COMMENTARY Page 8 The Renegade Rip I www.therip.com Wednesday, October 19, 2011 Staff Editorial An American visionary leaves behind global legacy The death of Steve Jobs has not just to uying out new ideas, many of those his own personal wealth. posed to create wealth for eve1yone, bur We need people who can take on been the passing of a famous entTepre­ ideas eventually becoming the standard 'fo the pioneers of Silicon Valley, he is instead he created real products and di­ Job·s role of head cheerleader for entire nem, but in many ways it has been a hit for how those thil1gs were done for ev­ the model of success. To computer guys. rectly employed people for a fair wage industties. He was a charismatic speaker to the American Dream. eryone. he's an engineer who knew the science. while bringing something new and use­ with a gift for elegant turns of phrase The man's life murnrs the mythology At any moment of our Jjves, most but dominated the business world. ful to society that we can hold it in our and he invigorated people with a bound­ stmounding the promise of America. people in the United States are mere feet Heck. even art students know his hands. less optimism. He started a small company wit11 a few from a product that includes at least one name simply because he's the guy re­ To Americans. thar is the dream. We Finding someone who can fill that friends and turned it into one of the most idea that he promoted or created. sponsible for the products that make aU need innovators who are not mired in niche is not going 10 be an easy task successful in its industry, creating out of He was also the proof of concept for of their favorite projects possible. the alliances and feuds of existing eco­ even though there are a few with the ac­ nothing a new way to make money and the idea that a child of the counter-cul­ Most impo1tantly, to the average nomic relarionships. tual resume to jusrify such optimism. bring prosperity to those around him. ture could come back from the wilder­ American. he was one of the few real We don't need people so enu·enched We need another white wizard to help Then he was fired from his own com­ ness with sometlling useful for society. job-creators and we lost him right when in old ways of making money that they us overcome the funk we seem to be in pany, only to be brought back years later His experimentation with LSD and we needed some new jobs. need to be bailed out by the government where protestors on both sides of the to herald a new pe1iod of innovation and love for eastern philosophy seemed to I-le wasn "t a 1ich guy that moved because no one else u·usts them enough political spemwn are demandil1g that profi t. have no effect on his ability to exist in arow1d slips of paper with ot11er rich to float tl1em a loan because there is someone bring back the promise of the He was a free-thinking visionary and the wildly conservative world of big guys and then through some "invisible­ doubt these old leviathans can still profit American Dream and just the hope of a a consummate gambler when it came business or prevent him from buildmg band.'' trickle-down magic was sup- with their out-dated busu1ess models. better future. Is the red planet really worth the journey? By Keith Kaczmarek a new frontier to explore. We need new lands to By Tyler McGinty example. Reporter tty out new social experilnents free of thousands of Opinions Editor Hell, I'd settle for just a clean energy somce. years of history and prejuruce and new resow·ces We really shouldn't even 1J1ink about colonies Gening to Mars is not going to be easy, and in to exploit, and we can't strut too early considering Leave Mars alone! on other planets until we have these kinds of en­ the cwTent economic climate it that Mars might not be ready for large-scale Why is humanity obsessed with look- ergy sources. The amount of energy might not even seem like a good I Ihuman habitation for hundreds of years. ing onward and upward while ignoring needed to sustain a colony on Mars idea. but that's onl y half the sto1y. pRo Of course. we have problems. No one the problems at their own feet? There is would have to be incredibly high. Going to Mars is going to in- is pretenrung that this is going to magi- absolutely no need to even think about CON What would be the point of travew1g volve more than just stuffing a --------- cally transform ow· society for the better, coloniz:ing Mars when Eaith has so --------I to a new planet, setting up shop and few patriots into a glorified tin can but given the u·ack record science has for much to fix already. then polluting it all over agail1? that costs billions. It is going to involve discovering improving ow· lives and makmg them safer, better, Things like pollution. wai·. poverty and corrup­ Fm1he1more, who is going to pay for such an hundreds of new technologies that will affect our and more productive. I'd prefer that my tax dollars tion. These aren't t11e things I'd like to see spread outlandish venture? lives in unexpected and wonderful ways. go to a broad base of scientific research instead of to another planet. We can bai·ely take care of one I doubt any government in the world would fund The space program has already borne fruit in too being used to blow up foreigners in petty disputes planet. To suggest we could handle two ilnplies it even if they could. many areas to cow1t. Velcro, Teflon. and indusuial- over local resources and intractable politics. that we, as a species. have a monsu·ous ego. China might have enough money to do it if we grade ceramics are just some of the more ''space- We should take to the stars not just to uphold our The sheer an1ow11 of research ai1d development paid back all of om debt. Even if they could, no age'' inventions. but the technologies created by the proud tradition of finding new frontiers to conquer, time, and the money to fund that, that would be one government. can lay claim to any part of Mars. space program have applications in ai·eas as ruverse but because space is full of prosperity and profit if spent in order to make Mars livable could be spent It would violate space law (which is a real thing) as make-up to cancer treatments. we are just willing to make the initial investment. on far better things. Renewable energy sotu-ces. for set fortb by me Out.er Space Treaty of 1967. Since This means that the space program itself is one of all of outer space is the "common heritage of man­ the mythical "engi nes of grnwth" for our economy kind ," it can't. be owned by any government. that pundits like to wax poeticall y about. Counter­ With governments out of the picture due to legal­ intuitively, t11e very act of pushing the boundaries ity and budget issues, that would just leave private of human exploration has also been quite good for companies to foot the bill, and space travel isn't the pocketbooks of the American people, creating cheap. Just tl1e fuel to get ro Mars costs more tl1an new products and indusu·ies that employ Ameri­ most people would see in their lives. It takes over cans. $10,000 worth of fuel to get one pound of payload Not only that, but the pure science needed for into a low Eaith orbit. prolonged spaceflight seems to be the exact same That's just to get off Eai·th. Can you imagine the science we need so desperately right now. Getting cost to actually get to Mai·s? I don't even want to to Mars and back is going to require new ways to All right ladies tl1ink about it. produce cheap and clean fuels. new ways to manu­ and gentlemen, These exorbitant costs would leave space tt,wel factw·e, new understanding of complex ecosystem we have accessible only to the rich ai1d the super-rich. I'd and climate problems. new solutions for sustain­ arrived at our rather not see Mars rw·ned into tl1e priciest condo­ able resource collection, and new materials that mmium complex cate1ing to movie stars, oil ty­ will make possible inventions that ctmently only coons and other various billionaires. exist in the imagination. The costs already mount up to ridiculous amounts While some people like to give credit for the without. even considering maku1g the planet livable cunent wealth and prosperity of the fiJSt world to in anyway. democracy or to capitalism, in truth we owe it all In addition to fuel, we'd have to find ways to to science. Science has not only kept the economy make a renewable atmosphere, obtain a water humming with new products. but it has created new source and create an agricultural system. economies of scale that make previously expensive If we took the outrageous amount of (hypotheti­ products cheap enough for even the poorest to af­ cal) money spent on colonizing Mars and spent ford. Investing in the project to get to Mars is go­ it on technological advances and social welfare ing to create science faster, simply accelerating the programs, you might not be looking at the stars so in1provement of our lives.