> to adjust the style of life In what direction? Most of the world is only now slowly achieving the lifestyle of a middle-class Westerner in the 50s. If you th

> to adjust the style of life In what direction? Most of the world is only now slowly achieving the lifestyle of a middle-class Westerner in the 50s. If you think that these people are going to accept a downgrade from that, from their "dream", you are deluding yourself. One painful lessons communists learn was that human nature doesn't change and people are competitive and selfish. > Nuclear was a missed opportunity It wasn't the only one: GMOs and stem cells also come to mind. > let's fund the sciences, let's make higher education accessible, let's share the bounty I believe pretty much the same things, but we disagree on the means. I believe the way to get them is the only proven value-creation mechanism, the one that pulled mankind out of dirt: free-market capitalism. > what is the [...] point here? That allowing VC money to do whatever it wants is going to accelerate this trend of progress? The opposite, actually: that putting any brake on technological development (even if for completely great intentions) will delay that trend of progress to the point of endangering our survival as a species - simply because history shows us that technology is a net positive and we need every single bit of that progress to solve certain urgent civilization-ending dangers.