4 ms·

What are those obviously more useful domains AND one tech person can have a very big impact in them?

mypastself 4y ago
Whatever Elon Musk’s shortcomings might be, he applied his intellect and skills to self-evidently useful domains such as EVs and space travel. It seems Vitalik is convinced his tech is beneficial to a similar extent, but I don’t share his enthusiasm, at least not at this point.
- DennisP 4y ago
  But before doing all that, Elon Musk built an online payment system.
  - mypastself 4y ago
    To my understanding, he was less individually influential in that particular company, which is the reason why I omitted it in my examples. Because in my view, developing an online payment system in 2000 is a far more important project than developing a Proof-of-Stake blockchain with Turing-complete smart contracts in 2022. But your point stands: he may well go on to do much better things.
    - bmitc 4y ago
      He was kicked out of if not fired from PayPal is why you left it out.
      - mypastself 4y ago
        Not sure what you’re getting at. If you think I’m trying to hide Elon Musk’s failures, I’m disappointed. There are numerous message boards where Musk is presented as either an unassailable genius whose every word is gold, or an evil Apartheid profiteer who lucked and bullied his way into any success. I expect slightly more nuanced takes from this board. You evidently do not.
  - satvikpendem 4y ago
    And before that, he and his brother built an early precursor to Google Maps.
- Errancer 4y ago
  Genuine question but how is space travel self-evidently useful?
  - mypastself 4y ago
    Preservation of species, provided you accept that as an axiom. Also more immediate benefits such as reusable rockets, affordable satellite Internet etc.
  - ridgeguy 4y ago
    "Space travel" not so much at present. But reduced cost access to space, for sure. - geolocation (GPS, GLONASS, etc.) - communications (Starlink, Iridium, etc.) - earth sensing (weather, climate, etc.) All of these are multibillion $ activities that benefit from lowered launch costs.
  - sergiosgc 4y ago
    A couple non contestable points: 1. It has been useful so far as a challenge for technological development that finds other uses on the ground, and this is certainly not about to change; 2. It has been useful so far, in direct applications, and there are still direct uses to be covered (dangerous asteroid avoidance, as an example); 3. It tackles the SPOF we have as a species: living on a single planet; But the more important one, for me, is one that is contestable. Space faring provides humans with an aspirational goal. Without a long term goal, we are reduced to either an hedonist life, or a never-ending struggle against entropy. We are better, as individuals and as a society, when there is something to long for in the horizon.
    - bgitarts 4y ago
      The first two points can be said about cryptography
  - satvikpendem 4y ago
    NASA Spinoff Technologies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spinoff_technologies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spinoff_technologies 20 Inventions We Wouldn't Have Without Space Travel (actual post from NASA themselves): https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/20-inventions-we-wouldnt-have-without-space-travel https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/20-inventions-we-would...
- bmitc 4y ago
  > Whatever Elon Musk’s shortcomings might be, he applied his intellect and skills to self-evidently useful domains such as EVs and space travel. The self-evidence of such is unknown to me.

Whatever Elon Musk’s shortcomings might be, he applied his intellect and skills to self-evidently useful domains such as EVs and space travel. It seems Vitalik is convinced his tech is beneficial to a similar extent, but I don’t share his enthusiasm, at least not at this point.

DennisP 4y ago
But before doing all that, Elon Musk built an online payment system.
- mypastself 4y ago
  To my understanding, he was less individually influential in that particular company, which is the reason why I omitted it in my examples. Because in my view, developing an online payment system in 2000 is a far more important project than developing a Proof-of-Stake blockchain with Turing-complete smart contracts in 2022. But your point stands: he may well go on to do much better things.
  - bmitc 4y ago
    He was kicked out of if not fired from PayPal is why you left it out.
    - mypastself 4y ago
      Not sure what you’re getting at. If you think I’m trying to hide Elon Musk’s failures, I’m disappointed. There are numerous message boards where Musk is presented as either an unassailable genius whose every word is gold, or an evil Apartheid profiteer who lucked and bullied his way into any success. I expect slightly more nuanced takes from this board. You evidently do not.
- satvikpendem 4y ago
  And before that, he and his brother built an early precursor to Google Maps.
Errancer 4y ago
Genuine question but how is space travel self-evidently useful?
- mypastself 4y ago
  Preservation of species, provided you accept that as an axiom. Also more immediate benefits such as reusable rockets, affordable satellite Internet etc.
- ridgeguy 4y ago
  "Space travel" not so much at present. But reduced cost access to space, for sure. - geolocation (GPS, GLONASS, etc.) - communications (Starlink, Iridium, etc.) - earth sensing (weather, climate, etc.) All of these are multibillion $ activities that benefit from lowered launch costs.
- sergiosgc 4y ago
  A couple non contestable points: 1. It has been useful so far as a challenge for technological development that finds other uses on the ground, and this is certainly not about to change; 2. It has been useful so far, in direct applications, and there are still direct uses to be covered (dangerous asteroid avoidance, as an example); 3. It tackles the SPOF we have as a species: living on a single planet; But the more important one, for me, is one that is contestable. Space faring provides humans with an aspirational goal. Without a long term goal, we are reduced to either an hedonist life, or a never-ending struggle against entropy. We are better, as individuals and as a society, when there is something to long for in the horizon.
  - bgitarts 4y ago
    The first two points can be said about cryptography
- satvikpendem 4y ago
  NASA Spinoff Technologies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spinoff_technologies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spinoff_technologies 20 Inventions We Wouldn't Have Without Space Travel (actual post from NASA themselves): https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/20-inventions-we-wouldnt-have-without-space-travel https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/20-inventions-we-would...
bmitc 4y ago
> Whatever Elon Musk’s shortcomings might be, he applied his intellect and skills to self-evidently useful domains such as EVs and space travel. The self-evidence of such is unknown to me.