
John Carmack's Tesla Review at End of Latest Armadillo Update - JabavuAdams
http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Home/News?news_id=364
======
sutro
It's a shame that all 11 of the HN comments up to this point are debating the
merits of Carmack's throwaway environmentalism line at the end of his post.
Are we not entrepreneurs? Are we not engineers? Are we not innovators? If so,
then we have truly lost the plot here and slid into trivial political
Redditism.

Here's a guy who skips college, teaches himself to program, and pioneers the
modern video game industry. Though his id partner John Romero rests on his
laurels once they become rich and famous, Carmack pushes forward obsessively,
almost single-handedly advancing the boundaries of 3D technology with each new
game engine release while competing against much larger engineering teams from
much larger companies. Then he decides to teach himself rocket science. From
this post we learn that he gave up his _discretionary spending_ and became
_frugal and money conscious_ again to chase space dreams that _bled lots of
money_ and _probably wouldn't amount to anything_. Now several years later he
has a legitimate space company that's doing work for NASA and is poised for
real scientific breakthroughs in 2009. Meanwhile, he's still working at id on
the next breakthrough 3D game. All the while, never taking investment money,
and always giving back his knowledge by sharing highly detailed technical
posts like this one (and his old .plan updates) and by eventually open-
sourcing all of his work.

This guy is the ultimate hacker. He epitomizes everything that this site is
supposed to be about. And you guys are quibbling about the environment? FAIL!

~~~
DaniFong
Carmack is a hacking demigod, but to me the 'throwaway line' about
environmentalism was the most interesting thing in the whole post. It struck
me that someone I did idolize had a completely different value system.
Obviously that which drives him forward is entirely different than what drives
me. And being in touch with what drives us forward is I think something that
many of us come here for.

------
DaniFong
"I am fairly hostile to most of the environmental movement, finding it
generally a modern tribal religion that justifies condemnation and control of
others in the name of protecting the environment. I care nothing at all for
the environment in isolation, only for how it positively impacts human life --
civilization is all about beating the environment into forms that suit us
better. An "electric car" used to be a conspicuous sign of righteous
sacrifice, but you won't get any self-flagellation points for driving a Tesla.
Too much fun."

I suppose at its core, any value judgment treads into the religious. It's
probably none too surprising that I disagree with this statement. But it's
interesting seeing this judgment so completely distilled.

I'll ask HN. Do you care for the environment, only for the sentient beings
(including animals) of which they are part, only the humans living inside it,
or, largely, only for yourself?

~~~
axiom
Rumor has it that John Carmack is an Objectivist, which puts this statement
into context.

~~~
walterk
His wife, Anna Kang, definitely is (started Fountainhead Entertainment). That
practically guarantees that Carmack is, because it's highly unlikely an
Objectivist would marry a non-Objectivist.

What baffles me is, how on earth do id and Fountainhead games exemplify
Objectivist ideals?

~~~
yummyfajitas
Why can't an objectivist marry a non-objectivist? If Carmack were a socialist,
it would be unlikely: to an objectivist, socialist views would suggest moral
decay. That could hurt a marriage. But if Carmack's views are not too far off,
she could simply view him as mistaken. Why not marry him under those
circumstances?

(Note: I really don't know the social details of objectivism, e.g. how cultish
it really is in practice. Just the basic philosophy.)

~~~
walterk
It's possible, but Objectivism's different from your average ideology in that
who you take as your significant other must itself be determined by
Objectivist ideals. (That's how Rand wrote it, at least.) In practice, there
are probably Objectivists who don't take it that far, but I'm betting Anna
Kang isn't one of them.

By the way, noticed you're at Courant. Do you know Adi, by any chance?

~~~
yummyfajitas
I realize that; Dagney's railroad skillz are what give Rand's fantasy men a
boner, and vice versa for Galt. I totally understand that, and have similar
tastes. John Galt is the ideal, but Carmack comes pretty close, I'd expect.
Even if his reasoning isn't perfect, I suspect the rest of his resume would
make up for that.

Don't know Adi.

~~~
walterk
Really? I don't know what he's done aside from id and Armadillo, and he's
obviously a mathematical genius, but I can't quite see Doom, Quake, etc. and
their underlying technology as "prime mover" material. And I actually think
it's kind of hilarious that Fountainhead Entertainment would make "Doom RPG",
or even be an entertainment company to begin with. Rand, I'm sure, is rolling
in her grave.

------
jodrellblank
I had ever such a low opinion of electric cars in years gone by. At the
weekend I was in a discussion about old cars - my parents had cars that
couldn't do 60mph and had to stop on the way up hills to let the coolant stop
boiling and the engine cool down. No big company will ever release a car that
basic now or in the (non-dystopian) future - if someone designed one, it
simply wouldn't be approved. Standards and expectations have gone up.

Recently I saw Top Gear review the Tesla, and I twigged what Carmack said
about the drivetrain. The Tesla has one gear. No multi-gear-box, no (or less)
gearbox oil, no shifter or paddle shift, no oily engine and spark plugs and
cylinders and valves and fuel pumps and air intakes... it's a motor with one
moving part.

Suddenly, I feel the same way about this - quieter, smoother, simpler, more
maintainable - it will be the standard type of car one day.

------
davi
Most interesting to me:

"We are also trying a new fabrication technology for making chambers – rapid
prototyping investment casting from <http://www.proivc.com/> . This is more
expensive than the spun-pipe based chambers we have been using, but it frees
us from the limits of standard pipe sizes, and makes changing nozzle
dimensions easier. The surface finish is rougher than we had hoped, and there
was some slight ovaling in the chamber, but it is still promising. We haven’t
fired them yet."

