Elon Musk (No Politics)

[SiliconWizard]

If I was Elon Musk I would ___ ?
A develop a low G holiday resort on the Moon using its dust to make concrete like lunar building materials with lunar greenhouses.

I do not understand at all his zero interest in the moon.
Yeah, yeah, "multiplanetary" blah blah, but I don't get why he can't see the value in colonising the moon first, if anything, as a tourist thing to pay for Mars.
Seriously, retirees will spend their life savings to go to the moon for a few weeks.

Yep, anyway, the moon looks like an obvious step towards space exploration. We've used space stations for decades now for that "step" purpose, doing the same 1000 times further away would certainly be a massive and important step before thinking of sending people for months or years further away.

I'm sure he sees that too, it's probably just that it may not sound "fancy" enough for his whole multiplanetary narrative.

Now I'm almost convinced China will be the first to have a moon base. If some idiots have not made the Earth blow up in the meantime.

[Cyclotron]

It seems likely that he realized, fairly recently, that he can't go to Mars.

Good. Now perhaps he could find it in himself to get just a little bit excited about the prospects of using his wealth, resources and technical teams to go do something good and worthwhile in our own backyard.

It's a little creepy how so many billionaires seem to be obsessed with building bunkers or getting off planet.

The classic say one thing and do another. Hey everything is fine, nothing wrong, all is well but you stay here and I'm going to my bunker, 

I don't think they all say everything is fine. Gate's, until he recently recanted, said/implied that the end of humanity would be due to climate change. 

The idea that they know something the rest of us don't is a bit tinfoil hattery. It's like the government hiding stuff. It simply can't be because people are involved.

The billionaire rocketry set is exactly the same set you can buy at the model shop, just scaled up for checking account size. They like to compare "rocket" sizes too.

[McCarthy]

Instead of trying to flee this plant, we should rather focus on saving it. We won't reach any equally sustainable planet in another solar system or galaxy, like ever. A few of us living in an artificial system on the moon won't make a dent either.

Our root cause, besides our arrogance and stupidity, lays in our greed and over-population of this small planet.

Some 300 million people, spread out and living sustainably with nature, would be manageable for our environment and remaining resources.

8 billion and growing, all with the demand for modern and individual living conditions, transportation and wasteful consumerism in a world with planned obsolescence, and capitalism that needs to be saved regularly by printing money, resulting in inflation and ever growing national debts? Not going to happen.

And you don't need to be a billionaire, or being on the spectrum with some 140+ IQ points, to see what will unfold soon enough.

This planet is sick. It is infested by human cancer.

[Analog Kid]

Thank you for that.
All this rampant sci-fi fanboi hysteria that's the driving force behind "we must metastasize the human cancer to other parts of the Solar System!" treats the Earth as if it were a disposable planet, nothing more than a launching pad for our foray into the ultimate Wild Blue Yonder.

Meanwhile the rest of us are pretty fed up with conditions down here on terra firma, which are unlikely to improve with so much time, energy and money being invested in this headlong race for space. There's only so much to go around, you know.

[wraper]

Instead of trying to flee this plant, we should rather focus on saving it. We won't reach any equally sustainable planet in another solar system or galaxy, like ever. A few of us living in an artificial system on the moon won't make a dent either.

You completely miss the point. If say an asteroid wipes out the humanity on Earth, people can do nothing about it.

Our root cause, besides our arrogance and stupidity, lays in our greed and over-population of this small planet.

There is no overpopulation overall. It's a local thing at worst.

8 billion and growing, all with the demand for modern and individual living conditions, transportation and wasteful consumerism in a world with planned obsolescence, and capitalism that needs to be saved regularly by printing money, resulting in inflation and ever growing national debts? Not going to happen.

Western population is essentially suicidal at this point. Not to say overall birth rate of humanity is barely above replacement rate and dropping.

This planet is sick. It is infested by human cancer.

Please self-eradicate alone, without involving me and others.

[EEVblog]

Yep, anyway, the moon looks like an obvious step towards space exploration. We've used space stations for decades now for that "step" purpose, doing the same 1000 times further away would certainly be a massive and important step before thinking of sending people for months or years further away.
I'm sure he sees that too, it's probably just that it may not sound "fancy" enough for his whole multiplanetary narrative.

Now I'm almost convinced China will be the first to have a moon base.

It looks mostly likely China will be first, unless something goes wrong with their mission.
And when that happens shit if going to hit the fan.
The thing with the moon is not just strategically important, it's psychologically important. Everyone can see the moon, they can see the surface with their bare eyes. They have a constant reminder every day that there is a Chinese base up there looking down on them.
That kind of psychology doesn't exist for Mars, it's essentially out of sight out of mind, just another pin prick of light that most people can't even identify.

[EEVblog]

This planet is sick. It is infested by human cancer.

I take it you don't have kids?

[Cyclotron]

This planet is sick. It is infested by human cancer.

Please self-eradicate alone, without involving me and others.

Love it, as I told AK in another thread, you might be right, you go first.

The fallacy that we can either focus on problems on Earth or we can explore space, maybe even colonize another solar system one day. I bet explorers have heard this crap from day one. "Chris, get your ass off that ship and tend this garden, ain't nobody got time for no new world crap."

[Analog Kid]

This planet is sick. It is infested by human cancer.

Please self-eradicate alone, without involving me and others.

Love it, as I told AK in another thread, you might be right, you go first.

The fallacy that we can either focus on problems on Earth or we can explore space, maybe even colonize another solar system one day. I bet explorers have heard this crap from day one. "Chris, get your ass off that ship and tend this garden, ain't nobody got time for no new world crap."

There's a yuge difference between intra-planetary exploration and interplanetary.

[EEVblog]

There's a yuge difference between intra-planetary exploration and interplanetary.

Irrelevant when the Chinese are going to do it regardless.
There will be a permanent presence on the moon, in our lifetime.

[Analog Kid]

Western population is essentially suicidal at this point. Not to say overall birth rate of humanity is barely above replacement rate and dropping.

That's a yuge fallacy, that there's just no turning back from an ever-increasing population to keep the fires stoked.

Yes, under late-stage, self-destructive capitalism you do need an increasing population, since that's the basis for what at least passes for economic stability: fresh inputs of labor (physical and intellectual) to keep up with the ever-increasing demands on the output side.

However, it would be possible, if those who run the world were so inclined, to change the economic system to one that's actually sustainable, meaning it could just as easily operate with a declining population as an increasing one. Of course, there's some lower limit to that population, but that's so far down from our current numbers as to be irrelevant.

So I'm certainly not holding my breath for this change to ever occur. But it is a possibility; we aren't necessarily locked into a population spiral which will eventually lead to a total collapse of human civilization. (Start by reading Hobbes, Malthus and even Ehrlich.)

[Analog Kid]

There's a yuge difference between intra-planetary exploration and interplanetary.

Irrelevant when the Chinese are going to do it regardless.

I make no distinction between nationalities on this issue; it's a disease that infects all humanity.
If one country or culture fails to try to do this, another will take its place.

There will be a permanent presence on the moon, in our lifetime.

I doubt that. But then, my crystal balls are in the shop for recalibration.

[PlainName]

The thing with the moon is not just strategically important, it's psychologically important. Everyone can see the moon, they can see the surface with their bare eyes. They have a constant reminder every day that there is a Chinese base up there looking down on them.

Nah. The US has had their stuff there for a looong time, and there's even the reflector and whatnot. No-one thinks about that when they look at the moon.

Now, have a super-bright LED display in Chinese spread across and you're talking. Otherwise it will be forgotten after a year.

[Monkeh]

The thing with the moon is not just strategically important, it's psychologically important. Everyone can see the moon, they can see the surface with their bare eyes. They have a constant reminder every day that there is a Chinese base up there looking down on them.

Nah. The US has had their stuff there for a looong time, and there's even the reflector and whatnot. No-one thinks about that when they look at the moon.

Now, have a super-bright LED display in Chinese spread across and you're talking. Otherwise it will be forgotten after a year.

Don't give them ideas, they'll do that.

[EEVblog]

The thing with the moon is not just strategically important, it's psychologically important. Everyone can see the moon, they can see the surface with their bare eyes. They have a constant reminder every day that there is a Chinese base up there looking down on them.

Nah. The US has had their stuff there for a looong time, and there's even the reflector and whatnot. No-one thinks about that when they look at the moon.

Because no human is there, hasn't been for over 50 years. No one cares about stuff just being abandoned on the surface.
Human occupation is what makes the difference psychologically and emotionally.
If China and Russia (UAE and Pakistan are also involved) succeed in having a human outpost on the moon at the ILRS as planned
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Lunar_Research_Station
You can bet your bottom dollar that shit is going to hit the fan in the US.
The current NASA temporary admin has already said they are literally in a new moon race with China.

[vk6zgo]

Consistent? The guy* used it once here.

Twice.

"Musk being on the spectrum explains literally everything he says, knows and archives."

"there is not a single person on this forum that has archived more"

"R" & "E" are right next door to each other.

My ASUS laptop keyboard is crappy & produces just such errors.
I originally thought that I was "losing it", & then that I was typing too fast for the keyboard driver, but after taking measures to eliminate those variables, it still happens, so I have to visually error check after something has been typed.

[McCarthy]

This planet is sick. It is infested by human cancer.

I take it you don't have kids?

I don't and that was not by accident. I had ample opportunities.

Besides the over-population issue I mentioned, there is no way that I would want to put anybody into today's divided, hateful and toxic world. Last but not least, the cost of raising a child in the US gets increasingly close to 400k. If everything goes well.

With our failing social security system, that money better goes into retirement funds. Unless you make throw-away money, which requires feeding our ill fitting capitalism in its last stage to make big bucks.

Not having kids also allowed me to retire at age 40. And being single allows me to maintain all the hobbies with zero stress, house on the ocean, and none of that nagging nonsense, let alone the risk of being kicked out and having to sleep in the lab. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not rooting for communism, not even socialism, since many can only think in black or white terms.

What we have evolved into, isn't working. More tech and trying to outrun the issues we keep creating, is no solution.

Give it another 5 years and try to find a job, once Ai took over. Yet another example of our wrong-doings. Nvidia just became the first company to achieve a 5 trillion dollar market cap. Countless data centers with just one goal: cheaper labor for more profit. We are even so stupid, that we are removing our own existence and meaning.

[McCarthy]

Instead of trying to flee this plant, we should rather focus on saving it. We won't reach any equally sustainable planet in another solar system or galaxy, like ever. A few of us living in an artificial system on the moon won't make a dent either.

You completely miss the point. If say an asteroid wipes out the humanity on Earth, people can do nothing about it.

Our root cause, besides our arrogance and stupidity, lays in our greed and over-population of this small planet.

There is no overpopulation overall. It's a local thing at worst.

8 billion and growing, all with the demand for modern and individual living conditions, transportation and wasteful consumerism in a world with planned obsolescence, and capitalism that needs to be saved regularly by printing money, resulting in inflation and ever growing national debts? Not going to happen.

Western population is essentially suicidal at this point. Not to say overall birth rate of humanity is barely above replacement rate and dropping.

This planet is sick. It is infested by human cancer.

Please self-eradicate alone, without involving me and others.

Missed what point? I didn't reply to anybody, I didn't quote anybody either. I made my own point. I don't need verification or acceptance, let alone from this society. I don't care what others think - that train long left the station.

Also, I was talking about humans. That includes me.

Only a small mind would think that eradication is the solution, or the only one. What a stupid comment.

The consequences from overpopulation are only a local issue? Maybe I should get another GMC Sierra 3500 Denali with the 6.7 Duramax V8 diesel, remove the particle filter, tune it to 1200 HP with bolt-ons, and roll coal all day long at well below 10 MPG. I live in a country and state where I can get away with that.

Remember my sentence about "arrogance and stupidity"? I'll add ignorance to it.

[EEVblog]

Well, it seems like some people think this thread isn't going to work.
Rather that continue to fight, I'm locking it.
All the Elon stuff can continue to tangent other threads.
Thanks for playing.