I think Peter Thiel's Zero to one does not specifically lament that the hoi polloi do not dream of space elevators. To me the core concern was a general risk av

I think Peter Thiel's Zero to one does not specifically lament that the hoi polloi do not dream of space elevators. To me the core concern was a general risk averseness among investors, who prefer to diversify their portfolio among established investment products rather than figure out things from first principles and start up on new and better things. I read it as a critique of establishments where economists run things just by the accounting books instead of engineers who start from first principles and want to get things actually done.