>>12499835Heh, I remember how some IBM guy once said the world would only ever need ten big computers. Literally oldspace-tier thinking.
>>12499899It's like ~100 years ago when airplanes were new, suddenly war had to adapt to everything being open to the air. Now pull back a few dozen miles out of the atmosphere and, hey, it's all like a back yard, just toss your ball up and you can play catch with another continent.
I think the most sobering thing is that they hadn't been thinking about the potential of ballistic passenger/cargo vehicles until they suddenly almost exist, when it should be their job to have already thought about it.
>>12499905You do know we have plenty of rare earths in the US, right? They're not "rare" at all, but China undercuts everyone else because they dgaf about all the other crap that's left over when they refine them. So what mines we've had got shut down because they can't compete with the EPA breathing down their neck.
