# Does Jeff Bezos have any lifelong ambitions beyond what hes doing now

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-jeff-bezos-have-any-lifelong-ambitions-beyond-what-hes-doing-now/854310>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 22, 2020, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-jeff-bezos-have-any-lifelong-ambitions-beyond-what-hes-doing-now/854310 "2020-05-22T19:47:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-jeff-bezos-have-any-lifelong-ambitions-beyond-what-hes-doing-now/854310/1 "2020-05-22T19:47:30Z")

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Like Bill Gates I’m supposing had ambitions about global poverty before he struck it rich (I think).

With Bezos, I recall Amazon went from being a bookstore to selling everything and then Bezos wanted to work with space travel.

Has Bezos shown any ambitions other than that?

I know Elon Musk said when he was in college he figured 5 technologies would decide the future. The internet, artificial intelligence, clean energy, space travel and biotechnology. For the most part his business investments seem to align with these five.

I’m wondering if Bezos has some sort of philosophical code that defines what his next business and tech ventures are going to be. Is he mostly going to invest in online retail and space travel or has he discussed other ventures?

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**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-jeff-bezos-have-any-lifelong-ambitions-beyond-what-hes-doing-now/854310/2 "2020-05-22T20:13:15Z")

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I kind of think that if he did, he’d have done it by now. But it’s not like space travel is trivial; so far, outside of SpaceX, nobody but national governments and international space agencies (ESA) have pulled it off. Bezos and Blue Origin appear to be on the cusp of doing it as well.

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**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-jeff-bezos-have-any-lifelong-ambitions-beyond-what-hes-doing-now/854310/3 "2021-07-01T23:14:15Z")

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I’m surprised I didn’t see a thread about this (and maybe there is, and I missed it.) Anyway, he and his brother Mark plan to make an excursion into space on July 20th, and one of them people they intend to take with them is “Mercury 13” alumna Wally Funk (Mary Wallace Funk), age 82, who will break John Glenn’s record of oldest person in space.

> **[Wally Funk: The 82-year-old on Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin flight](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57686654)**
>
> Wally Funk was overlooked for space flight in the 60s but got a second chance with Jeff Bezos.

ETA: There’s another one in this thread. Sorry; feel free to whoosh them if you wish.