I know space nerds like to draw convoluted paths between helping people and spending billions on progressing space technology, but they shouldn't expect to be taken seriously.
It absolutely does. Charity is the assistance of last resort; the route you take when you're just too stupid to find a better way to improve the world. Teach a man to fish, etc, etc.
When Bezos spends billions on space technology, he isn't just setting a big pile of money on fire. He's distributing it to hundreds of employees and suppliers, and those suppliers are distributing their money to thousands more employees and their suppliers, down dozens upon dozens of layers. And for every single piece, device, or material used on that project, there are thousands of competitors spending millions of man-hours pondering how they can deliver a slightly better version, or else use fractionally less resources to deliver an equivalent.
The economy is unfathomably complex, and no one person can replicate the centuries of R&D that goes into building, say, a toaster.
If I'm making my point poorly, go back and read pembo's comment.
while developing a rocket with zero carbon exhaust.
Bezo's ambition has, apparently, led to the development of some very potent propellant mixes that release very little carbon. He is creating the world you want, one incremental step at a time.
Nah, you've been drinking waay too much of the capitalist kool-aid.
Of course a little accidental good gets done by billionaires as they try to become even more powerful or fulfill their random private fetishes - but that's nothing compared to what they could do if they actually wanted to help people. Of course I'm not talking about just giving people money (though that would be better than space research), but about actively setting about solving humanity's major problems. We do have a human-caused mass extinction and global heating to deal with. Developing rocket boosters with zero carbon exhausts is utterly useless incrementalism - more of the same damaging distractions and delays that got us into this mess.
You've seen what's happening in Australia. That is the non-capitalist way of solving humanity's problems. That is universal healthcare.
Non-capitalist methods won't work out well because you don't get a choice what your part of the solution looks like.
I'm not saying the UN are saints or anything. However, the fact that they're saying refreshing things like this, and keep politely reminding the world about global heating, means they're doing better than our current leaders. Current standards aren't tough to beat.
I know space nerds like to draw convoluted paths between helping people and spending billions on progressing space technology, but they shouldn't expect to be taken seriously.