America's Rapid Transformation to AI and Space Super Power Is Underway
Think of how far we have come since 2020 or 2019.
Exciting times. I just returned from a half-cross-country road trip, and although I’m tired, I’m actually over tired — so here I am writing an update instead of catching up on 12 hours of sleep.
The good news is that the country is no longer the bizarre post-apocalyptic dumpster fire that it was during the pandemic… back when I took one of the saddest road trips of my adult life. To see your country down on its knees like that, the pride gone, fear everywhere — it wasn’t good.
The hand sanitizer stations, n95 masks, and sci-fi warning signs all over the gas stations, restaurants, and interstate gift shops — that’s all but gone. You’d almost never know there was a 3 year pandemic thing from how normal, and crowded, the interstate is this summer.
Families are fearlessly vacationing again, and deviants are driving admirably fast still — a hold over from the pandemic lawlessness where we all learned how to drive like Jason Statham in The Transporter. I guess some of us haven’t let that skill go just yet.
It’s a very different USA from a couple years ago… although you still see some “FJB” and “Let’s Go Brandon” signage, it’s surprising how apolitical almost everyone has become.
Meanwhile, I noticed far more Teslas on the road than a couple years ago… a sign of Musk’s rising economic power. I think his recent decision to offer a 84 month lease option (effectively dropping the monthly payment cost by close to 40%) is a genius move; as interest rates increase or plateau, consumers need to feel they’re getting a deal, and that’s one hell of a deal.
The Bitcoin ATMs are semi-ubiquitous now; even random gas stations and convenience shops have them, as do smoke shops.
Speaking of smoke shops - I was blown away driving through Virginia to see stores already selling “delta 8 thc” and “CBD” (both of which are hemp derived) enthusiastically… a few years ago such a storefront would have been burned to the ground by Virginia authorities; but things have softened with their voters’ legalization of marijuana — which takes full effect next year, I believe.
Maryland legalized recreational marijuana back on the 1st of the month.
Just years ago, both states (which surround D.C.) were still Drug War battlegrounds — an acquaintance was yanked out of her car window by police in Virginia and beaten up simply because they found a vape pen in her car. Her lawyer later got things squared away, but still, that was par for the course… and now there are weed shops in Virginia.
America really is changing. Even if you dislike weed, 5+ years in prison and getting the shit kicked out of you by authorities for having a vape pen or doobie on your person is not sound civic policy, ultimately.
A superpower should be more mature in its handling of psychoactive products; and now America is, way ahead of both Russia and China in terms of cannabinoid freedoms.
Virginia is liberated.
I got some devastating personal news recently, but to see the country suddenly getting to where we were promised in the 2000-2010 era sci-fi films is exciting. We are living in the distant future.
Amazon is working on a satellite internet service that may be 4x faster than Starlink; more rocket startups are proving they can send payload to orbit; and the Space Force is pumping an extraordinary amount of money into these companies with generous long-term launch contracts.
Meanwhile, NASA contractors are already building the hardware for Artemis III, which will be the human crewed mission to the south pole of the Moon.
Space will be the new crypto, in a sense. It’s an industry ripe for growth and disruption, with unknown upsides, and rapidly dropping launch costs.
The rest of this post is for our Substack paid audience only, but don’t feel left out. Either upgrade or feel free to peruse my recent updates on Twitter and TikTok. Thanks for the recent growth on TikTok… averaging about 500,000 views per week now, and last night’s livestream was excellent. So good. This will be my second chapter, and cat shit face will rue the day she cut my video journalism career short for outing a suspected - well you know the rest already.
The good news is that Lara Logan, a journalist retweeted by Musk frequently, has been tweeting about the pizza man and adrenochrome claims from her massively followed account.
Mel Gibson’s Sound of Freedom has also re-opened the discussion on an international level.
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