15 minutes ago, anden145 said:

That may be, but I'm still annoyed (actually downright angry!) at the almost childish competition of "Being the FIRST billionaire in space" and commercializing themselves by that, while claiming their efforts is such a breakthrough for humanity etc etc... and throwing a huge number of money in that direction, as well... *SIGH* ... all the while, people are drowning in Germany/Austria/Belgium, forest fires are spreading in California etc, heat waves are multiplying and the planet is battling a pandemic. Personally, I just think it's a waste of resources and it makes me angry, when Bezos then says, that 'he didn't know what else to do with his wealth' ... I don't know - maybe I'm missing something or maybe I'm just being naive or 'too leftist' to see things for what they "truly" are ... but I personally think, that their whole endeavor of battling for their personal space race, is childish, wasteful and only displays the egocentric way that some of these people apparently are thinking. The gap between rich and poor has really increased over the last decades and this just goes to show, that while people are suffering and drowning, loosing their homes and are getting sick from a pandemic, these people - on top of society are only focusing on 'being the first to space' ... 

I don't know anymore... maybe I'm being to short sighted or maybe I'm just too blind. In any case, I won't add to your 'irritation against people who "complain" ' - so I'll just withdraw from this debate/thread. 

You know he gave $10Bn to climate change last year right?  Largest single donation in the world in 2020, higher than the Gates foundation in addition to the $100M he gave to 200+ food bank systems globally...  His Ex-Wife donated ~7Bn of their money after the divorce.  So yeah like 17 Billion donated between them in 2020.  The press turned this into the "billionaires space race" all of them have been working on this for what 20+ years now and apparently yes, you missed all of his charitable donations while assuming the only thing these people care about is "being the first to space"  

Sad that all the good these people do is overshadowed by judgmental assumptions, usually without any research behind them that villainize them for their wealth.  

 

Edited July 22, 20214 yr by psolk

56 minutes ago, psolk said:

Sad that all the good these people do is overshadowed by judgmental assumptions, usually without any research behind them that villainize them for their wealth.

There are a lot of rich people who do a lot of good.  and it's hard to know about that good if no one shines a spot light on it.  There's also wealthy who do great harm by promoting misinformation any way they can.

If you change the word 'wealth' in what I quoted from you and replace it with the word 'poverty', the same holds true.  Poor people have been being demonized as 'lazy' for decades.

There's a lot of demonizing going on and I agree with your apparent target of the politicians who don't really care about the people anymore - only their own power and wealth it seems.

My local news is suddenly talking about helping the homeless.  Its a new, recent thing.  I get the feeling the current administration may be having an effect.

It all boils down to two words...wealth envy.

Noel

1 hour ago, anden145 said:

That may be, but I'm still annoyed (actually downright angry!) at the almost childish competition of "Being the FIRST billionaire in space" and commercializing themselves by that, while claiming their efforts is such a breakthrough for humanity etc etc... and throwing a huge number of money in that direction, as well... *SIGH* ... all the while, people are drowning in Germany/Austria/Belgium, forest fires are spreading in California etc, heat waves are multiplying and the planet is battling a pandemic.

 

Yeah, that's not really relevant though. Environmental issues aren't NOT mitigated because Elon and Jeff have a space program, its not like they've stolen money that was allocated to fix climate change or fight the pandemic. Society is perfectly capable of mitigating environmental issue simultaneously with "private" companies having space programs. Musk's Star ship is funded by Starlink and Musk has sold his own properties to help with the endeavour. Don't forget, Blue Origin and SpaceX are private companies, there is government money involved in terms of contracts with NASA to put a man and women on the Moon, but that's a decision by the US government so hardly the fault of Musk and Bezos. SpaceX and Blue Origin are merely providing a product the US government asked for. If you are going to have that opinion then we shouldn't be spending any money on any large scale endeavour at all, either government funded or by private companies, in which case those private companies, like SpaceX and Blue Origin that employ a combined total of 10,000 people and countless more in regard to their suppliers, would be bankrupt and countless people out of work.  Which would of course be pointless because the money you complain about then wouldn't be generated anyway. 🙂 

 

1 hour ago, anden145 said:

but I personally think, that their whole endeavor of battling for their personal space race, is childish, wasteful and only displays the egocentric way that some of these people apparently are thinking.

 

Its not a "personnel space race". Its a world wide space race and the participants are from all over the world, numerous nations, because the endeavour has potential to be very rewarding for all of society. Like mining the Moon and asteroids instead of doing so on this planet (where our resources are running out) and polluting the Earth. There are very good reasons why the space race is a thing again. Listen less to the media, for it is they that like to portray this as some kind of billionaires bit of fun. 

 

1 hour ago, anden145 said:

The gap between rich and poor has really increased over the last decades and this just goes to show, that while people are suffering and drowning, loosing their homes and are getting sick from a pandemic, these people - on top of society are only focusing on 'being the first to space' ... 

 

Don't listen to the media. Again, this is not some rich guys folly. The list of benefits from doing this is considerable. Why China is involved and many other nations. 

 

1 hour ago, anden145 said:

so I'll just withdraw from this debate/thread.

 

No, no, you are perfectly entitled to put forward an alternate viewpoint. 

OK guys, this is headed down the rat-hole of politics, so let's stop it here.