Plastic bags, climate change, renewable energy,

Asininedrivel

caviar connoisseur
Fuck billionaires! (please watch until at least 3:30)
Quite. It's why I had my own private rage out when Elon pledged to donate $6 billion if the UN could prove it could end world hunger and half the internet fell over themselves to wank over how much of a selfless philanthropist he was.

Get. Fucked. How about you pay some actual taxes or at least return the financial inducements Governments (i.e. taxpayers) have given you? Meaningless grandstanding fucking bullshit.

Oh and fuck Bezos too. He's even worse.
 

Scotty T

Walks the walk
NASA just returned a crew in one of space-x's capsules after 200 days in space. I think billionaires putting money into space travel and colonisation is a good use of their resources, measuring contest or not. It democratises future space travel and has furthered advances in this field faster than governments have in the prior 30 years.

I remember thniking electric cars were a stupid idea, and 20 years ago, the technology of the time supported that view.

Imagine we discover some new physics concepts that allow us to explore light years away but no one has proven the capability to colonise another harsher planet. We'd be 50 years behind at that point.
Musk has a legitimate business behind his and not just about putting rich people in zero gravity for a few moments. I'm sure SpaceX made a tidy profit out of NASA.

We won't be exploring light years away except with telescopes. Currently it would take almost 9 million years to reach the nearest earth/sun like system. I have absolutely no hope or belief that we will ever discover new laws of physics so I don't even imagine it could happen. It's a very different thing to thinking electric cars are a stupid idea.

Electric cars have been viable since well over 20 years ago, the tech has been around much longer. You and I and everyone else were tricked into thinking they were a stupid idea. If you haven't seen it:


Probably still do in some places. India is a fascinating place.
Have you seen Todd Sampson's body hack where the spiritual dude eats the corpses for spiritual energy from the dead?
 

Squidfayce

Eats Squid
No doubt he has made a profit. What's wrong with that? Surely you don't expect this stuff to happen for free? NASA likley would have spent more and taken longer to achieve the same outcome.

Current technology and understanding of physics don't allow us to live the science fiction dream today, but that's not to say it's impossible. We don't know what advances we will have over the next century, but if this century is anything to go by, I'd put money on it.

Also aliens. I keep banging on about it, and there has been heaps of openess about the subject in media and from governments over the last few years. If it's some sort of program of disclosure, my money would be on confirming the existence of Aliens in our lifetime and with that possible advances inconcievable to us today.

Re Todd Sampson, nah not seen it, but sounds like you're talking about the Aghori. That shit is cooked, but fascinating.
 

Scotty T

Walks the walk
Yeah SpaceX are generally improving the space industry and of course business needs to make a profit, but I think democratising space travel is a bit of a stretch.

Most of us on this forum are in the world's top 10% of wealth, but how many of us would genuinely have $450k to spare? Let's say the price goes to a quarter. I still doubt any of the normal "rich" (as in top 10% of the world) people here have $100k to blow on a ten minute thrill ride. If most of the 10% of the richest people in the world can't ever afford it, it's nowhere near democratised.

Sure something could be possible technology wise, aliens could exist, but hanging any hope on these things impacting our ability to survive as a species in the face of climate change is not something I'm going to bother thinking about when my energy is better used trying to change things.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
Yeah SpaceX are generally improving the space industry and of course business needs to make a profit, but I think democratising space travel is a bit of a stretch.

Most of us on this forum are in the world's top 10% of wealth, but how many of us would genuinely have $450k to spare? Let's say the price goes to a quarter. I still doubt any of the normal "rich" (as in top 10% of the world) people here have $100k to blow on a ten minute thrill ride. If most of the 10% of the richest people in the world can't ever afford it, it's nowhere near democratised.

Sure something could be possible technology wise, aliens could exist, but hanging any hope on these things impacting our ability to survive as a species in the face of climate change is not something I'm going to bother thinking about when my energy is better used trying to change things.
SpaceX doesnt really make money - he charges for services to plow back into development. Its the same at Tesla, not really a conventional business model - they make money to spend money. The goal is not profit, its getting things moving faster.

re. the world hunger thing, it was just an effective way of saying throwing money at it isnt the solution. He was just calling the bluff of critics who think he is a bad person for not giving away the money. All his wealth is on paper and being ploughed back into the business - its not him sitting around in a swimming pool of cash with 24/7 hookers and blow.

I do put Musk in a separate category to other billionaires who got rich on things like oil or stockmarkets etc. He isnt perfect, but he is a lot smarter than all of us combined and does actually have a "higher purpose" (for want of a less wanky term....) in mind.
 

Asininedrivel

caviar connoisseur
Also aliens. I keep banging on about it, and there has been heaps of openess about the subject in media and from governments over the last few years. If it's some sort of program of disclosure, my money would be on confirming the existence of Aliens in our lifetime and with that possible advances inconcievable to us today.
'Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.' - Arthur C. Clarke
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
'Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.' - Arthur C. Clarke
The chances of us being the only "intelligent" species to arise is zero. The chances of them being sufficiently close in time and space to have contact with them is pretty close to zero...

Given the scale of time and space, we are a tiny very brief flash in the pan - it would be a miracle if another flash happened at the same time and region as us.
 

SummitFever

Eats Squid
Elon's Starlink is a genuinely useful step forward. The rest of it is a bit of a wank and Bezos and Branson are just taking the piss with their "space" efforts. Most of the money spent on space could be better spent on improving peoples' lives and the planet.

If air travel is an evil CO2 emitter, space travel must be just "out of this world".
 

SummitFever

Eats Squid
The chances of us being the only "intelligent" species to arise is zero. The chances of them being sufficiently close in time and space to have contact with them is pretty close to zero...

Given the scale of time and space, we are a tiny very brief flash in the pan - it would be a miracle if another flash happened at the same time and region as us.
This x1000. The "we'll meet aliens" wishful thinkers have not got their head around how large the universe is (as you say, in both space and time). The chances of intelligent life existing elsewhere is very good, but the chances of it occuring within reach at the same time are infinitesimal.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
Elon's Starlink is a genuinely useful step forward. The rest of it is a bit of a wank and Bezos and Branson are just taking the piss with their "space" efforts. Most of the money spent on space could be better spent on improving peoples' lives and the planet.

If air travel is an evil CO2 emitter, space travel must be just "out of this world".
 

Scotty T

Walks the walk
He isnt perfect, but he is a lot smarter than all of us combined and does actually have a "higher purpose" (for want of a less wanky term....) in mind.
Somewhat on the higher purpose, and the way PayPal played out was absolute genius.
 

Squidfayce

Eats Squid
Its not. Bezos is a tool, but i believe Musk is genuine.
this is my feeling too. theyve both give us things that improve our lives, and are working on stuff that will further advance our species. Cant say thats a bad thing, regardless of you feel about the individuals.
 

Squidfayce

Eats Squid
Yeah SpaceX are generally improving the space industry and of course business needs to make a profit, but I think democratising space travel is a bit of a stretch.
you need a bit more long term thinking. The car was not something the general population could afford at the time it was first developed. Give it time.
 

Squidfayce

Eats Squid
This x1000. The "we'll meet aliens" wishful thinkers have not got their head around how large the universe is (as you say, in both space and time). The chances of intelligent life existing elsewhere is very good, but the chances of it occuring within reach at the same time are infinitesimal.
That depends. If the shit thats happening in the skys, which is increasingly being confirmed as real by the likes of the pentagon et al, is actually extra terrestrial, then everything about these statements becomes untrue.

The recent videos of crafts released by US air force pilots (confirmed as real by the US govt) raises some really interesting implications.. Though the govt hasnt confirmed their origin, they have confirmed that the footage is real. Thats huge. Whether they are ET in origin or not highlights that the laws of physics as we understand them today are being broken.
 
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