Been almost a month since it rained, so Pacific Northwest is going through a serious drought! Quite sure the true blue natives are reminded of that horrific 2017 summer, when the region had to endure two whole months without rain. To make matters worse, last month we had a heat wave weekend. I know exactly where I was when Seattle broke temperature records – on a motorcycle, right outside the city, on the scorching I5 tarmac! Can confirm it takes at least two days to recover from moderate levels of dehydration.

Less rain also translates to more riding on the weekends. It’s sort of comforting to know we have that choice to work, make a living, and dedicate our spare time doing whatever we wish, even if it’s something absurd like motorcycling at 105° F. I can also confirm that this choice to work and earn a living, at the standards we see in the Western world is a luxury, and quite unprecedented in human history! Even now in most parts of the world, an individual does not have that choice. Right now material poverty is not the natural state; it’s just the consequence of not having that choice. Almost everywhere that individual is constrained by external factors related to social or government norms.

It’s also absolutely common for the collective to discourage an enterprising individual. Our tribal instinct simply seeks to ostracize non-conforming minds. We existed that way for centuries. Seems like the American experiment is about correcting that very instinct. It’s about protecting us from our own primitive ways. Through political mechanisms, it attempts to inhibit those collective forces. In that sense, it’s not surprising that couple of billionaires decided to launch themselves into space from the US soil.

As always, entrepreneurs in space has enraged the tribes, common push backs include – Why go to space when we don’t have universal healthcare, or we still have hunger, or when there isn’t world peace yet.  Quite sure the tribes must have wailed when Nikola Tesla invented AC, or when Benz invented automobiles, or when someone did something worthwhile. Please note, when an individual breaks new frontier, eventually the collective gets to follow. It might take some time, but it’s a constant recurring theme in entrepreneurship.