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Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

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Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#771

Can we start again here, please. How has this announcement and Elon's dream in general excited or inspired you? Any ideas for how the plan could be developed, improved, augmented?

The exciting part is going from science fiction to a feasible path of reality. A path filled with milestones that I can experience, learn about, and continuously be filled with wonder.

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#772

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.

I would never say "it won't work", but I do think we humans have a tendency to turn to technology to solve our most basic problems, while the real solutions lie within us (where most people never look). I believe we should first learn to clean up our act on planet Earth before we export anything of our existence and what we do. To me, the real revolution that needs to happen is a spiritual one - a statement that will…

It is important to people do things whichever areas they are interesting. Everybody knows many problems around us, but nobody cares until it is a priority or if they are not interested.

So, let him do what he is doing, he is doing everything right, now if you are communicating with people through mobile phones is just because of satellites, that happened only because people explored the space and it's application.

So, the final goal of Elon is great, support people so that you will also get good support when you have a great idea.

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#773
post #580

I wonder what would be people's daily routine on mars. How colony with of thousands people will be organised? Would they have as much freedom as we have on earth, or the whole colony needs to be organized from bottom to top as the anthill colony.

Social structure will not spontaneously form as soon as people arrive on Mars. It will be organized ahead of time where inhabitants will need to exhibit certain skills to provide value. People will need to specialize in order to maximize their value. Free time could be an existential crisis or something that pushes leisure to a whole new level.

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#774
post #771

Can we start again here, please. How has this announcement and Elon's dream in general excited or inspired you? Any ideas for how the plan could be developed, improved, augmented?

The exciting part is going from science fiction to a feasible path of reality. A path filled with milestones that I can experience, learn about, and continuously be filled with wonder.

I really like the thought of looking back at the end of my life and saying "what did my generation achieve?" And one of the answers being "Mars" will make me very happy, even if only to congratulate those in my cohort who made a difference.

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#775

Seems great for all the basic research it will require. But I'm unsure about the morality of it. I think the drive to expand and discover new things is perhaps a direct cause of the deeper problems we have on Earth. Would humanity be better off just becoming a sustainable population of monks? Or are we morally equivalent to a virus, reduced to survival of the fittest and always seeking out the next host to reap?

It sounds like we're hedging our bets not a moment too soon. The extinction even Musk alludes to is not just the natural expiry of the planet. The end of human civilization could come from a natural freak cause or just a series of bad judgements. Nuclear war or other conflicts making basic food/water inaccessible to most/all humans may just be the tipping point for our civilization's demise. Every other planet or location we can inhabit is another option for civilization to survive on.

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#776

I'd really like to see us taking space seriously. While I'm still here. One of my earliest strong memories was the last moon landing. This was followed by years of "Tomorrow's World" and "Horizon" telling us about the Moon bases, Mars bases and orbital platforms that would soon follow. We got Skylab and some very interesting probes. I'm a tiny bit disappointed in that. We were meant to be en route to Starfleet Comman…

You were told the moon landing was about human progress and exploring frontiers. In reality it was just about beating the Russians in the cold war.

Sorry.

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#777
post #504

I'm all for colonizing Mars, but is it possible to do large-scale terraforming of the surface without a magnetosphere to protect it?

Musk tried to steer his presentation back to the mission of SpaceX which is focused on transportation and space. The scope of travel is already too big so terraforming and the questions regarding what/how life will develop is begging for another organization to tackle.

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#778

I'd really like to see us taking space seriously. While I'm still here. One of my earliest strong memories was the last moon landing. This was followed by years of "Tomorrow's World" and "Horizon" telling us about the Moon bases, Mars bases and orbital platforms that would soon follow. We got Skylab and some very interesting probes. I'm a tiny bit disappointed in that. We were meant to be en route to Starfleet Comman…

You were told the moon landing was about human progress and exploring frontiers. In reality it was just about beating the Russians in the cold war. Sorry.

Can't it be all of the above?

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#779
post #237

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.

What a load of rubbish. Note that HN already has strong moderation, and does delete "way out there" contrarian views. If this was taken to the extreme, only back-patting allowed, the comments would become useless. And I feel, like others, this already goes on a lot (e.g. the top karma posters all tend to agree/compliment each other, there isn't that much disagreement although it happens sometimes).

Re: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species [video]

#780

My greatest fear is that space will become the playground for the rich and powerful where the rest of humankind is left to suffer on an overpopulated, polluted Earth. We as a society can't live on the kindness of individuals to achieve a better future and that goes double for leaning on SpaceX and Elon Musk. They are a for profit venture and that means unless you're rich enough to pay your way then you have to pay wi…

I imagine we'll initially have the working class inhabit non-Earth places such as the moon, Mars, etc. Once the risk of the frontier is mitigated, we'll have a gentrification of sorts where the working class is pushed back to Earth and the upper class take the non-Earth areas back over. People with the means will work remotely from a different planet, companies with the profits will gravitate towards sexier places, and governments will hope to colonize other areas.
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