Is Elon Musk the greatest visionary or the greatest snake oil salesman of our age?

[kabbes]

Yes, that was my point. The settlement of space will be more like the kind of settlement done by the Polynesians or the Bering Strait crossers, due to there being no natives to crush underfoot.

To be fair, we don't actually know that. At least in terms of the potential for us destroying native life, if not native intelligent life.

 

[sir.clip]

Weinstein is a rapist, that is what makes him disgusting, not his physical build. If you have an aversion to fat people perhaps you should seek medical help rather than spewing up your prejudices here

he hasn't been convicted of anything yet.

 

[NoXion]

To be fair, we don't actually know that. At least in terms of the potential for us destroying native life, if not native intelligent life.

It's possible that humans caused the extinction of American megafauna, so there's room for historical parallels in that respect at least.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

To be fair, we don't actually know that. At least in terms of the potential for us destroying native life, if not native intelligent life.

Fuck 'em. Wanky space goblins.

 

[sir.clip]

Fuck 'em. Wanky space goblins.

Sad to think all this technology led us to this thought

 

[gosub]

It's possible that humans caused the extinction of American megafauna, so there's room for historical parallels in that respect at least.

Wasn't the ones who crossed the Bearing Straits though...it was the Euskaldunak ice hoppers who got cut off when the ice retreated

 

[cupid_stunt]

Whatever you think of Musk, this was the coolest thing I've ever watched live on tv



Those boosters fell from 40 kilometres up and each one landed on an X

Only two out of the three landed correctly, one went AWOL.

Two came back to touchdown zones on the Florida coast just south of Kennedy. Their landing legs made contact with the ground virtually at the same time.

"That was epic," said Mr Musk. "That's probably the most exciting thing I've ever seen, literally."

The third booster was due to settle on a drone ship stationed several hundred kilometres out at sea. Unfortunately, it was unable to slow its descent by re-igniting sufficient engines, missed the target vessel and was destroyed as it hit the water at some 500km/h.
Elon Musk's Falcon rocket soars to space

But, as Meatloaf would say, 'two out of three ain't bad'.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Its very risky to heading of into the unknown.
The world/Earth could be really lovely and cosy if we all pull together..

Its risky not going into space. Between the shitting we've done in our own nest, and the odd asteroid, we're fucked if we don't.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

should have been beastie boys sabotage to annoy star trek purists

He's certainly mixing franchises here. The car thing is a direct rip-off of the opening sequence of Heavy Metal:



Of course, Tesla, makes nothing that compares to a '58 Corvette.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

If there's one thing this planet is not short of, it's talented and intelligent people who could be trained to help solve a whole spectrum of issues. I think we can afford to divide our efforts as a species.

One of the biggest assets we're wasting on this planet isn't oil. It's the talent that's going to waste by consigning large swaths of people to a life of poverty.

 

[8ball]

One of the biggest assets we're wasting on this planet isn't oil. It's the talent that's going to waste by consigning large swaths of people to a life of poverty.

And a life of:

making clones of successful phone apps
making social media marketing copy
making outsourcing decisions about which outsourcer to outsource the outsourcing to
guarding rich peoples' shit
designing shit for guarding rich peoples' shit
making outsourcing decisions about which outsourcer to outsource the outsourcing of designing shit for guarding rich peoples' shit to

I could go on...
Basically, life is wasteful and stupid.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

And a life of:

making clones of successful phone apps
making social media marketing copy
making outsourcing decisions about which outsourcer to outsource the outsourcing to
guarding rich peoples' shit
designing shit for guarding rich peoples' shit
making outsourcing decisions about which outsourcer to outsource the outsourcing of designing shit for guarding rich peoples' shit to

I could go on...
Basically, life is wasteful and stupid.

That too.

 

[elbows]

The only Space Program I am interested in at the moment is the track by A Tribe Called Quest.

 

[kabbes]

And a life of:

making clones of successful phone apps
making social media marketing copy
making outsourcing decisions about which outsourcer to outsource the outsourcing to
guarding rich peoples' shit
designing shit for guarding rich peoples' shit
making outsourcing decisions about which outsourcer to outsource the outsourcing of designing shit for guarding rich peoples' shit to

I could go on...
Basically, life is wasteful and stupid.

Let's not forget the shamefully high proportion of the nation's maths, science and engineering graduates that go into the financial services industries.

 

[RainbowTown]

All I know - and all I want to know at this present time - is that there's a mannequin astronaut named after a David Bowie song orbiting the heavens for infinity, driving an electric sports car named after the most neglected scientific genius there's ever been, and currently heading towards Mars. Oh, and blasting out Space Oddity.

Yep, that'll do for me, thank you very much.

 

[kabbes]

All I know - and all I want to know at this present time - is that there's a mannequin astronaut named after a David Bowie song orbiting the heavens for infinity, driving an electric sports car named after the most neglected scientific genius there's ever been, and currently heading towards Mars. Oh, and blasting out Space Oddity.

Yep, that'll do for me, thank you very much.

In space, nobody can hear your Bowie.

 

[RainbowTown]

In space, nobody can hear your Bowie.

In your imagination you can.

 

[Teaboy]

Seems a bloody expensive and long winded way to go about scrapping an old car. Bloke round my way will come and pick it up and probably give you £50 for it as well.

 

[RainbowTown]

Seems a bloody expensive and long winded way to go about scrapping an old car. Bloke round my way will come and pick it up and probably give you £50 for it as well.

A rum deal.

 

[Teaboy]

A rum deal.

Genius my arse.

 

[RainbowTown]

Genius my arse.

Quite.

 

[8ball]

Let's not forget the shamefully high proportion of the nation's maths, science and engineering graduates that go into the financial services industries.

Yeah, that’s probably the worst one. Doesn’t just get the STEM lot either (though the grouping into one or the other also always struck me as stupid and wasteful).

 

[kabbes]

(though the grouping into one or the other also always struck me as stupid and wasteful).

Well, it is worth identifying that some people have actually spent 3 years and more painstakingly and methodically learning how to do the kind of things that could directly lead to advancements in human material wellbeing before they go off to count zeroes on computers for banks.

 

[8ball]

Well, it is worth identifying that some people have actually spent 3 years and more painstakingly and methodically learning how to do the kind of things that could directly lead to advancements in human material wellbeing before they go off to count zeroes on computers for banks.

I don't mean what you said as such, I meant the grouping of knowledge two overly-distinct piles leads to wastefulness. Besides, people in both groups often do things that can lead both to human material wellbeing and more intangible benefits.

 

[kabbes]

I don't mean what you said as such, I meant the grouping of knowledge two overly-distinct piles leads to wastefulness.

Yes and no. It's not disrespectful or inaccurate to identify that if you want a medical researcher, you need somebody who has put in the time to study biomedicine. If you want a nuclear physicist, that person better understand nuclear physics! Similarly, it's no good seeking out a chemist if you actually need somebody that has spent many years studying the impacts of social policy. There is a separation of knowledge, even whilst acknowledging that all knowledge is useful and breadth of understanding across multiple spheres has an incredibly powerful multiplier effect.

Besides, people in both groups often do things that can lead both to human material wellbeing and more intangible benefits.

Of course, and I meant no implication otherwise. Indeed, in many cases, human wellbeing is enhanced considerably more by good social science than good physical science. But that doesn't mean there isn't a distinct set of studies that comprise STEM. And it is the STEM graduates in particular that finance hoovers up to the detriment of all the research that those graduates might otherwise have become part of.

 

[8ball]

Yes and no. It's not disrespectful or inaccurate to identify that if you want a medical researcher, you need somebody who has put in the time to study biomedicine. If you want a nuclear physicist, that person better understand nuclear physics! Similarly, it's no good seeking out a chemist if you actually need somebody that has spent many years studying the impacts of social policy. There is a separation of knowledge, even whilst acknowledging that all knowledge is useful and breadth of understanding across multiple spheres has an incredibly powerful multiplier effect.

I don't think you really got what I meant, but it's not an important point in the great scheme of things.
But yeah, I'd sooner a nuclear physicist that understands nuclear physics.

Especially when I need my frappuccino in a hurry.

 

[tim]

he hasn't been convicted of anything yet.

"alleged"

 

[strung out]

The way things are going now, the robots will have already taken all the poor peoples' jobs by that point anyway. Any humans still involved in the process at that point will be highly-trained specialists raking in danger pay like oil rig workers, not some Stakhanovite caricatures.

People like...

 

[bimble]

Just read about Musk's plans regarding Mars..
Huge Mars Colony Eyed by SpaceX Founder : DNews
He said (speaking in 2012) that there might be a colony of tens of thousands my the end of the 2020s, and 'the settlement program would start with a pioneering group of fewer than 10 people, who would journey to the Red Planet aboard a huge reusable rocket powered by liquid oxygen and methane..'
That would be some top reality tv.

 

[AverageJoe]

All I know - and all I want to know at this present time - is that there's a mannequin astronaut named after a David Bowie song orbiting the heavens for infinity, driving an electric sports car named after the most neglected scientific genius there's ever been, and currently heading towards Mars. Oh, and blasting out Space Oddity.

Yep, that'll do for me, thank you very much.

And a post it note on the dashboard that says 'Dont Panic'