When I was a boy, my best friend, his father, and I waited in line two hours at the Pasa Tiempo Theater in my hometown of Española, New Mexico, to purchase tickets to see the first Star Wars movie. I remember being mesmerized by what I was seeing on the screen – the spacecrafts, the lasers, and the special effects, which at that time were state-of-the-art. Star Wars is a space-age fairy tale of the forces of good and evil struggling for control of the universe. It came at the end of the original Space Race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
Today, we are in a new Space Race, not only to again land humans on the moon, but to create capabilities in space to conduct war here on earth. U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink recently announced for the first time that the U.S. has deployed space weapons, whose objective is to “control and contest” the space domain. No specific description of the weapons was revealed, however, a U.S. Space Force spokesperson stated that these weapons employ kinetic and non-kinetic means to “affect adversary capabilities through disruption, degradation and even destruction, if necessary.” Experts believe that this could involve some kind of jamming technology that can protect U.S. satellites or jam or destroy satellites from other nations, namely Russia and China. However, the breadth and details of these weapons are still unknown at this time.
An ancient Chinese philosopher once stated, “May you live in interesting times.” This can be interpreted as wishing a person a life surrounded by magnificent changes in the arts, sciences, and economy, a renaissance so to speak. Or, it can be interpreted as living in tumultuous times that pose negative challenges in a person’s lifetime. I am beginning to think it is the latter. Lately, I have been in a funk when I start to think about human behavior. We have developed technologies to the point that they are helping us cure cancer, to learn more efficiently and profoundly, to leave the confines of our atmosphere, and explore our universe. Our cell phones and AI give us more knowledge than any other generation of human beings has ever had access to.
However, the progress in developing new sciences and technologies also has been harnessed by the dark side of humanity. Ukraine has had to rapidly develop drone technologies to save its citizens from the onslaught of war that Russia started with its invasion more than four years ago. Russia itself is using drones to kill people. AI is being used daily to scam people of their savings or identities. Politicians in the U.S. and across the world are using technology to develop memes to mock their opponents or to outright create falsehoods. Every day we have to struggle to determine the truth.
We are dealing with new Robber Barons that are monopolizing AI and space. One of my favorite U.S. presidents is Theodore Roosevelt. Granted, he had his flaws and historical black marks like every U.S. president. However, what he dealt with in the early 1900s is surprisingly similar to what we are dealing with today. Roosevelt faced a U.S. economy dominated by Robber Barons such as J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, and John D. Rockefeller, among others, buying elections and stratifying wealth at the expense of the everyday man. Roosevelt, himself part of the privileged class, realized that the economic and social fabric of the U.S. was at stake as the titans created powerful monopolies and became billionaires. He bravely stood up to these people and helped push through anti-trust laws and protections in order to protect U.S. interests and people without the means to protect themselves in industries such as coal and steel. He caught a lot of heat for this from the elite classes, but Teddy did not back down from a fight.
Today, modern Robber Barons such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg are building their own empires that are influencing U.S. politics and the economy. All three of these individuals are injecting hundreds of millions of dollars into political campaigns in order to command influence and to defend their fortunes. The Magnificent Seven tech companies are already dominating and driving the stock market.
Recently, Ukraine lost signal from the Starlink satellite system that it is using to protect itself against Russian drone attacks. This Starlink system is also being used by the U.S. government for defense purposes. When Ukraine’s connection was severed, President Trump blamed Elon Musk, whose company developed and operates Starlink. Elon Musk on the other hand, stated that the U.S. government was responsible for the disruption. The very fact that a U.S. citizen can be accused of having a major effect in a foreign war that can affect the world is mind boggling and troubling. This brings up visions of the United Fruit company bullying and influencing Central American countries in the late 1800s in order to use their land and harvest their produce. Thus, the term “Banana Republic” was coined.
As the U.S. increasingly deploys weapons in space, the new Robber Barons are poised to add to their fortunes and influence by developing and supplying the U.S. with the technology it needs to do so. This is good in the sense that the private sector can rapidly and effectively develop new technologies that can be used to defend our nation. However, what will be the cost to our economy and social fabric?
There appears to be no modern-day Teddy Roosevelt with the guts to lead the charge to put guardrails in place to check the unbridled power of new Robber Barons fueled by their wealth. This, and the potential space wars deeply concern me. “May you live in interesting times.” It definitely appears that we are.
Jerry Pacheco is the president of the Border Industrial Association.
Jerry Pacheco's opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of KRWG Public Media or NMSU.
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