Lord Ba'al
Well Known GateFan
I believe you can have that same clarity of vision when you're ten years old.
Tesla/Space x
- Thread starter heisenberg
- Start date
You can have it even more at age 6. But clarity of vision is not really going to do much unless your vision includes many many decades of experience in the world we see (clearly or not).
A 10-year-old's world is quite small compared to an adult only 10 years older.
Lord Ba'al
Well Known GateFan
You can have it even more at age 6. But clarity of vision is not really going to do much unless your vision includes many many decades of experience in the world we see (clearly or not).
True but television and internet enlarge a 10 year old's world quite a bit.
I don't at all doubt that. But it is not the real world...at least not a complete version of it. It can be filtered. Life cannot. This is what is at the root of the Snowflake Syndrome. Filtering. Anything not familiar and safe becomes a trigger requiring immediate retreat into some sort of "safe space" in the mind or in an actual place. That is not evidence of coping with reality, it is only hiding from the parts of it that they don't like.
I am not telling you anything about wisdom that you will not eventually experience yourself, many times in your life.
heisenberg
Earl Grey
Back to Tesla...their cars
Lord Ba'al
Well Known GateFan
I am finding the following article quite an interesting read.
http://waitbutwhy.com/2017/04/neuralink.html
I must admit that after reading the introduction I skipped directly to part 4 which as it turns out started with an interesting diagram.
http://waitbutwhy.com/2017/04/neuralink.html
I must admit that after reading the introduction I skipped directly to part 4 which as it turns out started with an interesting diagram.
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Tripler
Well Known GateFan
Most innovative company's do get handouts/subsidies . Look at our own Bombardier here in Canada ... It's crazy how much the guv ment gives them each year and as of late they have been failing in a lot of areas such as really late on delivery of new street cars .You do know Musk gets BILLIONS in govt handouts/subsidies right?
But there whisper Jet is something not to hear . Wow is that thing quiet ... It flew by at an air show and no one knew it was even going by until you saw an aircraft in front of you ...No sound . Just the wind turbulence off the fuselage.
;-)
Lord Ba'al
Well Known GateFan
You do know Musk gets BILLIONS in govt handouts/subsidies right?
And what if he does. If he's making things better with it then that's money well spent. It doesn't affect the business model in any meaningful way.
Yes, true. But because Elon Musk is NOT motivated by money, his vision gets priority and his vision costs lots and lots of money. If somehow some greedy 1%er with no vision (except Vi$ion) got hold of SpaceX, everything would quadruple in cost and less would get done. Sorta like Boeing, Raytheon, NorthrupGrumman, General Dynamics and others. A Falcon 9 space launch:
Customer-facing costs
SpaceX currently sells an "off the shelf" Falcon 9 launch for $61.2 million USD (from 2016). This price has in the past been relatively negotiable. Both MDA Corporation and SES (owners and operators of the CASSIOPE and SES-8 satellites which flew on the first and second Falcon 9v1.1 launches, respectively) paid well under the market value for their flights (CASSIOPE, SES-8).
This launch price is up on previous SpaceX rates for Falcon 9:
- $35 million USD in 2005, 8700kg to LEO
- $36.75 million USD in 2009, with an increasing cost as mission demands increased.
- $44 million USD in early 2010 before the first launch.
- $49.9 million USD in late 2010 after the second launch
- $54 million USD in 2011
- $56.5 million USD in 2013-2014 for Falcon 9v1.1
This is nothing. For comparison, just ONE F-35 fighter costs:
Production Costs
The F-35 Lightning II was designed to be an affordable 5th Generation fighter, taking advantage of economies of scale and commonalities between the three variants. Since the first F-35 was built production costs have dropped approximately 60 percent.
The most recently contracted unit costs for Low Rate Initial Production lot 9 (not including the engine) are:
- F-35A: $102.1 million/jet
- F-35B: $131.6 million/jet
- F-35C: $132.2 million/jet
That is why I do not bite my tongue when giving the YUUUUGE thumbs down to NASA and money black holes like CERN and NGAS who suck up BILLIONS in research grants and subsidies and give practically nothing back to science and progress.
Lord Ba'al
Well Known GateFan
Yes. So they receive aid. That doesn't matter though. Where the money comes from is has no bearing. The money might otherwise have come from investors. As long as the business becomes self-sustainable the model is valid.
I think the point you're trying to make is not that they are receiving aid but rather that the business is not self-sustainable. If so then that's a valid point. That doesn't mean it won't be later on. I didn't do any research into it and I won't be. For me, if an innovative company with big aspirations manages to survive for several years and keep expanding and innovating and people are using their products or services, I figure they'll be okay.
YJ02
Well Known GateFan
last week, when Trump was doing a public meeting with an astronaut on the ISS, he gave an unofficial mandate to get to ppl to Mars by the end of his 2nd term (if he has one )
think any of the private companies will take him up on that?
If so, I would think even a failure would still a be success in its own way as the trying is more then half of the battle; many advancements would no doubt be made permanent even in such a failure
)think any of the private companies will take him up on that?
If so, I would think even a failure would still a be success in its own way as the trying is more then half of the battle; many advancements would no doubt be made permanent even in such a failure
last week, when Trump was doing a public meeting with an astronaut on the ISS, he gave an unofficial mandate to get to ppl to Mars by the end of his 2nd term (if he has one
think any of the private companies will take him up on that?
If so, I would think even a failure would still a be success in its own way as the trying is more then half of the battle; many advancements would no doubt be made permanent even in such a failure
Elon Musk was on that years before Cheeto Benito ever got on board with it so please do not give Trump not one iota of credit for any Mars aspirations. And there will be no need for any "mandate" (is he trying to channel President JF Kennedy?). When we get to Mars, likely with Musk equipment, no credit will go to Trump and rightly so. I think Musk wants to get us there more than Trump does.
Why are we still funding NASA? The Cassini mission has been going on for 20 years. Did it yield anything new scientifically or astronomically? Not really. Just a bunch of trivial information. BILLIONS of dollars later. During the time Cassini was launched to today, SpaceX came out of nowhere and gave us a reusable LANDABLE rocket, tested it and created three variants of it, and even landed on on a drone landing platform at sea. NASA can hardly tie it's (very expensive) shoes. It's an obese and outdated agency which needs to be disbanded. It employs hundreds of "scientists" with dead end college degrees who would not be employable in the private sector, and owns too much land and has too many facilities. It could save us BILLIONS of dollars by shutting it down.
YJ02
Well Known GateFan
Didn't say he should...
if you had heard the interview it mostly just sounds as if Trump couldn't think of anything else to say (other then some schlocky kitchy thing like "see any aliens out there?) other then about Mars and then he tried to sound 'presidential'
and besides, NASA is also on Trump's financial chopping block so i guess they'll have to get to Mars with spit, determination, Russian recycles and a lot of duck tape
Didn't say he should...
if you had heard the interview it mostly just sounds as if Trump couldn't think of anything else to say (other then some schlocky kitchy thing like "see any aliens out there?) other then about Mars and then he tried to sound 'presidential'
and besides, NASA is also on Trump's financial chopping block so i guess they'll have to get to Mars with spit, determination, Russian recycles and a lot of duck tape
Um, NASA will not be getting us to Mars, SpaceX will. NASA has very old technology, and is bloated by "teams" and divisions and red tape and Congressional funding woes. Trump SHOULD put them on the chopping block. He should disband them altogether and sell off all the assets to private companies (giving SpaceX the first options).
The main reason there is no Shuttle fleet is because it costed too much money. And Boeing/Lockheed Martin were making LOTS of money on bloat and maintenance supply.
heisenberg
Earl Grey
It's a historical fact that government departments have a lot of wastage/inefficiencies but that doesn't mean they are all bad. Those inefficiencies are down to poor management. Happens to most large organisations that get as large as a government.
heisenberg
Earl Grey
Tesla does have its fairshare of problems
https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/04/29/tesla-still-hasnt-solved-its-big-supercharger-prob.aspx
https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/04/11/tesla-lost-674-million-last-year-while-gm-made-94.aspx
but....
http://www.caradvice.com.au/546357/tesla-semi-truck-teased-at-conference/