Up & Out vs Down & Around Investments

Up & Out vs Down & Around is an investment thesis on where the value of the Space Economy lies in the 21st century, courtesy of Captain Kirk. In a 2022 interview, William Shatner — Captain James T. Kirk — caught a ride on Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket into orbit. A funny thing happened when Captain Kirk finally ascended to space and glimpsed the abyss of it all.

“My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration; instead, it felt like a funeral.”

Kirk went on to expound on the overwhelming sense of grief he felt as he looked out into the endless darkness. “The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness.”

What the Captain experienced is called the “Overview Effect.” The Overview Effect is a well-documented phenomenon — the emotional tug the Earth has on astronauts when they're finally able to look back and see the fragile blue marble that is Mother Earth hovering in an expanse of nothingness. Author Frank White first coined the term in 1987:

“There are no borders or boundaries on our planet except those that we create in our minds or through human behaviours. All the ideas and concepts that divide us when we are on the surface begin to fade from orbit and the moon. The result is a shift in worldview, and in identity.”

Up and Out: 80 Years of Investing in the Space Industry

Since the end of World War II, the majority of investments in space have been focused on Up and Out technology. In many regards we could posit that all investments into the space industry for the last 80 years have been focused on the Up and Out — with cash flowing into the engines of innovation, fueling humanity's capacity to escape the bottom of our local gravity well. Eighty years of investing to get to the point where we could safely send a 90-year-old space icon into orbit, and all he wanted to do was come back down to Earth.

Down and Around: Investing in the Future of the Space Economy

What does a 90-year-old know that a 45-year-old doesn't? After 90 years of dreaming of space, Captain Kirk went and said, “Take me home.” He might know that the real value of the Space Economy resides not in Up and Out technology of the space industry, but in the Down and Around breakthroughs — specific to solving for home.

Global warming, climate change, clean drinking water and other infrastructure challenges humanity faces right now on Earth. Because Captain Kirk has a point. Suppose we never achieve Up and Out technology sufficient to travel between stars? That is real long-term investing, by the way. And instead must live on Spaceship Earth for the full extent of our species' lifespan. In that scenario, the real ROI isn't in Up and Out space industry tech — but developing the Down and Around Space Economy technology that makes home safe, secure and habitable for billions of years to come. Specifically around:

• Recycling waste water at industrial scale
• Air purification / carbon sequestration technologies at global scale
• Vertical farming sufficient to feed 9.8 billion people by 2050 and upwards of 20 billion by 2150

When gene therapy and 3D-printed organs all but render all humans as immortal, the Down and Around economy becomes the only economy that matters.