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> "There must be some ability to experiment to advance the state of the art. In the early days of aviation there was a great deal of experimentation and a high
by sho_hn 14y ago
> "There must be some ability to experiment to advance the state of the art. In the early days of aviation there was a great deal of experimentation and a high death rate. We don't want that — the public would not be accepting — but by the same token we can't have a situation where no deaths are ever allowed, because that would put innovation in a coffin too."
Whoa. Talk about a cold equation. I can't make up my mind whether I'm impressed or creeped out that he's willing to go public with statements like that. He's definitely laying bare his thought process, right down to factoring in public reaction.
- api 14y agoSo it's okay for people to risk their lives deep sea diving, climbing Everest, etc., but not here? It's not like the people doing this wouldn't know exactly what they were doing and how dangerous it was.
- sho_hn 14y agoI'm really more surprised that he's willing to go public with the fact he considers "some deaths" an acceptable byproduct of what his company is doing, because if they do happen, it can and probably will be used to paint him callous and possibly to call him responsible. Basically, he's coming across as somewhat unapologetically nerdy - he's giving a pragmatic answer, prefering to be blunt rather than sugar-coating it. But it's a sort of short-term pragmaticism, because it can hurt what he's trying to do in the long run. I sort of like it, but at the same time it's so unusual for a man in his position that I can't help but feel surprised, and possibly put-off. It's more of a comment on how PR-optimized CEO behavior has conditioned my expectations and how Musk challenges them, I guess.
- Symmetry 14y agoAnd if he had claimed it was perfectly safe and people died, what then? I think admitting the truth up front is the better long term strategy here.
- Shivetya 14y agoMaybe malaise of current generations can be best summarized as the lack of willingness to take such risks. Do you think that people flying the first planes didn't have similar thoughts? What about those first crossing the Atlantic oceans? As with an generation there are those who are not complacent, those who will take the risks needed to move us forward. Now they just have the ability to communicate the desire to a large number of people quickly. Many test pilots probably have flown with far less assurance than he will have should he go. Man breaking the sound barrier was an inevitability and I bet there were more than enough ready to try, the same will be when it comes to going to other planets. Mr Musk is just putting it out there now
- acomar 14y agoHe also prefaced that with the statement that he'd be willing to undertake the first mission. He's not just ok with "some deaths", he's willing to risk his own life.
- HeyLaughingBoy 14y agoI think it's fine. Most people, space nerds or not, realize that rockets sometimes go boom. Unconsciously, we all recognize danger when we see it. The problem is that we want to be placated, so when someone comes along and says "the Space Shuttle is perfectly safe" most people want to believe it, even though deep down they really don't. Saying that "yes, that thing you think is dangerous probably is, but we're going into this willing to take the risk" will be accepted by most people because it's what they intuitively believe anyway . For an example of this, just look at NASCAR.
- Florin_Andrei 14y ago"PR-optimized CEOs" usually build shoe factories, not Mars landers.
- ralfn 14y agoThats not cold. As long as his company causes less deaths securing a future, as the army needs to protect the present, nobody should complain.