Space Billionaires Don't Suck, You Do
“I see the future as a series of branching probability streams. So you have to ask “what are we doing to move down the good stream—the one that’s likely to make for a good future?” “
- Elon Musk
Apologies to the 3 people who were expecting my newsletter as per the usual schedule. I have had a really busy week so I am a day late. But we have some exciting stuff this week!
Let’s jump right in.
On July 11, Richard Branson took to space on Virgin Galatic’s Unity22 aircraft.
In case you haven’t watched the video already, please watch it. It is very cool.
Following this, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin crew also took to space in their New Shepherd rocket.
These billionaires taking to space pissed some people off. There are many tweets and Instagram posts trashing these tech moguls for how they are ruining the planet, how they are selfish, and how they are blind to the problems on earth.
Usually, I ignore takes by dimwits and cynics because giving them attention only seems to fuel their stupidity. But this time so I am going to cave in and call them out for their lunacy.
So yes, this article is a rant on how illogical and non-sensical are those who are against billionaires venturing into space. If you are one of them, please feel free to skip it. But if you happen to read, please let me know what your thoughts are in the comments or DM me. While I have strong opinions on this (as you will see), I am open to a discussion.
Let’s look at some of the most common arguments against going to space.
The “Pro-Earth” Argument
The argument goes like this: “There are so many unresolved problems on Earth and you want to colonize Mars?” or “First solve the problems on earth then you can think about space”
The problem with this argument is that it asks humanity to put all their eggs in one basket. Earth should be our first priority, I agree. But should we spend 100% of our resources on solving problems on earth? Does not sound smart at all.
Spending resources on something is not really spending, it is investing. By spending man-hours and money on solving problems, we are investing in the future of humanity. And diversification is Investing 101.
You know you would judge a guy to be stupid if he were to put all of his money in the stock market when he has his parents, kids, and wife to take care of. Same here. It would be stupid to invest all our money on earth and never think about going to space.
Proponents of this argument feel that problems on earth like hunger and poverty should be solved before thinking about space. Well, here is the problem: that kind of utopia is unattainable. There will never come a time when humanity can say ‘we have solved all the social issues, yaay!’ We are constantly changing. So there will always be new problems to solve. If we keep waiting for it, we will get hit by a meteor and die. And the species that come after us will laugh at us for our stupidity - “These homosapiens had the knowledge and resources to build and go to other planets but they never did! They seem really narrow-minded as a species. They were only interested in solving the problems on Earth it looks like. No wonder they got wiped out.”
Billionaires are not brainlessly, selfishly checking out space. It is not selfless either but they are doing it to make sure humans survive extinction events like the meteor strike that wiped out dinosaurs. It is only fair that they get paid in exchange for working on the preservation of humanity.
We should be spending at least 1% of our resources on space ventures. Consider this interaction between Jack Ma and Elon:
Jack: Everytime when I read the news about your interest in the outside space, I look at you with great respect. We need more heroes like you but we need more hearoes like us - working hard on Earth, improving things everyday. Thats what I want.
Elon: To be clear, I am very Pro-Earth. When I am talking about making life multi-planetary, from a resource standpoint, I am talking about less than 1% of Earth’s resources should be dedicated to making life multi-planetary.
For the preservation of consciousness, we should be spending slightly more than huamnity spends on lipstick and cosmetics. I am pro-cosmetics, they are great, but it is also worth spending this amount on space exploration.
Spending 1% of earth’s GDP for this cause sounds like a good use of resources. Seems like a wise investment for the future.
The beauty industry is worth $532 billion1 today while the space industry is worth just $18.3 billion2. Surely, we are under-investing in space. We need more organizations, institutions, billionaires, and non-billionaires getting into space-tech.
Pro-Space does not mean Anti-Earth.
The “Present first, future Later” Argument
This is a bit of a corollary to the previous argument. People belonging to this category feel that there are so many problems in the present that we should not be thinking about the future.
At least she is not one of those people who think climate change is a hoax. Nevertheless, her argument is erroneous.
The fact that we emit harmful gases that cause the earth to heat up i.e the Greenhouse Effect was first identified in 18243 by Joseph Fourier. Imagine how much misery we could have avoided if we took global warming seriously back then. But this was not that pressing an issue then. That is why we continued to burn fossil fuels and deplete our ozone layer.
Even today, climate change is only in its nascent stage. We have the resources to weather the storm until we die. The current generation can exhaust natural resources, burn more fossil fuels and deplete the ozone layer further to generate more jobs and employ the poor, make more money and use it to feed the hungry and make clean water accessible for those who do not have it. If we want to help the people suffering today, we can do so in an unsustainable fashion. We are not doing it because it is dumb and because we inherently care about our future generations.
It is actually selfish to say that we should be working only on the problems of today. Going to space will be a pressing issue for our descendants and we should do our best to help them.
Preemptive action is good.
The “Money can be better spent” Argument
People in this category feel that it is a poor use of money if we are spending it on going to space.
Honestly, such posts themselves are not that infuriating. It is the amount of support such posts get that makes my blood boil. Why are so many people switching off their brains and thinking with their hearts?
This idea of giving money away sounds good but do we want every billionaire to give their wealth away? I don’t think so. Billionaires are billionaires because they have what it takes to become a billionaire. They are determined, hard-working, ambitious, and smart as hell. While Warren Buffet and Bill Gates chose to spend their money on philanthropy, we need gritty people like Jeff and Richard to use their money to propel humanity forward and push the boundaries of human capability.
Besides, if every billionaire decided to give their money away instead of working on something bold, then there would be no new industries created. For example, if Jeff and Musk were required by law to give their money away because it does ‘more good’, then the space-tourism industry would never be born. Imagine if the aviation industry was never allowed to happen because “money could be better spent”. Today, the Aviation industry directly employs 11.3 million4 people globally and indirectly employs nearly 87.7 million people through tourism, the global supply chain, and other support roles.
It is far better to improve people’s lives by creating employment than by putting cash directly in the hands of the poor.
The “Poor can’t afford tickets to go to space so it should not be allowed” Argument
This is the most parochial argument ever.
Proponents of this argument clearly do not know about economies of scale.
Space-tourism is just getting started and hence the exorbitant cost of tickets. If your worry is that the poor are unable to afford it, then be a fierce advocate of space-travel. Make sure many people hear about it and many pay money to these companies to go on space-tours. Blue Origin & Virgin Galactic can reduce the cost of the ticket only if they can achieve scale.
Part of the reason why we only hear billionaires taking to space is that space-tech has a high entry barrier. Unlike an internet start-up that requires only a computer and coding skills, venturing into space requires a huge amount of capital and expertise in rocket science. This is all the more reason why we should support this industry and make sure it becomes big.
Only if these companies become successful, more people would feel confident to get into this industry. There would be more space-startups, more VCs funding space ventures, and space-tech would scale. If the space economy grows, testing facilities would start charging less and the price of rocket components would reduce thereby bringing the entry barrier down.
As for Richard getting the funding from the Mexican government which is essentially taxpayer money, it is part of the government’s effort to improve the economy. Mexico wants to be on the “ground floor of public space travel”5. It is looking to position itself as a hub for space tourism in the hopes that its economy takes off (pun intended). Sounds like a win-win to me.
All of these arguments have good intentions behind them. But good intentions are simply not good enough. Good intentions are counterproductive if you wield them without applying any brains.
The kids of the future should be able to go on actual "Solar System Tours" instead of a planetarium and it is our responsibility to build towards that.
Thanks to Krithika for reading drafts of this & to Pallavi for bringing the Appalling Arguments to my attention.
All views expressed by the author are personal.
Any feedback and criticism are more than welcome. Find me on Twitter or LinkedIn or Instagram.
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2019/09/01/6-trends-shaping-the-future-of-the-532b-beauty-business/
Source: https://hbr.org/2021/02/the-commercial-space-age-is-here
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect
Source: https://aviationbenefits.org/economic-growth/supporting-employment/
Source: https://www.space.com/1867-virgin-galactic-partners-mexico-spaceport.html