The economy is unravelling. Interest rates are up and going up still further. Productivity is moribund and hopes of resurrecting it are just pipe-dreams. Housing is unaffordable and unlikely to become more affordable this side of 2050. The deficit and debt is up and won't come down in our or our kids life-times. The old two party square dance is coming to a close and there's every chance we will end up with a PM who is wholly unsuited to the job.

And the beat goes on.

But yesterday we saw the future and the future looks unbelievable. Yesterday SpaceX put their 'Ship' into orbit. On their first attempt. This is a vehicle that makes previous space launches look puny. It measures Height: 52m Diameter: 9m. Its payload is potentially 100 tons.

Yesterday it launched 20 V3 satellites which revolutionise internet traffic and cell phone connectivity. Future launches will carry 60 V3s. SpaceX are planning on have 10s of 1000s of these in service. The entire planet will be connected irrespective of where you live and at speeds that we once used to dream of.

The successful launch means that NASA's aims for a manned moon mission in 2027-8 are on track.

It also means that Musk's aims for having space based data centres is easily within reach making the whole silly data centre argument current taking place, obsolete.

Most of us on OLO won't see the full fruits of this revolution but our kids and grandkids will. And we can pass into history knowing that the future of mankind is rosy.

Maybe living in the present would be more advantageous mhaze.

Can technological abundance actually be converted into social abundance, or will technological progress merely increase the wealth and capabilities of those who already control capital, land and infrastructure?

That Australia may or may not be in a debt crisis is not the argument , but that governments are allowing a relatively favourable debt position to deteriorate while simultaneously failing to resolve structural problems such as housing affordability and weak productivity.

So tge rosy future looks very faded really when mhaze mistakes technological possibility for social progress. Starship may tell us that humanity’s technological future is extraordinary; it tells us nothing by itself about whether our social future will be equally successful. A civilisation can put 100 tonnes into orbit while failing to put a secure roof over the heads of people on Earth. The real question is not whether the future of technology is rosy, but whether our social institutions are capable of converting that technological abundance into a better life for ordinary people.

It's very hard for ordinary individuals to see how this Dan Dare stuff will improve their lives and deliver them from debt and the Albanese government.

Living in the present (DD) and revisiting the past to see what we have lost is a much better idea.

I'm just overjoyed.

So how long till Skynet becomes self-aware?

"After the first Falcon 1 rocket exploded 33 seconds after launch in March 2006, Elon Musk did something that his employees did not expect. He personally called the family members of the engineers who had worked on the rocket.

Not the engineers. Their families.

The engineers were at the launch site. They had watched their work explode in the sky. They were processing the failure in real time with their colleagues. They had each other.

Their families were at home. Their spouses and parents had watched on a livestream or heard the news secondhand. They had no colleagues. They had no context. They just knew that the thing their husband or wife or child had spent 3 years building had just been destroyed in 33 seconds and they didn't know if anyone was hurt.

Elon called to tell them everyone was safe. That the failure was a known risk. That the team would try again. That their family member had done extraordinary work and the explosion was not a reflection of their ability.

One engineer's wife said the call lasted 4 minutes. She said Elon sounded tired but calm. She said he didn't minimize the failure or exaggerate the optimism. He stated the facts and said "your husband is brilliant and we are going to fly again."

The engineers learned about the calls later. Several described it as the moment they decided to stay at SpaceX. Not because the CEO called their families. Because the CEO understood that the family at home absorbs the weight of the failure without any of the camaraderie that makes it bearable for the team.

The rockets get the headlines. The families hold the weight in the dark. He called the families."

"Can technological abundance actually be converted into social abundance, or will technological progress merely increase the wealth and capabilities of those who already control capital, land and infrastructure?"

Yes and Yes.

History teaches us (or at least those who learn from history) that technological advances lead to societal advances. Not always immediately and not always seamlessly but always eventually.

And yes it will increase the wealth of those that lead the technological revolution. It always has. BUT it will also advance the lives and wealth of the rest of society. Not by as much and not equally, but by a measurable amount. The rich will get richer AND the poor will get richer.

People in our current society appear hard done by. But they are significantly better off than their grandparents. Today's poor live lives that are vastly better than the wealthiest of society from 150 years ago - more and better food, more and better accommodation, longer lives, better health, more leisure, less workload. I know that the naysayers will gripe that things today aren't perfect and therefore reject it. But remember that perfect is the biggest enemy of better.

The new world that we saw last week won't be perfect. But it'll be immeasurably better for all concerned .