On Wednesday morning, Jeff Bezos took the stage at the annual Allen & Co. conference here in Sun Valley and, in conversation with Marc Andreesen, regaled this rarefied audience with the civilization-altering opportunities that exist above them in space and on the moon. By building gigawatt-scale data centers in the great unknown, he said, humanity could more efficiently harvest solar energy while relieving the demand for power and water here on Earth. The centers would be drastically more efficient than terrestrial energy plants, given their constant access to the sun, and would not have to contend with the pesky limitations of real estate. The opportunity of this new infrastructure explained why he and Elon Musk had invested so much of their time and resources in getting to space, Bezos continued. Indeed, as Americans begin to comprehend the physical constraints on building data centers and manufacturing the G.P.U.s that power A.I., the economics of space have been sufficiently reframed. As it turns out, it may not just be a dick-swinging contest between two ultra-high-net-worth plutocrats.