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I love Elon Musk's original vision. I think we need one backup plan as radical as that. But when you have others like Jeff Bezos jumping on the bandwagon, it b

by jansho 9y ago

I love Elon Musk's original vision. I think we need one backup plan as radical as that. But when you have others like Jeff Bezos jumping on the bandwagon, it becomes a race and I wonder about the true motives. Race for what? Humanity, ego or boyish dreams to conquer space? Let's not forget that Earth 1.0 is the best one we've got, by literally lightyears. If humanity is the concern, let's start with fixing it. Fix poverty, fix the environment. There doesn't need to be a 'magic bullet' that solves all of this at once, because if we have enough rich people targeting different areas, the world will radically improve. I respect Bill Gates for realising this. He's not perfect, but it's clear that he's less concerned about glamorous legacies. He chooses a few areas he believes he can make a difference in, and he sticks to them. It's not just for rich people though. If you're interested, here's a link that someone posted a while ago: https://80000hours.org https://80000hours.org

wellboy 9y ago
The reason for a backup is not poverty or other things that you can possibly fix, but extinction events, such as nuclear war, evil AI, virus etc.
- jansho 9y ago
  Sure. We need the backup for worst case scenarios like that. What about the world as it stands now? We need the wealthy to jump on that bandwagon, not the former. I understand that Elon Musk actually wants to reboot space race to ramp up innovation (sorry I can't remember the source, but I believe it was an early interview where he was talking about NASA not being as forward-looking as it used to be.) But it's hard not to be cynical when there is still a lot of suffering in this world. Can't we make everyone in this world at least have dinner everyday?
  - wellboy 9y ago
    There are a lot already fighting poverty, diseases and the like, no one did something about space exploration. So would it be smarter to say that you need another one fighting the former or that you add the first to find a solution for one of humanity's biggest threats in the next century?
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
crush-n-spread 9y ago
You're very wrong in thinking this is about glamorous legacies, and in fact it's a really terrible thing to say. The issue is that we're losing our technology, and Jeff and Elon and anyone else working on the problem is saving it. Look, in the 1970s we could send people to the moon, but now costs have ballooned to the point where we can't even send people to the ISS with US rockets, that is, until SpaceX came along. And here you are, claiming that these people are ego-maniacs that can't get enough and want to be the best, when in fact they are preserving the very technology that once propelled the great country of USA to become the first people on the moon. It's insane that you could say that. And let me also note that Bill Gates has set the software industry back decades with his campaign to destroy Linux in the 90s. But you're so proud to tear down other great technologists with him! Why? Finally, you must take note that democracy, a great improvement for life on earth (the kind of improvement you advocate) was created by leaving the oligarchies of the UK and creating a brand new society in a brand new continent. In those times, you would have been a serf living under harsh rule saying that "Those explorers are so self-serving, so self-interested, they don't care about us" when in fact their actions improved your quality of life 100-fold in just two centuries.

by jansho 9y ago

wellboy 9y ago

The reason for a backup is not poverty or other things that you can possibly fix, but extinction events, such as nuclear war, evil AI, virus etc.

jansho 9y ago
Sure. We need the backup for worst case scenarios like that. What about the world as it stands now? We need the wealthy to jump on that bandwagon, not the former. I understand that Elon Musk actually wants to reboot space race to ramp up innovation (sorry I can't remember the source, but I believe it was an early interview where he was talking about NASA not being as forward-looking as it used to be.) But it's hard not to be cynical when there is still a lot of suffering in this world. Can't we make everyone in this world at least have dinner everyday?
- wellboy 9y ago
  There are a lot already fighting poverty, diseases and the like, no one did something about space exploration. So would it be smarter to say that you need another one fighting the former or that you add the first to find a solution for one of humanity's biggest threats in the next century?

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

crush-n-spread 9y ago

You're very wrong in thinking this is about glamorous legacies, and in fact it's a really terrible thing to say. The issue is that we're losing our technology, and Jeff and Elon and anyone else working on the problem is saving it. Look, in the 1970s we could send people to the moon, but now costs have ballooned to the point where we can't even send people to the ISS with US rockets, that is, until SpaceX came along. And here you are, claiming that these people are ego-maniacs that can't get enough and want to be the best, when in fact they are preserving the very technology that once propelled the great country of USA to become the first people on the moon. It's insane that you could say that. And let me also note that Bill Gates has set the software industry back decades with his campaign to destroy Linux in the 90s. But you're so proud to tear down other great technologists with him! Why? Finally, you must take note that democracy, a great improvement for life on earth (the kind of improvement you advocate) was created by leaving the oligarchies of the UK and creating a brand new society in a brand new continent. In those times, you would have been a serf living under harsh rule saying that "Those explorers are so self-serving, so self-interested, they don't care about us" when in fact their actions improved your quality of life 100-fold in just two centuries.