He has some...creative...suggestions.

Among the other poor arguments/suggestions, I notice he tosses in the "sui generis technology" meme, which to me seems an increasingly common sentiment: 'let's not do anything in space until someone somewhere somehow invents the perfect solution'. The perfect solution here being launches too cheap to meter, one-hoss spacecraft, warp drive...whatever.

The folks who trade in this meme seem unaware that technology development doesn't work that way. Trying and failing and learning from mistakes and trying again are what will make spaceflight cheaper, safer, faster, etc., and that can't happen if we aren't allowed to try. Or to fail and try again. Granted, with the NASA monopoly it isn't happening now anyway, but that just means (as Rand points out frequently) that it's the monopoly that needs to end, not spaceflight.

Miller is succumbing to the notion that humans ought not to progress until they manage to make their current existence utopian. That's nonsense, of course. Folks like Dennis would have abandoned the railroad in pursuit of the perfect stagecoach.

Ultimately, Miller is one of the people that will be -- and should be -- left behind.

To me Miller sounded as if he was basically saying the government should get out of the Space access business. Miller said we could get to space when someone created technology but he seemed to indicate that it wouldn't be the government doing it. I could be wrong but I think Miller more or less stated Rand's position but did it with a nice comic touch.

If you keep track of what Miller says over time you'll find that he uses 'we' to mean both private and public sectors. I.e. he's suggesting that no one put any effort into space: government or private efforts. He rarely makes a distinction between the two....

Lighten up. He's a funny guy and very much to his credit he didn't swallow all the hollywood crap after 9-11. What's he saying? We shouldn't be wasting so much money on NASA when they don't have clear and meaningfull objectives. I have to agree with him.

He still has his liberal roots with the idea that if you take away money from one program it should go somewhere else (rather than just back into taxpayers pockets) but I also think the right kind of bullet train could do a lot to stimulate the economy. Years ago, aerospace companies were developing maglev (perhaps understanding that air traffic densities in some cities were reaching limits) but I haven't heard much about that in decades.

I'd like to see a car ferry system that connected New York, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, DC and Atlanta at the very least. Today, passenger rail is generally more expensive than flying, which doesn't make any sense to me. I understood that rail is about the second most efficient form of travel (behind bicycles which are less practical.)

When he talks about brainiac kids, he's talking free enterprise.

Extra credit: does anyone remember the name of that SF story where the kids were learning to fight a remote war in which, unknown to one student about to take his 'finals' it was actually the last battle in an actual war?

Ken, you're thinking of Ender's Game (or Ender's War, depending on which version.) Spawned 3-4 sequels.

Anyone remember the Robin Williams movie where he's a toymaker and his brother from the military comes in and winds up basically doing the same thing? (Kids playing video games that are actually remotes for drone tanks, helicopters, etc?)

Ken,

The story is called "Ender's War" by Orsen Scott Card. It's the first of two books, the sequel being "Speaker for the Dead."

I'm re-reading it at the moment - good story.

I've always been intrigued by the idea of space travel. From the Romantic sci-fi promise to the clear strategic advantages, it is appealing. But I still can't get around the bottom line. I see little point to sending people up or more than the more practical sort of satellite. Colonies? Forget it. Even if the cost of putting a pound of payload into orbit were reduced by 99% it would still be outrageously expensive, no? I'm willing to be convinced otherwise, but I am not optimistic.