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Writer's pictureRichard Lipscombe

After the riots a new abnormal emerges


Newminimalists are well adapted to the abnormal.


Space X is creating infrastructure for the abnormal.

While the rioters burn down America the SpaceX crew manage a controlled series of burns to launch two astronauts into low-orbit. This is the first stage of a program that will eventually take humans to Mars. The contrast between the rioters destruction of the American society and the SpaceX vision to create a new society on Mars is stark. Surprisingly these two events will both take around 30 years. Even more surprising, perhaps, is the fact that these efforts will run in parallel.


However. Space X is working on a more practical program that will benefit everyone on Earth. This is called Starlink and it will provide satellite access to the Internet. Starlink is a constellation of thousands of small satellites in low Earth orbits that can be adjusted as needed to avoid collisions with other space vehicles. I tend to think of Starlink as a woven blanket of satellites that provide direct Internet access to every human on Earth. Further it provides the infrastructure for a communications system that is cheap, fast, direct, with a broad bandwidth.


If you add the roll-out of 5G on the ground to the provisioning of Starlink in low orbit then you can see that in the era of 2030 to 2050 will see a new abnormal delivered to humans just as the US Inter-state Highway system did in period from 1950 to 1980. Of course there are many differences in the infrastructure provisioning of 1950 to that of 2050. But. The most important fact is that this new infrastructure is being built by the private sector not the public sector. And. That is why I think of the coming era as a new abnormal.


If you watch video content of the launch of a Starlink satellite by SpaceX what you will immediately notice is the quality of design, importance of discipline, and the precision of timings. Those three observations are enough for you to realise that this new abnormal is being created by the best talent on Earth. It is being run by serious people who have a clear-and-present purpose for everything they do. And. It demands a level of competence from each and every participant in the venture we are observing. Immediately this strikes one as abnormal. So it seems logical that this assembly of abnormal talent will create infrastructure the likes of which we have never seen before.


Today the rioters are imploding the infrastructure left to us by those great engineers of the 1950s. And. At the same time, in parallel, the 5G and Starlink engineers are creating the new infrastructure that will last another 100 years.


Richard.


You can direct message or email me at minimal-you.com

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