Battlestar Billionaires

What a time to be alive.  The 2020 Olympics are a week away from beginning in 2021.  Many American lives are being pieced back together as the world’s largest economy is reemerging after its forced shutdown devastated too many financially.  And other countries haven’t even started to recover.  Oh yeah, and before the torch relay is over in Tokyo, two billionaires will have put themselves into space.  What a time to be alive.

This note is not a billionaire bashing.  In fact, it might be the opposite.  It is kind of exciting to see images of their travels, and the thought of potential knock-on effects of their journeys could be revolutionary in a technological sense.  Rocket scientists have been the catalysts for some inventions we may take for granted these days.   According to this article from Yahoo! News, this note is being typed on one: the laptop.

Putting people, rockets, and satellites into space requires immense efficiency.  It’s an expensive endeavor, so finding streamlined ways to get there is important.  Over time, some of the products and/or methods developed in the latest space race will likely find their way into our economy.  Cameras small enough to fit in cell phones, GPS, and wireless headphones all came out of space-related technologies.  Have you used any of those yet today?

The space between haves and have nots is large and growing and further complicated by the pandemic.  Billionaires who write their own rules soaring above the atmosphere aren’t likely to close the gap.  But many of us are likely to benefit from the science created as a result of their gravity defying goals.  Without the defiant titan Prometheus, the opening ceremony for this summer’s Olympics might not have had a torch.