> Musk wants to innovate and leave Earth, rather than to take care of it, or fix it, and stay.
Come on. This is bullshit. Musk is also pushing environmentalism here on Earth with SolarCity and Tesla. Going to Mars and taking care of Earth are in no way mutually exclusive.
> The rest of your complaints boil down to his overly optimistic timeframes
it boils down to the fact that he's lying. And he probably already knows it.
> and disagreement that making humans spacefaring / multiplanetary is a worthy goal.
Please refrain from interpreting what I say and write.
I do not necessarily disagree with Musk on that, I simply can differentiate from day dreaming and reality.
Mars is a worthy goal as much it is going to live on the top of Mauna Loa.
Or deep down the Marianas Trench.
Musk said it: he would like to go because it's a challenge, like climbing mount Everest.
That's all he cares about.
But lets also be absolutely real: he means send someone to die, he will never be fit to be an astronaut, let alone a space colonist. He's also not stupid enough to go towards certain death after having accumulated an enormous amount of money here on Earth. That he could actually use for the good, but, who cares, buying Twitter is more fun.
It's also honestly quite depressing to listen someone with so much money say that humans are worth only if they waste their enormous wealth on macho challenges.
He literally said that humanity will be much less interesting if we don't become a multiplanetary society, which, assuming it will be possible (I seriously doubt it) will take millenia, if not more. And once it happens, Martians won't be able to come back to Earth, because our gravity would crush their body.
How splendid.
p.s. I'm a fan of retro futurism. I grew up watching movies like Forbidden Planet and reading Asimov.
> And I'd much rather settle Mars a few hundred years later if that in turn means that Mars will be settled by not-so-big-assholes than if it happened sooner.
I haven't seen a lot of evidence to suggest that Musk is an asshole. He deeply cares about what he is doing but he also seems to care about people. He is sometimes impulsive and perhaps volatile when he's running low on sleep. I have never heard of him subjecting others to something he would not subject onto himself.
Even if he is a complete asshole. If he advanced the advent of electric cars and space travel by a hundred years then I'd take it.
> And, no, personally I don’t think Tesla or SpaceX count as giving back.
Yeah, well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man. Say what you will about the tenets of Muskianism but at least it’s an ethos.
> Why can’t our billionaires at least just slink off to the lovely beaches of some island somewhere. Oh wait, egos…
One person’s egotism is another’s genuine belief. I’m personally not surprised someone who had the ambition and luck to be a billionaire would continue doing things they believe in. I’m not even convinced it would be beneficial for them to disappear. What happens to the immense amount of capital they control?
> But Mars? Mars? How does that sound enjoyable? I actually hope he makes it there.
Does he actually want to go to Mars personally? I thought the idea was that he wants humanity to be multi-planetary.
> I've often thought that the pragmatic thing to do would be to send people to Mars that already have short life expectancies
Great Idea! I think Musk himself should go around in hospices and hospitals to find terminally ill people to send to die 35 million miles away.
Seriously, you guys have lost your goddamn mind. And I don't mean it in a fun and exciting way, but in a Jim Jones, L.Ron Hubbard and Hitler sort of fashion.
Pragmatic, right.....
I swear, this place is becoming darker and darker by the day, I was just pissed off because I killed a mouse when with more patience I could have just shooed him away, talking about sending people to die on Mars....fucking incredible mate.
> Uh no, this has been one of his passions for a very long time. It’s the reason SpaceX exists:
How does that contradicts the premise?
SpaceX is primarily (emphasis on is) in the business of reusable rockets.
Musk launched the Mars colonization idea as a self promotional venture.
There are many things Musk said about Mars which are borderline retarded
Starting from the fact that he wants to colonize Mars, I am much more interested in the exploration and I believe it defines human nature much more than simply being a billionaire with a colonialist mindset.
For example
- Humans must prioritise the colonisation of Mars so the species can be conserved in the event of a third world war ¯\_(?)_/¯ I guess he believes that his life (and other billionaires like him) must be preserved. I'm not sure about regular folks like most of us...
- “I feel fairly confident that we can complete the ship and be ready for a launch in about five years. Five years seems like a long time to me” this is from 2018, it hasn't aged very well
- I think fundamentally the future is vastly more exciting and interesting if we’re a spacefaring civilization and a multiplanet species than if we’re or not. Why???
- Musk said there's 70 percent chance he’ll get to Mars within his lifetime, with plans to permanently resettle on the Red Planet. No, he won't. We all know he wouldn't do it. He's never gonna be an astronaut, at best he can be a Bezos.
- in 2021 he said he would send humans to Mars by 2026, now it's become 2029 (it's always five years away). He also said that by 2050, there will be 30,000 to 50,000 people who choose a one-way trip to Mars to begin a new life. Everyone's free to form an opinion on this, I simply call them BS.
> I don't think Elon Musk is dragging us down. I think he's bringing us the future. Happy to be forgiving of his quirks since he's literally sacrificing his life to bring the world awesome stuff.
So, Elon Musk is the tech-Jesus? He died on the SEC to take us to Mars?
> A project such as going to Mars, will yield immense scientific research and output, benefiting humanity as a whole.
I’m not trolling. I really do disagree with this in good faith. You can get the same materials research etc benefits by doing something that directly benefits humankind. Also, I don’t think that Musk thinks that it’s the spin-off stuff that matters. He honestly and in good faith wants to expand humans to another planet. He’s said this innumerable times. I just disagree that anything anyone feels like doing is as valuable as anything else. There are value decisions involved. I’m not saying that anyone should be enjoined or forced or any such thing. But maybe enticed?
> I find it interesting that you specifically note that you think "Elon Musk is not going to like this person". Is there a specific reason that you feel like that and wanted to note it?
He wants to colonize Mars, he has stated this desire in great detail publicly on multiple occasions.
I'm a fan Elon Musk. But I think people are exaggerating that Mars mission. For me it looks like a goal for SpaceX employees. You have to somehow motivate people to work harder. Maybe I'm just a little cynical, but Elon is too smart to believe in this mission.
> Elon might end up pulling it off. I hope he doesn’t though and I’m going to do what it takes to influence that decision.
Wow. That’s a pretty mean-spirited way to go through life. Why not put your efforts into building something positive instead of trying to tear others down?
Unfortunately, the science and technology involved is nowhere near ready for a Starship-style push to be feasible. That's not even mentioning the legal environment.
http://shitelonsays.com/transcript/elon-musk-and-the-giving-...
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