This week I published an essay in The Atlantic which you can (and should) read here, about Elon Musk and his view of populating Mars. I touched on this briefly in the piece and in a twitter thread afterward but I felt compelled to dive a little deeper into exploration in this weeks letter.
“ I think about this paradox a lot if only because I overthink everything and not understanding an emotion that I experience so regularly is bewildering to me.”
I think this is why I find your writing so engaging and illuminating.
I loved your piece in the Atlantic, great work! I also agree with you on the subtle difference between exploring for discoveries and to satisfy that glorious human feeling of curiousity and just conquering and expanding because we can.
Elon's destructive world view also shows through withhis approach to many of his businesses, Space link is a prime example. We have numerous ways of providing high speed service, however, he deploys an ever growing fleet of space junk generating mini satellites to blanket the entire globe, destroy the night sky, hinder space flight and numerous other issues. Just another case of doing something just because he has the tech.
Bleh.. We need more people with outlooks like Carl Sagan, Bryan Cox and Shannon Stirone ;) and less destructive ones. However, capitalism makes the latter more likely then the former.
“ I think about this paradox a lot if only because I overthink everything and not understanding an emotion that I experience so regularly is bewildering to me.”
I think this is why I find your writing so engaging and illuminating.
Spot on.
I loved your piece in the Atlantic, great work! I also agree with you on the subtle difference between exploring for discoveries and to satisfy that glorious human feeling of curiousity and just conquering and expanding because we can.
Elon's destructive world view also shows through withhis approach to many of his businesses, Space link is a prime example. We have numerous ways of providing high speed service, however, he deploys an ever growing fleet of space junk generating mini satellites to blanket the entire globe, destroy the night sky, hinder space flight and numerous other issues. Just another case of doing something just because he has the tech.
Bleh.. We need more people with outlooks like Carl Sagan, Bryan Cox and Shannon Stirone ;) and less destructive ones. However, capitalism makes the latter more likely then the former.