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Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

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Re: Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

#101

Post by dumbluck »

Bud wrote: post #8

Now that Jobs is gone, Elon is probably the coolest guy in the world. Can't wait to see what he comes up with in the next 10-20 years.

I appreciate this sentiment, but it makes me think of "The queen is dead. Long live the queen."

"Visionaries" and "cool people" are in many ways good and bad, flawed and gifted, like you and me. It does not serve any good purpose to hold either Jobs or Elon up to the spotlight as if they are any sort of savior.

If anything good comes in the next 10-20 years, it will be because of not only Elon, but people like the rest of us that choose to do something, not wait on others to do something great for us. That said, there is nothing wrong (to say the least) with someone who can drum up the troops.

Re: Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

#102

Post by jlgreco »

damoncali wrote: post #93
blhack wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>start backing this up with action Not sure if sarcastic... Elon Musk, as in: the guy who's company just ran a private reapply mission to /the international space station/.

I hate to break it to you, but everything NASA builds is built and operated by private companies. SpaceX is an incremental improvement on something that has been done for decades. That is a far cry from Musk's fantastic claims.

How do you propose he try harder?

Re: Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

#103

Post by [deleted] »

marcoamorales wrote: post #17
Bud wrote: post #8

Now that Jobs is gone, Elon is probably the coolest guy in the world. Can't wait to see what he comes up with in the next 10-20 years.

Jobs was never a cool guy in my book. For me, Steve Jobs was an egocentric and self-centered. Elon is a visionary, just read this quote: “I came to the conclusion that we should aspire to increase the scope and scale of human consciousness in order to better understand what questions to ask. Really, the only thing that makes sense is to strive for greater collective enlightenment.” Steve isn't even near to the impact…

[deleted]

Re: Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

#104

Post by nitrogen »

pork wrote: post #84
stcredzero wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He did too much LDS in the 60's.

He was too Mormon?

In Star Trek IV, Kirk says to a marine biologist that Spock is strange because he did a little too much "LDS." This was paricularly amusing to viewers who grew up in Utah.

Re: Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

#105

Post by DeepDuh »

luriel wrote: post #85
marcoamorales wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jobs was never a cool guy in my book. For me, Steve Jobs was an egocentric and self-centered. Elon is a visionary, just read this quote: “I came to the conclusion that we should aspire to increase the scope and scale of human consciousness in order to better understand what questions to ask. Really, the only thing that makes sense is to strive for greater collective enlightenment.” Steve isn't even near to the impact…

And unlike Jobs, Elon is behind much of the engineering and research his companies work on. And also unlike Jobs, you can sense a certain humility in how Elon talks both about himself and about others. When Neil Armstrong spoke against private space companies, Elon didn't come out and demonize him, I remember watching him cry on camera when asked about it, and said he wished he'd come to Space X to see the work they…

Well, you're comparing two visionary entrepreneurs at different stages right now. Jobs wasn't quite as arrogant after he fell from the throne and had to start from scratch (Pixar, NeXT). That's about where I'd put Elon right now, even though the circumstances of his departure from PayPal was of course entirely different. I'd like to see him once SpaceX or Tesla becomes a megacorporation like Apple - the judgement is still out on that. You can't compare the way SpaceX acts towards Boeing with Apple towards its competitors - one is an underdog that has nothing to loose, one is a goliath with the world to loose.

Re: Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

#106

Post by mrfairladyz »

juiceandjuice wrote: post #100
uptown wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So do it. (I'm sort of hoping a reply like this is enough to bump you forward)

I started looking at jobs two weeks ago after Neil Armstrong died out of curiosity. I have a job at a place I love doing astrophysics, and I can't complain much about that, but I need to update my resume anyway.

Where are you currently working, out of ahem curiosity?

Re: Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

#107

Post by ericd »

damoncali wrote: post #89
ericd wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And finally, the results have been fucking great. The Tesla Roadster is absolutely unbelievable, it's more fun than most roller coasters. According to the reviews in car magazine, the Model S is similarly unbelievable in similar and other ways (fantastic ride/handling, absurd acceleration, great cargo capacity, seating for 5 comfortably, 7 with kids). And SpaceX is demolishing the other space launch companies in thei…

Musk's reality distortion field puts Jobs' to shame. He said he's going to send people to Mars in 15 years . Here is one question. How often do you get a chance to launch a rocket to Mars? (Hint: it's not often). How many opportunities to send test missions and support gear will there be in the next 15 years? How long will it take to build all that stuff? A year? Two years? More? You just lost another mission. Have t…

I doubt people automatically assume that he's correct about being on Mars in 15 years, but if he's saying it, maybe he's got a reasonable plan/timeline for it. Musk is an engineer, and from what I've seen of him, he seems like less of a bullshitter than the average businessperson. Combined with his consistent delivery of results, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt.

As for launch windows, the energy required is at a minimum every 26 months, and there's a global min twice every ~17 years, the next two being in 12 and 14 years, so you'd have the easiest time then. [1] If they have a non-marginal plan, then maybe one of the relative minima would be sufficient.

What makes you say that action is absent? My impression is that SpaceX has actually been tackling a very aggressive timetable in general. I believe they're working on the Falcon Heavy and crew modules right now and they're proposing a launch for a Dragon capsule to Mars in 2018.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manned_mission_to_Mars

Re: Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

#108

Post by dasil003 »

damoncali wrote: post #89
ericd wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And finally, the results have been fucking great. The Tesla Roadster is absolutely unbelievable, it's more fun than most roller coasters. According to the reviews in car magazine, the Model S is similarly unbelievable in similar and other ways (fantastic ride/handling, absurd acceleration, great cargo capacity, seating for 5 comfortably, 7 with kids). And SpaceX is demolishing the other space launch companies in thei…

Musk's reality distortion field puts Jobs' to shame. He said he's going to send people to Mars in 15 years . Here is one question. How often do you get a chance to launch a rocket to Mars? (Hint: it's not often). How many opportunities to send test missions and support gear will there be in the next 15 years? How long will it take to build all that stuff? A year? Two years? More? You just lost another mission. Have t…

The fact that you're getting downvoted aggressively for being a cynic on one of the most cynical sites should be an indicator that your cynicism is a bit out of control.

Just because Musk talks about early ideas that are extremely unlikely (like the VTOL jet) and may not pan out does not mean he's automatically a crackpot spewing marketing fluff. He's earned the right to espouse bold ideas.

Re: Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

#109

Post by Tossrock »

jpxxx wrote: post #68
iandanforth wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ready the Red / Green / Blue mars trilogy? It might change your mind. Also, not that it's possible, but why would you want to increase martian gravity? 1/3G would be awesome for sport.

I loved those books to death, but the parent is right. Mars is a rustier version of the moon with slightly better scenery. Imagine a life where you as a native Martian never get to go outside, never get to feel fresh air, never get to meet a stranger, never get to storm off, never get the chance to live truly alone, never get to punch a wall, and never get a chance to see another world. No streams, no swimming, no oc…

Why would you never get to go outside? A pressure suit would be fine. Also, if colonization was an ongoing thing, there'd probably be new colonists to meet in waves.

Re: Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

#110

Post by simbyotic »

xenophanes wrote: post #92
MikeCapone wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a billionaire (yet), but that's why 100% of my charitable donations go to the SENS foundation. Every marginal dollar has a much higher expected utility there than anywhere else that I've found.

I am a huge fan of SENS too. Here is another place with high value per dollar: http://industrialprogress.net Industrial Progress is a very important and practical cause, and this group has a very effective leader who is actually having some effect at persuading people (particularly people in industry) and providing them with better ideas. And it's cheap. SENS needs a billion. A few hundred thousand would be huge here…

I second this recommendation, CIP has been doing an amazing job at showing how and why industrial progress is amazingly beneficial to human prosperity, while dispelling the common critiques the "green" movement uses to dispel this idea.

Both SENS and CIP are hugely important ventures that people should look into in my book.

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