Last Man into Space

Was it wrong of me, when I heard that Richard Branson was taking flight into space, that he might not come back?  I mean, one shouldn't wish ill on others - especially when, in Branson's case, they aren't travelling alone, so whatever terrible thing befalls them, will also befall several innocent people.  But, you know, there's a part of me that still thinks that the collateral damage would be worthwhile if it meant that the world wouldn't have to endure any more of Branson's tiresome publicity stunts.  It was bad enough when he was trying to break the world record for flying across the Atlantic suspended under a giant inflated condom with 'Virgin' on the side, (or was it a balloon, I can never remember), but when he starts blasting himself into space in order to publicise his latest vanity project of enabling other super-rich parasites to book flights into orbit, you know that it has just gone too far.  It also underlines just how Branson has never had an original idea - his entire fortune has been based around exploiting other people's ideas, trying to take credit for them via stupid publicity stunts.  He likes to cast himself as an innovator for, as an example, starting transatlantic air travel with Virgin Atlantic, (despite the fact that the likes of Pan Am, TWA and BOAC had been doing it for decades.  Then there was his invention of Cola flavoured soft drinks with Virgin Cola, except that Coca Cola and Pepsi were there first by a long margin.  Or his invention not only of passenger rail travel, but also of late running trains and exorbitant fares, with Virgin Rail.  It is the same with Virgin Galactic - I don't know how to break it to him that he isn't the first man into space: Yuri Gagarin got there first, not mention a whole load of NASA astronauts.  Which is probably why the public didn't seem to care about Branson's flight.

But that's what the super wealthy do these days - repeat the achievements of publicly funded scientific not-for-profit bodies, but in a tawdry, crass, format.  If it isn't Branson with his schemes for space tourism for the rich, then its Elon 'Peado Guy' Musk, (and hey Elon, your lawyers established in court that 'Peado Guy' is just a jokey South African jibe which in no way implies the recipient is a child molester), and his creepy plan to annex Mars for the billionaire boys' club.  You'd think that their sort would be happy to be mega-rich, accept that as an achievement.  But no, they seem to want to be recognised for doing something, even if it is something that someone has done better before.  It betrays a fundamental insecurity - despite their millions they clearly don't feel admired or loved by the wider public.  'Look at my success,' they seem to be saying.  'I've made millions, I've set up airlines, I've made electric cars, I've muscled in on every public sector contract I can find, but still you hate me!  Why?  What do I have to do to get your love - fly to the moon?'  It's the emptiness of wealth and materialism.  Especially when these things have been gained on the back of recycling other peoples' innovations.  That's what they don't seem to understand: those that have become public icons and have statues erected to them, whether they worked in commerce, industry science or the arts, were true innovators.  They had original ideas or, at the very least, found original ways to  develop and exploit the ideas others.  That's what this current crop of the super-wealthy just can't seem to grasp - nothing they have done, or are planning to do is original: even their plans for space hotels and colonies on Mars are just the warmed over dreams of fifties pulp science fiction magazines.