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James Lovelock: 'I Would Not Waste My Fortune on Colonizing Mars'

spiegel.de

71–80 of 330 posts

Re: James Lovelock: 'I Would Not Waste My Fortune on Colonizing Mars'

#71

I had never even heard of a “James Lovelock” before now, and after skimming the comments here, my desire to know about him went from zero to negative. On the subject of Mars etc., how are billionaires, especially the older ones, not already bored with all that Earth has to offer? Surely they must have experienced everything, natural and manmade, and crave for something more than the accumulation of wealth by now.

Not speaking on behalf of rich ppl, just want to say imo there's a lot more than what can be easily acquired through money. A lot of things are so disgustingly hard to achieve no matter how rich you are and the kind of sensation they provide can never be purchased.

Re: James Lovelock: 'I Would Not Waste My Fortune on Colonizing Mars'

#72
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn’t say marketing is his skill. His skill is getting shit done. The only reason why we listen to his (crazy) words is because he actually does what he sets out to do.

> His skill is getting shit done. The main contribution is from his employees, not himself. He manages to convince them to work for him with extreme hours for bad pay and without even receiving proper credit (check out how many authors the Neuralink paper listed, then check out the cern paper's authors). How does he convince people to work for him? Marketing. He's a marketing guy.

If you watch his presentations over the years, he has very much shifted towards "this is my team's accomplishment" versus taking the credit for himself. With time comes wisdom; whether it's to further motivate employees or because of how he genuinely feels, can't say, but it's observable.

Re: James Lovelock: 'I Would Not Waste My Fortune on Colonizing Mars'

#73
post #12
post #6

He may be a smart dude, but this answer is out there: > "DER SPIEGEL: Cancer is a silent killer that might get diagnosed long after the exposure, when it is too late. > Lovelock: I've had 10 cancers in the last few years and it hasn't been very bad. They just appear and grow. If you go to a good oncologist nearby, they'll take it out. It's just unfortunate for people who let it happen and it grows and grows until it'…

“out there” is a pretty charitable description. I stopped reading the article there. I am not interested in reading the crazy ramblings of someone disconnected from reality.

I also stopped right there. I don't trust anything about how this guy thinks after that.

Re: James Lovelock: 'I Would Not Waste My Fortune on Colonizing Mars'

#74
post #55

Perhaps it might have been possible in some long distant past to underestimate Elon Musk and write him off as a crazy person. That time is gone. If Musk appears to be doing something crazy you've not understood it. > It’s crazy, completely crazy. Elon Musk has read too much science fiction. He got carried away with it. If I were in his position, I would not waste my fortune on colonizing Mars. And all they would lear…

I wouldn’t say marketing is his skill. His skill is getting shit done. The only reason why we listen to his (crazy) words is because he actually does what he sets out to do.

I would argue that marketing is a core skill for getting things done.

Re: James Lovelock: 'I Would Not Waste My Fortune on Colonizing Mars'

#75
post #55

Perhaps it might have been possible in some long distant past to underestimate Elon Musk and write him off as a crazy person. That time is gone. If Musk appears to be doing something crazy you've not understood it. > It’s crazy, completely crazy. Elon Musk has read too much science fiction. He got carried away with it. If I were in his position, I would not waste my fortune on colonizing Mars. And all they would lear…

> If Musk appears to be doing something crazy you've not understood it.

I'll remember that next time he accuses a rescue worker of paedophilia,

Re: James Lovelock: 'I Would Not Waste My Fortune on Colonizing Mars'

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And he is infamous for refusing medical treatment until it was too late. For months he tried alternative treatments, before saying he regretted it.

The treatment you refer to was a “whipple” procedure, or pancreaticoduodenectomy. A very invasive procedure that has significant detrimental effects on your quality of life, and still doesn’t guarantee long-term survival. A tough call for even the most rational of patients.

>Barrie R. Cassileth, the chief of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's integrative medicine department,[172] said, "Jobs's faith in alternative medicine likely cost him his life.... He had the only kind of pancreatic cancer that is treatable and curable.... He essentially committed suicide."

I’m not sure it is that tough of a call.

Re: James Lovelock: 'I Would Not Waste My Fortune on Colonizing Mars'

#77
post #55

Perhaps it might have been possible in some long distant past to underestimate Elon Musk and write him off as a crazy person. That time is gone. If Musk appears to be doing something crazy you've not understood it. > It’s crazy, completely crazy. Elon Musk has read too much science fiction. He got carried away with it. If I were in his position, I would not waste my fortune on colonizing Mars. And all they would lear…

Not only that, but the cynic in my says... what SHOULD you be spending your billions on? Carefully grabbing more billions and political influence/power so you can have more influence/power? Or, you know, try to make humanity better?

Re: James Lovelock: 'I Would Not Waste My Fortune on Colonizing Mars'

#78
post #29
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How so? Mars has an atmosphere unlike the moon, it has water in some form and quantity and has approximately the same length of the day as Earth, plus it has gravity much closer to Earth than what the moon has.

> Mars has an atmosphere It does, but not much, only 1% the volume of Earth's atmosphere and it is 95% CO2.

The fun part about those numbers is that Mars and Earth have roughly the same amount of CO2 in their atmospheres.

Re: James Lovelock: 'I Would Not Waste My Fortune on Colonizing Mars'

#79
post #55

Perhaps it might have been possible in some long distant past to underestimate Elon Musk and write him off as a crazy person. That time is gone. If Musk appears to be doing something crazy you've not understood it. > It’s crazy, completely crazy. Elon Musk has read too much science fiction. He got carried away with it. If I were in his position, I would not waste my fortune on colonizing Mars. And all they would lear…

I wouldn’t say marketing is his skill. His skill is getting shit done. The only reason why we listen to his (crazy) words is because he actually does what he sets out to do.

It's not his only skill, but you have to admit he's pretty good at it. Just look at his twitter account.

Re: James Lovelock: 'I Would Not Waste My Fortune on Colonizing Mars'

#80
post #55

Perhaps it might have been possible in some long distant past to underestimate Elon Musk and write him off as a crazy person. That time is gone. If Musk appears to be doing something crazy you've not understood it. > It’s crazy, completely crazy. Elon Musk has read too much science fiction. He got carried away with it. If I were in his position, I would not waste my fortune on colonizing Mars. And all they would lear…

JFK sold us on space because "we choose to do these things because they are hard." It was an aspirational exploratory message. The reality is that we are in space because it is required for great power contests. I'm mired in space as a DoD executive, so I promise you space - at least inside the GEO orbits - is extremely practical. Starlink is honestly amazing. Mars though? I've steel-manned that one and I don't see i…

Is that true of nuclear winter or a major impact event?

Wouldn't either of those render the Earth temporarily uninhabitable?

Is the argument that it would be easy enough to build on Earth places to survive such events rather than going to Mars?

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