Honest question:who cares?
I love spaceas much as the next person.
It was super cool when the first primate went to spacein 1949(RIP Albert II).
And even cooler (no offense to chimps) when the first human did itin 1961.
You know what isnt impressive?
Being the first billionaire to make it to space.
And even less so, the second or third.
Had he succeeded, instead of tragically dying, that would have been impressive.
But what pride can we take in knowing that billionaires have ventured beyond the clouds?
Its the same for each of these billionaires: you cant become a billionaire without exploiting people.
A lot of people would love to visit space.
The billionaire cashtronauts will argue that theyre inspiring generations, but whats the message?
If youre a billionaire or a country you’re free to start your own space program?
It feels macabre to view the exploits of billionaires as inspiration.
These are things 99% of us will never access, but each of us has somehow paid for.
There are people living on space stations conducting important scientific work.
Richard Bransons space adventures come on the heels of one of Virgins most challenging times.
Oh, times are tough are they?
Seems like maybefrivolous ego trips to the edge of spacemight be something youd cut before salaries and jobs.
But billionaires are going to do what billionaires always do: whatevers best for themselves.
And do we even have to get into Elon Musk?
Do we really have to go there?
All of the billionaire cashtronauts have long, detailed,proven, histories of worker exploitation.
But we really shouldnt be glorifying or supporting the cashtronauts anyway.
