#138 Empire Of The Clouds (And Beyond) 🎧

<strong>Global Policy Watch: </strong><strong><em>Ud Jayega Bezos Akela*</em></strong><br/><br/><em>Bringing an Indian perspective to burning global issues</em><br/><br/>- <em>RSJ</em><br/><br/><em>Homo sapiens</em> first went to space in 1961. <br/><br/>60 years later, a new species, decidedly less superior than <em>Homo sapiens, </em>has succeeded in going to space.<br/><br/>Billionaires. <br/><br/>Remarkable. So, what should we make of it?<br/><br/>A Race To Nowhere<br/><br/>There are three arguments against the space race among billionaires. And these arguments play into the wider debate about capitalism and inequality that’s roiling the developed world. I will take a stab at rearticulating them.<br/><br/>To start with we have the <em>old charge </em>against capitalism of being self-obsessed, indifferent and out of touch with the reality of the world around them. In a time when a global pandemic has destroyed lives and livelihoods and the poor still don’t have access to vaccines, the spectacle of billionaires spending hundreds of millions on their toys isn’t appetising. Our moral intuition says it is wrong. Surely, it is their wealth and they have the freedom to pursue whatever they fancy. But that wealth could have more productive uses that make the world better. And it isn’t just a prayer to the goodness within the hearts of the billionaires that we need. There’s a right that the society has over some of that wealth they have accrued through dodging taxes (or at least not paying their fair share), keeping employee wages low and using sharp elbow tactics to monopolise the markets. Taking off into space during these times is like showing a giant middle finger to the rest of humanity. <br/><br/>The <em>second argument </em>offered against the space fantasies of billionaires is that it will amount to nothing. The science of sending a shuttle to orbit the earth and come back is more than 60 years old. So, no new ground in science is being broken here. Also, any talk of space travel or living on Mars underestimat