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I'm not sure why space flight is much more extravagant than other extravagant things - I find this much more interesting than owning an American Football team - a thing which also doesn't really do anything "useful". You might as well say all the money spend on NFL could be used to solve the homeless crises.
It's not a zero-sum game - both can be awful
(although one shout out to sports team owners - the ownership of the Seattle Storm WNBA team - and really the WBNA players - was phenomenal in 2020 in advocating for racial equity and especially in using their platform to aducate and get out the vote in Georgia).
Private space flight is offensive because:
1. environmental impact
2. not pushing forward technology for the good of mankind, but specifically to create even more opportunities available only to the unbelievably wealthy
3. space tourism will lead to humans destroying other planets in addition to our own.
It is selfish, elitist, stupid macho posturing.
I agree that no single person should have so much say - but also think one can be angry at both the mechanisms that create such unbelievable wealth AND how they spend it. I mean, the marketing involved in these private space projects is significant, because these men want - need - accolades. Totally appropriate to give them backlash instead.I think, tbh, the anger is misdirected. The issue is the fact that they are even ABLE to amass this kind of money, not what they spend it on. Even if they someone spend it on philanthropy, I still think it's wrong; a single person should not have such a big say on how to solve any crisis.
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