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

businessweek.com

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

#131

Post by Zenst »

For those who fiscaly are less likely to get to Mars and still wish to die on Mars can always read this and smile:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep-fried_Mars_bar

on another less serious note I believe the chap in this news item will beat him too it:

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/573673/mars-addict-lives-on...

    Most people want to die in peace, but when you have to go to another planet to get peace then you just know noise polution has got a little bit out of hand.

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

#132

Post by Symmetry »

waterlesscloud wrote: post #25
shawnee_ wrote: post #15

On the assumption that people will be living on earth for some time, Musk is cooking up plans for something he calls the Hyperloop. He won’t share specifics but says it’s some sort of tube capable of taking someone from downtown San Francisco to Los Angeles in 30 minutes. He calls it a “fifth mode of transportation”—the previous four being train, plane, automobile, and boat. “What you want is something that never cra…

The California "high speed" rail project is depressing. In theory, I'm a huge fan of high speed rail. But the California project is going to end up costing over $100 billion, and everyone knows it. It's going to take decades to complete. If, indeed, it's ever completed. It's routed to go places no one wants to go. And, as Mr. Musk says, it' not actually going to be very fast. It's pretty much a classic textbook boond…

I still can't believe that they didn't jump on the French national rail operator's plan to build the thing.

http://marketurbanism.com/2012/07/10/what-i-learned-today-ab...

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

#133

Post by cdwhite »

stcredzero wrote: post #72
waterlesscloud wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The California "high speed" rail project is depressing. In theory, I'm a huge fan of high speed rail. But the California project is going to end up costing over $100 billion, and everyone knows it. It's going to take decades to complete. If, indeed, it's ever completed. It's routed to go places no one wants to go. And, as Mr. Musk says, it' not actually going to be very fast. It's pretty much a classic textbook boond…

> It's routed to go places no one wants to go. Big. Red. Flag. The Minneapolis light rail uses the same equipment as Houston's light rail. The big difference is that the Minneapolis light rail goes between the airport, downtown, and the Mall of America. People can immediately see its value. Houston's light rail doesn't go to either of Houston's airports, even though it's sorely needed.

Note, though that the Houston light rail line connects two of the three big parts of Houston: Downtown and the Medical Center (+ the Museum district). I don't disagree that airport service is sorely needed, and the Galleria would be nice too, but it could be worse.

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

#134

Post by stcredzero »

cdwhite wrote: post #133
stcredzero wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's routed to go places no one wants to go. Big. Red. Flag. The Minneapolis light rail uses the same equipment as Houston's light rail. The big difference is that the Minneapolis light rail goes between the airport, downtown, and the Mall of America. People can immediately see its value. Houston's light rail doesn't go to either of Houston's airports, even though it's sorely needed.

Note, though that the Houston light rail line connects two of the three big parts of Houston: Downtown and the Medical Center (+ the Museum district). I don't disagree that airport service is sorely needed, and the Galleria would be nice too, but it could be worse.

If the light rail went to the airports, then many, many more people would understand the value of it. The part of the populace that occasionally goes to the airport and would much rather not have to drive is much, much larger than the one that has to go between Downtown and the Medical Center and would much rather not have to drive.

Basically, light rail to the airports means game over to the opponents of light rail. Short of that, there's still a chance to convince a majority of people that it's only a boondoggle.

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

#135

Post by sonnenkiste »

rdl wrote: post #23

I'd prefer to not die, but dying on Mars would be ok if dying is necessary.

Old things should go away after some time and make space for new things. Dieing is the prefered way. As long as we have limited space and resources. ;o) Otherwise there will be no real development. We will more or less stuck in where we are.

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

#136

Post by DeepDuh »

geekam wrote: post #127
DeepDuh wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

But Jobs wasn't as humble and polite even when Apple was an underdog and was competing in the world of IBM. Weren't those interviews where he calls out Microsoft as "they have bad taste" the same time period?

It was 1996 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upzKj-1HaKw). No, Jobs was certainly never as humble as Musk and I never said that, they definitely have different characters. My point was that we still have to wait on Musk, this man and his companies are far away from their goals and it remains to be seen whether they can afford to keep being idealistic.

And don't get me wrong, I'm a space freak, I root for that guy as much as anyone.

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

#137

Post by JVIDEL »

I would like to die on Mars, just not on impact.

Easy, remember a few years ago when some guys at NASA proposed that the first guys to Mars should be in their early 60s?

That's because getting there is not the problem, the problem are the copious amounts of radiation you would absorb on the way which means that even if you make it back you probably wont live much more.

So what those guys proposed was sending old astronauts on a one-way trip.

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

#138

Post by usaar333 »

reasonattlm wrote: post #52
mej10 wrote: post #11

How about... you know, not dying? At least in the foreseeable future. You can do a lot more awesome engineering and science and exploration if you don't die after ~80 years.

The estimated price tag for a good shot at implementing SENS and demonstrating robust reversal of aging in mice is $1B: $10M/year for ten years in each of seven research programs, plus some padding. http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2004/11/strategies-for-en... http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2012/04/aubrey-de-grey-on... http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2004/10/the-cost-of-sens....

Given that cancer research gets $5B/year in the US government funding alone and we still have cancer, I am skeptical of that price tag claim.

also see: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1371037/

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

#139

Post by richcollins »

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…

I respect Elon's ambition and the perspective he shares in that quote but both Space X and Tesla only continue to exist by feeding at the government trough.

Personal and mobile computing have lead to massive productivity increases that affect almost everything that we do on this planet.

I'd also argue that the desire to improve space and ground transportation aren't the result of an enlightened human consciousness that discovered the right questions to ask. Using less energy to move around isn't going to improve the persistent suffering humanity experiences.

Jobs appears to have understood this fact but was unfortunately resigned to it rather than determined to fight it:

What's the biggest surprise this technology will deliver?

The problem is I'm older now, I'm 40 years old, and this stuff doesn't change the world. It really doesn't.

That's going to break people's hearts.

I'm sorry, it's true. Having children really changes your view on these things. We're born, we live for a brief instant, and we die. It's been happening for a long time. Technology is not changing it much - if at all.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.02/jobs_pr.html

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

#140

Post by zem »

richcollins wrote: post #139
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…

I respect Elon's ambition and the perspective he shares in that quote but both Space X and Tesla only continue to exist by feeding at the government trough. Personal and mobile computing have lead to massive productivity increases that affect almost everything that we do on this planet. I'd also argue that the desire to improve space and ground transportation aren't the result of an enlightened human consciousness th…

one man's "feeding at the government trough" is another man's "putting taxpayer's money to good, productive use in projects too long-term for the perennially distracted market to care about them"
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