Of course I have been wrong about things in the past but I do believe in his Mars plans because he simply is a lot like me. A lot of tech heads see themselves in Musk. We have dreamed of colonizing Mars for decades. It is why we became such fans of his in the first place.
I think he is similar to Wernher von Braun in that it is a true obsession and goal. For von Braun the moon was not a place for humans to survive. It was the final frontier. People were willing to sacrifice almost anything for discovery in the past. Look at the polar expeditions. Or even Christopher Columbus. He put everything on the line. His bravery was genuine but he was also a genuinely terrible person. He did atrocities against native Americans.
So what set a lot of us science and tech geeks apart from Elon Musk is that while we also dream of Mars, we will not sacrifice people around us for it. We will not do like von Braun and join the SS and side with the Nazis to build rockets. People like Elon and Wernher von Braun place their ambition above human life and dignity.
The Earth is not fucked, and he would not have cared about solar panels and EVs if he saw Earth as a lost cause. Mars is worse than if we had an all out nuclear war on Earth plus greenhouse gas emissions going totally crazy. All the soil on Mars for instance is radioactive. You cannot breath the air. You cannot stay on the surface without getting cancer. Even humans can never make the Earth this bad with all the efforts we put in.
No, Mars is not a fresh start. Mars is the ultimate challenge to overcome. That is why many want to go there. It is to push the boundaries of exploration. Somehow many humans have a very strong inner desire to explore and to be pioneers. To overcome the toughest challenges. Look at mount Everest. There are literally lines of people waiting to reach the summit.
Thanks for writing this. Trump supporters in the US are likely cheering him on while he burns down the federal government. And Musk should be in prison for stealing US government systems with personal identifying information on them, and even classified systems. That is breaking the law and would put anyone else in prison. And with Republicans controlling all three branches of government, they will likely be enablers.
I'm a reader and supporter of Clean Technica (cleantechnica.com), and the authors and readers alike are appalled at the man Elon has become.
In my family video meeting just now all the siblings were united against what Trump and Elon are doing, and only my parents who are brainwashed on Fox News were in support.
Oh yeah Clean Technica! I used to read them a lot in my Elon fanboy days. Back when he talked mostly about electrification of transportation. How we needed to use solar power. Back when his tweets wasn't about overthrowing governments and how Jews seek to "destroy the white race".
Matt you live through exceptional times. Even seeing this from afar, I am shocked how this can unfold in this manner. I don't know what it is like having parents on the side of this. My parents like many Norwegian parents are staunce social democrats. Vote labour party on every election for decades. Just as their parents did.
I pondered this many times about life in the US. The stark generational divide. We don't have that here in Norway.
I think what I would struggle with is that I cannot respect Trump supporters. But in your case they are your parents. How do you deal with that? I have distant American relative who support Trump. I know from staying there that they are good people.
The way I square this in my head is that I see them as sort of good brainwashed people. But it is imperfect, because even if people are brainwashed, how can they look at the cruel things Trump says and does and somehow be okay with it. Why is your sense of human decency not kicking in?
The perception of reality must somehow be some profoundly distorted that somehow cruelty becomes okay. Some right-wingers I talked to which I in many ways respected seems to sort of see a lot of the cruelty as a form of comedy. Like they didn't take it serious. It was just good fun. But I know they are offended when they get characterized in similar ways and mistreated. It really does bother me that people who seem decent and intelligent are so blind to the malice. That they cannot see it and accept it when it is right in front of their eyes.
Looked good, unfortunately I hit your paywall before I got to John Rhodes. I know I am a hypocrite for saying this but I actually hate how one gets emails when joining Substack newsletters. There is no way to turn it off. I has made me ponder to switch to Ghost which allows followers to turn off mailing of posts. But then again Ghost lacks the community that Substack has, and I find that very valuable.
Most of my posts are not paywalled, but - as you know - its important to also provide exclusive content to incentivise paid subscriptions. I'm very keen to see whether the Substack model can actually build a richer intellectual community and expose voices (like those of us in developing countries) that won't typically be able to get that exposure.
Happy to give you complimentary access to read the post, though. Just let me know.
Absolutely. Believe me I KNOW the struggle very well. I am pretty annoyed with all the people who demand everything free and see it as some kind of insult that you try to get paid for your work. But I also understand the challenge on Substack that you have to subscribe to people individually. I also write on Medium and subscribe to it as one subscription gives me free access to all content. I don't suggest Substack should follow that model as I think it is good that Substack puts each creator more in focus. OTOH I wish there was something in between. Perhaps if some creators could pull together or something. Substack model is a bit of a strain on us as creator as well as we feel the need to constantly write to make sure our subscribers get value. I can more of a slacker on Medium.
Thanks I'll like that. Let me know and I can return you the favor
I think you are too generous about Elon "mission to Mars". Its not good thing. Its exit strategy because he see Earth as fucked.
Of course I have been wrong about things in the past but I do believe in his Mars plans because he simply is a lot like me. A lot of tech heads see themselves in Musk. We have dreamed of colonizing Mars for decades. It is why we became such fans of his in the first place.
I think he is similar to Wernher von Braun in that it is a true obsession and goal. For von Braun the moon was not a place for humans to survive. It was the final frontier. People were willing to sacrifice almost anything for discovery in the past. Look at the polar expeditions. Or even Christopher Columbus. He put everything on the line. His bravery was genuine but he was also a genuinely terrible person. He did atrocities against native Americans.
So what set a lot of us science and tech geeks apart from Elon Musk is that while we also dream of Mars, we will not sacrifice people around us for it. We will not do like von Braun and join the SS and side with the Nazis to build rockets. People like Elon and Wernher von Braun place their ambition above human life and dignity.
The Earth is not fucked, and he would not have cared about solar panels and EVs if he saw Earth as a lost cause. Mars is worse than if we had an all out nuclear war on Earth plus greenhouse gas emissions going totally crazy. All the soil on Mars for instance is radioactive. You cannot breath the air. You cannot stay on the surface without getting cancer. Even humans can never make the Earth this bad with all the efforts we put in.
No, Mars is not a fresh start. Mars is the ultimate challenge to overcome. That is why many want to go there. It is to push the boundaries of exploration. Somehow many humans have a very strong inner desire to explore and to be pioneers. To overcome the toughest challenges. Look at mount Everest. There are literally lines of people waiting to reach the summit.
Thanks for writing this. Trump supporters in the US are likely cheering him on while he burns down the federal government. And Musk should be in prison for stealing US government systems with personal identifying information on them, and even classified systems. That is breaking the law and would put anyone else in prison. And with Republicans controlling all three branches of government, they will likely be enablers.
I'm a reader and supporter of Clean Technica (cleantechnica.com), and the authors and readers alike are appalled at the man Elon has become.
In my family video meeting just now all the siblings were united against what Trump and Elon are doing, and only my parents who are brainwashed on Fox News were in support.
Oh yeah Clean Technica! I used to read them a lot in my Elon fanboy days. Back when he talked mostly about electrification of transportation. How we needed to use solar power. Back when his tweets wasn't about overthrowing governments and how Jews seek to "destroy the white race".
Matt you live through exceptional times. Even seeing this from afar, I am shocked how this can unfold in this manner. I don't know what it is like having parents on the side of this. My parents like many Norwegian parents are staunce social democrats. Vote labour party on every election for decades. Just as their parents did.
I pondered this many times about life in the US. The stark generational divide. We don't have that here in Norway.
I think what I would struggle with is that I cannot respect Trump supporters. But in your case they are your parents. How do you deal with that? I have distant American relative who support Trump. I know from staying there that they are good people.
The way I square this in my head is that I see them as sort of good brainwashed people. But it is imperfect, because even if people are brainwashed, how can they look at the cruel things Trump says and does and somehow be okay with it. Why is your sense of human decency not kicking in?
The perception of reality must somehow be some profoundly distorted that somehow cruelty becomes okay. Some right-wingers I talked to which I in many ways respected seems to sort of see a lot of the cruelty as a form of comedy. Like they didn't take it serious. It was just good fun. But I know they are offended when they get characterized in similar ways and mistreated. It really does bother me that people who seem decent and intelligent are so blind to the malice. That they cannot see it and accept it when it is right in front of their eyes.
Interesting comparison with Wernher von Braun, Erik. May I propose another one, one closer to home for Elon: Cecil John Rhodes.
https://www.ourlongwalk.com/p/imperial-archetype
Looked good, unfortunately I hit your paywall before I got to John Rhodes. I know I am a hypocrite for saying this but I actually hate how one gets emails when joining Substack newsletters. There is no way to turn it off. I has made me ponder to switch to Ghost which allows followers to turn off mailing of posts. But then again Ghost lacks the community that Substack has, and I find that very valuable.
Most of my posts are not paywalled, but - as you know - its important to also provide exclusive content to incentivise paid subscriptions. I'm very keen to see whether the Substack model can actually build a richer intellectual community and expose voices (like those of us in developing countries) that won't typically be able to get that exposure.
Happy to give you complimentary access to read the post, though. Just let me know.
Absolutely. Believe me I KNOW the struggle very well. I am pretty annoyed with all the people who demand everything free and see it as some kind of insult that you try to get paid for your work. But I also understand the challenge on Substack that you have to subscribe to people individually. I also write on Medium and subscribe to it as one subscription gives me free access to all content. I don't suggest Substack should follow that model as I think it is good that Substack puts each creator more in focus. OTOH I wish there was something in between. Perhaps if some creators could pull together or something. Substack model is a bit of a strain on us as creator as well as we feel the need to constantly write to make sure our subscribers get value. I can more of a slacker on Medium.
Thanks I'll like that. Let me know and I can return you the favor
Yes, Elon Musk is overrated. https://zerocontradictions.net/civilization/space-colonization#elon-musk-commentary
But no, he's not evil. There's no such thing as "evil". https://zerocontradictions.net/pdfs/what-is-morality.pdf
Just wanted to let you know that the 'Adolf Hitler and vegetarianism' link is broken.