You could have said the same thing about early airline travel: how awful that pilots should die so rich jet-setters can get to Europe quicker.<p>History proved that airline travel is pretty worthwhile for connecting the world. I think it's too early to dismiss the impact of eventual mass market space planes.
The author is projecting his preferences onto others as if they were objectively obvious. It is a very arrogant thing to do. Let the dreamers dream. Ridiculing their aspirations in a moment of tragedy smacks of Schadenfreude.
Test pilots are not Adam Roger's property. He doesn't have any right to decree whether it's acceptable or too dangerous to do. Nobody is forcing anyone to become a test pilot.<p>What a disgusting, totalitarian mindset.