The final nail in the coffin of the Mars (or Moon) delusion is gravity. Long-term life under low g is unfeasible. It causes not only muscle and bone deterioration, but also damage to the eyes and brain. And there is no artificial gravity technology that does not involve increasing the mass of the Moon or Mars to achieve 1g, which literally requires the power of the gods. And no, the use of centrifuges, which might work for spacecraft, is not viable on a planetary scale.
They dumbed down science in US schools so much that Musk can get away with his grandiose ketamine-fueled fraudulent claims! The brain appears to be a kind of quantum receiver, sender, & processor. Maybe they think quantum computing will mimic the brain but how on earth are they going to put consciousness in a machine when they don’t even understand what consciousness is? The very first thing they need to do is define consciousness and figure out its source. But they can’t do this via material science, as you so eloquently say. If they can’t even define it, that means consciousness can never be uploaded to a machine.
This is a great piece and I agree with you on the Mars argument. However, Space X is so much more than that, isn’t it? Starlink, connectivity, being able to send rockets to space and have them return safely, potentially putting data centres in space, etc. All these have serious potential. Coupled with AI integration across the business, surely that foundation will give him a strong moat.
Hi Émile, I’ve been a fan of your work for a while, and I particularly like your recent venture into critiquing ambitions in space.
I wish to push-back on the generalisations you sometimes make about EAs. While I agree that longtermism can manifest as a harmful ideology, with all the efforts to “maximise” expected value, you often elide longtermism’s essential features with effective altruism’s accidental (non-essential) features. EA does not require efforts to maximise value: I am a suffering-focused ethicist, and am more concerned with minimising and preventing suffering. EA does not require an embrace of technology- the majority of ~40 people I interacted at the recent EAGlobal were tech-critical. While I understand why you have situated EA within the TESCREAL bundle, such an association muddies the water, and transhumanist aspirations are a far cry from the majority of dedicated and sincere EAs that I know. As such, I wish to challenge your characterisation of the community at large. Thanks :)
It becomes more and more obvious that missions like AGI/superintelligence and space travel to the moon, Mars, and beyond are giant pyramid schemes, fed by greed and gullibility. A lot of people (real people, present and future, including those who are all in right now) are going to get hurt by these futility/vanity projects. Smartness is no longer distinguishable from stupidity when it lacks wisdom and compassion.
The final nail in the coffin of the Mars (or Moon) delusion is gravity. Long-term life under low g is unfeasible. It causes not only muscle and bone deterioration, but also damage to the eyes and brain. And there is no artificial gravity technology that does not involve increasing the mass of the Moon or Mars to achieve 1g, which literally requires the power of the gods. And no, the use of centrifuges, which might work for spacecraft, is not viable on a planetary scale.
They dumbed down science in US schools so much that Musk can get away with his grandiose ketamine-fueled fraudulent claims! The brain appears to be a kind of quantum receiver, sender, & processor. Maybe they think quantum computing will mimic the brain but how on earth are they going to put consciousness in a machine when they don’t even understand what consciousness is? The very first thing they need to do is define consciousness and figure out its source. But they can’t do this via material science, as you so eloquently say. If they can’t even define it, that means consciousness can never be uploaded to a machine.
This is a great piece and I agree with you on the Mars argument. However, Space X is so much more than that, isn’t it? Starlink, connectivity, being able to send rockets to space and have them return safely, potentially putting data centres in space, etc. All these have serious potential. Coupled with AI integration across the business, surely that foundation will give him a strong moat.
Great read.
Hi Émile, I’ve been a fan of your work for a while, and I particularly like your recent venture into critiquing ambitions in space.
I wish to push-back on the generalisations you sometimes make about EAs. While I agree that longtermism can manifest as a harmful ideology, with all the efforts to “maximise” expected value, you often elide longtermism’s essential features with effective altruism’s accidental (non-essential) features. EA does not require efforts to maximise value: I am a suffering-focused ethicist, and am more concerned with minimising and preventing suffering. EA does not require an embrace of technology- the majority of ~40 people I interacted at the recent EAGlobal were tech-critical. While I understand why you have situated EA within the TESCREAL bundle, such an association muddies the water, and transhumanist aspirations are a far cry from the majority of dedicated and sincere EAs that I know. As such, I wish to challenge your characterisation of the community at large. Thanks :)
It becomes more and more obvious that missions like AGI/superintelligence and space travel to the moon, Mars, and beyond are giant pyramid schemes, fed by greed and gullibility. A lot of people (real people, present and future, including those who are all in right now) are going to get hurt by these futility/vanity projects. Smartness is no longer distinguishable from stupidity when it lacks wisdom and compassion.