You know Joe, I watch this channel because they're usually well done and we'll thought out. The fact that you presented your opinion was unexpected, which is fine. I'm just glad that you noted that before the episode is respectful. I totally agree with you and this video was just as well thought out just like the rest of your videos. I hope that you and your team keep up the good work.
Sometimes we have to do science for the sake of science itself. There are a ton of technologies that only exist because someone wanted to try something different. We often don’t know how useful something will be decades, or even centuries out. Space exploration, CERN and all these types of ‘big picture’ projects, that have and will continue to change the world, have to start somewhere.
" big picture" projects are usually extremely useful even if their initial core question fails or gets rejected, because with super complex experimental setups, you gotta solve a ton of problems you didn´t know you could have, so even if everything about the "big picture" fails, you still earned a ton of technology, methods and problem solving capabilities. Like, how do you even evacuate a steel tube several kilometers in length, and keep a good vaccum in there? What kind of seals work, and which seals suck? And how, and why? That feeds also into space explorations, because accelerator tubes are essentially space vessels turned inside out...and so on, and so forth....
None of that matters anymore. No technologies humans have created can save us from the coming age. There is only one hope remaining in existence and it has nothing to do with the world as you know it. This world, it's authorities, rulers and municipalities, your human idols, the things you' ve made out to be your Gods and the traits of this world will be absolutely wiped out unto oblivion. Everything attached to them will closely follow, even you.
@@jameselliott9055 hate to break it to you oh 'Prophet of Doom' but every religion ever (Christianity to) has been predicting the eminent end of the world for thousands of years. .......Spoiler alert..... We are still here.
@@herbertcrawford9634 yes there so called apocalyptic day are ironic as earth can end in any day just try to nuke Russia they have dead hand nuke system if anyone attacked Russia they will start all of its nukes and destroy the earth
I've got to say, I came here looking in the comments for trolls, and I didn't find any everybody seems to be really optimistic and positive. Keep up the good work!
@@bobfg3130 As opposed to a lot of misinformation in the widespread online discourse. The important point here is that space travel is not a waste of power and money, a massive pollutant and a sign of decadence. Instead it has many merits, explained by Joe in this video
Excellent video Joe! The Feeney reveal was perfect and truly the man gave away 99% of his wealth and the fact that noone knows that...I had never heard of him for instance.
Could it be he’s not known of because the gesture had so little impact compared to investing it into businesses that generated jobs so common people could make an income? Donating it to charities is not a bad thing…if those charities have proper overview to ensure the funds are used appropriately and effectively. That’s been a big question mark for many decades, though. If he just gave away his $9billion by handing a check to each man, woman, and child in the USA, then everyone would have received a check for about $2,500. That would be appreciated, but honestly would be near meaningless in the overall scope of most peoples lives. Let’s stop hating on the rich based on their wealth. They give employment to those of us who need it and, as early adopters of new products and services, they help drive down costs so others can afford them. Let’s just hate on anyone who is an asshole, regardless of their net worth. Your list of choices skyrockets under that scenario and don’t worry, most politicians are still available as targets for hating on so it’s a win-win.
@@simplesimon8586 It's not so much hating someone for being wealthy, but rather hating a system that allows billionaires whose companies don't pay their employees fair wages, consistently dodge taxes, illegally participate in union busting, spy in their workers, and fund/lobby politicians and governments so they can continue do engage in those practices without repercussions.
@@julsie3195 “fair” is a subjective adjective. It’s based in ones perspective. What one person feels is an unreasonably small wage for performing a certain job, another feels is perfectly fair and yet another feels is over blown. By accepting the job, they have agreed to the wage and its implied that they believe it’s fair. If they don’t believe it’s fair, they are free to not accept the job. In a free market, if there is a consensus among a significant number of people that the wage is not a fair one, then by them not accepting the job en mass, an employer will find himself unable to fill the position thus making him raise the offered wage so as to be able to fill it. Now it may be hard for some to realize this given how self absorbed and self righteous people have become…but if an employer is not having trouble filling a job at a certain wage, then it means a majority of people find the wage to be fair, and thus, like it or not, ones perspective of it being unfair is rendered “wrong” because it is a minority opinion. As for trying to bust unions. There are many things in life the require opposite forces in tension for them to work. Predators and prey are in constant struggle against each other, yet that struggle is natural and leads to population balance, keeping numbers in check and culling out the weak and sickly through natural selection. And yet we find it appalling that unions, in trying to ensure fair conditions for their members, can become over burdening and destructive to a company leading to the company trying to weaken or remove them? The goals of the company and the workers sometimes lie in contradiction to each other and balance can only be found and maintained in the outcome of their clash and settlements. Companies started out relentless and unconcerned about workers. Unions gained strength to oppose. Then management became more understanding and appreciative of their workers while unions became over bearing and destructive of the company. As unions became less relevant and their focus drifted away from what it was intended, companies legitimately try to remove their stranglehold. Then newer generations of management with less understanding and respect for the workers come into their roles and things begin to revert back to an earlier stage again. So why is there concern about companies going through the natural cycle of opposing the unions. Hell the lion king could easily be remade but featuring business and unions. Of course it would have to be made palatable for the audience just like the Lion King was. We didn’t show children lions killing and eating gazelle or warthogs goring lions to death , so we wouldn’t show children managers demanding salaried workers to work extra hours unpaid or show union employees braining other workers with bricks or burning down company facilities. I’ll agree with you that government processes have been corrupted where both companies and unions sometimes exhibit too much control over the political process. And that businesses violating personal privacy are problems. The system, as you referred to it, is not a perfect one. But humans are incapable of perfection in any pursuit. Capitalism is the best economic system developed to date despite its flaws. It has lifted millions around the globe out of poverty and reinforced freedom for equally large numbers. All other economic systems have uplifted very few while dooming millions to poverty and effective enslavement….often killing millions outright as in the case of how socialistic economic policies have often partnered with communistic social governance to “purge” societies of the undesired within them. It’s rather interesting how those who think themselves intelligent will ignore both science and empirical evidence to walk down a well trod path expecting to arrive at a different destination from where their predecessors have ended up. But the idea that abuses of the system do not incur repercussions is simply based out of a short time horizon. In the long run, a populous who enjoy a free society with a capitalist economic system will use the governmental process tinbring about repercussions to correct abuses of that system. But the governmental system, in an effort to ensure justice and fair outcomes, move very slowly and those repercussions might take longer than a human life time to arise and take effect. Just like how the circle of life referred to in the lion king might take multiple generations to shift an out of balance situation back into balance. Just because it doesn’t happen as quickly as we would like doesn’t mean it’s not happening. To think so is anti-science and against empirical evidence.
@@simplesimon8586 The term "fair" in regards to wages isn't subjective. It's relative to the cost of living in a particular city, state, region, etc. Regardless of how people "feel" about the minimum wage in the United States, rent is unaffordable in 93% of U.S. counties for full time minimum wage workers. And before you say "well minimum wage is for entry jobs for high schoolers and summertime college students", no, it's not. It was introduced in 1938 to protect American workers post-Great Depression due to falling wages. The wages offered prior to that weren't accepted because they were "fair", but because companies knew they could offer next to nothing due to the sheer desperation of workers trying to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves and their families. I don't know where you got this idea that unions became "less relevant" because management "became more understanding and appreciative of their workers". It's pure conjecture. There's no "natural cycle" to opposing unions. They're a product of us as a society, we created them, and the evidence that they improve workers' lives is indisputable. When you have bargaining power as an employee that you can exercise, it gives you meaningful leverage in negotiating for things like PTO, sick days, maternal and paternal leave, annual wage increases, and so much more. Take Edison, New Jersey as an example. Warehouse workers in the Edison area were on average paid roughly $18-$21/hour starting. After Amazon opened a warehouse there paying only $15/hour, other nonunionized fulfillment centers cut and offered less pay for the same position just to stay competitive with Amazon. This ultimately led to several warehouse workers either seeking employment at the few fulfillment centers that had unions, or just working for Amazon, leading to further monopolization of the industry. Or take Bessemer, Alabama for example, where Amazon purposefully intimidated employees speaking about or looking to join the movement for a union at that facility. Amazon even paid to have the local traffic light schedule changed at the intersection where employees were picketing and holding signs educating passersby, in an effort for fewer drivers and pedestrians to see them. Just google "Amazon changed traffic light timing" if you don't believe me. As for workers "braining other workers with bricks or burning down company facilities", nothing comes up on a google search for that friend, sorry. This almost devotional dogma of capitalism is still baffling to me. Proponents of it treat it as if capitalism fantastic as it is, or that it's always existed, or both. The U.S. capitalism we engage in today is a far cry from it's initial beginnings. In fact the origins of capitalism can be traced back to 16th century Britain, and weren't really popularized until the works of Adam Smith were published. How many people did the free market of capitalism kill over the course of those centuries? For example slave labor or child labor? When OSHA didn't exist. When a minimum wage didn't exist. When antitrust and anti-monopoly laws didn't exist. The idea of socialism is a very young one compared to capitalism, and we already employ socialist policy in our government and economy through things like social security, Medicare and Medicaid, public education, the minimum wage, child labor laws, agricultural subsidies, etc. The world and it's conditions grow and change over time and if we don't want to fall behind we need to change with it. We've gone 12 years without raising the minimum wage, the longest stretch in history. 40% of Americans can't afford a $400 emergency. People are taking Ubers and Lyfts to the hospital because they can't afford an ambulance bill. Last year we witnessed the largest transfer of wealth in the history of the world through the CARES Act in which the United States government funneled trillions of dollars to banks and corporations within 72 hours while small businesses died and people lost their homes, their healthcare, their jobs, and more. Socialism is apparently always okay for the rich and the military industrial complex but when it comes to mom and pop losing their livelihood it's suddenly "you knew the risk". I also find it funny that someone who criticizes idealistic thinking as anti-science and against empirical evidence used the circle of life song from the Lion King movie buttress their argument. We don't leave terminally ill children to die just because they were dealt a bad hand. We don't leave those physically or mentally unable to work to fend for themselves because of "natural selection". We don't leave the old to wither away alone when they're no longer able to work. We use medicines to extend our lifespans and quality of life. We all chip in through taxes to take care of those who've worked their entire lives and those who physically or mentally can't. We don't choose to adapt to poor conditions, we better the conditions around us to suit our needs, because we're not warthogs, gazelles, or lions. We have independent thinking, free will, and empathy and to ignore these facts is anti-science and against empirical evidence.
@@simplesimon8586 Right. I loved the video. My only significant issue: Billionaires don't "hoard wealth." They invest it in companies that provide jobs and produce goods and services. It's not as though Musk & Bezos have two hundred billion dollars in cash stuffed into their mattresses.
You know, I’ll take a level-headed, well thought-out opinion any time over the vitriol one has to listen to almost everywhere else these days, so in my opinion, you should be making more opinion pieces whenever possible.
At age 71, I thought we'd be on Shuttle version 5 by now. Then again, I thought monorails would have replaced trains. But at least I got my flat screen tv.
As always Joe you’re the “voice of reason”, sensible, humorous and terrific insights! You’re one of my favourite TH-camrs and always look forward to seeing your videos!
@@hunterflowerson4460 Everyone is entitled to their views. Some people don't share the collective hatred for eccentric billionaire madmen (and they are all men). I didn't cringe, cause Joe makes valid arguments for his position which I can respect. It's not like he defends Elon for superficial reasons.
The naysayers will rant about the environment and spending cash etc etc.. But futurists generally agree that the earthlings need to move the bulk of their heavy industry (mining, refining, manufacturing) off-world where there is no biosphere to poison.. Leaving the earth for farms, living space and nature preserves, all the green leafy things.. So these are the baby steps that need to happen first.. Footnote: A falcon 9 carries less fuel by far than a 747 - which has to refuel on a long haul flight, so the carbon footprint of a Falcon 9 launch is a drop in the ocean... :)
Joe, this perspective is so rational, so well-reasoned, and so temperately delivered that it's hard to believe I'm watching this video in the 2020s, an era in which radical vitriol is a virtue, and cultural conversations take place almost entirely in the context of podcast rants, retweetable quips, and viral clapbacks. I hope this video hits trending, because anyone can benefit from seeing such a strong example of how to think through an issue, take and defend a position, and express empathy toward those whose perspective has led them to a different conclusion.
Oh my god thank you Joe! I've been raging this exact topic for months and now you're doing it for me reaching millions more than I could hope to. Jolly good show!
A lot of his videos are like that for a lot of people his choice of subjects almost gives him this almost everyman vibe that is easy to empathize with, it might actually be part of how he managed to succeed.
Just when I thought I couldn't love Joe's content, or agree with him any more... he goes and posts a take that I tried, unsuccessfully, to articulate during the backlash earlier this summer. Happily another member of Team Space, in a bubble.
This video could have been great. I'm the biggest fan of space exploration, science, tech, reusable rocketry, full flow staged combustion cycles, etc... - BBUUUUTT - burning fossil fuels to fly billionaires into space is not necessary nor helpful to humanity... Working on it for "a very long time" doesn't change that, nor does taking Wally Funk along, nor does giving money to charity, nor does doing legitimate science on other missions. etc. they're excuses, and I'm dissappointed that he can't see that.
@@shannonparkhill5557 Maybe because there are no alternatives to burning fossil fuels to get to orbit. Earth's gravity is strong. Also, you're barking up the wrong tree. Cars and Air travel are burning way much more fuel than rockets. Maybe not per units, but there are billions of cars on the road, and thousands of aircraft going around every day. Rockets, hardly a few every months.
Love old Joe teaching other TH-camrs to grow up. 40+ yr olds have never listened to naive 25 yr olds and never will, cuz, they're naive. They just have a louder, dumber voice nowadays.
@@shannonparkhill5557 You seem to have missed his point. These initial steps are necessary for further exploration and advancement. It just so happens that these steps also require a huge amount of funds and billionaires happen to have those funds.
Joe Scott is one of the best science communicators alive today, period. He educates with charm, wit, and a heck of a lot of substance. His channel stands out in a crowded field and I think he deserves a much wider audience. He puts his heart and soul into each video and it shows.
Thank you! I seemed to be the only person who was surprised about media/public reaction that I knew of. It absolutely felt like most angry people didn't even know the companies weren't new. It felt like 'they' thought that Branson and Bezos are so rich that they magicked functional launch systems out of thin air on a whim.
That's probably exactly what they thought. I didn't understand their reactions either, but when you put it that way it kinda makes sense. I'd be mad too if I thought a billionaire could just spontaneously go to space on a whim while I'm stuck in the 9-5.
I’ve followed Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Virgin Galactic since their inceptions. I still think these launches specifically, and the overall push to privatize space, as a singularly bad idea antithetical to the notion that outer space should belong to the “heritage of all mankind”. These billionaires are looking to exploit the enthusiasm for science and exploration in order to push their own business interests, and to patent and monopolize the resources that should rightfully be given to the people.
@@silverXnoise I guess it depends on what you mean by "space should belong to mankind" Do you mean that space should remain untouched and only enjoyed from afar, or do you mean everyone should be free to travel outer space? Because if its the latter then we only get there by these launches. You can't look at these launches in isolation, but rather as one small step in the gradual path towards cheap, universal access to space.
I've been following this shit the entire time as a huge space nerd and I still hate it. There's some of that like what you're saying but then there's just a lot of people wary about the prospects of privatizing space and having these billionaires able to flaunt companies like this, often subsidized by the government like SpaceX. Like why is it that Jeff Bezos can have Blue Origin while the workers at Amazon are woefully underpaid and mistreated?
although, in what corners of social media is Joe hearing this? If it's politicians in Congress (or the EU) maybe, but I'd say Joe and you have already given them way more attention than they deserve. Any at all is too much. As soon as you mention these contrarians you become part of the problem. I expect to get downvoted here, but consider saying nothing at all in response. It's better than "Dude..."
@@SojournerBurns Don't blame the Corporations & Billionaires for gaming the system, blame the Politicians & Bureaucrats they lobby & buy off with campaign donations, how about we start there.
I’ve loved space since I was a child. I saw the last launch of Space Shuttle Discovery in 2011 and that launch inspired me to return to college, get my undergraduate degree, and now I work for a “large government space agency” that I loved since childhood. Space is absolutely inspirational and yes, if it had a cost, only billionaires could pay for it. Great video, and, as you can probably tell, I wholeheartedly agree. Cheers from Space City (Houston).
I had the same reaction as you, so I guess Im on the naivery train as well. Honestly my first thought when Bezos went up was 'thats a great endorsement of confidence in the tech'. Thats it. Just thought it was cool that these guys risked their lives to show their spaceships could be trusted. My second thought was - when is Elon going to space?
Thing is, Elon didn't do Inspiration4 as a publicity stunt like Bezos and Branson. Musk just got given a fat sack of cash and rented out his rocket and facilities. He had little to do with the launch beyond owning the company and ok'ing the whole thing, and appearing in the TV show, and in return the guys making the TV show REALLY spent a lot of time kissing his ass telling everyone how amazing he is. The point he goes up himself will probably be the point when his palace on mars is ready, and not a second before.
My issue with Bezos was him "thanking" his customers and workers for paying for the trip... It may be accurate from a certain lens, but it was beyond tone deaf given the scandals around his company.
@@I_dont_want_an_at I have no reason to give him the benefit of the doubt. I am sure he also knows people shouldn't have to go without bathroom breaks too and even if he is not directly involved with all of that, he did not choose to say or do enough about it by the time we all found out.
@@Kilmoran you’re acting as if you personally know him and personally worked at the company to know people where telling him how how management was treating workers. I’m not acting like I know him or for sure did the things people say nor am I sticking up for someone who could’ve possibly done such a thing but I’m not gonna pretend it’s not a possibility he didn’t know. Specially when you bring in the fact there’s a good amount of employees who’ve met the man personally; say he’s a good man. Shoot he’s even paid for college and has programs to help his employees. You dislike the man for treating his employees wrong but you still buy shoes from companies who use slave labor... shouldn’t really judge.
@@floridaman6643 I am not acting as if I know him. I am acting as if I know his actions or lack thereof far after they become public knowledge. And you do not know where I buy shoes nor how often I do. You are acting as if you know me in the grandest of hypocrisy while defending someone you claim to also not know. Beyond that, Unlike Bezos, I cannot simply do whatever I want and avoid the way the world is with sheer money alone, so if I do purchase things made with slave labor, that is not because I choose to nor set up the sweatshops they work in. However, the majority of people in Bezos' position do, purposefully. Whether he does or not, I do not know so I will not claim that. I do however know his company makes people piss themselves. If he was unaware, that is a failing on his part, but excusable, but if change did not occur after, that is on him. Fortunately, I do have the ability to purchase locally made shoes, and I have. As far as what I know about him personally, it is irrelevant when speaking to his actions and those of his company. He cannot take pride and credit for how successful his company is and then hide behind others for the negatives associated with it. Or at least, I will not allow it in my thoughts on the matter.
@@Kilmoran Fact remains you’re no you’re no better so you shouldn’t cast judgment. Again as I stated in the first comment; I’m not sticking up for him but I won’t condemn him when neither of us know for a FACT that he knew what was going on. Companies don’t always need the boss at the location nor do they get told everything under the sun. Highly suggest just keeping your opinion to yourself when you out yourself as a hypocrite by saying “ I can’t help it” while you actively buy the product made by slaves but hey just reflect what I say like most people do when they hate on Elon.
They said the same thing about wasting money back in the 60's but it pushed the economy forward into the 70's with jobs, specially with products that came from the space industry. My father worked the Apollo radar systems and it was a really great time back then. I agree with most of what you say and I was there and saw the changes that were great! Those times seem to be coming back and even better!
I think, in the 60s it was a waste of money. Paying a shitload of money to stick a flag in a dead rock, then never return in 50 years, is a definition of waste.
Bruh, the 1970s is marked with one of the worst in US economic crisis, sure its not the fault of the space programs, but saying it cause an widescale economic boom is delusional.
🙄 if you want to go to space , have at it … let me know when you get that first billion dollar loan from some billionaires bank. Until then , at least someone is leading that way
I like how people think that a government which already spends tens of trillions of dollars in debt without improving their lives will somehow magically start improving their lives if only they just taxed billionaires while still spending tens of trillions dollars in debt. 🤔
Great video. I don't understand why space exploration is the one unique human activity whose spending is abhorrent whilst poverty and inequality exist. Never spending on art. Or films. Or sport. Or TV. Or theatre. Or literature. Or technology like phones we use to entertain ourself. Our species spending countless billions on those things is apparently OK, just not space exploration.
I guess its because of all the air pollution it causes, it making rich people richer and fcourse. Well its super dificult, so it takes forever. Seems like a waste in short terms. Thats why ppl are against it. But long term its SO MUCH more beneficial over ANYTHING
@@cherrydragon3120 The pollution caused by rockets is tiny compared to most other industries and if billionaires wanted an easy way to make more money they certainly wouldn't have invested in rocket science. It's just that it's flashy and you see all those plumes and imagine it;s all harmful but the benefits of space exploration are worth it even if it were much more polluting. If you start with a few million dollars then it's much easier to get richer and rich if you use that money wisely or doing shady things. Too many people don'r think, they just feel and this made us close nuclear power plants instead of investing and opening new, better and safer ones and using we're now using more fossils fuels instead. There is very little valid criticism of exploring space
It would be trivial to fund NASA with the budget of all of these companies combined if these men paid their share of taxes. While there are undoubtedly people who criticize space exploration in general, the problem isn't the space exploration. It's the question of who will personally OWN the benefits of the space exploration. Unless those families are all committing to donating the benefits and profits of their future colonial space mining empires to mankind at large? No? Perhaps as beneficent dictators they'll allow people to pay them to work for them.
I like Joe but dismissing the idea of asking if space exploration money could be better spent on earth is a shit move. I actually agree with Joe but this condescending attitude to the opposite view is just cheap. Nearly 7 million dead from starvation so far this year, one every 3 seconds, I think people with the opposite view deserve more of our time and looking down our noses at them because "they don't see the bigger picture" seems wrong to me.
@@morganthedruid1 I don't think anyone who doesn't make money from war would have a problem with space exploration money being taken from military budgets, so long as the military budget didn't expand to cover it
@@morganthedruid1 Equating deaths from starvation as simply down to billionaires spending their money on other things is to ignore the true causes of those deaths and future deaths from these same causes - it is facile and does the victims a disservice.
@@rednammoc I get your point and agree with it to a limited extent but the super rich are pretty much THE cause of most of the starvation and misery in this world. The fact that most very wealthy people refuse to provide livable wages and basic benefits in most nations is proof enough. And to address the very righteous criticisms of space tourism I'd like to bring up people like Boyan Slat, who I really wish Joe wold devote an episode to. At the very least all these mega-richies should be vigorously helping to fund Slat's efforts, if not creating their own iterations of these technologies. At the rate humans are wrecking the planet, rich people like Bezos in particular, we won't have anywhere near enough time left to develop the technologies necessary for pulling off living in space or on other planets. Not even close. Mt. Shasta is snowless for the first time in...? And rain fell on the peak of Greenland's ice sheet for the first time ever. We are rapidly running down the clock on our existence. Yes, space exploration can and does help us develop tech to combat climate issues but we are-RIGHT NOW-at a place where anything we do with regards to space should be directly funneled into prioritizing saving our asses here on Earth.
Exactly. Ordinary folks are channelling that anger through this event but not because of it. They couldn't care less about space, a place they would probably never be able to go in their lifetime.
"Any man who had ever worked in a hardened missile site would have felt at home in Clavius...they had been turned to the purposes of peace. After ten thousand years, man had at last found something as exciting as war" Your video essay made me think of this passage from Arthur C Clarke's masterpiece, "2001 a space odyssey". Excellent video essay.
Very nuanced discussion, thanks for this. I think in the end the problem I and many others have with Bezos is that he just isn't treating his employees well. And by "employees" I mean specifically the ones who built him his billions in the first place - the workers at Amazon (especially those working at fulfillment centers). If he were just a better employer, as the richest man on Earth, I would be much more ok with these other projects of his. It also doesn't help that the legal actions of Blue Origin right now are literally delaying the Artemis mission.
Exactly. Joe is pitching this as "people are mad at space". No, we're mad about exploitation. We're mad about fundamentally unjust tax policies that these billionaires helped write. We're mad that it isn't NASA doing these things, but instead rich people using our money to fly themselves up. Eat the rich.
That was part of my rant too - that Bezos won't even pay his staff proper wages. He even had the cheek to say it was thanks to his workers that he was up there in the first place - just didn't want to say he did it by squeezing their wages whilst squeezing every minute out of them, to the point some had to pee in bottles. I just can't bring myself to even open the Amazon page, let alone buy anything from that site. Plus, the day TH-cam posted up recommendations about the Branson/Bezos competition, their thumbnails were flanked all round with videos of mostly wildfires with the rest being floods. And there was Branson and Bezos grinning in the middle of it all like a pair of monkeys. Just made me want to cry. As for their charitable donations - I think I mentioned those during my initial rant. They are offset by tax breaks, which means governments don't get that rightful tax income into their coffers - which obviously means less money goes into education, health, emergency services, social programs, foreign aid, necessary infrastructure, and supporting the homeless, low income, unemployed and refugees...need I go on? Good grief, you Americans have to pay $1500 for an ambulance! It's all wrong, it should be a social duty of the government to scrape you off a road - for free. Also, just recently, I have been inundated with videos concerning the grave number of difficulties 'with' space travel, things that we have not yet rectified. Just shoving one rocket after another up there, each very much the same, is not addressing these factors: Cosmic rays, the increasing amount of dangerous space junk, fuels that continue to produce large quantities of carbon dioxide (and any other greenhouse gases that may be emitted, like water vapour), plus one I'd forgotten about until today - the very real danger of damage from interstellar dust particles on long haul flights (Anton Petrov gives a good account of this in his video. Worth watching if you haven't already done so). Most of all, I do think that while large portions of our planet are in very real peril of becoming uninhabitable in just a few years, increasingly driving mass migration, the focus of 'everyone' should be on that - billionaires included. Much as I like the thought of space travel for all, much as my son wants to be involved in space exploration/mining - I think playing around in space can be left for a later time. We have to stop being selfish about our primary interests and think about home first.
@@todddammit4628 I see so many people arguing that they shouldn’t be innovating in the space industry. Joe even said in the video that there are many legitimate reasons to dislike these billionaires, but space exploration is not one of them.
@@stevescoffee8325 Its because it's unfair. People have a strong reaction to things that are unjust/unfair. These billionaires are wealth thieves. They've stolen this money by exploiting workers and evading taxes. They've made their billions thanks to the infrastructure WE built, not them. Amazon would not have a business if it weren't for our investments in roads, bridges, internet, GPS, and providing an educated workforce. Yet they've refused to pay back into that system. They've stolen what is rightfully our share. And what do they do with it? They flaunt it in our faces. Meanwhile our entire infrastructure is crumbling, the world is on fire, and our social safety nets are woefully inadequate. These things are related. People criticize the space programs most because they're the most public. The news doesn't make a big deal about every Yacht Bezos buys. They don't make a big deal about the money they stash in shell corporations. They don't make a big deal about all the money they use to pay off politicians.
I literally wrote a tweet today saying that it is possible that resources from mining asteroids and the space to colonise could prevent the next world war. Population is outgrowing territory and raw materials, especially with new tech like Lithium batteries etc. We could swap another war for growth into space.
Yep, I'm an engineer I just went back to school for aerospace engineering. My goal is to have something I've worked on be in space, even if its as small as a few screws.... haha
I can't remember it correctly, but hasn't Destin from Smarter Every Day a video where he's interviewing the person who designed some mechanism for the cupola? Sometimes it's the small things. Maybe your small thing will make everything better someday. (That... Actually sounds way weirder than it's ment to)
my ex had parents that worked for military contractors. Her father worked on missiles to launch from submarines. I also got to meet and teach a little English to a former engineer from the USSR, a Russian man who finally got enough money to move his family to the U.S., but only because he had worked so much for their military. All these people had some regrets, and sacrificed a lot, ultimately for the security of their families, and yet... As long as you don't find yourself trading your health, mental and physical, and all your time for financial security, you're doing okay. Screw the screws. But yes, if space companies employ people like you, they're fine in my book.
You’ve said everything I’ve ever wanted to say to the world… this is officially my favorite TH-cam video of all time. I know that my purpose in life is to make sure the world gets on board with space travel… trust me, we’ll get there. Godspeed.
The rate we're going, your purpose in life will be to get people on board with space and stay onboard IN space since the planet will be flooding and burning and starving and drowning in plastic
Kinda shows you what nonsense it was, the idea that the internet would democratize information. The media companies still have the biggest influence over what we see, and real journalists and communicators still live in the cracks.
@@jbtechcon7434 I'm not talking about media companies. At least CNN an MSNBC covered Inspiration 4. I'm talking about people like Philip Defranco, The Green Brother a and even talk show host like Trevor Noah and Stephan Colbert.
"Read the room" is the exact response a lot of people had to Jeff and Branson. It's not they should give the money away or spend it elsewhere, it's that it's sickening that there's such a massive divide between them and us in the first place, and all they're doing is rubbing it in at a time when people are particularly sensitive to the growing inequalities of our economic system.
It is true. Billionaires should not exist, and Bezos has done horrific things to his employees, and rich people NEED to pay taxes. The ONLY 'but' here is that if billions should ever be spent on anything, it needs to be progression of technology, and space is the easiest way to do it.
@@Gigamokin No one here is really talking about socialism, though. Most are really just opting for a more mixed capitalist society, to alleviate the effects of late stage.
Another way to think of the Inspiration 4 mission: it was the first mission that essentially purchased a stand alone space mission. All other manned missions were part of some sort of larger program, even previous private space tourism flew to things built for other programs, so needed to integrate with those programs. The private suborbital tourism programs were created expressly for that purpose. With Inspiration 4 it was essentially just a case of paying for it. No special needs, no integrating with anything, just pay for it and get it. That is game changing, because it shows now if you can find the money you can go to space, that's it. That is a real change.
PREACH! That thing about throwing money into space and then it's gone is beyond ridiculous, so many hard working people from every socio-economic bracket are being payed to advance our understanding of the universe. We all win.
Well, except for the amazon worker who has to piss in a bottle, or a Tesla employee that had to work through a pandemic, despite a state law, Or the tax payers who helped pay for all the initial research that nasa has done over the decades, while these companies do everything possible to not put back into the system that gave them the technology, knowledge, and expertise that allow them to create these space companies to begin with.
@@Fearmylogic exactly….the issue is the way these billionaires makes their money, by exploiting their workers and buying out politicians to write the rules in their favour. I am sure there are many amazon worker who can do a better job with this amount of money including space exploration if they are not stuck in amazon pissing in bottles just to survive and have 3 meals a day.
@@Khan-nk4fj It's the way things have to be. Everyone has lofty ideas that we can be equal but there is always a "man on top" cracking the whip. Everyone in life has a purpose, even if the purpose is to be nothing but a stepping stool for others.
@@remliqa ..but he did send his own car in an orbit around mars with a robot clone of himself at the seat.. hes gonna land back on earth in 30,000 years and take over again you'll see
I appreciate that Musk didn't go himself. It makes it seem like such a pathetic dick measuring contest especially when they all do it so close to each other.
When people complain about the government spending money on space, I ask them why it's okay for the military industrial complex to be a jobs program but not space.
and then they answer 'is that the only option? couldnt we be spending on education and health and mental health and social welfare instead of either?' Space exploration is valuable, but your argument is a whataboutist non-sequitur
@@mycosys - Yeah but those same people who say that, don't give 2 sh*ts about education, or mental health or people living in abject poverty soooo.... 🤷🏻♀️😕 I'm not saying we shouldn't go to space, however, bringing our financially crippling & massively corrupt Military spending into question, is absolutely fair & ia beyond justified.
@@mycosys We spend twice as much on health care as other first world nations yet we have worse results. The US spends more on education than most other countries but gets worse results. Clearly something is wrong and spending more money isn't going to fix it.
Thanks for making this video, I am one of the ones inspired by this new space race. Enrolled back into college to learn about engineering the day I saw Elon land that rocket. I'm so excited for this future, and I hope all the companies bring the competition, space is hard.
Hey man, loads of people just want to put out a very slanted one sided view on things so that it's easier to bash. You, you put nuance into the topics you cover and I cannot preference enough how often I agree qith you completely because we both master the skill of perspective exploration.
But isn't that what Joe himself did? He totally didn't bring up the fact that these guys have this money, in part, due to the treatment of their workers, and the lack of taxes that they pay. He totally side-stepped the ( in my opinion ) reasonable argument that many, if not most people would not be mad if Bezo's and Musk treated their employees better, gave them better pay, and paid their fair share in taxes ( Taxes that helped fund Nasa for decades, Giving musk and bezo's the Tech, Knowledge, and expertise to even think about going to space themselves ). Hell, Bezo's himself thanked his workers at amazon, as they in part helped him do this. Maybe he should treat them as importantly as he claims they are, on national TV. I agree with pretty much everything else he said, Just wish he would have addressed this part of the frustration that people have been talking about, since the launches. Not exactly like these are secret opinions, that no one has said out loud before.
@@Fearmylogic people always say tax the rich... as if the rich aren't being taxed. The higher your income thw higher the percentage of taxes you pay. That's already a thing. Why then do politician always try to lower taxes on the rich? To attract the rich. The best deals attract the best costumers. Every time a state or country raises their taxes the vig businesses take it elsewhere and the taxes on the moddle class have to be raised to compensate.
As apparently a member of your bubble, the reactions surprised me too. The idea that space has to be/ is going to commercialized has been around forever. I remember Robert Zubrin and people like him speaking with dreamy eyes about what we could do with a thriving space industry. It has always been a great futuristic dream. And now it's happening and people complain about it. And it's the usual uninformed internet drivel... In the end, space is becoming common. Which is great, but it also loses its shiny, idealist only crowd of fans. So, I totally agree and excellently put.
The problem is that I see it in newspapers and a family member actually really liked a specific article about why we shouldn't go to Mars. The article didn't even have solid arguments, I could argue against going to Mars better. The journalist is a culture journalist but wrote this in the newspaper head editor page. It was the same lame arguments that I always hear. But the fact that that family member agrees proves that it isn't only on the internet.
I'm with you halfway. A. Yeah, it's a dope step forward for space travel. Getting civilians into space is excellent and wonderful. Get some money moving that way. B. Maybe don't do the marketing stunt in the middle of a pandemic while we're experiencing a huge shift in working culture as well as Amazon and Bezos going through a ton of controversy regarding his treatment of workers.
Yeah that’s the thing, like I agree with joe pretty much, it’s just that, the timing of it all and what’s going on especially with Jeff bezos and Amazon and his workers, if it weren’t for all that was happening I don’t think there would’ve been the irritation with it all or at least not as much
Yo Joe, Hayley Arceneaux is a Physician Assistant (or PA). They are most of the way to being a doctor.. they can diagnose illnesses and prescribe medications.
True! A great piece by Joe, but he did miss on a couple trivial details. I'm for putting up corrections like this. It helps us nerd-types from losing bar bets...and I appreciate you not being overly negative about it.
Please marry me. You're married, I'm married...we're both straight...but still. Damn I love your videos. Your analysis, perspective and objectiveness are so freaking right on! Please take the measly $5 I send you on Patreon every month and buy yourself a beer. You deserve it old chap!
Joe, I watch your stuff regularly, (and Dodd and Manley, etc.) Why? Because we share space nerd -ism and basically want that whole "Let's go up" agenda to "win" . This was a wonderful program you just did. My wife and I sat and just watched and listened and nodded the whole time. Maybe we're also in that "bubble", too but on the "inspiration" note, I think you and your fellow science communicators should pat yourselves on the back for being great sources of rational discourse and inspiration as well. You deserve an award. Also, I think I should get an award for using the most quotation marks in a comment post. Duncan from Canada
Great content, as always! Seems to me like Blue Origin could end up being swept into the ULA conglomerate if they can't get Vulcan's engines squared away. That may be their best option. There's definitely an 'old space vs. new space' battle brewing, and B.O.'s methodology definitely belongs to the former.
Really? They'll get self landing working. They've seen spacex doing it. Amazon copied lots of ideas and technology and just made it cheaper and more reliable. I'm sure BO will do the same. They have all the money and all the time in the world.
@@mrmonkeboy that maybe works on shipping, but rocket technology isnt easy to copy at all, right now everyone is trying to catch up with spacex but no one is even close to their level, this is not a problem that you can simply throw money at and have it down before dinner you need innovation and a good plan If you want to talk about near unlimited resources the chinese are also trying to create their own falcon 9 clone and right now they are stuck in the grosshoper stage
@@mrmonkeboy It may be that having all the money and all the time in the world is their problem. I personally find that being faced with time constraints constraints or deadlines provide a certain pressure that helps me operate at a higher level than I otherwise would. Maybe that's why the shiny rocket in South Texas is progressing so quickly...
@@citizenblue I'm not debating who will get there first. Amazon didn't do anything first. I'm just saying that BO will copy and succeed. There's plenty of space up there. Room for both.
Seemingly light fare, yet the profundity of global advancement attributable to space flight is stunningly brought home with Sir Scott's trademark breezy, deft delivery...!
When I was a school teacher my students worked on developing their own spaceship company. One kid asked if space companies really exist or is it just NASA doing stuff. I told the student that I thought there were maybe 20 companies here in Houston that fit the bill, but that I would look it up. To my amazement there are many more than 20. According to the Greater Houston Partnership there are 500 space-related companies in the Houston area with $2.9 billion sold and traded in this vector of the economy! I also found that Ellington Field near Clear Lake City is listed as a Spaceport! Imagine that. My students were inspired and we had a great time in class creating our own space companies and “launching” our first model rockets. Keep up the great info Joe! 😎
Thanks for this Joe. You have concisely and eloquently vocalised what I have thought about space exploration for a long time 👍 I approve this message 😁
This has to be be the best video I've seen from you for a long time. Don't get me wrong, you do a great job with your others and great subject matter, but this was really well put together and had excellent points that don't get talked about directly at all. It really needed done to talk to those on the internet that hear bad information and assume that it is true. The great example is constant comments lie you brought up like, "that money being used for space could do more good elsewhere on earth where people are instead". My own reply to that is "The world and the people in it owe you nothing. How a person or business decides to spend their own money is not only up to them, but it is their money to spend. If someone is driving a lamborghini it came from their own money and they spent it they way they chose to. We don't walk up to the owner and say, "since you have the money to own that and we have homeless people in our city you should sell it, buy a cheaper car and give the left over money to a homeless person"
I'd love for you to do more opinion videos, maybe once every few months just dive into a topic, it's great to really hear your take on these things and hear the details that maybe aren't really being thought about.
@@EminMastizada It was his take on war that swayed me. I am a veteran, and I never for one second considered that space travel could theoretically replace war as the driver for technological innovation in the long term. Seems obvious now that its been in my brain for a few hours....
Joe, you're the best kind of naive. You still have hope in humanity, which helps US have hope in humanity. And for that, we thank you and we love you man!
Not quite ALL aspects. He only talked about the people saying these billionaires should give away their money, but didn't touch on the people that just want them to pay their workers better, and give them decent working conditions. A lot less people would be mad about Bezo's going to space, if his workers didn't have to piss in bottles, or if Elon wasn't ignoring a state law, and forcing his workers to work during a pandemic. As Bezo's himself said...His workers helped make it possible...so maybe he should treat them accordingly. Other than that though, Totally agree with his video.
To clarify, the Mercury 13 never trained along side the Mercury 7. The doctor involved in preliminary testing to narrow down astronaut candidates ran his own experiment with women on the side to prove they could meet similar requirements. That's as far as it went.
Very true, but there were those in NASA who were worried even at this parallel testing, that they got LBJ to sign an order that NASA astronauts would be all men for the best part of thye late 60s and most of the 70s.
I don’t think that is the case. People always were like that, even when US tried to fly to the Moon. However, due to internet, they can now reach more audience. But, that is just more voice for people no matter what that voice is about. The problem with social networks is that the network might show them only content that agrees with them, which created a social bubble making them to think that majority and lots of people do agree with their ideas - that is really terrifying
Your views on space exploration as mankind's peaceful yet still technology-advancing replacement for war mirrors a research paper I wrote for school in 1980. Hearing you echo the exact same points I made regarding the cost and the danger of space travel as being worthwhile compared to the alternative ways mankind has seen advancement mostly through destruction and conflict is heartening. "If Joe came to the same conclusions, my points were valid!"
Chuck Feeney made it a condition of many of his donations that under no circumstances the recipient could disclose Chuck's name, so he donated a lot anonymously :) He is one of my idols, I was so fascinated when I heard his story, hope hi lives many more years :)
Also, Hailey is not a nurse assistant, she is a Physician assistant. Basically the difference between one class over the summer for a Nurse Aide or a Masters degree for a PA.
As someone who has always opposed the billionaire space race, my reason is that, firstly, as you said the funding for it was unethically acquired to a significant extent (Branson's tax evasion, Bezos's worker exploitation). And secondly, because the merits of any benefits that come from this will be judged not by their usefulness to the public but by their profit potential because after all, unlike NASA, this is an investment that needs a return to justify itself. I won't cheer when a private rocket reaches a new altitude because that achievement was not for me nor the people around me, and any benefit to us will be purely incidental.
I mean no disrespect, but you should try to think about the implications of your assertion. Many profitable ventures are profitably precisely because they benefit society. Otherwise nobody would use the product. Amazon made goods much more widely available, affordable, and accessible than ever before. Virtually everyone I know uses and loves it. This implication that only government endeavors (non-profit) have intrinsic value to society and are worth lauding is a very unfortunate outgrowth of political ideology in the world right now.
Great video but I can’t help but feel as though one should be suspicious of the hope they give us. In a time where as you said there is little hope for the future it seems there is an opportunity to exploit our want for a hopeful future. I am not saying the future they speak about (specifically Elon musk as he seems to talk the most about it) isn’t a possibility, but simply pointing out that these billionaires have a history of exploitation for the most part and they know how to manipulate public perception for there benefit. it is therefore not unlikely that they could be doing the same to us for unknown motives. Just for the record I am pro space and agree with most of what was said here.
@@livethefuture2492 Speaking as a huge space fan, I partially agree, though I really hope that this spurs scientific competition and lights a fire under the national space agencies, rather than purely commercial competition. In brief, Space Exploration=Good. Space Exploitation=Bad.
@@livethefuture2492 If everyone is on team space, this video would be not necessary. Space exploration is a hard sell for the big majority who is caught in an exploitative system, struggling to pay rent, medical bills, food... If space exploration has to benefit humankind and not only the few, it has to be owned by the people. Otherwise you just export the exploitative system into space. There is a lot of progress and wealth to be made in space. The question with this commercial space programs is only who of the super-rich will get even richer with that. Congrats for not only propagating the suffering of the majority but actually cementing it. Like Gibb in the next post really neatly set. Yey for space exploration, no for space exploitation. If team space wants to grow and actually do some good for the majority, we (because I count myself into team space) better address this space elephant in the room.
Most of the huge tech companies succeed because their own supply relies on sweatshops in countries with poor worker protections. If Bezos really gets into asteroid mining, won't those values extend to space? It'll be just like _The Expanse_ where the miners' concerns are ignored-- just like they always have working for private companies.
"NASA's no vagina policy" had me rolling. Respect to Wally. For the record, I prefer to hear your opinion, Joe. Also love that you space-nerd creators all nod to and respect each other. Loved that texted my buddy Tim bit.
@@emmanuelademola734 satellite takes too much time to deorbit themselves. And if uncontrolled starlink satellite collided themselves, the smaller parts will take longer, also in the space dead satellite is more dangerous then radioactive metals.
@@LegoDork all Internet nodes verifies bit of data with satellites, thats why so much communication satellites are floating around. Eventually most of them became garbage. And we have no plans for them.
I agree with Joe. But if someone could shed some light on this question I have I'd appreciate it: Why is it considered "good" to dodge taxes and then proceed to spend money on charity? Tax uptake is the price we pay to have a functioning society. I understand you could argue government spend on the wrong stuff, but then what you're actually saying is that government is spending on stuff other people found good, because democracy? Corruption is a problem in all organisations. I guess if you live in a society where billionaries, cronies and borderline insane politicians have a lot of influence one can say the system has gone haywire, but privately funneling money also comes with warning tags. Thoughts? Anecdote time: A swedish guy once tried to pay extra tax, reasoning it was a kind of charity. Swedish tax authorities refused. So there's an uncomfortable legal precedent for me to ponder.
OMG thanks for posting this. I so often see just the most hostile comments about space exploration; when did this become sooo divisive? I had to leave Tumblr after seeing so many people I’m otherwise in tune with actually saying that Elon Musk should die (not actual threats, just in the vein of very angry, ‘eat the rich’ sort of sentiments). I have somewhere to send people now for a calm pro-space argument. I’m not a fan girl of Musk, I think there is plenty to criticise him about, but in general I agree with most of what he does, especially how he thinks about colonising Mars (I presented a paper at the founding convention of the Mars Society, so I drank the Mars koolaid a couple of years before him. And I’m still sometimes shocked that he exists and wants to do it so badly; back in ‘98 the idea felt so unattainable). I think there are a couple of things going on here: 1. Backlash against late stage capitalism, which is fair tbh. We are consuming resources at an alarming rate and inequality is out of whack. 2. Unconscious bias against people on the ASD spectrum. I don’t think Richard Branson has it, but Musk definitely does, I’m pretty sure Bezos does, and I’m pretty sure Mark Zuckerberg has it for a non-space race example. There’s a lot of criticism and mocking based on their ASD behaviours so I think a lot of people’s opinions of them get soured for reasons other than they’ve been successful at exploiting capitalism. 3. Ignorance about what’s actually happening with the new space race. People don’t really understand how the technological innovations are useful, and how damaging or not rockets are to the environment (I’ve seen people throw around some completely ridiculous unsourced numbers). I also think people tuned out after the Apollo era because it was less exciting. They just not are engaged with it. 4. Ignorance about the role of charities in society. Personally I don’t think charities should exist, or at least shouldn’t exist long term. Charities represent a gap in the duty of care by governments. So for instance the fact that most gofundmes are for healthcare in the US is a tragedy. I also did research for a documentary film about Haiti and was shocked to learn that things like food aid actively made the situation worse over time by further eroding supply chain infrastructure. So blindly throwing money at a problem is not usually the best solution. But I don’t think many people really think about charities so critically. Anyway, end of rant. Thanks Joe!
People’s issues with Elon Musk and Bezos aren’t even close to just due to space stuff lol, pretty much everything else Don’t think it’s cool to use ASD as an excuse for the behavior of Musk and Bezos (Bezos is even more unlikely, no idea why you’d think that about him, he’s just a sociopath)
@@hunterflowerson4460 Those people are just the most visible billionaires so people hate on them for that reason. Most billionaires work behind the scenes to influence public policy such as by donating to political parties in order to reduce their taxes and or reduce/eliminate the competition (usually through regulations), or giving them favorable treatment (such as giving their companies exclusive contracts, etc). I just read an article about Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire who supported Trump's campaign and in exchange the Trump administration gave the companies he was heavily invested in exclusive government contracts which made him richer. I never hear anyone mention the guy much less complain about him.
These billi9nairs wake up everyday with the money to end world hunger and pay their workers a decent living wage but they don't. They lobby the government to avoid taxes and bust unions. We could go to space without billionaird if we wanted to.
@@marshmellowmuchies Dude, what you said is completely unfounded. End world hunger? Are you serious, that is a problem that will never be solved. There are some many reasons why world hunger exists, that just throwing money at it will not solve the problem. Do you suppose we give just the money to the corrupt government of Eritrea, bet that will work out.
@@stevescoffee8325 There have been a series of reports that all agree an annual investment of $30 billion would end world hunger in a decades time. Obviously there will always be small exceptions of certain people or certain areas dealing with hunger, but mostly the issue would be solved. So, yes billionaires could easily end world hunger if they wanted to, you'd just need thirty of them giving $1 billion a year for ten years. Or even the richest countries could just do this but they don't and won't because where are the profits in ending a problem.
@@redvintro Even the missions that aren’t simply promotional stunts aren’t in the best interests of humanity. Musk wants to mine Mars, Bezos wants to put datacenters in orbit. Everything else is grandstanding and B.S. on their part.
@@philiplindley7384 Mars is around 8 light minutes away at its closest point in orbit. Good luck with remotely controlled robots, even the best AI is near clueless in those kinds of environments. They can only do so much, one human in one day will make more useful scientific discoveries than all the probes ever sent there. Also, lebensraum is a wonderful idea as long as it's not aimed at already populated places. It's tough and expensive and dangerous, but a self sustaining settlement is clearly possible there. A vast amount of resources out there free for grabs, without hurting anyone in the process. It's a quite lucrative vision of a future where we can move the worst kinds of pollution away from Earth. Only an idiot would say no thanks, let's just keep ruining the only natural environment we can exist in. Because, let's be honest, as long as there is a civilization, industry will be a key issue we got to deal with, and it's growing, and causing more and more disruption all around the planet. Sustainability is impossible in our closed system. We need to push the boundaries, or else the laws of nature will crush us. In this sense, you're right, it's totally ego driven. We, humankind, deserve to expand and prosper. Or if this assumption turns out to be false, then nothing matters anyways, whatever we do, is already pointless. Why not give it a try then?
@@matwyder4187 So you're telling that astronauts do something apart from sit in those chairs and wait for computers to make decisions? I don't believe a self sustaining population is possible. It isn't possible in the Antarctic or the Sahara. It would always need input from Earth. The only point of Life in Intelligence and we can deliver that from where we are. 95% of technology is mostly useless and just serves a current fashion or trend. I don't disagree with space exploration just the need for humans to go there. Star Trek/Wars are just movies.
@@philiplindley7384 Well, astronauts did quite more on the Moon a long time ago, even though all of it was "just" to win the big competition of the era. Tech was barely ready to carry out the missions, yet they did it. Astronauts do lots of research on the ISS these days, some of that will eventually lead to useful applications down here. And trust this, if Antarctica 1) had easily accessible and valuable resources 2) wasn't protected by international treaties, we'd already see whole cities there. And I think if you can only associate to silly space operas regarding the enthusiasm around realistically viable space exploration and possible colonization, you are totally misguided. You know, we are not hyped because of those movies, but because it can be done in the near future, and if executed with proper awareness, these endeavors could open up vast new perspectives for humankind. I'd even understand people campaigning against it if it had any visible negative impact on our environment. But it doesn't. Yes, like any human activity, space industry is clearly producing some emissions, yet all of it is negligible compared to many other industries. Industries that have nothing else to deliver but useless fashion items and more and more harm to nature in the process. Why not go after those in the first place?
They havent avoided the last thing you said yet, but what people dont seem to understand is that if we all had the exact same amount of wealth the there would be no one to inovate like space travel. That dosn't make them the good guys, but its just something to think about, we need this un-ballanced world to push boundries, even if its not happy thoughts all the way through
@Justin Time "people want to have stuff they require to survive" you dont need to goto space for that if we all had the same wealth and a good govornment to spend correctly and limit births, then we got plenty here.
Astronaut Chris Hadfield: _"The unheralded beauty of our planet and where it sits is so constantly magnificent that when you’re looking at it, you’re talking in hushed tones, like you’ve walked into a giant forest or the most beautiful cathedral on earth. You’re reverential of where you’re."_ First civilians in space: "hOlY 5H1T" "oH mY gOsH!"
Involuntarily? Are you a slave? Will you be hunted and killed if you take a different job. That's terrible, I didn't realize that Jeff was running a totalitarian death cult. No idea, not a clue.
@@humanfromconception1195 If something is taken without your consent its theft. Your child like take is cute. Was I suppose to quit before I knew he was doing it? If I asked for the money back, would he give it? Your take equates to if someone wrongs you, its your fault for allowing it.
@@humanfromconception1195 Market forces will starve him and his if he quits. Apparently you're too spoiled and pampered to understand that capitalism is a machine that runs on the destruction of the workers. All you know about Amazon is "I PUT MONEY IN WEBSITE AND STUFF COME OUT." Maybe learn some empathy, and slobber on fewer boots.
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I loved it. Let’s petition to change “Random Thursday” to “Ranting Thursday”
Thinking Thursdays with Joe*
I second this
That’s for the TMI channel.
I'm in!
How about Random Thursday and Ranting Thursday on alternating Thursdays?
You know Joe, I watch this channel because they're usually well done and we'll thought out. The fact that you presented your opinion was unexpected, which is fine. I'm just glad that you noted that before the episode is respectful. I totally agree with you and this video was just as well thought out just like the rest of your videos. I hope that you and your team keep up the good work.
Sometimes we have to do science for the sake of science itself. There are a ton of technologies that only exist because someone wanted to try something different. We often don’t know how useful something will be decades, or even centuries out. Space exploration, CERN and all these types of ‘big picture’ projects, that have and will continue to change the world, have to start somewhere.
" big picture" projects are usually extremely useful even if their initial core question fails or gets rejected, because with super complex experimental setups, you gotta solve a ton of problems you didn´t know you could have, so even if everything about the "big picture" fails, you still earned a ton of technology, methods and problem solving capabilities.
Like, how do you even evacuate a steel tube several kilometers in length, and keep a good vaccum in there? What kind of seals work, and which seals suck? And how, and why? That feeds also into space explorations, because accelerator tubes are essentially space vessels turned inside out...and so on, and so forth....
None of that matters anymore. No technologies humans have created can save us from the coming age. There is only one hope remaining in existence and it has nothing to do with the world as you know it. This world, it's authorities, rulers and municipalities, your human idols, the things you' ve made out to be your Gods and the traits of this world will be absolutely wiped out unto oblivion. Everything attached to them will closely follow, even you.
@@jameselliott9055 hate to break it to you oh 'Prophet of Doom' but every religion ever (Christianity to) has been predicting the eminent end of the world for thousands of years.
.......Spoiler alert.....
We are still here.
@@herbertcrawford9634 yes there so called apocalyptic day are ironic as earth can end in any day just try to nuke Russia they have dead hand nuke system if anyone attacked Russia they will start all of its nukes and destroy the earth
I've got to say, I came here looking in the comments for trolls, and I didn't find any everybody seems to be really optimistic and positive. Keep up the good work!
This is an awesome step back from the heated discourse and a good step to bring the facts up without fighting, thank you Joe
Well, there aren't that many facts here.
@@bobfg3130 As opposed to a lot of misinformation in the widespread online discourse. The important point here is that space travel is not a waste of power and money, a massive pollutant and a sign of decadence. Instead it has many merits, explained by Joe in this video
@@aleyoakenshield5384
Many of those merits don't exist. That's what he doesn't get. He's spreading misinformation with this video ironically.
@@Dave-ty2qp
Not really. Some are opinions. I haven't been lead to the water. Look like a swamp.
@@bobfg3130 do I need stronger glasses or am I right in not seeing too many facts in your replies?
Excellent video Joe! The Feeney reveal was perfect and truly the man gave away 99% of his wealth and the fact that noone knows that...I had never heard of him for instance.
Could it be he’s not known of because the gesture had so little impact compared to investing it into businesses that generated jobs so common people could make an income?
Donating it to charities is not a bad thing…if those charities have proper overview to ensure the funds are used appropriately and effectively. That’s been a big question mark for many decades, though.
If he just gave away his $9billion by handing a check to each man, woman, and child in the USA, then everyone would have received a check for about $2,500. That would be appreciated, but honestly would be near meaningless in the overall scope of most peoples lives.
Let’s stop hating on the rich based on their wealth. They give employment to those of us who need it and, as early adopters of new products and services, they help drive down costs so others can afford them. Let’s just hate on anyone who is an asshole, regardless of their net worth. Your list of choices skyrockets under that scenario and don’t worry, most politicians are still available as targets for hating on so it’s a win-win.
@@simplesimon8586 It's not so much hating someone for being wealthy, but rather hating a system that allows billionaires whose companies don't pay their employees fair wages, consistently dodge taxes, illegally participate in union busting, spy in their workers, and fund/lobby politicians and governments so they can continue do engage in those practices without repercussions.
@@julsie3195 “fair” is a subjective adjective. It’s based in ones perspective. What one person feels is an unreasonably small wage for performing a certain job, another feels is perfectly fair and yet another feels is over blown. By accepting the job, they have agreed to the wage and its implied that they believe it’s fair. If they don’t believe it’s fair, they are free to not accept the job. In a free market, if there is a consensus among a significant number of people that the wage is not a fair one, then by them not accepting the job en mass, an employer will find himself unable to fill the position thus making him raise the offered wage so as to be able to fill it. Now it may be hard for some to realize this given how self absorbed and self righteous people have become…but if an employer is not having trouble filling a job at a certain wage, then it means a majority of people find the wage to be fair, and thus, like it or not, ones perspective of it being unfair is rendered “wrong” because it is a minority opinion.
As for trying to bust unions. There are many things in life the require opposite forces in tension for them to work. Predators and prey are in constant struggle against each other, yet that struggle is natural and leads to population balance, keeping numbers in check and culling out the weak and sickly through natural selection. And yet we find it appalling that unions, in trying to ensure fair conditions for their members, can become over burdening and destructive to a company leading to the company trying to weaken or remove them? The goals of the company and the workers sometimes lie in contradiction to each other and balance can only be found and maintained in the outcome of their clash and settlements. Companies started out relentless and unconcerned about workers. Unions gained strength to oppose. Then management became more understanding and appreciative of their workers while unions became over bearing and destructive of the company. As unions became less relevant and their focus drifted away from what it was intended, companies legitimately try to remove their stranglehold. Then newer generations of management with less understanding and respect for the workers come into their roles and things begin to revert back to an earlier stage again. So why is there concern about companies going through the natural cycle of opposing the unions. Hell the lion king could easily be remade but featuring business and unions. Of course it would have to be made palatable for the audience just like the Lion King was. We didn’t show children lions killing and eating gazelle or warthogs goring lions to death , so we wouldn’t show children managers demanding salaried workers to work extra hours unpaid or show union employees braining other workers with bricks or burning down company facilities.
I’ll agree with you that government processes have been corrupted where both companies and unions sometimes exhibit too much control over the political process. And that businesses violating personal privacy are problems. The system, as you referred to it, is not a perfect one. But humans are incapable of perfection in any pursuit. Capitalism is the best economic system developed to date despite its flaws. It has lifted millions around the globe out of poverty and reinforced freedom for equally large numbers. All other economic systems have uplifted very few while dooming millions to poverty and effective enslavement….often killing millions outright as in the case of how socialistic economic policies have often partnered with communistic social governance to “purge” societies of the undesired within them. It’s rather interesting how those who think themselves intelligent will ignore both science and empirical evidence to walk down a well trod path expecting to arrive at a different destination from where their predecessors have ended up. But the idea that abuses of the system do not incur repercussions is simply based out of a short time horizon. In the long run, a populous who enjoy a free society with a capitalist economic system will use the governmental process tinbring about repercussions to correct abuses of that system. But the governmental system, in an effort to ensure justice and fair outcomes, move very slowly and those repercussions might take longer than a human life time to arise and take effect. Just like how the circle of life referred to in the lion king might take multiple generations to shift an out of balance situation back into balance. Just because it doesn’t happen as quickly as we would like doesn’t mean it’s not happening. To think so is anti-science and against empirical evidence.
@@simplesimon8586 The term "fair" in regards to wages isn't subjective. It's relative to the cost of living in a particular city, state, region, etc. Regardless of how people "feel" about the minimum wage in the United States, rent is unaffordable in 93% of U.S. counties for full time minimum wage workers. And before you say "well minimum wage is for entry jobs for high schoolers and summertime college students", no, it's not. It was introduced in 1938 to protect American workers post-Great Depression due to falling wages. The wages offered prior to that weren't accepted because they were "fair", but because companies knew they could offer next to nothing due to the sheer desperation of workers trying to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves and their families.
I don't know where you got this idea that unions became "less relevant" because management "became more understanding and appreciative of their workers". It's pure conjecture. There's no "natural cycle" to opposing unions. They're a product of us as a society, we created them, and the evidence that they improve workers' lives is indisputable. When you have bargaining power as an employee that you can exercise, it gives you meaningful leverage in negotiating for things like PTO, sick days, maternal and paternal leave, annual wage increases, and so much more. Take Edison, New Jersey as an example. Warehouse workers in the Edison area were on average paid roughly $18-$21/hour starting. After Amazon opened a warehouse there paying only $15/hour, other nonunionized fulfillment centers cut and offered less pay for the same position just to stay competitive with Amazon. This ultimately led to several warehouse workers either seeking employment at the few fulfillment centers that had unions, or just working for Amazon, leading to further monopolization of the industry. Or take Bessemer, Alabama for example, where Amazon purposefully intimidated employees speaking about or looking to join the movement for a union at that facility. Amazon even paid to have the local traffic light schedule changed at the intersection where employees were picketing and holding signs educating passersby, in an effort for fewer drivers and pedestrians to see them. Just google "Amazon changed traffic light timing" if you don't believe me. As for workers "braining other workers with bricks or burning down company facilities", nothing comes up on a google search for that friend, sorry.
This almost devotional dogma of capitalism is still baffling to me. Proponents of it treat it as if capitalism fantastic as it is, or that it's always existed, or both. The U.S. capitalism we engage in today is a far cry from it's initial beginnings. In fact the origins of capitalism can be traced back to 16th century Britain, and weren't really popularized until the works of Adam Smith were published. How many people did the free market of capitalism kill over the course of those centuries? For example slave labor or child labor? When OSHA didn't exist. When a minimum wage didn't exist. When antitrust and anti-monopoly laws didn't exist. The idea of socialism is a very young one compared to capitalism, and we already employ socialist policy in our government and economy through things like social security, Medicare and Medicaid, public education, the minimum wage, child labor laws, agricultural subsidies, etc. The world and it's conditions grow and change over time and if we don't want to fall behind we need to change with it. We've gone 12 years without raising the minimum wage, the longest stretch in history. 40% of Americans can't afford a $400 emergency. People are taking Ubers and Lyfts to the hospital because they can't afford an ambulance bill. Last year we witnessed the largest transfer of wealth in the history of the world through the CARES Act in which the United States government funneled trillions of dollars to banks and corporations within 72 hours while small businesses died and people lost their homes, their healthcare, their jobs, and more. Socialism is apparently always okay for the rich and the military industrial complex but when it comes to mom and pop losing their livelihood it's suddenly "you knew the risk".
I also find it funny that someone who criticizes idealistic thinking as anti-science and against empirical evidence used the circle of life song from the Lion King movie buttress their argument. We don't leave terminally ill children to die just because they were dealt a bad hand. We don't leave those physically or mentally unable to work to fend for themselves because of "natural selection". We don't leave the old to wither away alone when they're no longer able to work. We use medicines to extend our lifespans and quality of life. We all chip in through taxes to take care of those who've worked their entire lives and those who physically or mentally can't. We don't choose to adapt to poor conditions, we better the conditions around us to suit our needs, because we're not warthogs, gazelles, or lions. We have independent thinking, free will, and empathy and to ignore these facts is anti-science and against empirical evidence.
@@simplesimon8586 Right. I loved the video. My only significant issue: Billionaires don't "hoard wealth." They invest it in companies that provide jobs and produce goods and services. It's not as though Musk & Bezos have two hundred billion dollars in cash stuffed into their mattresses.
Your "Open Letter to Blue Origin Cam" is one of the best segments ever on this channel!
Blue Origin
"Our rockets are powered by lawsuits"!
Agreed
Plus it wasn’t remotely out of line the facts in there were on point
@@stevechance150 With that alone they could make it out of the solar system!
You mean "Sue origin" xD?
You know, I’ll take a level-headed, well thought-out opinion any time over the vitriol one has to listen to almost everywhere else these days, so in my opinion, you should be making more opinion pieces whenever possible.
The vitriolic argument usually only goes one step and stops.
@@mk1st my rule of thumb is that the moment a person resorts to name calling I get to walk away a winner of that argument.
Have you ever smelled Fumes of Vitriol? I have...makes your nose curl up in a ball and start screaming. Man, Chemistry can be a Cruel Mistress...
At age 71, I thought we'd be on Shuttle version 5 by now. Then again, I thought monorails would have replaced trains. But at least I got my flat screen tv.
And an iPad! Don't forget the iPad! That makes up for flying cars and personal fusion reactors at least.
We basically have tricorders now as well.
@@221b-l3t Actually, we do have flying cars. Most people just can't afford them. There called helicopters.
@@adjuster57 Helicopters aren't flying cars. Car implies it can drive around otherwise it's not a flying car it's a helicopter.
@@221b-l3t A car that drives around, is NOT a flying car. A flying car, FLYS. And yes, a helicopter CAN drive around on the ground.
As always Joe you’re the “voice of reason”, sensible, humorous and terrific insights! You’re one of my favourite TH-camrs and always look forward to seeing your videos!
Except on Elon Musk, then it’s a bit cringe and bad. But good overall I suppose
@@hunterflowerson4460 Everyone is entitled to their views. Some people don't share the collective hatred for eccentric billionaire madmen (and they are all men). I didn't cringe, cause Joe makes valid arguments for his position which I can respect. It's not like he defends Elon for superficial reasons.
Love your videos. This might be the best. Giving your opinions have made it doubly enjoyable. Thanks.
The naysayers will rant about the environment and spending cash etc etc..
But futurists generally agree that the earthlings need to move the bulk of their heavy industry (mining, refining, manufacturing) off-world where there is no biosphere to poison..
Leaving the earth for farms, living space and nature preserves, all the green leafy things..
So these are the baby steps that need to happen first..
Footnote: A falcon 9 carries less fuel by far than a 747 - which has to refuel on a long haul flight, so the carbon footprint of a Falcon 9 launch is a drop in the ocean... :)
@@EveryoneWhoUsesThisTV it honestly saddens me that people actually complain about the negligible emissions that come from launching stuff into space
I love how you go back and forth with yourself. Really great way to present both sides of an argument. Great video.
Joe, this perspective is so rational, so well-reasoned, and so temperately delivered that it's hard to believe I'm watching this video in the 2020s, an era in which radical vitriol is a virtue, and cultural conversations take place almost entirely in the context of podcast rants, retweetable quips, and viral clapbacks.
I hope this video hits trending, because anyone can benefit from seeing such a strong example of how to think through an issue, take and defend a position, and express empathy toward those whose perspective has led them to a different conclusion.
Well Worded William Wadas.
I think he is very wrong, but he does talk with respect and indeed is not an asshole
Oh my god thank you Joe! I've been raging this exact topic for months and now you're doing it for me reaching millions more than I could hope to. Jolly good show!
A lot of his videos are like that for a lot of people his choice of subjects almost gives him this almost everyman vibe that is easy to empathize with, it might actually be part of how he managed to succeed.
Joe Scott pulled a John Oliver with the"this isn't Feeney, this is Feeney!! Lol
I was thinking, "Am I watching the wrong show?!" 🤔
its a solid joke lol
Just when I thought I couldn't love Joe's content, or agree with him any more... he goes and posts a take that I tried, unsuccessfully, to articulate during the backlash earlier this summer. Happily another member of Team Space, in a bubble.
We're all on the float in little metal bubbles here in team space!
@@Hiperruimteindustriee Bigelow Aerospace: Say less.
I always love when an "old chap" gets a "good show" from Joe.
What a great candid episode, Joe: sober, sensible and pragmatic
This video could have been great. I'm the biggest fan of space exploration, science, tech, reusable rocketry, full flow staged combustion cycles, etc... - BBUUUUTT - burning fossil fuels to fly billionaires into space is not necessary nor helpful to humanity... Working on it for "a very long time" doesn't change that, nor does taking Wally Funk along, nor does giving money to charity, nor does doing legitimate science on other missions. etc. they're excuses, and I'm dissappointed that he can't see that.
@@shannonparkhill5557 Maybe because there are no alternatives to burning fossil fuels to get to orbit. Earth's gravity is strong. Also, you're barking up the wrong tree. Cars and Air travel are burning way much more fuel than rockets. Maybe not per units, but there are billions of cars on the road, and thousands of aircraft going around every day. Rockets, hardly a few every months.
@@shannonparkhill5557 ok shannon
Love old Joe teaching other TH-camrs to grow up. 40+ yr olds have never listened to naive 25 yr olds and never will, cuz, they're naive. They just have a louder, dumber voice nowadays.
@@shannonparkhill5557 You seem to have missed his point. These initial steps are necessary for further exploration and advancement. It just so happens that these steps also require a huge amount of funds and billionaires happen to have those funds.
Joe Scott is one of the best science communicators alive today, period. He educates with charm, wit, and a heck of a lot of substance. His channel stands out in a crowded field and I think he deserves a much wider audience. He puts his heart and soul into each video and it shows.
Thank you! I seemed to be the only person who was surprised about media/public reaction that I knew of. It absolutely felt like most angry people didn't even know the companies weren't new. It felt like 'they' thought that Branson and Bezos are so rich that they magicked functional launch systems out of thin air on a whim.
That's probably exactly what they thought. I didn't understand their reactions either, but when you put it that way it kinda makes sense. I'd be mad too if I thought a billionaire could just spontaneously go to space on a whim while I'm stuck in the 9-5.
I’ve followed Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Virgin Galactic since their inceptions. I still think these launches specifically, and the overall push to privatize space, as a singularly bad idea antithetical to the notion that outer space should belong to the “heritage of all mankind”. These billionaires are looking to exploit the enthusiasm for science and exploration in order to push their own business interests, and to patent and monopolize the resources that should rightfully be given to the people.
th-cam.com/video/pEv9uwN2wr4/w-d-xo.html
@@silverXnoise I guess it depends on what you mean by "space should belong to mankind" Do you mean that space should remain untouched and only enjoyed from afar, or do you mean everyone should be free to travel outer space? Because if its the latter then we only get there by these launches. You can't look at these launches in isolation, but rather as one small step in the gradual path towards cheap, universal access to space.
I've been following this shit the entire time as a huge space nerd and I still hate it. There's some of that like what you're saying but then there's just a lot of people wary about the prospects of privatizing space and having these billionaires able to flaunt companies like this, often subsidized by the government like SpaceX. Like why is it that Jeff Bezos can have Blue Origin while the workers at Amazon are woefully underpaid and mistreated?
14:27 "Dude, waddya want?"
This is exactly how much attention those people deserve. Nailed it 👍
although, in what corners of social media is Joe hearing this? If it's politicians in Congress (or the EU) maybe, but I'd say Joe and you have already given them way more attention than they deserve. Any at all is too much. As soon as you mention these contrarians you become part of the problem. I expect to get downvoted here, but consider saying nothing at all in response. It's better than "Dude..."
@@SojournerBurns SpaceX pays pretty well, so quit complaining. There is no shortage of people trying to work for SpaceX.
A handout. They want a handout.
@@TheDisgruntledImperial exactly, people who complain about Space exploration etc are bottom feeders who are always grasping at other people's money.
@@SojournerBurns Don't blame the Corporations & Billionaires for gaming the system, blame the Politicians & Bureaucrats they lobby & buy off with campaign donations, how about we start there.
I’ve loved space since I was a child. I saw the last launch of Space Shuttle Discovery in 2011 and that launch inspired me to return to college, get my undergraduate degree, and now I work for a “large government space agency” that I loved since childhood. Space is absolutely inspirational and yes, if it had a cost, only billionaires could pay for it. Great video, and, as you can probably tell, I wholeheartedly agree. Cheers from Space City (Houston).
I had the same reaction as you, so I guess Im on the naivery train as well. Honestly my first thought when Bezos went up was 'thats a great endorsement of confidence in the tech'. Thats it. Just thought it was cool that these guys risked their lives to show their spaceships could be trusted. My second thought was - when is Elon going to space?
Elon is just too busy.
Elon doesn’t have the sack
Thing is, Elon didn't do Inspiration4 as a publicity stunt like Bezos and Branson. Musk just got given a fat sack of cash and rented out his rocket and facilities. He had little to do with the launch beyond owning the company and ok'ing the whole thing, and appearing in the TV show, and in return the guys making the TV show REALLY spent a lot of time kissing his ass telling everyone how amazing he is.
The point he goes up himself will probably be the point when his palace on mars is ready, and not a second before.
Elon has nothing to prove.
@@paulhaynes8045 spend 5 minutes reading the pages of his trial in the Delaware Chancery and you’d think otherwise
"Stroking Blue Origin too hard..." XD right after agreeing it looks like a phalus.
My issue with Bezos was him "thanking" his customers and workers for paying for the trip...
It may be accurate from a certain lens, but it was beyond tone deaf given the scandals around his company.
it should make you accept that he really feels himself innocent. Otherwise, he would have known it sounded bad from a certain angle.
@@I_dont_want_an_at I have no reason to give him the benefit of the doubt. I am sure he also knows people shouldn't have to go without bathroom breaks too and even if he is not directly involved with all of that, he did not choose to say or do enough about it by the time we all found out.
@@Kilmoran you’re acting as if you personally know him and personally worked at the company to know people where telling him how how management was treating workers. I’m not acting like I know him or for sure did the things people say nor am I sticking up for someone who could’ve possibly done such a thing but I’m not gonna pretend it’s not a possibility he didn’t know. Specially when you bring in the fact there’s a good amount of employees who’ve met the man personally; say he’s a good man. Shoot he’s even paid for college and has programs to help his employees. You dislike the man for treating his employees wrong but you still buy shoes from companies who use slave labor... shouldn’t really judge.
@@floridaman6643 I am not acting as if I know him. I am acting as if I know his actions or lack thereof far after they become public knowledge. And you do not know where I buy shoes nor how often I do. You are acting as if you know me in the grandest of hypocrisy while defending someone you claim to also not know.
Beyond that, Unlike Bezos, I cannot simply do whatever I want and avoid the way the world is with sheer money alone, so if I do purchase things made with slave labor, that is not because I choose to nor set up the sweatshops they work in. However, the majority of people in Bezos' position do, purposefully. Whether he does or not, I do not know so I will not claim that. I do however know his company makes people piss themselves. If he was unaware, that is a failing on his part, but excusable, but if change did not occur after, that is on him.
Fortunately, I do have the ability to purchase locally made shoes, and I have. As far as what I know about him personally, it is irrelevant when speaking to his actions and those of his company. He cannot take pride and credit for how successful his company is and then hide behind others for the negatives associated with it. Or at least, I will not allow it in my thoughts on the matter.
@@Kilmoran Fact remains you’re no you’re no better so you shouldn’t cast judgment. Again as I stated in the first comment; I’m not sticking up for him but I won’t condemn him when neither of us know for a FACT that he knew what was going on. Companies don’t always need the boss at the location nor do they get told everything under the sun. Highly suggest just keeping your opinion to yourself when you out yourself as a hypocrite by saying “ I can’t help it” while you actively buy the product made by slaves but hey just reflect what I say like most people do when they hate on Elon.
They said the same thing about wasting money back in the 60's but it pushed the economy forward into the 70's with jobs, specially with products that came from the space industry.
My father worked the Apollo radar systems and it was a really great time back then. I agree with most of what you say and I was there and saw the changes that were great! Those times seem to be coming back and even better!
Plus although it took a while for them to unscramble it, but GPS is absolutely amazing.
I think, in the 60s it was a waste of money. Paying a shitload of money to stick a flag in a dead rock, then never return in 50 years, is a definition of waste.
Bruh, the 1970s is marked with one of the worst in US economic crisis, sure its not the fault of the space programs, but saying it cause an widescale economic boom is delusional.
Probably one of his best social “get a grip” videos.
Thanks Joe, good job ol’ chap!
Scott: It's not my job to defend billionaires
Congress: of course not, that's our job
Truth
🙄 if you want to go to space , have at it … let me know when you get that first billion dollar loan from some billionaires bank. Until then , at least someone is leading that way
Well said Sir!🤣
I like how people think that a government which already spends tens of trillions of dollars in debt without improving their lives will somehow magically start improving their lives if only they just taxed billionaires while still spending tens of trillions dollars in debt. 🤔
congress: and we relegate that job to the police and pay them pennies for it... "capitalism" LOL
Really enjoyed this Random Thursday, thank you.
Great video. I don't understand why space exploration is the one unique human activity whose spending is abhorrent whilst poverty and inequality exist. Never spending on art. Or films. Or sport. Or TV. Or theatre. Or literature. Or technology like phones we use to entertain ourself. Our species spending countless billions on those things is apparently OK, just not space exploration.
you dont see the protests outside the Met Gala but they are there
I guess its because of all the air pollution it causes, it making rich people richer and fcourse. Well its super dificult, so it takes forever. Seems like a waste in short terms. Thats why ppl are against it. But long term its SO MUCH more beneficial over ANYTHING
Poverty isnt some simple problem that anyone can answer so easily if it did then there wouldnt be any poor people.
@@cherrydragon3120 The pollution caused by rockets is tiny compared to most other industries and if billionaires wanted an easy way to make more money they certainly wouldn't have invested in rocket science. It's just that it's flashy and you see all those plumes and imagine it;s all harmful but the benefits of space exploration are worth it even if it were much more polluting.
If you start with a few million dollars then it's much easier to get richer and rich if you use that money wisely or doing shady things.
Too many people don'r think, they just feel and this made us close nuclear power plants instead of investing and opening new, better and safer ones and using we're now using more fossils fuels instead.
There is very little valid criticism of exploring space
It would be trivial to fund NASA with the budget of all of these companies combined if these men paid their share of taxes. While there are undoubtedly people who criticize space exploration in general, the problem isn't the space exploration. It's the question of who will personally OWN the benefits of the space exploration.
Unless those families are all committing to donating the benefits and profits of their future colonial space mining empires to mankind at large? No? Perhaps as beneficent dictators they'll allow people to pay them to work for them.
As a science teacher working in such an imperfect yet hopeful world I thank you for your honesty.
Very well said! Nice work man.
I like Joe but dismissing the idea of asking if space exploration money could be better spent on earth is a shit move. I actually agree with Joe but this condescending attitude to the opposite view is just cheap. Nearly 7 million dead from starvation so far this year, one every 3 seconds, I think people with the opposite view deserve more of our time and looking down our noses at them because "they don't see the bigger picture" seems wrong to me.
@@morganthedruid1 I don't think anyone who doesn't make money from war would have a problem with space exploration money being taken from military budgets, so long as the military budget didn't expand to cover it
@@morganthedruid1 Equating deaths from starvation as simply down to billionaires spending their money on other things is to ignore the true causes of those deaths and future deaths from these same causes - it is facile and does the victims a disservice.
@@rednammoc and what are the "true" causes, according to you?
@@rednammoc I get your point and agree with it to a limited extent but the super rich are pretty much THE cause of most of the starvation and misery in this world.
The fact that most very wealthy people refuse to provide livable wages and basic benefits in most nations is proof enough.
And to address the very righteous criticisms of space tourism I'd like to bring up people like Boyan Slat, who I really wish Joe wold devote an episode to.
At the very least all these mega-richies should be vigorously helping to fund Slat's efforts, if not creating their own iterations of these technologies.
At the rate humans are wrecking the planet, rich people like Bezos in particular, we won't have anywhere near enough time left to develop the technologies necessary for pulling off living in space or on other planets. Not even close. Mt. Shasta is snowless for the first time in...? And rain fell on the peak of Greenland's ice sheet for the first time ever.
We are rapidly running down the clock on our existence. Yes, space exploration can and does help us develop tech to combat climate issues but we are-RIGHT NOW-at a place where anything we do with regards to space should be directly funneled into prioritizing saving our asses here on Earth.
i think jeff bezos is hated due to how he treats amazon workers, not because he flaunt stuff or whatever
Exactly. Ordinary folks are channelling that anger through this event but not because of it. They couldn't care less about space, a place they would probably never be able to go in their lifetime.
~read sarcastically~
They aren't people. They are numbers in a database. Numbers don't have rights.
This is the correct answer
"Any man who had ever worked in a hardened missile site would have felt at home in Clavius...they had been turned to the purposes of peace. After ten thousand years, man had at last found something as exciting as war" Your video essay made me think of this passage from Arthur C Clarke's masterpiece, "2001 a space odyssey". Excellent video essay.
Very nuanced discussion, thanks for this. I think in the end the problem I and many others have with Bezos is that he just isn't treating his employees well. And by "employees" I mean specifically the ones who built him his billions in the first place - the workers at Amazon (especially those working at fulfillment centers). If he were just a better employer, as the richest man on Earth, I would be much more ok with these other projects of his. It also doesn't help that the legal actions of Blue Origin right now are literally delaying the Artemis mission.
Exactly. Joe is pitching this as "people are mad at space". No, we're mad about exploitation. We're mad about fundamentally unjust tax policies that these billionaires helped write. We're mad that it isn't NASA doing these things, but instead rich people using our money to fly themselves up. Eat the rich.
That was part of my rant too - that Bezos won't even pay his staff proper wages. He even had the cheek to say it was thanks to his workers that he was up there in the first place - just didn't want to say he did it by squeezing their wages whilst squeezing every minute out of them, to the point some had to pee in bottles.
I just can't bring myself to even open the Amazon page, let alone buy anything from that site.
Plus, the day TH-cam posted up recommendations about the Branson/Bezos competition, their thumbnails were flanked all round with videos of mostly wildfires with the rest being floods. And there was Branson and Bezos grinning in the middle of it all like a pair of monkeys. Just made me want to cry.
As for their charitable donations - I think I mentioned those during my initial rant. They are offset by tax breaks, which means governments don't get that rightful tax income into their coffers - which obviously means less money goes into education, health, emergency services, social programs, foreign aid, necessary infrastructure, and supporting the homeless, low income, unemployed and refugees...need I go on? Good grief, you Americans have to pay $1500 for an ambulance! It's all wrong, it should be a social duty of the government to scrape you off a road - for free.
Also, just recently, I have been inundated with videos concerning the grave number of difficulties 'with' space travel, things that we have not yet rectified. Just shoving one rocket after another up there, each very much the same, is not addressing these factors:
Cosmic rays, the increasing amount of dangerous space junk, fuels that continue to produce large quantities of carbon dioxide (and any other greenhouse gases that may be emitted, like water vapour), plus one I'd forgotten about until today - the very real danger of damage from interstellar dust particles on long haul flights (Anton Petrov gives a good account of this in his video. Worth watching if you haven't already done so).
Most of all, I do think that while large portions of our planet are in very real peril of becoming uninhabitable in just a few years, increasingly driving mass migration, the focus of 'everyone' should be on that - billionaires included.
Much as I like the thought of space travel for all, much as my son wants to be involved in space exploration/mining - I think playing around in space can be left for a later time.
We have to stop being selfish about our primary interests and think about home first.
@@todddammit4628 I see so many people arguing that they shouldn’t be innovating in the space industry. Joe even said in the video that there are many legitimate reasons to dislike these billionaires, but space exploration is not one of them.
@@stevescoffee8325 Its because it's unfair. People have a strong reaction to things that are unjust/unfair. These billionaires are wealth thieves. They've stolen this money by exploiting workers and evading taxes. They've made their billions thanks to the infrastructure WE built, not them. Amazon would not have a business if it weren't for our investments in roads, bridges, internet, GPS, and providing an educated workforce. Yet they've refused to pay back into that system. They've stolen what is rightfully our share. And what do they do with it? They flaunt it in our faces. Meanwhile our entire infrastructure is crumbling, the world is on fire, and our social safety nets are woefully inadequate. These things are related. People criticize the space programs most because they're the most public. The news doesn't make a big deal about every Yacht Bezos buys. They don't make a big deal about the money they stash in shell corporations. They don't make a big deal about all the money they use to pay off politicians.
@@debbiehenri345 This. I'm really glad for space exploration's sake but these guys deserve no sympathy from us.
Joe : Maybe war breeds progress?
The Shadows : Come to Zahadum. Let's talk.
I literally wrote a tweet today saying that it is possible that resources from mining asteroids and the space to colonise could prevent the next world war. Population is outgrowing territory and raw materials, especially with new tech like Lithium batteries etc.
We could swap another war for growth into space.
I'm calling Kosh!
@johnny Wednesday, I see you have great taste.
Time to go annoy the First Ones until they finally decide to talk to me.
I love how you put space travel as an alternative to war! Well done!! Keep it up!👍👍👍
He was actually saying that space is a war itself, because we are fighting against the so many things that can kill us while we are in space.
Yep, I'm an engineer I just went back to school for aerospace engineering. My goal is to have something I've worked on be in space, even if its as small as a few screws.... haha
I can't remember it correctly, but hasn't Destin from Smarter Every Day a video where he's interviewing the person who designed some mechanism for the cupola?
Sometimes it's the small things. Maybe your small thing will make everything better someday.
(That... Actually sounds way weirder than it's ment to)
If you want to get a few screws into space, might I suggest a railgun? Bypass that whole messy rocket part
Dream big dude. How about the Dardull Drive? The real Epstein.
@@thedave513 I really hope we get something like the Epstein drive, it would be like the wheel of the future
my ex had parents that worked for military contractors. Her father worked on missiles to launch from submarines. I also got to meet and teach a little English to a former engineer from the USSR, a Russian man who finally got enough money to move his family to the U.S., but only because he had worked so much for their military. All these people had some regrets, and sacrificed a lot, ultimately for the security of their families, and yet...
As long as you don't find yourself trading your health, mental and physical, and all your time for financial security, you're doing okay. Screw the screws. But yes, if space companies employ people like you, they're fine in my book.
You’ve said everything I’ve ever wanted to say to the world… this is officially my favorite TH-cam video of all time. I know that my purpose in life is to make sure the world gets on board with space travel… trust me, we’ll get there. Godspeed.
The rate we're going, your purpose in life will be to get people on board with space and stay onboard IN space since the planet will be flooding and burning and starving and drowning in plastic
She’s a Physician’s Assistant. She performs the same procedures that her supervising Physician does, under her Supervisor’s supervision.
I'm am very surprised at how quiet the internet was about the Inspiration 4 mission.
Kinda shows you what nonsense it was, the idea that the internet would democratize information. The media companies still have the biggest influence over what we see, and real journalists and communicators still live in the cracks.
@@jbtechcon7434
I'm not talking about media companies. At least CNN an MSNBC covered Inspiration 4. I'm talking about people like Philip Defranco, The Green Brother a and even talk show host like Trevor Noah and Stephan Colbert.
I would guess because there are more important things happening in the world.
I feel that part of this is that SpaceX has essentially made space travel routine again achieving another great milestone, but to most underwhelming.
@@karehaqt
Yean. more important thing like making fun of some Karens or internet celebrity gossips.
"Read the room" is the exact response a lot of people had to Jeff and Branson. It's not they should give the money away or spend it elsewhere, it's that it's sickening that there's such a massive divide between them and us in the first place, and all they're doing is rubbing it in at a time when people are particularly sensitive to the growing inequalities of our economic system.
It is true. Billionaires should not exist, and Bezos has done horrific things to his employees, and rich people NEED to pay taxes. The ONLY 'but' here is that if billions should ever be spent on anything, it needs to be progression of technology, and space is the easiest way to do it.
@@vaszgul736 Socialism should not exist either, but what do you do?
@@Gigamokin No one here is really talking about socialism, though. Most are really just opting for a more mixed capitalist society, to alleviate the effects of late stage.
Bruh that's not their problem. I'm confused why you expect him them to spend their wealth on an issue that isn't theirs
@@vaszgul736 you sound like a poor. Billionaires should exist. Just stop being poor
I’m a hardcore Progressive and have dumped on those two trips for weeks now. But after watching this segment…damn you, you’re right Joe!
Another way to think of the Inspiration 4 mission: it was the first mission that essentially purchased a stand alone space mission.
All other manned missions were part of some sort of larger program, even previous private space tourism flew to things built for other programs, so needed to integrate with those programs. The private suborbital tourism programs were created expressly for that purpose.
With Inspiration 4 it was essentially just a case of paying for it. No special needs, no integrating with anything, just pay for it and get it.
That is game changing, because it shows now if you can find the money you can go to space, that's it.
That is a real change.
A conpany can buy a private ride to orbit and send a sientist or 2 along to do the research and not have to fit into the ISS scedule
"GPS killed the Bermuda Triangle"
Sounds like the title of a TH-cam video
It also sounds like an 90’s song!!! 😆
@@robynsmith4164 80s. 🙂
PREACH! That thing about throwing money into space and then it's gone is beyond ridiculous, so many hard working people from every socio-economic bracket are being payed to advance our understanding of the universe. We all win.
Well, except for the amazon worker who has to piss in a bottle, or a Tesla employee that had to work through a pandemic, despite a state law, Or the tax payers who helped pay for all the initial research that nasa has done over the decades, while these companies do everything possible to not put back into the system that gave them the technology, knowledge, and expertise that allow them to create these space companies to begin with.
@@Fearmylogic exactly….the issue is the way these billionaires makes their money, by exploiting their workers and buying out politicians to write the rules in their favour. I am sure there are many amazon worker who can do a better job with this amount of money including space exploration if they are not stuck in amazon pissing in bottles just to survive and have 3 meals a day.
@@Khan-nk4fj It's the way things have to be. Everyone has lofty ideas that we can be equal but there is always a "man on top" cracking the whip. Everyone in life has a purpose, even if the purpose is to be nothing but a stepping stool for others.
I appreciate the 'accountants' shout out... it's hard to get any recognition in the back office
because most of y'all are shysters with no personality?
I read that as "the accountants' shoot out" - which conjured up a very weird image!
@@paulhaynes8045lol! That image is very very weird
I quite enjoyed this video. And look, Joe, you let the masses behind the veil and reality didn’t break; your opinion is an asset, not a liability
Branson: "I did it first!"
Bezos: "I went higher!"
Musk: "...hold my beer."
But... Musk have never been to space.
@@remliqa ..but he did send his own car in an orbit around mars with a robot clone of himself at the seat.. hes gonna land back on earth in 30,000 years and take over again you'll see
I appreciate that Musk didn't go himself. It makes it seem like such a pathetic dick measuring contest especially when they all do it so close to each other.
@@faarsight True
@@faarsight Ya, Branson and Bezos play with paper airplanes while Musk get's it done ... on so many levels.
8:21 “Stroking”... well played Joe, well played. 😂
Lol… did he have to say “to hard”
@@FullOfSunflowerSeeds
Yes... Yes He Did ;-D
When people complain about the government spending money on space, I ask them why it's okay for the military industrial complex to be a jobs program but not space.
and then they answer 'is that the only option? couldnt we be spending on education and health and mental health and social welfare instead of either?'
Space exploration is valuable, but your argument is a whataboutist non-sequitur
@@mycosys - Yeah but those same people who say that, don't give 2 sh*ts about education, or mental health or people living in abject poverty soooo....
🤷🏻♀️😕 I'm not saying we shouldn't go to space, however, bringing our financially crippling & massively corrupt Military spending into question, is absolutely fair & ia beyond justified.
@@mycosys We spend twice as much on health care as other first world nations yet we have worse results. The US spends more on education than most other countries but gets worse results. Clearly something is wrong and spending more money isn't going to fix it.
@@mycosys still worth considering the AMOUNTS we are talking about here, compare NASAs budget to the Pentagons budget
Thanks for making this video, I am one of the ones inspired by this new space race. Enrolled back into college to learn about engineering the day I saw Elon land that rocket. I'm so excited for this future, and I hope all the companies bring the competition, space is hard.
Hey man, loads of people just want to put out a very slanted one sided view on things so that it's easier to bash. You, you put nuance into the topics you cover and I cannot preference enough how often I agree qith you completely because we both master the skill of perspective exploration.
YES!
But isn't that what Joe himself did? He totally didn't bring up the fact that these guys have this money, in part, due to the treatment of their workers, and the lack of taxes that they pay. He totally side-stepped the ( in my opinion ) reasonable argument that many, if not most people would not be mad if Bezo's and Musk treated their employees better, gave them better pay, and paid their fair share in taxes ( Taxes that helped fund Nasa for decades, Giving musk and bezo's the Tech, Knowledge, and expertise to even think about going to space themselves ). Hell, Bezo's himself thanked his workers at amazon, as they in part helped him do this. Maybe he should treat them as importantly as he claims they are, on national TV.
I agree with pretty much everything else he said, Just wish he would have addressed this part of the frustration that people have been talking about, since the launches. Not exactly like these are secret opinions, that no one has said out loud before.
@@Fearmylogic people always say tax the rich... as if the rich aren't being taxed. The higher your income thw higher the percentage of taxes you pay. That's already a thing. Why then do politician always try to lower taxes on the rich? To attract the rich. The best deals attract the best costumers. Every time a state or country raises their taxes the vig businesses take it elsewhere and the taxes on the moddle class have to be raised to compensate.
As apparently a member of your bubble, the reactions surprised me too.
The idea that space has to be/ is going to commercialized has been around forever.
I remember Robert Zubrin and people like him speaking with dreamy eyes about what we could do with a thriving space industry.
It has always been a great futuristic dream. And now it's happening and people complain about it. And it's the usual uninformed internet drivel...
In the end, space is becoming common. Which is great, but it also loses its shiny, idealist only crowd of fans.
So, I totally agree and excellently put.
The problem is that I see it in newspapers and a family member actually really liked a specific article about why we shouldn't go to Mars. The article didn't even have solid arguments, I could argue against going to Mars better. The journalist is a culture journalist but wrote this in the newspaper head editor page. It was the same lame arguments that I always hear. But the fact that that family member agrees proves that it isn't only on the internet.
One of the best, if not your BEST video ever.
Do rant every now and then.
I'm with you halfway. A. Yeah, it's a dope step forward for space travel. Getting civilians into space is excellent and wonderful. Get some money moving that way.
B. Maybe don't do the marketing stunt in the middle of a pandemic while we're experiencing a huge shift in working culture as well as Amazon and Bezos going through a ton of controversy regarding his treatment of workers.
Exactly. Great idea but read the room, Jeff!
Yeah that’s the thing, like I agree with joe pretty much, it’s just that, the timing of it all and what’s going on especially with Jeff bezos and Amazon and his workers, if it weren’t for all that was happening I don’t think there would’ve been the irritation with it all or at least not as much
I love those "Johnson!" scenes from austin powers, lol.
I had a very audible HA when I saw that, and was happy inside.
I love this video. So many deep talking points. Do something like this again!
Yo Joe, Hayley Arceneaux is a Physician Assistant (or PA). They are most of the way to being a doctor.. they can diagnose illnesses and prescribe medications.
True! A great piece by Joe, but he did miss on a couple trivial details. I'm for putting up corrections like this. It helps us nerd-types from losing bar bets...and I appreciate you not being overly negative about it.
Please marry me. You're married, I'm married...we're both straight...but still. Damn I love your videos. Your analysis, perspective and objectiveness are so freaking right on! Please take the measly $5 I send you on Patreon every month and buy yourself a beer. You deserve it old chap!
Joe, I watch your stuff regularly, (and Dodd and Manley, etc.) Why? Because we share space nerd -ism and basically want that whole "Let's go up" agenda to "win" . This was a wonderful program you just did. My wife and I sat and just watched and listened and nodded the whole time. Maybe we're also in that "bubble", too but on the "inspiration" note, I think you and your fellow science communicators should pat yourselves on the back for being great sources of rational discourse and inspiration as well. You deserve an award. Also, I think I should get an award for using the most quotation marks in a comment post. Duncan from Canada
Great content, as always! Seems to me like Blue Origin could end up being swept into the ULA conglomerate if they can't get Vulcan's engines squared away. That may be their best option. There's definitely an 'old space vs. new space' battle brewing, and B.O.'s methodology definitely belongs to the former.
Really? They'll get self landing working. They've seen spacex doing it. Amazon copied lots of ideas and technology and just made it cheaper and more reliable. I'm sure BO will do the same. They have all the money and all the time in the world.
@@mrmonkeboy that maybe works on shipping, but rocket technology isnt easy to copy at all, right now everyone is trying to catch up with spacex but no one is even close to their level, this is not a problem that you can simply throw money at and have it down before dinner you need innovation and a good plan
If you want to talk about near unlimited resources the chinese are also trying to create their own falcon 9 clone and right now they are stuck in the grosshoper stage
@@mrmonkeboy It may be that having all the money and all the time in the world is their problem. I personally find that being faced with time constraints constraints or deadlines provide a certain pressure that helps me operate at a higher level than I otherwise would. Maybe that's why the shiny rocket in South Texas is progressing so quickly...
@@citizenblue I'm not debating who will get there first. Amazon didn't do anything first. I'm just saying that BO will copy and succeed. There's plenty of space up there. Room for both.
@@mrmonkeboy Totally agree!
Seemingly light fare, yet the profundity of global advancement attributable to space flight is stunningly brought home with Sir Scott's trademark breezy, deft delivery...!
Talk about an aneurism trying to read this lol
@@kodakincade8063 you probably shouldn't go into space
Easy, breezy discover churl.
(JK Joe’s not a churl. Even when he tangent cams.)
(Yeah, I verbed tangent cam.)
@@mycosys what does that to do with anything?
@@mycosys because his comment was a mouthful and I mentioned that, you come in here talk shit?
When I was a school teacher my students worked on developing their own spaceship company. One kid asked if space companies really exist or is it just NASA doing stuff. I told the student that I thought there were maybe 20 companies here in Houston that fit the bill, but that I would look it up. To my amazement there are many more than 20. According to the Greater Houston Partnership there are 500 space-related companies in the Houston area with $2.9 billion sold and traded in this vector of the economy! I also found that Ellington Field near Clear Lake City is listed as a Spaceport! Imagine that. My students were inspired and we had a great time in class creating our own space companies and “launching” our first model rockets. Keep up the great info Joe! 😎
"I love having Monday twice a week" I a sentence I never thought I'd say yet here we are
Looking forward to your next video about 3D-printed space organs!
Sounds awesome!
One of my favourite videos of all, awesome work thank you Joe
Perfect way to start my morning. Joe just uploaded
So already there on moon
it's night on earth
Thanks for this Joe. You have concisely and eloquently vocalised what I have thought about space exploration for a long time 👍
I approve this message 😁
This has to be be the best video I've seen from you for a long time. Don't get me wrong, you do a great job with your others and great subject matter, but this was really well put together and had excellent points that don't get talked about directly at all. It really needed done to talk to those on the internet that hear bad information and assume that it is true. The great example is constant comments lie you brought up like, "that money being used for space could do more good elsewhere on earth where people are instead". My own reply to that is "The world and the people in it owe you nothing. How a person or business decides to spend their own money is not only up to them, but it is their money to spend. If someone is driving a lamborghini it came from their own money and they spent it they way they chose to. We don't walk up to the owner and say, "since you have the money to own that and we have homeless people in our city you should sell it, buy a cheaper car and give the left over money to a homeless person"
When might we see another TMI entry? I really enjoy hearing your personal take and opinions of things.
I agree 100% with your view...
I actually thank you for having expressed and articulated it better than I could hope to have done it myself 😆🤣👍
I'd love for you to do more opinion videos, maybe once every few months just dive into a topic, it's great to really hear your take on these things and hear the details that maybe aren't really being thought about.
Well Joe, you've done it. You have talked me from indifferent about space travel to actually caring just a little bit. Well done. 🙃
Oh
@@voodoochile7581
Dang, same.
I’m very surprised that it actually worked :D
@@EminMastizada It was his take on war that swayed me. I am a veteran, and I never for one second considered that space travel could theoretically replace war as the driver for technological innovation in the long term. Seems obvious now that its been in my brain for a few hours....
Joe, you're the best kind of naive. You still have hope in humanity, which helps US have hope in humanity. And for that, we thank you and we love you man!
I love the way you cover all aspects of the topic in your videos Joe…and your funny. Thanks man.
Not quite ALL aspects. He only talked about the people saying these billionaires should give away their money, but didn't touch on the people that just want them to pay their workers better, and give them decent working conditions. A lot less people would be mad about Bezo's going to space, if his workers didn't have to piss in bottles, or if Elon wasn't ignoring a state law, and forcing his workers to work during a pandemic. As Bezo's himself said...His workers helped make it possible...so maybe he should treat them accordingly.
Other than that though, Totally agree with his video.
To clarify, the Mercury 13 never trained along side the Mercury 7. The doctor involved in preliminary testing to narrow down astronaut candidates ran his own experiment with women on the side to prove they could meet similar requirements. That's as far as it went.
Very true, but there were those in NASA who were worried even at this parallel testing, that they got LBJ to sign an order that NASA astronauts would be all men for the best part of thye late 60s and most of the 70s.
People are so used to be 100% pro or against something, they have un-learned how to speak to each other. Thanks Social Media.
I don’t think that is the case. People always were like that, even when US tried to fly to the Moon. However, due to internet, they can now reach more audience. But, that is just more voice for people no matter what that voice is about. The problem with social networks is that the network might show them only content that agrees with them, which created a social bubble making them to think that majority and lots of people do agree with their ideas - that is really terrifying
Your views on space exploration as mankind's peaceful yet still technology-advancing replacement for war mirrors a research paper I wrote for school in 1980. Hearing you echo the exact same points I made regarding the cost and the danger of space travel as being worthwhile compared to the alternative ways mankind has seen advancement mostly through destruction and conflict is heartening. "If Joe came to the same conclusions, my points were valid!"
"so before people accuse me of *stroking* blue origin too *hard* "
Chuck Feeney made it a condition of many of his donations that under no circumstances the recipient could disclose Chuck's name, so he donated a lot anonymously :)
He is one of my idols, I was so fascinated when I heard his story, hope hi lives many more years :)
we need more people like him. People who progress society forwards, all while being humble
Also, Hailey is not a nurse assistant, she is a Physician assistant. Basically the difference between one class over the summer for a Nurse Aide or a Masters degree for a PA.
As someone who has always opposed the billionaire space race, my reason is that, firstly, as you said the funding for it was unethically acquired to a significant extent (Branson's tax evasion, Bezos's worker exploitation). And secondly, because the merits of any benefits that come from this will be judged not by their usefulness to the public but by their profit potential because after all, unlike NASA, this is an investment that needs a return to justify itself. I won't cheer when a private rocket reaches a new altitude because that achievement was not for me nor the people around me, and any benefit to us will be purely incidental.
grump
I mean no disrespect, but you should try to think about the implications of your assertion. Many profitable ventures are profitably precisely because they benefit society. Otherwise nobody would use the product. Amazon made goods much more widely available, affordable, and accessible than ever before. Virtually everyone I know uses and loves it. This implication that only government endeavors (non-profit) have intrinsic value to society and are worth lauding is a very unfortunate outgrowth of political ideology in the world right now.
Great video but I can’t help but feel as though one should be suspicious of the hope they give us. In a time where as you said there is little hope for the future it seems there is an opportunity to exploit our want for a hopeful future. I am not saying the future they speak about (specifically Elon musk as he seems to talk the most about it) isn’t a possibility, but simply pointing out that these billionaires have a history of exploitation for the most part and they know how to manipulate public perception for there benefit. it is therefore not unlikely that they could be doing the same to us for unknown motives.
Just for the record I am pro space and agree with most of what was said here.
I'm also in "team space" but I also have this stale aftertaste looking at the current space programs. Thx for your comment. You speak out of my heart.
even if they are, who cares? we're all on team space. If they are funding projects to advance spaceflight, then that's a win.
@@livethefuture2492 Speaking as a huge space fan, I partially agree, though I really hope that this spurs scientific competition and lights a fire under the national space agencies, rather than purely commercial competition. In brief, Space Exploration=Good. Space Exploitation=Bad.
@@livethefuture2492 If everyone is on team space, this video would be not necessary.
Space exploration is a hard sell for the big majority who is caught in an exploitative system, struggling to pay rent, medical bills, food... If space exploration has to benefit humankind and not only the few, it has to be owned by the people. Otherwise you just export the exploitative system into space. There is a lot of progress and wealth to be made in space. The question with this commercial space programs is only who of the super-rich will get even richer with that. Congrats for not only propagating the suffering of the majority but actually cementing it.
Like Gibb in the next post really neatly set. Yey for space exploration, no for space exploitation. If team space wants to grow and actually do some good for the majority, we (because I count myself into team space) better address this space elephant in the room.
Most of the huge tech companies succeed because their own supply relies on sweatshops in countries with poor worker protections. If Bezos really gets into asteroid mining, won't those values extend to space? It'll be just like _The Expanse_ where the miners' concerns are ignored-- just like they always have working for private companies.
"NASA's no vagina policy" had me rolling. Respect to Wally. For the record, I prefer to hear your opinion, Joe. Also love that you space-nerd creators all nod to and respect each other. Loved that texted my buddy Tim bit.
"Space is just waste of money" -says people who use satellite connection to say that argument.
Sometimes space creates waste, and about satellite connections, 1/3 of starlink will be junk within 5 years according to mask. So, good luck.
@@iam_soumya starlink satellites de-orbit themselves
Most communication has little to do with satellites. It's wired connection and fiber optic cables.
@@emmanuelademola734 satellite takes too much time to deorbit themselves. And if uncontrolled starlink satellite collided themselves, the smaller parts will take longer, also in the space dead satellite is more dangerous then radioactive metals.
@@LegoDork all Internet nodes verifies bit of data with satellites, thats why so much communication satellites are floating around. Eventually most of them became garbage. And we have no plans for them.
You absolutely nailed this video. So many great points were made. Good show old chap.
Joe, Your “rant” Is totally wonderful! Thank you for sharing your thoughts! You are a valuable part of our fractured little world!
Thank you for making this video! I felt the exact same way about this whole thing when it happened!
Absolutely nailed it with this one Joe!
I agree with Joe. But if someone could shed some light on this question I have I'd appreciate it: Why is it considered "good" to dodge taxes and then proceed to spend money on charity? Tax uptake is the price we pay to have a functioning society. I understand you could argue government spend on the wrong stuff, but then what you're actually saying is that government is spending on stuff other people found good, because democracy? Corruption is a problem in all organisations. I guess if you live in a society where billionaries, cronies and borderline insane politicians have a lot of influence one can say the system has gone haywire, but privately funneling money also comes with warning tags. Thoughts?
Anecdote time: A swedish guy once tried to pay extra tax, reasoning it was a kind of charity. Swedish tax authorities refused. So there's an uncomfortable legal precedent for me to ponder.
OMG thanks for posting this. I so often see just the most hostile comments about space exploration; when did this become sooo divisive? I had to leave Tumblr after seeing so many people I’m otherwise in tune with actually saying that Elon Musk should die (not actual threats, just in the vein of very angry, ‘eat the rich’ sort of sentiments). I have somewhere to send people now for a calm pro-space argument.
I’m not a fan girl of Musk, I think there is plenty to criticise him about, but in general I agree with most of what he does, especially how he thinks about colonising Mars (I presented a paper at the founding convention of the Mars Society, so I drank the Mars koolaid a couple of years before him. And I’m still sometimes shocked that he exists and wants to do it so badly; back in ‘98 the idea felt so unattainable).
I think there are a couple of things going on here: 1. Backlash against late stage capitalism, which is fair tbh. We are consuming resources at an alarming rate and inequality is out of whack. 2. Unconscious bias against people on the ASD spectrum. I don’t think Richard Branson has it, but Musk definitely does, I’m pretty sure Bezos does, and I’m pretty sure Mark Zuckerberg has it for a non-space race example. There’s a lot of criticism and mocking based on their ASD behaviours so I think a lot of people’s opinions of them get soured for reasons other than they’ve been successful at exploiting capitalism. 3. Ignorance about what’s actually happening with the new space race. People don’t really understand how the technological innovations are useful, and how damaging or not rockets are to the environment (I’ve seen people throw around some completely ridiculous unsourced numbers). I also think people tuned out after the Apollo era because it was less exciting. They just not are engaged with it. 4. Ignorance about the role of charities in society. Personally I don’t think charities should exist, or at least shouldn’t exist long term. Charities represent a gap in the duty of care by governments. So for instance the fact that most gofundmes are for healthcare in the US is a tragedy. I also did research for a documentary film about Haiti and was shocked to learn that things like food aid actively made the situation worse over time by further eroding supply chain infrastructure. So blindly throwing money at a problem is not usually the best solution. But I don’t think many people really think about charities so critically.
Anyway, end of rant. Thanks Joe!
People’s issues with Elon Musk and Bezos aren’t even close to just due to space stuff lol, pretty much everything else
Don’t think it’s cool to use ASD as an excuse for the behavior of Musk and Bezos (Bezos is even more unlikely, no idea why you’d think that about him, he’s just a sociopath)
@@hunterflowerson4460 Those people are just the most visible billionaires so people hate on them for that reason. Most billionaires work behind the scenes to influence public policy such as by donating to political parties in order to reduce their taxes and or reduce/eliminate the competition (usually through regulations), or giving them favorable treatment (such as giving their companies exclusive contracts, etc). I just read an article about Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire who supported Trump's campaign and in exchange the Trump administration gave the companies he was heavily invested in exclusive government contracts which made him richer. I never hear anyone mention the guy much less complain about him.
These billi9nairs wake up everyday with the money to end world hunger and pay their workers a decent living wage but they don't. They lobby the government to avoid taxes and bust unions. We could go to space without billionaird if we wanted to.
@@marshmellowmuchies Dude, what you said is completely unfounded. End world hunger? Are you serious, that is a problem that will never be solved. There are some many reasons why world hunger exists, that just throwing money at it will not solve the problem. Do you suppose we give just the money to the corrupt government of Eritrea, bet that will work out.
@@stevescoffee8325 There have been a series of reports that all agree an annual investment of $30 billion would end world hunger in a decades time. Obviously there will always be small exceptions of certain people or certain areas dealing with hunger, but mostly the issue would be solved. So, yes billionaires could easily end world hunger if they wanted to, you'd just need thirty of them giving $1 billion a year for ten years. Or even the richest countries could just do this but they don't and won't because where are the profits in ending a problem.
Why go to space? That's like asking why go outside. Most of the universe is space. It's kind of important that we understand it.
And that somehow means we need to go there? Heard of robots?
These trips are pointless and ego driven.
@@redvintro Even the missions that aren’t simply promotional stunts aren’t in the best interests of humanity. Musk wants to mine Mars, Bezos wants to put datacenters in orbit. Everything else is grandstanding and B.S. on their part.
@@philiplindley7384 Mars is around 8 light minutes away at its closest point in orbit. Good luck with remotely controlled robots, even the best AI is near clueless in those kinds of environments. They can only do so much, one human in one day will make more useful scientific discoveries than all the probes ever sent there. Also, lebensraum is a wonderful idea as long as it's not aimed at already populated places.
It's tough and expensive and dangerous, but a self sustaining settlement is clearly possible there. A vast amount of resources out there free for grabs, without hurting anyone in the process. It's a quite lucrative vision of a future where we can move the worst kinds of pollution away from Earth. Only an idiot would say no thanks, let's just keep ruining the only natural environment we can exist in.
Because, let's be honest, as long as there is a civilization, industry will be a key issue we got to deal with, and it's growing, and causing more and more disruption all around the planet. Sustainability is impossible in our closed system. We need to push the boundaries, or else the laws of nature will crush us. In this sense, you're right, it's totally ego driven. We, humankind, deserve to expand and prosper. Or if this assumption turns out to be false, then nothing matters anyways, whatever we do, is already pointless. Why not give it a try then?
@@matwyder4187 So you're telling that astronauts do something apart from sit in those chairs and wait for computers to make decisions?
I don't believe a self sustaining population is possible. It isn't possible in the Antarctic or the Sahara. It would always need input from Earth.
The only point of Life in Intelligence and we can deliver that from where we are.
95% of technology is mostly useless and just serves a current fashion or trend.
I don't disagree with space exploration just the need for humans to go there.
Star Trek/Wars are just movies.
@@philiplindley7384 Well, astronauts did quite more on the Moon a long time ago, even though all of it was "just" to win the big competition of the era. Tech was barely ready to carry out the missions, yet they did it. Astronauts do lots of research on the ISS these days, some of that will eventually lead to useful applications down here. And trust this, if Antarctica 1) had easily accessible and valuable resources 2) wasn't protected by international treaties, we'd already see whole cities there.
And I think if you can only associate to silly space operas regarding the enthusiasm around realistically viable space exploration and possible colonization, you are totally misguided. You know, we are not hyped because of those movies, but because it can be done in the near future, and if executed with proper awareness, these endeavors could open up vast new perspectives for humankind.
I'd even understand people campaigning against it if it had any visible negative impact on our environment. But it doesn't. Yes, like any human activity, space industry is clearly producing some emissions, yet all of it is negligible compared to many other industries. Industries that have nothing else to deliver but useless fashion items and more and more harm to nature in the process. Why not go after those in the first place?
"Insanely expensive" is a gross underestimate. So thank God they've decided to compete, and avoided the trap of monopoly capitalism.
They havent avoided the last thing you said yet, but what people dont seem to understand is that if we all had the exact same amount of wealth the there would be no one to inovate like space travel. That dosn't make them the good guys, but its just something to think about, we need this un-ballanced world to push boundries, even if its not happy thoughts all the way through
@Justin Time i thought thats what all these people want
@Justin Time "people want to have stuff they require to survive" you dont need to goto space for that if we all had the same wealth and a good govornment to spend correctly and limit births, then we got plenty here.
An interesting take on this. I also love the economics of scalability.
12:19 - aaaaand he's just described the next Bioshock
16:48 - an excellent point
I think people like you help give us some perspective on things we wouldn't have thought of. Thank you
"He needs a new face."
DO NOT GIVE HIM ANY IDEAS JOE
lmao
🤣
Astronaut Chris Hadfield: _"The unheralded beauty of our planet and where it sits is so constantly magnificent that when you’re looking at it, you’re talking in hushed tones, like you’ve walked into a giant forest or the most beautiful cathedral on earth. You’re reverential of where you’re."_
First civilians in space: "hOlY 5H1T" "oH mY gOsH!"
Gay
Its been a while! , happy to see a opinion - confession video from you, typically you post these in the TMI channel!!!
It was nice of Jeff to thank me for involuntarily donating my wages to his project.
Somehow, that basic common sense is thoughtcrime around these parts. Sorry you got exploited by Lex Bezos.
Involuntarily? Are you a slave? Will you be hunted and killed if you take a different job. That's terrible, I didn't realize that Jeff was running a totalitarian death cult. No idea, not a clue.
@@humanfromconception1195 If something is taken without your consent its theft. Your child like take is cute. Was I suppose to quit before I knew he was doing it? If I asked for the money back, would he give it? Your take equates to if someone wrongs you, its your fault for allowing it.
@@humanfromconception1195 Market forces will starve him and his if he quits. Apparently you're too spoiled and pampered to understand that capitalism is a machine that runs on the destruction of the workers. All you know about Amazon is "I PUT MONEY IN WEBSITE AND STUFF COME OUT." Maybe learn some empathy, and slobber on fewer boots.