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posted by martyb on Monday July 17 2017, @02:53AM   Printer-friendly
from the postponing-the-inevitable dept.

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."


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Absolutely.Geek on Monday July 17 2017, @04:26AM (2 children)

    by Absolutely.Geek (5328) on Monday July 17 2017, @04:26AM (#540170)

    While the solar system could easily support 1T people; I don't think that level of population will be achieved any time soon.

    I have been watching The Expanse lately; cool show; and I think that the way the belters are treated in that show is depressingly likely to occur in the current societal mindset.

    if you haven't watched the show; basically the belters are treated like the the minimum wage slaves of the current world system; except if they get too uppity and try to protest/take action, air and water are withheld until they calm down.

    Whilst the Star Trek society is a cool idea; I find it hard to map from out existing society to the ST society. The rich and powerful are getting richer and hording more power...how to get from here to there is unclear.

    --
    Don't trust the police or the government - Shihad: My mind's sedate.
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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 17 2017, @05:06AM (1 child)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 17 2017, @05:06AM (#540185) Journal

    Get the books. The books (as usual) are better than the show. Some stuff in the series is simply not in the books. Stuff in the books didn't make it into the series. That is the normal when books and television meet, of course.

    That said, the TV series is about as awesome as awesome gets. The authors worked hard to get everything as scientifically correct as possible, and the TV series followed that idea. The TV series doesn't really depart from the story line in the books, it remains pretty faithful. The major differences amount to dramatic effect and artistic license, which is alright since the book's authors were there to make it work.

    And, I guess it's best to read the books in order of publication.

    No, I'm not posting any spoilers. If you want to know just how grand and sweeping the story gets, you'll have to start reading.

    I will tell you that the story goes beyond our own solar system, with humans living under other suns.

    --
    “I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
    • (Score: 2) by Absolutely.Geek on Monday July 17 2017, @06:07AM

      by Absolutely.Geek (5328) on Monday July 17 2017, @06:07AM (#540198)

      I'll have to get the books.

      I'm usually a reader more then a watcher; but this series hadn't shown up on my radar until it hit TV.

      --
      Don't trust the police or the government - Shihad: My mind's sedate.