There are people who think that they should be telling others what to do, and they reject the lessons of history, and will prevent the teaching of that history. They desperately want the world to work the way they think it should, so when they want to control the spread of disease, they demand that we wear surgical masks. When they want the economy to work a certain way, they demand that they control the economy. When they think we shouldn’t produce carbon dioxide, they change the temperature record so that it fits their theories. The love of theory is the root of all evil.

However, the world works the way the world works, and it is only when we work within that method that we do well. This is why free markets do better than controlled markets and why capitalism works better than complete individuality. When we choose for ourselves what to buy and what to produce, we all prosper. When we are able to combine our resources in order to produce what people want, everyone prospers. When they direct people as to what to produce and what to purchase, we do not prosper, because we only get what they want us to have, not what we want to have or what is actually best for us.

It is difficult for those who want to control it all to understand this, and those who want liberty tend to project their innocence onto the tyrants, so they do not defend themselves from those tyrants. Just as the tyrants believe they can control it all, the rest believe the tyrants have their best interests in mind. Masks are in our best interest. Central control will end the Great Depression. Freezing in the dark will prevent the coming Ice Age.

But it never works out that way.

I am flabbergasted that this is even a topic of discussion. This question was settled decades, if not centuries, ago. Time may be a helix, but at some point, we have got to learn. Do the same things over and over, get the same results. Probably the primary reason I don’t have much faith in the species. I like people: I just don’t think we have staying power.

Couldn’t agree more, Edward. And compared to managing the detailed choices of 330 million individuals, spaceflight – as complex a challenge as it is – is at the level of LEGO­® assembly.

It is sheer hubris on the part of our political elite, to think they can successfully micromanage either … but especially, the former. They CAN’T know each of those individuals well enough to decide for them and not assume the SERIOUS risk of harming them … which is a direct affront to their unalienable rights.

But they, and we, keep thinking that they can be trusted to do so, even as we complain about their numerous failures.

This is a fundamental problem of social technocracy … and our total trust is a big Part of That Problem.

I would argue that “understanding the process” involves an idea of what can, and cannot, be influenced with the resources available. The ‘Serenity’ prayer. See? It’s all connected.

“And it feels right this time,
On this crash course with the big time.
Pay no mind to the distant thunder,
New day fills his head with wonder, boy…
Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel,
Was just a freight train coming your way.”

It can also only be managed if the system is not too complicated that it overwhelms the abilities of the managers. This is why central control of economies goes so poorly. The number of goods and services and managing the supplies needed for them is too large to control from a central location. If a poor decision is made or if conditions change, it takes a long time before the controllers can get back to make corrections, because they are too busy with the next set of products to control, then the next, and the next, and …

In the case of the launch industry, new launch companies may be so efficient that they drive old companies out of business. It is one reason why Rocket Lab is already making improvements to its Electron launch system, trying to stay ahead of the coming competition.

Nature and free market economies have shown that these self-regulating systems are best left to their own devices. The U.S. Department of the Interior decided, a century ago, to manage fires in our forests, putting them out as quickly as possible. This policy only resulted in so much undergrowth that we now get worse fires than we did back then. Some regulation may be good, but too much is bad.

Fair points, but that’s how things work, whether space launch capacity, or biological carrying capacity of a stream. Demand expands until resources are inadequate, then corrections occur. Applies to a lot of things. It can be managed, but only if the managers understand the process.

Yes, my question relates first and foremost to the communications sector (on systems like Starlink) and to the space transport sector, where there is likely to be a massive oversupply of launch vehicle capacity.

Friends: I have sorrowful news to relate…not only has Libertarian space author L. Neil Smith passed away-but Winchell Chung…Nyrath to us at Starship Modeler…has been struck with cancer. He of the ATOMIC ROCKETS website projectrho.

It isn’t fair. I would trade places with him if I could-as I have contributed nothing in comparison. Hawking…storm chase legend Matt Biddle…and now this.

It seems the higher one casts one’s gaze-the surer the hand of fate is in bringing one low. Curses….

From the Jacobin Magazine essay by Spencer Roberts:

How can space exploration serve society? Our first priority must be to decarbonize space flight.

That does not serve society. It comes from a man who uses powered transportation, uses power at home and at work, and purchases goods and services that are produced and delivered by using power. If his first priority were to decarbonize anything, it should be to decarbonize his life, otherwise he is only another hypocrite claiming priorities that he does not even believe in.

However, to call Spencer Roberts a hypocrite only emboldens him, because leftists are like three-year-olds, wanting everything their own way, and wanting someone else to take care of their diapers when they get soiled.

The steely-eyed-missile men are willing to learn the hard way, through trial and error, the lessons of what we do not yet know. They have their priorities right. Just as in the early days, when governments used truly hazardous materials and leaving their junk in space, today’s commercial companies are already more environmentally friendly, using less hazardous materials and willing to deorbit their space debris before it becomes debris.

A ‘bubble’ requires an already established cyclic market. Outside comm satellites, there isn’t an established commercial space market.

The photo captions might have been combined under the first image: ‘Modern rocketry soaring despite ‘freedom”.