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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos talked about his vision for Blue Origin and humanity at the Apollo 11 Gala at Kennedy Space Center:
For Bezos, colonising space is a more a simple necessity for continued life on Earth. The compound effect of the incremental increase in energy requirements will mean us having to cover every inch of Earth in solar cells, he said, while the solar system offers virtually unlimited energy resources.
"We can harvest resources from asteroids, from Near-Earth Objects, and harvest solar energy from a much broader surface area – and continue to do amazing things," he said. The alternative, he said, was an era of stasis and stagnation on Earth, where we are forced to control population and limit energy usage per capita.
"I don't think stasis is compatible with freedom or liberty, and I sure as hell think it's going to be a very boring world – I want my grandchildren's grandchildren to be in a world of pioneering, exploration and expansion throughout the solar system."
He also suggested that exploration and colonisation of the solar system would make it possible to support one trillion people.
"Then we would have 1,000 Einstein's and 1,000 Mozarts, how cool would that be?" he said.
"What's holding us back from making that next step is that space travel is just too darned expensive because we throw the rockets away. We need to build reusable rockets and that's what Blue Origin is dedicated to."
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 17 2017, @03:59AM
I've never ordered anything directly from Amazon -- years ago they started a pissing match with a small technical publisher I work with (long story) and I've been in personal boycott mode ever since then.
But I will agree that Amazon are pervasive, last year I bought something from eBay and when it arrived the return address was an Amazon fulfillment center. Looks like that eBay seller outsourced their logistics.
Our Walmart is just around the corner and at the end of last year they moved the ship-to-store pickup desk to the front of the store. Very convenient, I open stuff at their counter and if I don't like it I can return on the spot for instant credit, no repackaging. We still have a big Sears nearby too--their website is often a mess, but they have appliance repair parts for good prices (like the clothes washer pump I replaced a couple of years back).