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

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Feb 03, 2020, 6:27 PM UTC

freeopinion wrote: post #260

leto_ii wrote: post #188

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I'm gonna take the risk of being extremely unpopular and I'll say that Musk is completely overrated. I think he's nowhere near the level of people that we usually think of as geniuses. In certain ways he's good at marketing and hyping things up, but a lot of his ideas, especially the Mars one, are nonsensical. Just try to think about this: how bad do the conditions on Earth have to get before it makes sense to try to…

> how bad do the conditions on Earth have to get before it makes sense to try to move to a planet that is essentially uninhabitable? Fort Bridger, Wyoming has a population of 345[0]. California has a population of nearly 40 million[1]. Should those crazy people of the 19th century never have bothered with Fort Bridger? Inhabiting a habitable planet outside our solar system is so far beyond our current capabilities th…

Post by EthanHeilman » Mon, Feb 03, 2020, 6:32 PM UTC

est31 wrote: post #62

EthanHeilman wrote: post #58

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Thats the value of Mars. It forces whatever is built there to be sufficient and is largely a one way trip. A moon base will probably function more like a research station on Antarctica. New supplies will be shipped, people will transition back home every 4-12 months. For health reasons you'll want to avoid people spending too much time on Lunar gravity. A similar issue exists on Mars, but causes the opposite result.…

There is nothing stopping you from building self-sufficient and secluded colonies on Earth as well. Svalbard has a no-visa-needed policy and is barely populated. If you can convince the Norwegian government to sell you land, you can build your colony there and will mostly be kept alone (compared to a colony in say Sahara which lies on a heavily populated continent).

Post by r00fus » Mon, Feb 03, 2020, 6:38 PM UTC

keanzu wrote: post #254

r00fus wrote: post #226

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> A substantial portion of Elon Musk's company's funding comes from "tax money" (Goverment contracts, EV credits, tax breaks, subsidies). How much? Sounds more like a talking point than an actual honest critique. I mean, oil companies get massive subsidies and we spend trillions to go to war to keep the petroleum industry ascendant.

Oil is the lifeblood of the US economy. In times of economic recession, we often blame the government and get rid of them. We've clearly signaled with our voting patterns what we want and government has delivered on it - a reliable supply of oil to power the economy. But that's not enough we also demand "Big Oil" act as our sin-eater; thus our souls are pure because Shell takes on the stain of our sins. https://en.wi…

Post by DraftDodger67 » Mon, Feb 03, 2020, 6:48 PM UTC

keanzu wrote: 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…

Post by ryandvm » Mon, Feb 03, 2020, 6:58 PM UTC

dfcowell wrote: post #259

leto_ii wrote: post #256

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> The point of colonizing Mars (for Musk) is not to move there when Earth becomes inhabitable. It's too remove the single point of failure for the species that Earth currently represents. Fair point. However it's sad to think that as a species we're so petty and narrow-minded that we need a backup in case we fuck this planet up ourselves. Maybe I'm too harsh, but I almost feel that we don't even deserve a backup if w…

The backup is not necessarily against a man-made catastrophe. A stray asteroid in the right place at the wrong time is perfectly capable of fucking up Earth without our assistance.