Reply To: Space Fountain

[dennisp]

Sure it was gradual but at this point, there just aren’t that many coal jobs left. 80K isn’t that much. In September 2008 alone we lost twice that many jobs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/04/business/economy/04jobs.html

My concern with the idea of LPPX doing it all isn’t that they lack credit, but that they lack manufacturing expertise. Economically, I don’t see the fundamental difference between one firm building devices vs. a hundred firms doing it, except that the hundred firms are likely to be more efficient due to competition.

It’s nice to think of one company making trillions and devoting all the money to the good of humanity. But FF would solve energy, climate, and water, and with a few other predictable advances, food and mineral resources too, without assuming any altruism at all. Compared to those, issues like Glass-Steagal are pretty minor. You’re also assuming that Lerner actually agrees with you on all these issues.

But I think it’s safe to say that if FF works Lerner will make quite a lot of money from licensing, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he started something like the Gates Foundation to put it to use. But if he spent it all on hookers and blow, I’d still be pretty darn happy at how it all turned out.