I don’t disagree with your overall point, it’s worth noting that this essay is from the point of view of William Shatner, the actor who played the original Captain Kirk on the Star Trek TV series. I’m pretty sure he didn’t pay, and it sounds like he may have even been paid to go. My impression is that Shatner’s participation was the classiest part of the trip, which is really saying something. The moment after the landing when Jeff Bezos popped a bottle of champagne in Shatner's face while he was trying to express his feelings about the experience really summed it all up for me.

hattori31 4y ago
Video of the champagne for others looking for it https://youtu.be/9GQoHIBDogU https://youtu.be/9GQoHIBDogU
Tarsul 4y ago
Yes. You dont become the (2nd) richest person by caring about others.

novok 4y ago

There are about 608k UHNWI ($30+ million net worth) in the world, and I'm not sure if even $30 million is enough to have a space trip be a tourist trip that isn't too painful, and you have to be the kind of person that finds traveling to antartica appealing on top of that. So I'm not sure if many rich people could even afford or care to do this kind of thing anyway. But on the other hand, the shit that most green types focus on like plastic straws & grocery bags, meat, low flow showers, space tourism and such is usually very small percentage of actual environmental damage, while paradoxically ignoring the actual big causes such as gasoline motors, industrial processes, coal power plants, high water crops such as almonds, water & $$$ subsidies for agriculture, non-regenerative agriculture and fighting great solutions like nuclear power and EV cars. An effective environmentalist would shame people for buying almonds and tell them to eat pistachios instead, take the train / bike everywhere and lobby to get more nuclear power plants installed. I think it comes down to a combinations misplaced 'personal responsibility & morality' principle because you feel powerless, along with dislike of the rich wrapped in environmental concern, where people would cut off their nose to spite their face.

krapp 4y ago

I don't object to sending billionaires into space, only to letting them return. At least with a heat shield.

brundolf 4y ago

Setting aside the fact that this is William Shatner, and that he went for free- I would actually say millionaires/billionaires are probably the people who need to learn this lesson more than anybody.