4 ms·

I'd solve poverty, fight corruption, and whatnot. The whole techno-futurism stuff feels like really obnoxious nerdbait to me.

Robotbeat 10y ago
And Musk is a nerd. Why wouldn't he like to do those techno-futuristic things? Occam's Razor: he likes the same kind of stuff that a lot of other nerds like.
- M_Grey 10y ago
  Occam's Razor... he's a smart man who's primary interests are power and money, maybe or maybe not in that order. Look at what he actually does, not the pseudo-visionary crap he claims to support. Look at where most of his money and effort is spent... is it Mars? Is it human-AI integration?
  - Robotbeat 10y ago
    Money to do what? Why is it so absurd to think that Musk might not be interested in money just for its own sake? I mean, he's a billionaire, there's not much practical point in getting more of it. Most of Musk's money is spent on Mars, from what I can tell. Human-AI integration a side project.
    - M_Grey 10y ago
      In what way is most of his money spent on Mars? Most of his money seems to go to LEO cargo launch tech, and solar panels, batteries, and the cars that use them to charge.
      - Robotbeat 10y ago
        But those are investments, not really "spending." Mars doesn't really have a direct financial payback (although any payback would be helpful in making it possible). And Musk seems to say that's what he plans on using his money for. Also, the LEO cargo launch tech (which SpaceX is being paid for, by the way) is being leveraged for Mars using the Red Dragon concept, which is using a Falcon Heavy to launch a Dragon to the surface of Mars. Red Dragon itself is being paid for by SpaceX without government funding to SpaceX. (although NASA /is/ providing valuable free assistance to help make the mission a success--including data relay and EDL expertise--in exchange for SpaceX providing EDL data to NASA. This will end up saving NASA a lot of money, since NASA will not need a dedicated supersonic retropropulsion EDL tech demo to prepare for human-class landers).
        greglindahl 10y ago
        It's worth noting that Falcon Heavy development is being paid for by SpaceX, as were the upgrades to Falcon 9 to increase its payload. SpaceX plans on making that money back from commercial launches, mainly heavier geosync satellites. Aside from the two launch failures, SpaceX has been very efficient with R&D&operations.
  - mordymoop 10y ago
    He works 90 hour weeks.
bryondowd 10y ago
I'd put higher odds on a multi billionaire being able to successfully colonize mars than be able to solve poverty or make an appreciable impact on corruption.
- RodericDay 10y ago
  Yeah, not surprised. It's weird feature of our time, that sensible people think nothing of supercomputers in the palms of our hands, going to Mars, or living forever. And yet any kind of equitable redistribution of resources or alternative societal arrangement is assumed to be absolutely determined to end in death and famine and destruction and should not be entertained for one second. All the utopianism is reserved for tech. Social utopianism is branded Marxist/communist/anarchist and swiftly disposed of.
- marknutter 10y ago
  It's based on the assumption that poverty can actually be solved, which I would argue is impossible due solely to the fact that the definition of poverty does not remain fixed over time. It's also based on the assumption that rationalism is the only way in which to tackle the problems humanity faces, which is absurd on its face unless you're someone who believes there is little to no value in art, literature, philosophy, religion, or the humanities in general.
skoocda 10y ago
The 'whole techno-futurism stuff' that Musk focuses on is more of a reflection of the narrow set of problems which are defined well enough to be solved by investing adequate capital; because they're mostly dependent on technological development. Poverty and corruption are less 'solvable' problems, and capital investments in those areas often don't make any clear progress. Musk is actually solving poverty about as well as any capitalist- he's developing novel industries and creating jobs. That said, I'd be seriously impressed if there's any clear solution that a billionaire could impose on 'corruption'.

Robotbeat 10y ago

And Musk is a nerd. Why wouldn't he like to do those techno-futuristic things? Occam's Razor: he likes the same kind of stuff that a lot of other nerds like.

M_Grey 10y ago
Occam's Razor... he's a smart man who's primary interests are power and money, maybe or maybe not in that order. Look at what he actually does, not the pseudo-visionary crap he claims to support. Look at where most of his money and effort is spent... is it Mars? Is it human-AI integration?
- Robotbeat 10y ago
  Money to do what? Why is it so absurd to think that Musk might not be interested in money just for its own sake? I mean, he's a billionaire, there's not much practical point in getting more of it. Most of Musk's money is spent on Mars, from what I can tell. Human-AI integration a side project.
  - M_Grey 10y ago
    In what way is most of his money spent on Mars? Most of his money seems to go to LEO cargo launch tech, and solar panels, batteries, and the cars that use them to charge.
    - Robotbeat 10y ago
      But those are investments, not really "spending." Mars doesn't really have a direct financial payback (although any payback would be helpful in making it possible). And Musk seems to say that's what he plans on using his money for. Also, the LEO cargo launch tech (which SpaceX is being paid for, by the way) is being leveraged for Mars using the Red Dragon concept, which is using a Falcon Heavy to launch a Dragon to the surface of Mars. Red Dragon itself is being paid for by SpaceX without government funding to SpaceX. (although NASA /is/ providing valuable free assistance to help make the mission a success--including data relay and EDL expertise--in exchange for SpaceX providing EDL data to NASA. This will end up saving NASA a lot of money, since NASA will not need a dedicated supersonic retropropulsion EDL tech demo to prepare for human-class landers).
      - greglindahl 10y ago
        It's worth noting that Falcon Heavy development is being paid for by SpaceX, as were the upgrades to Falcon 9 to increase its payload. SpaceX plans on making that money back from commercial launches, mainly heavier geosync satellites. Aside from the two launch failures, SpaceX has been very efficient with R&D&operations.
- mordymoop 10y ago
  He works 90 hour weeks.

bryondowd 10y ago

I'd put higher odds on a multi billionaire being able to successfully colonize mars than be able to solve poverty or make an appreciable impact on corruption.

RodericDay 10y ago
Yeah, not surprised. It's weird feature of our time, that sensible people think nothing of supercomputers in the palms of our hands, going to Mars, or living forever. And yet any kind of equitable redistribution of resources or alternative societal arrangement is assumed to be absolutely determined to end in death and famine and destruction and should not be entertained for one second. All the utopianism is reserved for tech. Social utopianism is branded Marxist/communist/anarchist and swiftly disposed of.
marknutter 10y ago
It's based on the assumption that poverty can actually be solved, which I would argue is impossible due solely to the fact that the definition of poverty does not remain fixed over time. It's also based on the assumption that rationalism is the only way in which to tackle the problems humanity faces, which is absurd on its face unless you're someone who believes there is little to no value in art, literature, philosophy, religion, or the humanities in general.

skoocda 10y ago

The 'whole techno-futurism stuff' that Musk focuses on is more of a reflection of the narrow set of problems which are defined well enough to be solved by investing adequate capital; because they're mostly dependent on technological development. Poverty and corruption are less 'solvable' problems, and capital investments in those areas often don't make any clear progress. Musk is actually solving poverty about as well as any capitalist- he's developing novel industries and creating jobs. That said, I'd be seriously impressed if there's any clear solution that a billionaire could impose on 'corruption'.