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Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

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Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#331
post #277

Watching live the announcement and presentation by Elon on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1YxNYiyALg Where the hell did they get this audience from? Is this hosted on a frat house with some academic invites? There's a dude jokingly saying that burning man felt like mars with a lot of shit and no water, there's a guy plugging his comic book, there's a guy making a joke on how we should send Michael Cera to Mars, a g…

Where were they that his talk was so unimportant that they cut him off? :O

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#332
post #175
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some possible reasons; Mars has a c02 atmosphere, water ice, it has a ~24 hour day as opposed to the moons 28 day-day, Earth and Mars have similar sizes.

Why does the Mars 24.5 hr day versus the Moons 28 day-day matter? What are the consequences of this big difference between Earth day and the moon/Mars day?

For constant power on Mars you need 2 kg of batteries for every 1 kg of solar panels. On the moon you need 50+ kg.

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#333

Some of the comments here make me think of crabs in a pot pulling down the ones who try to climb out. Nobody's making you participate in this venture. If you don't like it, then you're free to go do whatever it is you do like. You might think Musk could better direct his efforts and resources elsewhere, but most other billionaires don't do anything all that interesting, they just invest their money in mundane stuff,…

If you don't like it, then you're free to go do whatever it is you do like. Right. And as what appears to be the loudest voice in this discussion, it's also my prerogative to advocate for what I believe to be a better allocation of resources. Lets not pretend there is not competition for attention, capital and enthusiasm for vision based projects. That I advocate for one over another - in competition - is exactly wha…

[deleted]

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#334
post #235

Some of the comments here make me think of crabs in a pot pulling down the ones who try to climb out. Nobody's making you participate in this venture. If you don't like it, then you're free to go do whatever it is you do like. You might think Musk could better direct his efforts and resources elsewhere, but most other billionaires don't do anything all that interesting, they just invest their money in mundane stuff,…

There's a phrase I'm fond of: The man who says it can't be done needs to get out of the way of the man who's doing it.

At least in my case, I see trying to start a Mars colony as a death trap. It's the illusion of carrying on the human race, but it's really just dooming a bunch of pioneers to a grim fate in an extremely hostile environment. I think making a south pole colony would be hard enough, let alone a Mars one.

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not the oceans? Much easier to populate than Mars.

Does that protect people from the event of a major nuclear war? Would it be immune to accelerated climate change on Earth? availability of land isnt the only factor here. (i dont actually know the answer to these questions, and obviously it would likely depend on the details of this water habitat)

>Does that protect people from the event of a major nuclear war?

In the distant future, Mars may not necessarily afford protection either.

It's going to be sad if the doctrine of mutually-assured destruction some day applies within a multi-planetary context.

Most likely this would take the form of national territories being established on Mars by existing nuclear powers, the weapons either being imported or fabricated on-site.

Of course, the wierder scenario is one where advancements in propulsion technology allow for faster and cheaper delivery of payloads to Mars, resulting in some sort of Earth-to-Mars nuclear strike capability. Transit may remain quite latent, but it could still do the job. Imagine having weeks or months to contemplate an incoming nuclear attack.

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to, but it got to the point where the hivemind has pushed me away. I have noticed recently that HN is becoming self-aware. More than ever, I'm seeing comments by good users telling the bad ones to take their bad attitude elsewhere. The contrarianism going on really drove me away. I started to believe that there were people feeling the need to be contrarian just to appear more intelligent than the other users.

If you see a hive mind on HN that says more about your thought process than this site.

I hope one day you can see the irony of your comment.

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#338
My greatest fear is that space will become the playground for the rich and powerful where the rest of humankind is left to suffer on an overpopulated, polluted Earth. We as a society can't live on the kindness of individuals to achieve a better future and that goes double for leaning on SpaceX and Elon Musk. They are a for profit venture and that means unless you're rich enough to pay your way then you have to pay with labor which may or may not be pleasant. I know it seems silly to imagine the future like that but the way the rich and powerful have been running the world so far I can't see them giving a flip when they can have safe, sanitary habitats in space which separate them from the existential threats on Earth. At that point they could just say "fuck it" and cut the rest of humankind off from space easily with threats of asteroid bombardments or worse.

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#339

Some of the comments here make me think of crabs in a pot pulling down the ones who try to climb out. Nobody's making you participate in this venture. If you don't like it, then you're free to go do whatever it is you do like. You might think Musk could better direct his efforts and resources elsewhere, but most other billionaires don't do anything all that interesting, they just invest their money in mundane stuff,…

You're also free to critique an idea that's been put out there in public. The so called free market of ideas where people get to express their opinions on said idea. Or do you only want to see cheerleading? Because not all ideas are good, or feasible, or appropriate for now. The might be ahead of their time, and so forth.

My dictionary defines "critique" as "a detailed analysis and assessment of something." That is not what I'm seeing here, nor is it what I'm arguing against.

I have no problem with people arguing against SpaceX's Mars plans, either on the basis that the plan is infeasible, or that he should be doing something else. I have a huge problem with people arguing against it on the basis that the commenter doesn't like it and the whole idea is dumb.

I just want to see an intelligent conversation.

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#340

In this case, it's pretty clearly not just a rocket. Both Bezos and Musk admit that this is their fantasy from when they were boys. We're never going to live on mars, this is entirely about mythological projection. The phallus is central to the purpose of this endeavor.

so pass a law, and outlaw space travel.
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