Space “Democratization”

Ferris Valyn has some thoughts on that WaPo editorial on commercializing LEO transportation.

It’s kind of amusing to see him arguing with some of the lefty anti-capitalist loons who populate Kos. This was a little less amusing:

Competitive markets (and I stress the word competitive) can be very good at lowering price points. Sometimes they can get too low, and we end up with things like Wal-mart, but this is an situation that desperately needs its price points lowered.

I doubt if the millions of lower-income people whose lives have been improved by Walmart think that their prices are “too low.”

12 thoughts on “Space “Democratization””

  1. I can see the point he’s clumsily making. If one company is successful enough they drive others out of business. The solution they seem to miss is as long as the successful company is not practicing illegal anti-competitive actions, others should be able to successfully compete with them at the new level of performance. I do think antitrust has it’s place.

  2. The comment Ferris was responding to was absolutely hilarious: “Get ready for it: Orbiting billboards. After all, we don’t get enough advertising down here on earth. Having fucked up this planet royally, I’m sure capitalism will manage to destroy other planetary bodies as well. We can export Christianity, too. It’ll be the sixteenth century all over again.”

  3. We can export Christianity, too. It’ll be the sixteenth century all over again.

    Has someone told this commenter that there probably aren’t any intelligent native life forms on other planets in this solar system? Who are the Christians supposed to oppress, the rocks and ice?

  4. Actually, space billboards are already limited in their obtrusiveness by FAA regs, click on my name above to see the reg at the FAA site. I like to tell the tale of how my friend Randall Clague, acting solely as a concerend citizen, ended up writing the regs for space advertising by default- simply by being the _only_ reasonable person in the room.

    This whole representative republic thing actually works pretty well, donchaknow…

  5. I always get a kick out of the perception of some long serving government types that space “commercialization” is just putting a bunch of stickers on a rocket a-la NASCAR. I guess the free market and competition is a very foreign concept to some folks.

  6. > I am glad to be providing entertainment for you guys

    In all seriousness Ferris, I truly appreciate the great work you’ve been doing in making sure that NewSpace memes get propagated in the left-blogosphere.

  7. “I guess the free market and competition is a very foreign concept to some folks.”

    You must be new here.

  8. As the assembled multitudes can clearly see, Ferris did not suffer for his summer internship in the office of an evil Right Wing Republican (yours truly).

    P.S. Well, except for all of my rude comments about his running Windows on a Macbook Pro…

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