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‘They Could End World Hunger But Instead They Race For Space’: 30 Of The Most Honest Reactions To The Billionaire Space Race
As you might know, the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, has an aerospace company called Blue Origin and it will bring him into outer space. Bezos is getting inside his own space shuttle, New Shepard, on July 20. But even though he's about to achieve his boyhood dream, the owner of Amazon won't be the first billionaire to launch himself above the rest of us (that honor belongs to former Microsoft software engineer Charles Simonyi). Nor will he be the second one.
Soon after he made his plan public in June, Richard Branson stepped in to say that more than a week before Bezos, he would be boarding his own Virgin Galactic VSS Unity for a spaceflight. And on Sunday, he did. The 70-year-old won the billionaire space race.
But not everyone finds this rivalry useful. Or even inspiring. Writer Jacob Silverman, for example, called it "a tragically wasteful ego contest." But he's not alone. Many Twitter users seem to agree with Silverman and have been criticizing the billionaires for being out of touch with reality.
Image credits: richardbranson
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#1
Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
Wish I could edit, meant to say, "Don't bother with the dog parks. Dogs deserve better." Geez, it's not even Monday.
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In his piece for The New Republic, Silverman said the unofficial competition between "three masters of the universe," Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and Elon Musk (with Musk expressing less interest in personally going to space) has its share of dark undertones. "If all goes well ... Branson will return to Earth having cemented his claim to ... what exactly?" the writer asked. "Spending money he's earned off the labor of low-wage workers and shuffled between offshore tax havens, he will be the winner in an extravagant pageant that's designed less to inaugurate a new era of spaceflight than to drum up business for his other companies. Branson, like his would-be spacefaring competitors, isn't an innovator; he's a salesman."
#5
Kookamunga 3 years ago
Bingo. It's just a race to see who has the bigger d i c k. So stupid and there's so much good they could do with their endless supply of money.
Silverman doesn't think that Branson, Bezos, and Musk are fulfilling a collective goal of the human race; they're not expanding our (blue) horizons.
"Branson, for instance, has said he wants to make space travel 'more accessible to all.” (Early reservations on Virgin Galactic flights cost $250,000 while a seat on the July 20 flight of Bezos's Blue Origin sold for $28 million.) But any honest assessment of the billionaire space race shows that it's less the dawning of a new epoch of universal space travel than the world's most expensive infomercial for a network of self-dealing billionaires who plan to make a lot more money down here on terra firma."
The unapologetic writer highlighted that the three men's business portfolios are conveniently vague, too."They all retain potentially lucrative interests in satellite launch and rocketry firms, which is where the real money is. And should the launches go well, they all stand to benefit from rising optimism and investment in their industry."
Of course, we can't expect billionaires to give money to every person in the world and solve the biggest global problems. But they can't expect us to believe that their "space exploration" runs on altruistic fuel as well.
#7
#9
M O'Connell 3 years ago
That would require every member of that society to be on the same level of emotional maturity, and be uncorruptable in their ethical duty to the collective. That will be challenging to say the least.
#10
Martha Meyer 3 years ago
How does that calculation actually work? I can see billionaires dropping enough food for everyone to have enough to eat for a year or a decade, but that wouldn't end systemic hunger?
#13
CatWoman312 3 years ago
How can he be that out of touch? Maybe his head is literally already in space
#14
Robin DJW 3 years ago
We're not talking about prohibiting profits - I just want personal income taxes to keep step with reality. Even if Branson only has personal income of 3 bn/year, (1% of his net worth of 300 bn) he can make more in interest on 3 bn IN ONE YEAR than I have earned in my entire lifetime. And 1% is a lot smaller tax rate than I have to pay. Overhauling the tax laws would make us more socialists rather than fascists. The "I earned it" argument is hogwash. Amount of work expended, personally, by his own effort, is probably about what I produced in my best year. He's not so much a genius as he is a rapacious, exploitative, risk-taking person. And it's his employees who earn him the money, because, really, no one one on earth gets a 3 bn per annum salary.
#15
#17
Dan Buczynski 3 years ago
Go drive around space in your stupid f*****g space convertible you asshat
#19
Lynn Morello 3 years ago
Just want to be able to pay our rents and buy food without having to have 3 and 4 jobs.
#20
Jessica Combrink 3 years ago
Mandela once said, "A person who does nothing for their community is not worth remembering when they die."
#25
Axolotl King 3 years ago
Or have them pay for chemo and insulin so that people who need it can afford it
#27
Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
Yes, those poor billionaires. They'll be suffering so when they're still billionaires when paying a living wage and allowing bathroom breaks...
#28
Vicki Perizzolo 3 years ago
how about reforesting the planet???? cleaning up our oceans?? fixing our climate??
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What do you think ?
Rei 3 years ago
Glad to see that many people share the same view as I do on this. As much as I myself am fascinated by space, astronomy and space travel I stick to my mom's wisdom (or common sense). As mom would say in a strict tone: no you can't have a new pet just because your old one is dying! No, you can't start space travel and inhabit a new planet unless you take on the responsibility of your old planet! Each one of us will be held accountable one day what we did with our resources and life before God. So help them God.
Mike Crow 3 years ago
Go talk to the conservatives in the world and ask why they will not support universal healthcare or caring for the poor in their own nations.
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Jo Choto 3 years ago
I understand all the comments, but here's the thing. People were starving when vaccines were invented. People were starving when airplanes were invented and perfected. People were starving when money was being funnelled into motor cars. People were starving when we went to the moon. People have always been starving. Money will not cure starvation. Starvation is so often caused or exacerbated by war and political corruption, and not helped by chronic drought. No amount of money by itself will ever fix world hunger. All the advancements that humankind has EVER made have been done while millions were starving. I know of several billionaires who have dedicated the vast majority of their wealth to helping others and creating programs of education and healthcare. It shouldn't need to be an either/or situation.
Vivian Ashe 3 years ago
I would argue that vaccines, motorcars, and even airplanes had a real world potential usefulness for everyday people. And not just on some abstract, "trickle down" level. Virgin Galactic's whole business model is to sell the equivalent of extremely expensive, environmentally unfriendly carnival rides to the ultra-wealthy. Basically, Branson just made the world's most expensive social influencer video, so it's hard to blame people for feeling the money could have been better spent on something else.
Load More Replies...
Cori 3 years ago
Meanwhile, I'm debating whether or not to reapply for food stamps because I intentionally went off them when we got our covid stimulus checks. I genuinely try to only take what I absolutely need. I've made that stimulus money really stretch, but it's starting to get a little thin and grocery shopping is becoming stressful again.
Rob Woodman 3 years ago
And it’s not going to get better as inflation rises.
Load More Replies...
Rei 3 years ago
Glad to see that many people share the same view as I do on this. As much as I myself am fascinated by space, astronomy and space travel I stick to my mom's wisdom (or common sense). As mom would say in a strict tone: no you can't have a new pet just because your old one is dying! No, you can't start space travel and inhabit a new planet unless you take on the responsibility of your old planet! Each one of us will be held accountable one day what we did with our resources and life before God. So help them God.
Mike Crow 3 years ago
Go talk to the conservatives in the world and ask why they will not support universal healthcare or caring for the poor in their own nations.
Load More Replies... Jo Choto 3 years ago
I understand all the comments, but here's the thing. People were starving when vaccines were invented. People were starving when airplanes were invented and perfected. People were starving when money was being funnelled into motor cars. People were starving when we went to the moon. People have always been starving. Money will not cure starvation. Starvation is so often caused or exacerbated by war and political corruption, and not helped by chronic drought. No amount of money by itself will ever fix world hunger. All the advancements that humankind has EVER made have been done while millions were starving. I know of several billionaires who have dedicated the vast majority of their wealth to helping others and creating programs of education and healthcare. It shouldn't need to be an either/or situation.
Vivian Ashe 3 years ago
I would argue that vaccines, motorcars, and even airplanes had a real world potential usefulness for everyday people. And not just on some abstract, "trickle down" level. Virgin Galactic's whole business model is to sell the equivalent of extremely expensive, environmentally unfriendly carnival rides to the ultra-wealthy. Basically, Branson just made the world's most expensive social influencer video, so it's hard to blame people for feeling the money could have been better spent on something else.
Load More Replies... Cori 3 years ago
Meanwhile, I'm debating whether or not to reapply for food stamps because I intentionally went off them when we got our covid stimulus checks. I genuinely try to only take what I absolutely need. I've made that stimulus money really stretch, but it's starting to get a little thin and grocery shopping is becoming stressful again.
Rob Woodman 3 years ago
And it’s not going to get better as inflation rises.
Load More Replies...
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