The United States took a commanding space-race lead as Elon Musk took a richly deserved victory lap on the occasion of SpaceX’s latest stunning feat — its “Mechazilla” rocket-catcher nailing a perfect landing for its all-important Starship booster. It’s a thrilling return to form for America’s once-signature dominance in hardware and infrastructure on the grand scale.
But China, which has embarrassed American cities for decades with its swift and dazzling urban growth, might have a much different trick up its sleeve when contending with the Musk-led U.S. advantage outside the Earth’s orbit.
As our top exploits grow more spectacular, we must remember that pride comes before a fall, and the greater the pride, the harder the fall. Those ancient Christians knew that the only way to become God-like was through arduous spiritual athleticism.
After years of buzz surrounding the powers of so-called quantum computing, a powerful new approach capable of feats of calculation beyond those of ordinary supercomputers, Chinese researchers announced they’ve used the technology to hack “military-grade” encryption. While there’s no reason to panic — the difficulties of effectively weaponizing quantum decryption are serious — it’s still a serious wake-up call. You can’t get to space if your strongest encryption can’t protect your machines on the ground.
The colossal strides made by SpaceX have taken place thanks to pluck, hard work, and ingenuity but also because the United States government has a monumental national interest in achieving breakout generational aerospace dominance. It’s tough to see how any major digital power today could hope to demilitarize space, including orbit, and that means the U.S. is looking for a huge edge to offset what appears to be a growing gap in capabilities relative to China’s lead in drones and robotics at ultra-large scale.
So it’s understandable that Musk’s latest win would touch off a lot of high-fiving and wide-eyed wonder, mixed with a feeling of relief that Americans are still even capable of complex feats of engineering with huge national security implications.
But predictable excesses have burst forth, too. “Our Ancestors would see us as GODS!” rhapsodized XPrize founder Peter Diamandis. "What an incredible time to be alive. ... Next up on humanity’s godlike achievements ... healthy longevity.” I can’t imagine which of Diamandis’ ancestors would see him as a god — surely not the Greeks among the first of Earth’s Christians and very likely not even the ancient Greek pagans who had mastered retaining robust health and powerful musculature long into advanced age without the benefit of any computerized machines or modern scientists.
As our top exploits grow more spectacular, we must remember that pride comes before a fall, and the greater the pride, the harder the fall. Those ancient Christians knew that the only way to become God-like was through arduous spiritual athleticism along the narrow path toward union with the Lord; they would weep with loving pain for those of us today who believe achieving god status involves nothing more arduous than solving very difficult math problems.
Humility in greatness is always good, but it will come in mighty handy when we are forced to reckon with — to take just one example — a quantum hack of what’s supposed to be our “unsinkable” military-tier encryption. Great powers historically face even greater shocks, and one humiliating defeat can be enough to topple what until then had seemed indestructible. It’s long past time to make America both great and humble again.
