Can Commercializing Space Save Humanity? | Dr. David Livingston

Far Out With Faust (FOWF)

In this episode of the Far Out with Faust podcast, we’re talking space commercialization with economist and radio host of The Space Show, Dr. David Livingston.
We start with the slow death of the space program: exploring what’s really behind our post-lunar landing apathy — and whether our fantastic (read that literally) economy may just spell the end of discretionary budget items like space exploration.
But don’t start the funeral march just yet: rich white knights Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have lofty plans to save humanity from ourselves. The grand plan? Monetize the Milky Way.
Here’s where it gets messy: don’t miss what Bezos wants to do with the side effects of Earth colonization (we’re taking about you and your Dirty Jobs, Mark Rowe).
But before we trash space, too, shouldn’t we right our sins here on the third rock? Stay tuned: the answer may surprise you.
Maybe you missed it, but we’re heading to Venus to see what life brings. Cause we can’t rely on the military industrial complex to reveal the planet-saving technology secrets they’ve been sitting on. Spoiler alert: Faust’s seen the “proof.”
On to another bullsh$t war: beware the impending alien invasion! Who said the left and the right can’t come together — they’re in cahoots to screw over the country.
Life’s only getting shorter, and Livingston’s got one helluva bucket list. If we told you that #3 is time travel, can you even conceive what might top it?
Stay tuned to the very end, when Livingston reveals the most profound lesson he’s learned from probing some of the most prescient minds to ever contemplate outer space. Hint: the truth really is out there.
Dr. David Livingston is the founder and host of The Space Show, which “focuses on timely and important issues influencing the development of outer-space commerce and space tourism.” His doctoral dissertation was titled Outer Space Commerce: Its History and Prospects.
Currently an adjunct professor at the University of North Dakota Graduate School of Space Studies, Dr. Livingston’s work has been presented at many national and international space conferences.
His lecture topics include venture capital for space investments, RLVs (Reusable Launch Vehicles) and space tourism, effective business, strategic and assumption planning, along with developing the solutions to the barriers to space enterprise, talking to the public about space, tracing the dollars spent on space through the economy, business ethics and corporate responsibility for off-Earth business ventures and New Space Industries.
Dr. Livingston has written a Code of Ethics for Off-Earth Commerce which has been widely published and revised.