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Membership to the royal society is judged via candidates having made 'a substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematics,

Membership to the royal society is judged via candidates having made 'a substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematics, engineering science and medical science'.

card_zero 2y ago
By thinking, or by spending money?
- ineedaj0b 2y ago
  Bezos has tossed a lot of money towards space and did not get as far. Elon has absolutely earned his reputation.
  - GJim 2y ago
    > Elon has absolutely earned his reputation. I think you will find that is exactly what the Royal Society have concluded!
  - seabass-labrax 2y ago
    In fairness, Blue Origin has had only a tenth to a half of the funding that SpaceX has had (depending on which sources you trust; figures vary widely). Yet they are hardly doing badly by any measure: they have an almost fully reusable sub-orbital spacecraft which has consistently and safely carried passengers, and they have a orbital rocket ready for testing next month. SpaceX are clearly the market leader, but this is partially because they are into the category of companies who can now convey profitable payloads for NASA/DoD, with the public funding which goes along with that. Technologically, SpaceX are miles (per second!) ahead of Blue Origin, but in business terms there is perhaps not a great difference between them. First-mover's advantage doesn't often translate into return-on-investment!
- bjornsing 2y ago
  Spending money on scientific endeavors that turn out to be successful typically requires thinking.
  - waihtis 2y ago
    a bunch of frontend developers are about to tell you you're wrong and Musk is actually an idiot
  - n4r9 2y ago
    Does it? My conservative hypothesis is: it requires a good nose for good thinkers.
    - bjornsing 2y ago
      Having a good nose for good thinkers typically requires thinking.
      - n4r9 2y ago
        I'm not so sure. I think there are people who can recognise talent by gut feel, without having much themselves.
        psb217 2y ago
        Well, the ability to identify talent is itself a talent. The skills for identifying talent may be relatively unaligned with demands of the field in which one is identifying talent, but I figure it's helpful to be at least competent in the domain where you're trying to pick winners. In "star driven" fields like music, film, or sports, you can make a good living off the ability to identify (and perhaps nurture) talent which you yourself don't have.
- kcplate 2y ago
  Seems you kind of need people who are capable and willing to do both. Not too many Bruce Wayne’s and Tony Starks outside the comic books and movies who are able to both think and spend. Musk’s value to science and technological progress is not his scientific intellect. Musk’s value is his ability to invest gobs of money in smart people and be patient for years for the returns on his investment to occur…and to be willing to fail. I’m sure he is an asshole and I don’t care what political tribe he follows. I watch rockets fly into space pretty much weekly from my backyard. Feels like every third car is a Tesla on the road. His investment patience has had value to society.

card_zero 2y ago

By thinking, or by spending money?

ineedaj0b 2y ago
Bezos has tossed a lot of money towards space and did not get as far. Elon has absolutely earned his reputation.
- GJim 2y ago
  > Elon has absolutely earned his reputation. I think you will find that is exactly what the Royal Society have concluded!
- seabass-labrax 2y ago
  In fairness, Blue Origin has had only a tenth to a half of the funding that SpaceX has had (depending on which sources you trust; figures vary widely). Yet they are hardly doing badly by any measure: they have an almost fully reusable sub-orbital spacecraft which has consistently and safely carried passengers, and they have a orbital rocket ready for testing next month. SpaceX are clearly the market leader, but this is partially because they are into the category of companies who can now convey profitable payloads for NASA/DoD, with the public funding which goes along with that. Technologically, SpaceX are miles (per second!) ahead of Blue Origin, but in business terms there is perhaps not a great difference between them. First-mover's advantage doesn't often translate into return-on-investment!
bjornsing 2y ago
Spending money on scientific endeavors that turn out to be successful typically requires thinking.
- waihtis 2y ago
  a bunch of frontend developers are about to tell you you're wrong and Musk is actually an idiot
- n4r9 2y ago
  Does it? My conservative hypothesis is: it requires a good nose for good thinkers.
  - bjornsing 2y ago
    Having a good nose for good thinkers typically requires thinking.
    - n4r9 2y ago
      I'm not so sure. I think there are people who can recognise talent by gut feel, without having much themselves.
      - psb217 2y ago
        Well, the ability to identify talent is itself a talent. The skills for identifying talent may be relatively unaligned with demands of the field in which one is identifying talent, but I figure it's helpful to be at least competent in the domain where you're trying to pick winners. In "star driven" fields like music, film, or sports, you can make a good living off the ability to identify (and perhaps nurture) talent which you yourself don't have.
kcplate 2y ago
Seems you kind of need people who are capable and willing to do both. Not too many Bruce Wayne’s and Tony Starks outside the comic books and movies who are able to both think and spend. Musk’s value to science and technological progress is not his scientific intellect. Musk’s value is his ability to invest gobs of money in smart people and be patient for years for the returns on his investment to occur…and to be willing to fail. I’m sure he is an asshole and I don’t care what political tribe he follows. I watch rockets fly into space pretty much weekly from my backyard. Feels like every third car is a Tesla on the road. His investment patience has had value to society.