I saw in the news this morning that Jeff Bezos was planning to launch a rocket today, furthering the millionaire rivalry between him and Elon Musk. The launch was apparently called off at the last moment, but even so it is another event in the space race the two men seem to have entered into. I’m sorry to say this, but does this strike anyone else as pathetically childish? As with all of science, the exploration of space is supposed to be about casting light on nature and the human condition; yet here we have two obscenely rich American men treating it like some sort of game, as if demonstrating who has the better rocket also demonstrates who has the bigger penis. Frankly, to see space exploration reduced down to this is galling, and to be honest only increases my current disdain for American culture in general. After all, what kind of community would actively encourage two obscenely rich men – who never actually earned their wealth in the first place – two spav all their wealth on what are, essentially, enormous fireworks? If humanity really is to explore space, surely we must do so together, as a community. What is either man basically doing other than showing off.

I can’t be alone in thinking this.