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I love that this is the same guy who wants to send people to Mars one-way and then figure out the return trip later.
by idlewords 4y ago
I love that this is the same guy who wants to send people to Mars one-way and then figure out the return trip later.
- james_pm 4y agoNo need to worry about the return trip if it's unlikely that anyone would survive the trip there, right?
- pavlov 4y ago”Six days after the radiation-wrecked colonists emerged from the battered Starship, the Emperor of Mars condemned them all to death by suffocation for ‘insufficiently engaging with his tweets’. Historians debate the meaning of this expression found carved in a rock outside the base.”
- SketchySeaBeast 4y agoThe settlement communication log will be just a series of "I need people to be even more hardcore" declarations coupled with lists of people thrown out of airlocks.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- rsynnott 4y agoI've read two separate sci-fi novels recently which make some passing reference to the remains of a failed Musk settlement on Mars. Definite shades of this.
- LoveMortuus 4y agoUnder promise, over deliver
- SCLeo 4y agoOnce they are there, can't you just recall them back with OTA updates?
- dshpala 4y agoYou'd be surprised how many people want a one-way ticket to Mars. I think Elon can make good money from that alone.
- georgeburdell 4y agoIsn’t Antarctica just Mars-lite? Do you think a mere treaty is hampering settlement there? That’s where my mind goes when people talk about colonizing another planet.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- dmix 4y agoFlying to another planet on a rocket is obviously very different, the goal is way more interesting than the challenge of living in a hostile environment. Even if it's ultimately a useless exercise for humanity.
- mrguyorama 4y agoThese people are incredibly stupid. They somehow think colonizing mars is easier than regulating the environment here on earth, somehow think elon as dictator is better than any earth government, are interested in putting undertested and sketchy implants into their brain even without a proposed use case, and seem to think that the only reason we don't regularly visit mars is because we don't have a big enough rocket, as if easy access to tons of powdered rust is economically useful.
- idlewords 4y agoOr how people aren't in a hurry to build homes inside an airless radioactive walk-in freezer, which is still way more livable than Mars.
- pclmulqdq 4y agoI'm not sure that the people who want one of those will want them if: * they are not the first (or in the first ~50 or so) to get there * they have a lot of money and a lot of income on Earth This is kind of a glory-seeking thing for people who haven't made a name for themselves otherwise. Rich people would want to have a return flight. That is not a recipe for making a ton of money.
- brhsagain 4y agoI get that gloating when your enemies fail is one of life's big pleasures, but would your opinion on the guy change if we lived an alternate universe where Tesla had gotten FSD working?
- JKCalhoun 4y agoTo answer your question, no, I am utterly unenthusiastic about FSD. When I want to leave the driving to someone else I'll take the train. I suppose I think that's better in the long run, better for society in addition to being better for the planet. I know it's not a popular take.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- brhsagain 4y agoOkay, but idlewords' comment is one of those things that sounds like it is a clever point when it is actually not. "Ha, the big talker who breaks things is talking big and breaking things again!" All right, so if today's article had been, Tesla gets FSD working, would he instead have been like "wow, this guy ships things that work, maybe I was wrong about him and Mars?" No, it's just gloating, right? We get it, he hates Elon, and when you hate someone you'll throw whatever dart you've got on hand at them.
- idlewords 4y agoI find Musk ridiculous, which is not the same as hating someone. People on this site have historically had trouble with the distinction. To answer your question, though, my opinion on his Mars project would change completely if it turned out that cave rescue guy actually was a pedo.
- brhsagain 4y agoI mean, not to get personal or take this on a tangent, but, I am a longtime reader of your tweets and blog, and you seem to have an actual problem of values with him. You clearly have a direction you'd like society to move in and I feel like I've seen you express dismay that this energetic, instrumentally effective guy is out there making the world into something else. Is that not the case?
- facorreia 4y agoRight, but to be eligible for the return trip you'd first need to pay the loan you took to go there by working as an indentured servant and buying your oxygen and food at company-set prices, right?
- Reki 4y agoWhat, you think people should be able to breathe for free?
- HideousKojima 4y agoLife imitates art, you ever seen Total Recall?
- Tade0 4y agoOr Spaceballs for that matter? Wouldn't be the first idea inspired by that film.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- shagie 4y agoPart of the plot of the episode Oxygen (Series 10, episode 5) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_(Doctor_Who) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_(Doctor_Who) It's an interesting watch (especially with the context of labor relations in mind).
- stonogo 4y agoA scene in Heinlein's The Cat Who Walks Through Walls has the protagonist sternly lecturing a ruffian on the importance of paying for air in a domed city on the moon. I still can't tell if Heinlein was serious; a later scene has the same character demanding a transplanted foot be cut off because he felt it indebted him.
- mrguyorama 4y ago
- diebeforei485 4y agoI don't think the one-way thing is real. SpaceX wants to re-use their vehicles. It wouldn't make sense to leave spacecraft on Mars.
- jeffbee 4y agoConsidering the energy cost of the return trip, it makes abundant sense.
- diebeforei485 4y agoPropellant for the return trip can be made on Mars using the Sabatier process. This has been known for decades. (This is why the engines for Starship are designed to use methane). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Direct https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Direct
- mrguyorama 4y agoThe CONCEPT has been known for decades. Who has put a fuel processing facility on mars? I think there was some minor chemistry experiment on one of the rovers to go in that direction. The raw energy required to make that fuel, using ANY conceivable process, is extreme though. What energy solution has been proposed? How much solar acreage do you need? How will you keep the dust off the panels? Will there be any option other than sending panels from earth? All the needed prereqs have zero practical knowledge with them. Nobody has even had the chance to work out kinks yet. It doesn't matter how much elon wants to do something, new shit takes a lot of time, money, and effort to shakedown.
- kayodelycaon 4y ago> How will you keep the dust off the panels? Assuming there are people involved, give them a broom. ;)
- twiddling 4y ago
- Kiro 4y agoWhy do you hate the idea of going to Mars so much? https://idlewords.com/2023/1/why_not_mars.htm https://idlewords.com/2023/1/why_not_mars.htm I would love to go there, even if it meant I died the second I step foot on it. Getting back would be the last thing on my mind.
- Tostino 4y agoThere are plenty of other places you could go travel to where you get to see some amazing wonders right before your guaranteed death. Right here on earth too. Why no go for some of those? You can likely do it for cheaper too.
- JKCalhoun 4y agoMy last thoughts as I gasped for air in the gripping cold of the Martian plain was, "Wait, this is it?"
- starbase 4y agoThere are plenty of people who would give their lives to advance civilization for the sake of future generations. The brief pleasure of seeing some amazing wonders is, in comparison, irrelevant. Death is guaranteed either way.
- robswc 4y agoNot OP but IMO, nothing on earth would compare to another planet. I'm not into space exploration but sometimes I look up at the moon and it blows my mind that we actually went there. Almost feels impossible even. Mars is that x100. I personally wouldn't want to die on Mars but I understand the appeal.
- scottyah 4y agoColonization is his goal, guaranteeing a return trip for everyone seems pretty dumb.
- ryandvm 4y ago> Colonization is his goal Bullshit. Colonization _might_ be a side effect. Bilking various governments out of subsidies and fat contracts is the goal. Just like every other single Musk venture, it is based entirely on feeding at the trough of federal largesse.
- Sparyjerry 4y agoHe is self-funding Mars via making businesses like SpaceX which sell products like any other company. If you think there shouldn't be tax incentives for things like electrification, co2 reduction, or whatever other subsidy the government offers then your problem is with your governments management, not the businesses using government programs.
- woopsn 4y agoIt's only "bilking" if SpaceX doesn't deliver. They do.
- mometsi 4y agoAnybody else reminded of that story where the guy gets a sketchy neural implant, then goes to a dystopian mars settlement, and then rips the self-driving feature out of a car with his bare hands? What was that called again? /puts on sunglasses preemptively/
- b1zguy 4y agoUm, what is it?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- joaogui1 4y agoTotal Recall
- jeffrallen 4y agoI Don't Recall
- moomoo11 4y ago[flagged]
- mrguyorama 4y agoRemember, if you consider other human beings as simply objects for you to do what you like with, you won't feel as bad when you inevitably get them killed
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- MengerSponge 4y agoMy Name is Elon Musk and I Want to Help You Die in Space https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/my-name-is-elon-musk-and-i-want-to-help-you-die-in-space https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/my-name-is-elon-musk-and...
- DesiLurker 4y agoyeah wonder how will the OTA updates work for MARS spacecrafts, 'cause there is no air in between. Checkmate Musk!
- ninjagoo 4y agoEvery billionaire with a rocket has made their way to space, except for one. And that is even though SpaceX has transported astronauts a few times now. I wonder why?