On this, our 319th Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss space mirrors and the state of Washington state. Reflect Orbital is a young company that hopes to put tens of thousands of mirrors in orbit around the planet, and deliver “full moon to high noon” levels of light anyplace on Earth, on demand (for the right price). What could go wrong? Also: Washington state has voted in the first ever income tax (for high earners), quick on the heels of its first ever capital gains tax, while still having some of the highest estate, sales, property, and fuel taxes in the country. Meanwhile, the cost of living is skyrocketing, and the quality of services declining. Our highways are third worst in the nation; our cities are filthy and unsafe; our schools are miseducating children (at best). Is the money being used for anything useful?
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Mentioned in this episode:
Reflect Orbital: https://www.reflectorbital.com
Dark Sky International’s take: https://darksky.org/news/organizational-statement-reflect-orbital/
WA’s affordability crisis: https://www.waroundtable.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/WRT_AffStudy_FINAL_3.20.26.pdf
Ferguson signs the millionaire’s tax into law: https://x.com/BobFergusonGov/status/2039085857655951831
WA senate bill 6346: https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2025-26/Pdf/Bills/Senate%20Passed%20Legislature/6346-S.PL.pdf
WA capital gains tax: https://dor.wa.gov/forms-publications/publications-subject/special-notices/new-tiered-rates-washingtons-capital-gains-tax
NPR podcast (KUOW’s Booming) on millionaire’s taxes: https://podscan.fm/podcasts/booming/episodes/is-millionaire-migration-really-a-thing-lessons-from-states-that-already-tax-the-rich
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Holding Screen
00:05:11 April Fool’s, But Real
00:10:34 Sponsor: Timeline
00:14:23 Sponsor: SaunaSpace
00:17:56 Sponsor: Caraway
00:20:27 Reflect Orbital: Sunlight After Dark
00:23:09 The Case for Orbital Light
00:25:26 Why This Is a Terrible Idea
00:27:21 Hubris, Not Wisdom
00:33:41 The Cost of Playing With Nature
00:42:07 Rights, Reversibility, and Control
00:45:19 Reflect Orbital FAQ Breakdown
00:52:14 Dark Sky Pushback
00:55:37 Energy Claims Don’t Add Up
00:58:29 Weaponizing Light
01:02:11 Washington’s Affordability Crisis
01:04:59 The New “Millionaire Tax”
01:10:25 Will High Earners Leave?
01:14:03 Why This Hurts Growth
01:18:39 Small Business Tax Trap
01:23:52 Gas Taxes, Bad Roads, Broken State
HEYING: "Could functional systems be better with more money? Usually that is the case.
When you have non-functional systems that demonstrably don't do anything good with the money they've got, you don't keep, not even asking, but DEMANDING more money for those systems.
That's not how you fix a system."
WEINSTEIN: "Especially when the key element is the tax base and you're sabotaging it de facto."
HEYING: "Yeah."
WEINSTEIN: "You're sabotaging the thing that makes wealth and then you're looking for sources of wealth that you can tax. Gee, I wonder what happened."
HEYING: "I hear a Coeur d'Alene is lovely this time of year..."
Heather Heying exposes Washington's tax system: higher costs, failing services, and pressure on small businesses in Episode 319 of The Evolutionary Lens.
Evolutionary biologists Dr. Bret Weinstein and Dr. Heather Heying discuss the potential consequences of on demand sunlight on Episode 319 of The Evolutionary Lens (available wherever you subscribe to podcasts).
Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying explore the pressures to prematurely close off possibilities by examining woke" as a social phenomenon where dissent is pressured and consensus is enforced.
"...There's banish, we're not gonna platform you because you've lost your mind and there's coercion. We're gonna get you back on board with the consensus. And those two things are basically a choice. Either you get back on board with the consensus or you're out."
X: https://x.com/thedarkhorsepod/status/2039070401419182209
Youtube: https://youtu.be/haiLaC_AEFc
DarkHorse is available wherever you subscribe to podcasts with timestamps and transcripts.
