
Elon Musk and the Value of Localism-What We Should Do Instead of Going to Mars - richeyrw
https://wearenotsaved.com/2020/06/24/elon-musk-and-the-value-of-localism-or-what-we-should-do-instead-of-going-to-mars/
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kitsunesoba
I'll have to give it a closer read later, but after skimming through, two
things are on my mind:

1\. This doesn't have to be and shouldn't be an either/or sort of thing. There
should be lots of people trying lots of different things, _mars colonies
included_. Derailing people from what drives them is at best fruitless and at
worst destructive.

2\. The writer is too caught up on Mars specifically. The point is to
kickstart spacefaring so we do it often enough to elevate our mastery to the
same level we've achieved with so many other things. Mars is just the most
reasonable vehicle for that.

The mastery mentioned in #2 will eventually bring settlements and industry to
dot the entire solar system, which reduces risk of extinction in the near-
medium term to near zero and does a lot to prepare humanity for even further
disasterproofing (e.g. construction of colossal generation ships and the like
becomes feasible).

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valuearb
If the only reason for going to Mars was to reduce risk of our species being
wiped out, this might make sense. But there are a lot more reasons such as
scientific research, tourism, living space, stepping stone to other planets
and he stars, that are all just as compelling, and none of which can be done
deep underground in a NORAD shelter.

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Barrin92
The whole Mars thing is just the high tech version of being a prepper, and
it's pretty emblematic of the doomsday-ism that's prevalent among American
tech billionaires who have somehow disconnected from humanity. Just like
they're building themselves bunkers or buying cottages in New Zealand this is
I guess just the next logical step.

It's pretty present in all of Musks products. He was once asked why instead of
digging expensive tunnels for cars one should not simply invest in public
transit, and his response was[1]:

 _" And there’s like a bunch of random strangers, one of who might be a serial
killer"_

AI is gonna kill us all, instead of fixing our planet we just ought to run to
the next one (how we're escaping whatever made us screw up the first one I
don't understand yet), and the trains are full of murderers. Whoever supports
this and doesn't happen to be among the super-rich, just remember, you're not
going to be on the rocket to Mars, and the climate refugees from the third
world aren't going to be there either.

[1][https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-awkward-dislike-
mass-t...](https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-awkward-dislike-mass-
transit/)

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AtlasBarfed
IMO Mars settlement is an aspirational "badge" of space economic development.

The real value of interplanetary manned transport is asteroid mining. That
should payoff the whole enterprise in the short run, and hopefully enable
banks orbital habitats and pulse nuclear planetary and interstellar ships (you
can't launch them in gravity wells or magnetic shells of earth or the fallout
gets guided back to the surface).

The AI grey goo threat is a little weird as a massive danger. Really all the
mitigations are bunkers. But a near independent space economy would be a
fantastic backup. It's easy to drop people back to Earth for repopulation, and
drop in asteroid mined resources as needed.

So the issue is that all the prepper stuff the guy advocates is basically
"bunkers", but it's just a sunk insurance cost.

SpaceX/space development gets you so many more bonuses and upside.

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blackrock
I feel we should probably build massive rotating space stations first, instead
of going to Mars.

At least with rotating space stations, we can generate 1 g of gravity, to
simulate the Earth’s gravity.

And you’re still close to home, for when you get space sick.

I think if the Mars trip ends in the premature deaths of its inhabitants,
because of reduced gravity, then this alone will cause the economic failure of
the program.

But, alternatively, maybe the solution is to build a centrifuge on Mars, that
will spin you around at 1 Earth Gravity. And maybe you need to sit inside this
device for 1 hour a day, in order to get your Earth gravity needs.

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boznz
Interesting take, but Rockets to Mars are Sexier :-)

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lcam84
Does anyone know why the probability of climate change is only ~1 in 1000? As
far as I know, there is a consensus of very real threat is already happening
and at a high pace.

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lcam84
Looking at the previous post:

"Climate Change- I don’t deny the reality of climate change, but I have a hard
time picturing how it wipes out every last human. Most people when pressed on
this issue say that the disruption it causes leads to Nuclear War, which just
takes us back to the last item. "

It's a very anthropocentric way of looking at this, but I understand the
reasoning

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sharemywin
The one I'm kind of worried about that isn't quite extinction but, some kind
of mass genocide where the wealthiest hoard resources to the point most of
humanity dies from a lack of resources. It gets much worse than it is today if
you factor in some kind of technology that replaces large swaths of the work
force. And they create a military machine largely with out humans.

