1 Hour Until SpaceX Lifts Off!!! Why does this matter? Why do I care so much?

1 HOUR TO GO until liftoff of the largest rocket humans have ever made, SpaceX Starship!  And I’m so excited to witness it!!!!

*People keep asking me “why does this matter? Who cares?” So I want to offer my answer.

Most people know that going to space gives humans better technology like better, faster, cheaper, and more available internet and communications.

Many know that going to space has already given us things like GPS and satellite TV, digital cameras, Memory foam, cordless tools, Scratch-resistant lenses, water filtration systems, and solar panels. When humans develop big things like space rockets - other cool things that they never could have imagined are also invented along the way.

Most people get that.

Most people know that by making the space shuttles like this (Starship) bigger and reusable, it makes the cost of sending things to space MUCH cheaper.  Think of it like this, imagine how much a plane ticket would cost if you had to throw away the airplane after every single landing?!  That’s what we do/did with rockets. This is MUCH cheaper by being able to reuse it.   

Most people get that.

So what about this “going to the moon and mars stuff?  Why does that matter?”

Well, it matters for a big reason. In terms of the history of the Universe, humans have only been around for a short short while.  Maybe about 5,000 to 10,000 years as a civilization that can write and build cool stuff.  That’s a TINY amount of time compared to the 4-10Billion years the universe has been around.

And so far, it looks like Humans may be the only life form’s like us to have ever existed.  We haven’t found evidence of others yet.

We know that stars and planets have come and gone along the way in that 6Billion years.  Planets and stars are dying all the time.

We know that our star (the sun) is responsible for almost ALL the energy on earth and without the sun, we couldn’t survive with our current technology.

So we know that at some point this planet and our sun will go away.  We also know that the sun is expanding and getting hotter.  At some point it will be too hot for current humans to survive   It may even boil the oceans.  Not fun.

So that’s one reason we should try to build the technology to go to other planets.  At some point our planet and sun will be gone. But that’s in a long time away from now… it won’t impact me or my children most likely.

So: WHY NOW???? Why should I care about this right now?

That’s the important question.  If you care about climate change, that’s one reason.

But there is another reason. A huge reason…

For the vast majority of time that humans have been around.  We have been awful to each other.  We have had kings, emperors, and dictators.  We have enslaved each other, killed each other, and we have been miserably poor.

That is the sad reality of the VAST VAST majority of time humans have been alive.  For most of time, most humans have been poor and some jerks have taken all of our money/resoruces and used them for their own good and their own families.

While most of humans were left to be sick, poor and miserable.

Although it may not feel like it.  Today, we are living in the richest most peaceful time EVER!  I’m not kidding.  We are nicer to each other. We work across boarders.  We build things together.  There is less war.  We live longer.  We cooperate more than ever before. We cooperate when we don’t look like each other.  We even cooperate when we don’t speak the same language!  We cooperate when we don’t even know each other!!!!!

This has been enabled by this experiment in capitalism.  Or the idea that we can build things, use money to exchange value, and cooperate through free market enterprises.   Basically, how we buy and sell stuff.

Then on top of it, we have this cool invention of government structures.  We have republics where, instead of being ruled by some jerk, we say: WE BELIEVE IN RIGHTS THAT ALL PEOPLE HAVE FROM BIRTH! Like freedom of speech.  Freedom of religion.  Freedom to be free!  It doesn’t matter who you are, who your dad is, how much money you have - you get these rights.  Everyone does!

Then we add on democracy where we let the people, even the poor, the marginalized, the less educated - be a part of selecting which people can help lead us.

We have checks and balances with the courts so that none of these people we elect violate the first rights that we give to everyone.

It’s AMAZING!!!!!

But what we are living through right now is NOT NORMAL.

For most of human history.  We were awful to each other.

I’m not saying we are great now. But compared to what we used to be - this is WAY BETTER.

You know how you can tell?  Ask yourself this.  If you think today is so bad, what 100 year period would you RATHER live in?  1800?  500?  BC?   

So WHY NOW????

Because what we have right now, is fragile.  We may not always have this system.  We may not always have the ability to invent rockets and cooperate acrosss boarders.  We may not always have a space station.  Human history shows that despotism and being ruled by jerks where most people are savages to each other and poor - THAT is the norm for humans.

That is why this is so important right now.

This moment in time that we are living through may be fleeting.  It may be short lived.  And if we want to give humanity the chance to live on forever on different planets.  This may be our only shot.

We have to take this shot.  We have to do it for our children’s, childrens, children.  (And beyond).

If you believe that humanity is amazing.  If you believe that what we do for each other and for the world is amazing, as I do.  Then this is what we do.  We build.  We invent.  We make tools that make life better for millions.  We invent the wheel, we harness fire, we invent antibiotics, we cure polio, we cure blindness, we give everyone the right to leisure, we build planes, we build free communication systems for all… this is what we do!   

Humans are awesome.  This is amazing.

THIS IS WHY I CARE about this rocket launch today.

But also, it’s just fricken sweet!!!!

I love you all.

Travis Stoliker

Year Of The Opposite