When I was a child, an image of a future space station caught my eye. It was an artist's rendition of the inside of a giant spinning doughnut-shaped world where centrifugal force would simulate gravity. There were trees and roads and buildings. People were going about their daily lives. The part of the picture that I noticed the most was the horizon as it faded in the upward direction. As this was a picture from inside the doughnut-shaped space station, this made sense. I pictured myself living on such a space station. That image helped set in motion my lifelong interest in science and technology.
Like Peter Thiel, I thought we would have flying cars and giant rotating space stations by now. We don't. That doesn't mean that the technology...
