Cost of Space Flight Before and After SpaceX
Visual Capitalist has a graphic showing the decrease in the cost of space flights before and after Elon Musk's private initiative SpaceX.
The message:"In the last two decades, space startup companies have demonstrated they can compete against heavyweight aerospace contractors as Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Today, a SpaceX rocket launching can be 97% cheaper than a Russian Soyuz ride cost in the ’60s."
Viral: The Origin of Covid-19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWKzHGXxFm8Issues covered include:- What are the implications of the Lab Leak Theory?
- What is the probability the virus came directly from Nature?
- What are the implications for progress, human wellbeing?
- Does Gain Of Function make sense?
Vaccine Mandates: An Inversion of Medical Ethics and a Reversal of Public Health Policy
The arguments of Jane M. Orient written over two decades ago on the nature of mandatory vaccines still ring true today:Mandates have a profound effect on medical practice. Once a vaccine is mandated for children, the manufacturer and the physician administering the vaccine are substantially relieved of liability for adverse effects. (3) The relationship of patient and physician is shattered: in administering the vaccine, the physician is serving as the agent of the state. To the extent that the physician simply complies, without making an independent evaluation of the appropriateness of the vaccine for each patient, he is abdicating his responsibility under the Oath of Hippocrates to “prescribe regimen for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.” Instead, he is applying the new population-based ethic in which the interests of the individual patient may be sacrificed to the “needs of society.”If a physician advises against a mandated vaccine, he faces increased legal liability if the patient is infected with the disease. In addition, he may risk his very livelihood if he is dependent upon income from “health plans” that use vaccine compliance as a measure of “quality.”It is perhaps not surprising, although still reprehensible, that physicians sometimes behave in a very callous manner toward parents who question the need for certain vaccines. I have even heard reports of physicians threatening to call Child Protective Services to remove the child from parental custody if a parent refused a vaccine — even after the child had screamed inconsolably for hours after each of the first two doses. The federal policy of mandating vaccines marks a monumental change in the concept of public health. Traditionally, public health authorities restricted the liberties of individuals only in case of a clear and present danger to public health. For example, individuals infected with a transmissible disease were quarantined. Today, a child may be deprived of his liberty to associate with others, or even of his supposed right to a public education, simply because of being unimmunized. Yet, if a child is uninfected, his unprotected status is not a threat to anyone else. On the other hand, immunization of a child who is already infected (or who becomes infected in spite of the vaccine) is of no protective value to anyone. This represents a reversal of the earlier policy of preventing exposure to infectious agents. In fact, it takes exposure — as to contaminated needles or promiscuous sex — as a given, while begging the question of whether protection against hepatitis B has any overall effect on morbidity or mortality in a population that also exposes itself to worse hazards.Read the rest.
Crawford: Lessons for Inventors from the Wright Brothers
Jason Crawford with Garry Tan on how the Wright brothers invented the airplane, and lessons for inventors and founders today: passion, iteration, first-principles thinking, and choosing the right time to launch.https://youtu.be/Qp1pNlLCta4
An Open Letter to Elizabeth Warren on Natural Gas Prices
Senator Warren blamed natural gas CEOs for rising prices. Here’s how I would respond if I were them.
Dear Senator Warren,Today, 12/7, is the deadline you gave natural gas CEOs to respond to your letter blaming them for rising natural gas prices—which you are in fact to blame for. Here’s how proud gas CEOs would answer you if they were not afraid of your political wrath.Sincerely,Alex Epstein
Energy expert
Founder and President, Center for Industrial Progress Author of The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels and Fossil Future
Creator of EnergyTalkingPoints.com
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Dear Senator Warren,In your letter you claim “concern about rising natural gas prices,” which you attribute to my and other “energy companies’ corporate greed.”But if you want to avoid unnecessarily high gas prices, you must recognize that they are your fault, not ours.There are three basic facts that explain unnecessarily high natural gas prices:
- Prices are determined by supply and demand, not “greed.”
- America has an effectively unlimited supply of gas.
- You and other anti-gas politicians have artificially restricted the supply of gas.
Fact 1: Prices are determined by supply and demand, not “greed.”
If we could control natural gas prices in our favor, why didn’t we do so during unprofitable 2015-20? Our profits are determined by a) the market price for our product and b) our efficiency.1When prices go up, it is crucial that companies can profit for two reasons.- We earned our profit through efficiency.
- Profits motivate and make possible investment, which lowers long-term prices.