I gotta say it, Elon Musk inspires the hell out of me (and makes me feel like I'm wasting my life at the same time).
The manned Falcon 9/Dragon launch which took place today - which took many talented people to accomplish for sure - still needed a spark and focal point of inspiration to get started and see the journey through - and there's no other greater spark in the world right now than Elon Musk. Period. Statues will be erected of this guy when all is said and done. Jeff Bezos might be "richer", but Elon Musk is more "valuable" (his Paypal creation isn't my kind of thing, but what an amazing springboard that led to his current companies - the innovations coming from Tesla; Boring/Hyperloop; and SpaceX are just amazing...we all can dream - that's easy; but he makes them come true - that's hard).
As someone who grew up enthralled with everything space and space travel-related (it was Star Wars that did it for me as a little kid...I wasn't aware of Star Trek until later), I just shook my head in disbelief when the Shuttle program ended. Yes, we have the ISS; yes, we continue to send awesome probes/satellites and robots/machines to places in our solar system (we need more!); but nothing - NOTHING - can compare to human exploration. Probes/satellites and robots/machines act as great recon/foundation-laying tools - but this is ultimately about US...HUMANS.
People often ask the question - "Why are we spending all this time and money exploring space when there are so many problems here on Earth". Well, sure, we have problems here, but the reason to explore space - with the main goal of colonization of moons and planets - is that it opens up an entire new blank slate for US...HUMANS. As long as you're willing to relocate to these new locations (sign me up!!!!) the term "unemployment" and the entire notion of it - will become obsolete. If we can colonize Mars, for example, you can be whatever you want to be - farmer; builder; every other occupation that a civilized society needs; the possibilities are endless because we'll have a whole new slate to work from. Sure, you can, theoretically, be anything you want to be here now on Earth (assuming an oppressive government system and/or religious doctrine isn't holding you back (religion and faith are NOT the same thing btw - faith is the real deal; religion is just man-made rules & rituals...but that's a whole other rant)) - just ask a guy like Elon Musk - but there's a whole lot of extra hurdles already put in your way here on this planet. For example, that's why people say to buy real estate (land) because "God ain't making any more of it here".
Basically, what I'm trying to say is: Human mind = infinite possibilities; Earth = finite possibilities; Universe = infinite possibilities...as you can see, two of those match up nicely.
Thank you, Elon Musk, for using your wealth for good rather than going total Jeff Spicoli and blowing it all on strippers and for Van Halen to play at your birthday party (yes, I just used a "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" reference - because I'm that old, and the movie is that awesome - totally awesome!). Obviously, you don't accomplish all you have by yourself, but you definitely inspire and lead folks - and "put your money where your mouth is" by spending your resources providing outlets for smart, hard-working folks - to bring dreams to reality for us all.
Though, I also gotta say that your "Neuralink" gizmo currently in the works scares the shit out of me if it falls into the wrong hands - but love that it could restore sight to the blind; hearing to the deaf; feeling and function to the paralyzed; reverse dementia and alzheimers...full steam ahead on those aspects!...but, open up the power of the Force to all without any guidance, and you could end up with more Sith than Jedi...and with that bit of nerdiness, I'm done.
Oh, one more thing...and this is just my ignorance wondering out loud - but if we can use magnet technology (as well as plasma thruster tech) for faster propulsion, can it also be incorporated to create a mini-magnetosphere around the spaceship to protect people from harmful radiation during a trip to Mars?
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