So "X" - nothing to see here. Elon's in control - Part XXX **Threadbans in OP**

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121423808#Comment_121423808

The Mars colony is a fantasy. Do you think Musk's money wouldn't be better spent trying to make this world better - instead of flushing it into founding some privatised colony, on a planet where a single failed system could kill everyone?

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121423808#Comment_121423808

Elon's colony is a fantasy, now wanna deal with the fact he's promoting racist nonsense? A portion of posters seem to outright approve of the propaganda and tis a bit sad.

Cordell

The Mars colony is a fantasy

And so was going to the Moon. It takes people like him though.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121423823#Comment_121423823

you might have to. breathable air is probably extra.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121423902#Comment_121423902

Given how his cyber truck is turning out, I'm inclined to say it ain't happening under Musk. Musk invariably makes high claims and fails to deliver, on top of that his main personal focus appears to center around making uninformed statements and social media.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121423902#Comment_121423902

And how many people are living permanently on the moon, to the nearest zero if you have to guess like?

Mars isn't just fantasy, it's lunacy and makes no practical sense outside of tech bros who have taken the "Torment Nexus" tweet to heart. While i'd merely invoke Dr. Ian Malcolm's most famous aside as a response.

And AGAIN. Why not spend that incalculable wealth trying to fix our problems here on Earth? It wouldn't be anything to do with the fact him and his ilk are the predominant contributors to climate change, would it? Or just that it's hard and would take effort?

crusd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121423808#Comment_121423808

As I said, fan bros do not deal in reality

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121423996#Comment_121423996

Going to the Moon made no practical sense, I mean other that the huge scientifical and technological advancements that space exploration brought. Same will apply for Mars. There is no need to go anywhere now and in the foreseeable future, but at some point we may have no choice. We need to keep the space exploration going, even when we don't see any immediate practical reasons.

And if anything will drive us out from Earth it won't be climate change, we can adapt to that.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121424114#Comment_121424114

Setting up on the moon makes entirely more sense than Mars, given it could potentially fuel our future energy requirements, if the theory pans out and Helium-3 becomes of value.

If the world becomes so uninhabitable that Mars becomes a preferable scenario, we truly fúcked up as a species. If anything made sense it'd be terraforming as the long term project, not huddling in a privatised, libertarian colony where the only other option is suffocation and death.

https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Preparing_for_the_Future/Space_for_Earth/Energy/Helium-3_mining_on_the_lunar_surface

And if anything will drive us out from Earth it won't be climate change, we can adapt to that.

Except for ... ya know. The untold millions-to-billions in the Developing World incapable of adapting through lack of finance or infrastructure; they might disagree as they're pushing towards our borders, fleeing their own collapsing nations. Do at least try to see the problem from a broad global scope of potential catastrophe and not an "I'm All Right Jack" mentality (though recent flooding in Cork doesn't exactly bode either).

Tangentially, I always find it amusing that anti-immigration types are such climate deniers, cos the latter is absolutely gonna make the former more pronounced. If anyone should be pro saving the world, it's the Tucker Carlsons and their ilk.

Doctor Jimbob

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121423808#Comment_121423808

The chances of Earth becoming uninhabitable and Mars being a viable alternative within my lifetime are slim.

Even if it does happen, the chances of Musk being responsible for getting us to Mars are even slimmer.

The chances of him inviting me, you, or any other pleb along for the ride are... well you get the idea.

Christy42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121424114#Comment_121424114

There is a difference between colonising Mars in the near future and space exploration. Musk's followers think the former is happening, the 2nd is generally regarded as a good thing.

A Mars colony is not required for space exploration as it stands and we don't have close to the tech required for it. To begin with the rockets to get there aren' t even the biggest blocker as it stands and that is the only one Musk has put effort into.

Musk's interest in rocketry is so he can launch satellites for money. At some point he will make the next generation of ICBMs for the USA, or he will provide rocket motors etc.

Anyone who thinks he genuinely wants to colonize Mars is daft.

I.R.Y.E.D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121424192#Comment_121424192

But but the true believers are special and will be chosen. Otherwise they just spent their time making fúcking idiots out of themselves for someone and others like him who wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire.

Cordell

I never learn. Mars bad, Space Karen bad, with people like you we'll never go anywhere. No, I don't really think he wants to save humanity, I'm not daft, and neither is he. Space exploration is good money, it always was, but also it's a benefit to humanity, even when SS nazis like von Braun are leading.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121424490#Comment_121424490

I guess it was wrong of the US then to not allow von Braun to spew out SS and Nazi rhetoric while he was working away on projects "for all mankind"? A terrible infringement on his free speech.

But maybe you disagree with that.

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121424257#Comment_121424257

Musk seems to think hes a real life Tony Stark so him trying to recreate Iron Man plotlines really isn't surprising.

Doctor Jimbob

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121424490#Comment_121424490

It's not that people think scientific progress and colonisation of Mars is a bad thing, people just don't think Musk is going to contribute anything worthwhile towards those aims. Despite the relentless attempts from Musk and his fanbase to insist otherwise, the man is no genius - he's just a loudmouth with deep pockets.

Unless I've missed something I don't quite see where accidentally buying twitter and somehow making it even worse fits into the grand plan to save humanity.

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121424587#Comment_121424587

people just don't think Musk is going to contribute anything worthwhile towards those aims

Because people put their hate for him and their ignorance ahead or reality and reason. SpaceX already contributed reusable rockets, largest rocket ever launched, global fast low latency satellite internet. SpaceX is basically the US space program at the moment, how can anyone think they won't contribute anything worthwhile?

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121424490#Comment_121424490

I don't care if it's Elon Musk or Tom Hanks, Martian colonies are a wasteful fantasy with a myriad of (fatal) flaws and problem, and maybe consider the pragmatism and points raised challenging the idae, instead of throwing a huff 'cos you think we have a collective hard on to diss Musk.

Cordell

We should be looking to build a Mars colony precisely because a Mars colony will be a huge and extremely difficult undertaking. But we will learn so much. We should also do Moon, no reason to not do both. I don't care who does it either, but it will be someone that is not a nice human being. Do you think that Apollo missions leaders were nice people? No, they were the kind of people who predicted there will be fatal accidents and whole crews lost but they did it anyway.

Agent Coulson

Musk in Isreal today getting a personal tour from the Israeli prime minister of the site of the terrorist attack.

scottser

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121423317#Comment_121423317

He's not a free speech champion though. He wants to indulge in hate speech and not be held accountable for what he says. He doesn't care about anything or anyone but himself.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121424618#Comment_121424618

SpaceX also facing a lot of workplace safety issues that simply wouldn't be acceptable in the likes of NASA. Which once again raises the question, why should he be trusted with establishing an experimental colony in space when he can't maintain safety standards on earth?

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/us-lawmakers-urge-scrutiny-spacex-worker-injuries-after-reuters-report-2023-11-18

But as per usual, you're gonna just ignore all the problems around Musk... I don't believe we're gonna see a successful colony on Mars under his watch and that's based on how he operates.

You can say the people Apollo missions were willing to take risks but they were calculated risks, Musk seems more likely to go for outright unsafe.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121424648#Comment_121424648

What has niceness got to do with anything? You haven't given any quantifiable reason we should build colonies in the first place beyond some aspirational sense that "we should", and now Apollo people weren't possibly nice. How you think you know that I don't know. There's a thing called "calculated risks".

Should we continue space exploration? Yes, we should because it brings us untold information at the cost of zero lives. What does a Martian colony bring us? At least the moon makes sense 'cos of the potential of Helium-3 - but Mars is barren and brings us nothing except a nonsense of the Plan B - that doesn't even track 'cos the planet is inimical to human life in the first place. With the added disadvantage that rescue or escape is itself a death sentence. I think you're grossly underestimating the logistical, astronomical and simple KM distance difference between the moon and Mars.

Meanwhile, the idea of any colony should not be given to private industry whose focus and priority is not the betterment of human reach, and I daresay would be an analogous form of the old US Mining Towns of yore; if we are to colonise it has to be government led to at least guarantee some semblance of humanity in the construct.

Doctor Jimbob

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121424618#Comment_121424618

SpaceX as a whole will likely contribute a lot.

Elon Musk specifically will likely contribute nothing beyond money - and I'd have a lot more respect for him if he'd just shut up and do that instead of trying to portray himself as something he isn't.

Real geniuses don't tend to spend their time being racist and accusing people of being paedos on social media.

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121424702#Comment_121424702

What does a Martian colony bring us?

The knowhow on how to build one. The reasons and opportunity for innovation. We can't even say now what we will invent while trying to build it. We can only hope it's going to be at least as fruitful as what has been invented so far:

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/20-inventions-we-wouldnt-have-without-space-travel

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121424803#Comment_121424803

And again I ask: why Mars and not start with The Moon? It has potential, demonstrable mineral wealth, a spaceport would suddenly increase our opportunities for further exploration (no atmosphere & I think the infamous "Mars Window" would disappear, but open to correctio), and is close enough that if it all goes pear shaped we can pull the plug "relatively" easily. We already have a good idea too how a colony would work, with subterranean dwellings a good candidate to avoid the lethal solar radiation that'd also be a probem on Mars.

The Mars stuff is just trying to run before we can walk, and Musk is adding nothing but money & unrealistic goals. If he scrapped this nonsense and said "LEt's build on the Moon", I'd listen. I'd listen more attentively if he deferred to governmental control - but that's another matter. But he's pursuing the idea, like the brain microchip, cos he's a nerd with no head on his shoulders.

Tony EH

And if anything will drive us out from Earth it won't be climate change, we can adapt to that.

If it becomes serious enough we won't "adapt", we'll perish. The Earth will be fine. She can deal with wildly fluctuating temperatures and extreme conditions.

We'll be fucked though.

hoodie6029

Whatever he actually believes, he publicly says:

We live in a simulation

We need to escape to Mars

Bought a microblogging site for billions to stop wokery.

(given up seriously following him since then)

Don’t listen to this clown and don’t listen to anyone how defends him.

Don’t forget that he and his PayPal mate CZ (Binance) were behind the pump and dump of Dogecoin in 2021 that primarily young adults were left holding the bag while these billionaires had them thinking that they’d make them millionaires by buying ones and zeros. Despicable.

Cordell

@pixelburp

why Mars and not start with The Moon?

As a great man (coming from wealth and power just like Musk) once said, "We chose to go to Mars not because it is easy, but because it is hard".