One of the difficulties of securing mega-sums for the Blue Revolution is that billionaires seem enamored of outer space...like many of us were. You've heard about their dreams:
- South-African-Canadian-American billionaire Elon Musk,[3] behind SpaceX and a project to colonize Mars.[4][1]
- American billionaire Jeff Bezos, behind Blue Origin and establishing a true industrial base in space.[4][2][1]
- British billionaire Richard Branson,[3] behind Virgin Galactic/Virgin Orbit and space tourism, low-cost small orbital launchers, and intercontinental suborbital transit.[4][2][1]
- Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, backing the Breakthrough Starshot project for an interstellar probe.[5]
But there are 2816 billionaires out there, with a wealth of $11.2 trillion. Some of them surely must have the imagination to accomplish something especially magnificent for Humanity on Planet Earth.
One of us worked for NASA on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, but subsequently felt that space exploration involving real people and billions of bucks was both dangerous and not a smart way to spend your money. There are too many other more important priorities. The Apollo Project was an almost necessary policy decision that helped end the Cold War.
We avoided nuclear holocaust through this space adventure, but there was a compelling political reason. Here we went again, but some of us don't see space being profitable for at least a century, and perhaps millennium. Fine if you are rich and seek this seeming ultimate adventure, but not ideal for saving Planet Earth and Humanity. Yes, someday possibly necessary, but not today, nor for the next century. Well, perhaps we haven't yet learned our lesson.
Of course, many billionaires will live out their dreams, for they deserve and can afford it. We, too, are captivated by their imagination and efforts. Perhaps, though, one or more might want to also look into the Blue Revolution, for the potential benefits are more immediate and, maybe even necessary, for the survival of Planet Earth and Humanity now. Here is where they can truly mold their legacy: floating cities, remediation of global warming, sustainable products, hydrogen, prevention of hurricanes...all while actually making a financial profit!
The Atlantic had an article on Jeff Bezos About the magazine, did you know:- It was founded in 1857?
- Has around half a million subscribers.
- Almost expired, but recovered, in 2101 posting its first profit in a decade, and in 2016 being named Magazine of the Year by the American Society of Magazine Editors.
Today, Jeff Bezos runs nearly 40% of all e-commerce in the U.S. Amazon controls half of the cloud-computing industry. They sell 42% of all books and a third of the market for streaming video. Add selling food and getting into real estate. Then there is The Washington Post, with The New York Times, the conscience and nemeses of Donald Trump.
But you know all that. From that article written by Franklin Foer:
But you know all that. From that article written by Franklin Foer:
- Bezos is relentless, but thinks there is a virtue to wandering.
- Was made by his mother, in almost all ways.
- Flirted with becoming a theoretical physicist at Princeton.
- Is elitist, and fosters a meritocracy of hard-working intelligence. A lot of PhD economists. Few women at the top. Top six are white men. In history, one black female on the board. But not much different from Google and Facebook.
- If you're going in for a Bezos meeting, you're like preparing as if the world is going to end.
- Hire smart people who are tasked to find smarter people.
- Invent and Simplify...Bias for Action...Have Backbone...Disagree and Commit. Some of 14 principles.
- Fanatic about Star Trek and wants to get into outer space.
- Has a profit-making company called Blue Origin, dealing with space. At least that's blue.
- Admires Gerard O'Neill and his Space Cylinder, which somewhat looks like a first image of the Blue Revolution platform.
O'Neill imagined colonies housed in miles-long cylindrical tubes floating between Earth and the moon. The tubes would sustain a simulacrum of life back on the mother planet, with soil, oxygenated air, free-flying birds, and “beaches lapped by waves.” When Bezos describes these colonies—and presents artists’ renderings of them—he sounds almost rapturous.
- Entrepreneurs will decide how space will be governed. Looks like an opportunity for The Seasteading Institute.
- From the author: In contrast to the dysfunction and cynicism that define the times, Amazon is the embodiment of competence, the rare institution that routinely works. 600 million items for sale from 3 million vendors. Has set aside $700 to retrain a third of its 600,000 employees. No unions. The company is deeply trusted by the public...unlike politicians and just about everyone else, these days.
- Whoops, Forbes indicated that Bezos is no longer the richest person in the world. He only has $115.6 billion. Bernard Arnault of LVMH is worth 117 billion. Bill Gates is #3, but would have been #1 had he not donated $35.8 billion to charity.
Bezos worries that in the coming generations the planet’s growing energy demands will outstrip its limited supply. “We have to go to space to save Earth,” he says.
Makes sense. But what about timing and global warming and the rest of this century?
Makes sense. But what about timing and global warming and the rest of this century?
While Bezos is developing the technology for space, perhaps he might also want to consider in parallel the NEXT GREATEST CHALLENGE FOR PLANET EARTH AND HUMANITY, which, of course, is the Blue Revolution. This posting is way too long already, so I leave with a few references for your perusal:
- From The Huffington Post: Blue Revolution
- Blue Revolution Hawaii 2020
- Progress on the Blue Revolution
Someone out there, please send this posting to Jeff Bezos, or one of his associates, or a friend of them, or... Here is a central e-mail site:
PatKenTak@hotmail.com
-
PatKenTak@hotmail.com
-
