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Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

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Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#751

Post by jdavis703 »

cfreeman wrote: post #357
nk1tz wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Developers are a cynical bunch. It comes with the chops.

I think it just comes with the type of person who fits the programmer stereotype. I don't think being cynical makes one a better programmer.

Well I think it depends on what kind of code you work (or worked) on. My first two jobs were on decade-old PHP codebases with thousands of global variables and copy pasta galore. Only the damn cynical can survive in that kind of mess, because it literally feels like the system is trying to fight you. I imagine legacy COBOL programmers can also relate. Now if most of your experience is working with green field systems, such a level of cynicism is not needed and may even be detrimental.

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#752

Post by kybernetikos »

mikeash wrote: post #464
neaden wrote: post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is pretty much nothing we can do to this planet to make it less habitable then Mars short of filling it with self sustaining death robot armies set to kill all humans or something. Incredibly severe global warming? Still a better temperature then mars. Nuclear Winter? Still can breathe the atmosphere.

"Self sustaining death robot armies" gets me thinking. What if the biggest threat is bad ideologies? Humans make pretty good self sustaining death robot soldiers if you can shape their brain accordingly.

> What if the biggest threat is bad ideologies?

Then changing planet doesn't help unless the colony has people who are protected from them compared to those left behind.

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#753

Post by Myrmornis »

grecy wrote: post #237
mikeash wrote: post #148

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,…

> 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. I can't agree more. I've seen HN degrade into that kind of discussion over the last 2 years and it really disappoints me. Part of me wishes HN had a really strong moderator that slapped down nay-sayers. If you're not contributing something valuable, comment deleted.

> Part of me wishes HN had a really strong moderator that slapped down nay-sayers. If you're not contributing something valuable, comment deleted.

Pointing out flaws == not valuable?

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#754

Post by tempestn »

Udo wrote: post #568
djsumdog wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first colonists will most likely not come back. Make no mistake, people are going to die in the first several runs. This will be one of the most dangerous endeavors mankind can attempt. As far as war breaking out, we're not going to make it to Mars in our current state. I don't think Mars is viable until we enter a post scarcity world. I find it unlikely we can even attempt it if we're still in a money based econ…

> Make no mistake, people are going to die in the first several runs. I agree, and I would even say this is the main challenge of the project long term - whether we have the stomach for seeing hundreds of people blow up on the launch pad, suffocating in interplanetary space, or dying from exposure on Mars when a hab block fails (and all of that possibly repeatedly). For some reason we don't have problem sending milli…

"Personally, I would choose to go even if there was a 50% chance of blowing up on the launchpad."

Do you really mean that? In the real world, knowing there's a 50/50 chance your life would end, you would take that risk for the chance to be a frontier colonist on Mars?

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#755

Post by valevk »

kilroy123 wrote: post #729
andor wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where the hell did they get this audience from? Is this hosted on a frat house with some academic invites? The announcement was held at the "International Astronautical Congress". "The IAC is attended by the agency heads and senior executives of the world's space agencies." [1] [0] http://www.iac2016.org/ [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Astronautical_Co...

Yes, but to be fair a lot of people came to the confrence, only to see this speech. Source: Me, I was there.

Aldo?

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#756

Post by bluebeard »

Paraphrasing: "I see two paths for the human species, extinction event or multi-planetary species." Then Elon shows the picture of the O2 tank: "and this is the size of the payload we could deliver to anywhere on Earth in 45 minutes, please fund us." Well played Musk, well played.

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#757

Post by [deleted] »

wmccullough wrote: post #184
mikeash wrote: post #148

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 my hero! This attitude is why I quit regularly contributing to this site. Any time any single person does something positive, some armchair "expert" comes out the woodworks to tell you how it won't work or can't work.

[deleted]

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#759

Post by Udo »

tempestn wrote: post #754
Udo wrote: post #568

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Make no mistake, people are going to die in the first several runs. I agree, and I would even say this is the main challenge of the project long term - whether we have the stomach for seeing hundreds of people blow up on the launch pad, suffocating in interplanetary space, or dying from exposure on Mars when a hab block fails (and all of that possibly repeatedly). For some reason we don't have problem sending milli…

"Personally, I would choose to go even if there was a 50% chance of blowing up on the launchpad." Do you really mean that? In the real world, knowing there's a 50/50 chance your life would end, you would take that risk for the chance to be a frontier colonist on Mars?

Yes, I mean it.

There are not a lot of things I would take such risks for, but this is definitely one. And don't get me wrong, I'm a big proponent of life extension and anti-aging research, and an atheist and a transhumanist to boot, so it's not like I enjoy the prospect of staring down the barrel of death. But looking at the impact my life is having right now, and the potential impact I could have by being a frontier colonist, that's not even a comparison.

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#760

Post by IndianAstronaut »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #371
wmccullough wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're my hero! This attitude is why I quit regularly contributing to this site. Any time any single person does something positive, some armchair "expert" comes out the woodworks to tell you how it won't work or can't work.

> Any time any single person does something positive, some armchair "expert" comes out the woodworks to tell you how it won't work or can't work. All public forums go bad once they reach a certain size. Since everything is on a gaussian curve (fat mediocre middle, and two asymptotes, one for greatness, the other for the opposite end), it's just pure statistics that junk comments will start creeping in once the popula…

This is what happened with Reddit. It used to be a lot more enlightened discussion and now it is a gutter of memes, paranoia, puns, and debased comments.
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