I’m watching a replay of the Blue Origin launch. Specifically, I’m watching William Shatner’s comments to Jeff Bezos after they return. What he says is interesting, if not terribly novel. But, when I watched the video embedded at that link, what I’m struck by is Bezos’s behavior. In the middle of Shatner trying to share something that he clearly is feeling very deeply about, Bezos interrupts him and demands a bottle of champagne be brought over. Shatner stops speaking and recoils a bit. Bezos offers it to him and he declines.

Then, Shatner physically takes a step back from whatever grandstanding Bezos is doing. He turns away and looks to the horizon or perhaps off camera to maybe someone else he’d rather talk to. Dipshit Bezos just stands there laughing maniacally. When they return, you can tell that Shatner has put aside his real persona and is taking on some version of himself. He’s realized that what Bezos wants is a show and not something real at all. It’s a perfect illustration of how art and science and further, commerce, are uncomfortable bedfellows.