Seems like the material human cost of space travel never even occurs to them. The poor indigenous people who mine the precious metals and iron etc. that make the spacecraft, the massive costs of feeding and housing all the engineers and scientists working on Musk's futile vanity project -- none of that is even on their radar. They reason that because SpaceX is more efficient and cost effective than Boeing/Lockheed/Northrop that Elon deserves all the praise in the world. In their eyes, Elon is "selflessly" dedicating his time and money to "saving" the human race by making it multi-planetary. The OP calls anti-Elon people "cultural authoritarians" fueled by "billionaire-hate" who want us to be "imprisoned on this planet forever".

Imprisoned on this planet???????

Are you fucking kidding me? Every good thing a human being could possiby want is on this planet. What's on the moon? Grey rocks. What's on Mars? Red dust. There's nothing out there. There's really nothing in space worth having. If you're not happy on earth, that's not a problem with earth, that's a problem with you (or the social or economic structure around you). Moving to a new planet is not going to solve your self esteem problems. That whole thread is just full of so much bullshit.

  • Awoo [she/her]
    ·
    3 years ago

    If the planet they were going to were an Earth analog I would understand this argument. Although capitalism would do exactly the same to it that it did to Earth.

    • Lucas [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      It's like building an extra lane on a highway. It's not addressing the underlying issues that make private transportation unsustainable.

      • Awoo [she/her]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 years ago

        Alternative interpretation: Capitalists want to colonise other planets because they fear the inevitability of revolution on earth. They see expansion via space as new land to invest in and capitalism would have to play out across entire planets again in order to lead up to revolution.

        If capitalists spread capitalism to new planets they guarantee a few hundred years of capitalism can play out on those.

        • panopticon [comrade/them]
          ·
          edit-2
          3 years ago

          I agree with that, the capitalist system has always relied on the existence of a frontier, and cheap labor/raw materials for exploitation.