Why Elon Musk wants to colonize Mars | Neal Stephenson and Lex Fridman

Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:

GUEST BIO:
Neal Stephenson is a sci-fi writer (Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, and new book Termination Shock), former Chief Futurist at Magic Leap and first employee of Blue Origin.

PODCAST INFO:

SOCIAL:

[tombushell]

Mars makes Antarctica look like a tropical paradise.

[alexiscao]

Neal Stephenson and Sam Harris, their way of talking, the rhyme of their speech, the language structure they use, even their voice are so much alike. I almost cannot different them.

[Hghflyer]

Lex is actually so in love with Elon, no podcast he won't mention him. Kinda cute:)

[joshuaerkman]

Once you're on Mars accessing the asteroid belt is easier than accessing the Moon, many individual asteroids have resources valued above all of the riches ever. I hope colonizing Mars is purely ideological but the business case is strong.

[MrCadronboy]

"Trying to come up with plans that extended decades into the future is a waste of time" I fear we're doomed if this statement's accurate.

[sjdanthem]

I'm easing my way into watching this by starting with the clips. Stephenson is probably the only person I can think of of whom I'm a ridiculous fanboy - at age 59. I need to be in the right setting and state of mind to watch the full episode. :)

[eletricavenue]

If I were a billionaire looking at the AI predictions for Earth, I’d be seeking a planet B too.

[jbrownjetmech-]

Putting a lab on the moon makes some sense, plus really cool.

[syewilliams]

Some people see nothing but problems- others see the future

[sc]

at least elon isnt sitting around and talking about... he is doing it

[rayanahosn]

I don’t think people explore things only out of curiosity for the unknown. People are complicated and there is definitely many other psychological, emotional and situational reasons at play when someone makes a decision like that. Things like seeking fame, glory, self worth, fear and probably countless other emotions would come into play.

Like i don’t think Christopher Columbus decided to embark on his journey out of curiosity only

[PerfectInterview]

What is now Canada was originally explored by traders seeking beaver pelts, which were used to make top hats for well to do Europeans. So you can say the founding of Canada was largely financed by a fashion trend. Hard to imagine any fashion trend that could finance the colonization of Mars.

[jazzforpeace]

People on Mars means crossing through the Van Allen Belts, which we haven't been able to do for more than half a century (at LEAST!). Is it really that easy?

[odysseythcentury]

As stated there's radiations, with the kind of atmosphere and magnetic field that Mars have, I would say that it's the biggest challenge that a colonization would face. I don't think I will see it happens on this life.

[matthewviramontes]

Going to Mars is Stage 3. Stage 1 was the ISS and seeing how long humans can tolerate microgravity and its effect on our bodies, testing out the growing of food in space, etc. Stage 2 is the Moon (with the Artemis mission), and if we can build colonies on another solar body, learning how to use water ice from the poles, testing out rovers in low g, etc. Then if we figure out all of that and all goes well, we move on to Stage 3: Mars. And then if Mars goes well, then perhaps Stage 4 will be going to Titan or some other moon. And so on from there until we colonize the whole solar system

[woopteedeewoopteedye]

Norm Macdonald joked about Musk being a mass murderer and Mars being the perfect ruse.

[vinny]

King of his own castle, gonna go from "mar" to "musk"

[biFarm]

Even if Stephenson is correct, he does not have a vision that would ever get people out of bed in the morning. His points are:

-Planning for the future is useless
-Going to Mars is pointless
-People should work on maintaining old infrastructure

I don’t want to live in that world. I want to live in Elon’s world where anything is possible, everything can be built better, and some stuff is just worth doing for the fun of it (Dancing Model X, Flamethrower, Inspiration 4).

[suatustel]

Is there any treaty or pact any nation colonise the planet of Mars could claim sovereignty and declare ownership...

[robertweekes]

1:45 To economically fund development in the solar system, the resources must be harvested and utilized in the same general area — hence, asteroid mining can be used to build structures in the asteroid belt, mining Mars can make structures on Mars etc. YouTuber *Isaac Arthur* has an amazing video about colonizing the solar system