Oh, I agree. I am often heard to say that without trying there is a 100 percent chance of failure. When it comes to doing things I am responsible for and can control I am not nearly so pessimistic.
I admit though I have lost confidence in US.compared to what I consider our greater days before the great society, diversity, dei and all the other horseshit that have become our downfall. Government is rotten to the core with these things.
We once did amazing things in very little time.The thing is, we older ones and students of history know that much better is possible. There are a lot who are in control for whom much better is not in their normal or possible vision. We also have a whole bunch of people working by the hour who can’t be fired and when you are employed by those terms work always expands to fill all the time available. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow Somehow you have to build a sense of urgency. The lack of urgency and red tape remind me of this though not entirely apropos? It signifies lack of purpose though?
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
I also must admit Musk and his Space X are doing amazing things in relatively little time. Musk builds urgency as he did a few years ago with Space X by telling them that if the next shot didn’t go well they were out of a job because he was tapped out for $250 million failures. He is not at all risk averse as well though. How he has managed for that not to be his downfall is borrowed time to me.
I could very well have written what you posted there. I agree with just about every line in it, which is rare on this forum these days...
I admit, that is why I do come here and pay my dues. I live in a very blue state, and it is good to see I am not alone in this.
As for the lack of urgency...well. I have always thought it is part and parcel of human nature, always to be battled. Nobody wants to fix something difficult until the pain becomes too much to ignore.
I too admire Elon Musk and his business model. It is primarily why I view NASA as toast. NASA cannot do things the way a private company can. They can’t be nimble. If Musk went in tomorrow and said to his team “Okay. Everyone, stop working on developing Raptor engines. We have as new design I have thought of, and we are going to pivot to that beginning today...” he could do that.
I view SpaceX the way many must have viewed the Wright Brothers back in 1903. Interestingly, they were going head-to-head with Langley in the race for powered flight, and Langley was the equivalent of NASA, using other people’s money from government, while the Wright Brothers were using their own.
Anyway, good post. I enjoyed reading it.