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E4: The Great Trek
Manage episode 516075631 series 3457065
Finally, we launch into Musk’s ultimate quest — his desire to colonize Mars — and how he went from wanting to save earth to wanting to escape it. We hear the origin story of SpaceX, including why one astrophysicist calls Musk’s Earth-exiting plan “delusional.” Is the red planet the ultimate “bubble” of total control, or does it represent a level of hubris that’s out-of-this-world?
Guests in this episode include:
- Robert Zubrin, aerospace engineer and Mars-exploration advocate
- Tom Moline, former SpaceX employee and co-signer of an open letter against Musk’s antics
- Adam Becker, journalist with a background in Astrophysics, Mars mission skeptic
Topics in this episode include:
- How Mars Society advocates courted Elon Musk in his PayPal days, but soon went from patron to self-appointed messiah of the movement
- The origin and history of SpaceX, its “toxic” and loudest-voice-wins culture, and its plans to colonize Mars and turn humanity into a "multi-planetary species"
- The ethics and feasibility of space colonization, Elon’s open fascination with Sci-fi and fantasy — especially utopian ideas and Isaac Asimov’s book Foundation
- The very real challenges of colonizing Mars, from poison dirt to high radiation to the unpredictable impacts on human biology, fertility and psychology
- Planet B and the idea of Mars as the ultimate, engineered "bubble" — and why even optimists like Zubrin are troubled by the scope of Musk’s promises, calling them “bat guano crazy.”
37 episodes
Manage episode 516075631 series 3457065
Finally, we launch into Musk’s ultimate quest — his desire to colonize Mars — and how he went from wanting to save earth to wanting to escape it. We hear the origin story of SpaceX, including why one astrophysicist calls Musk’s Earth-exiting plan “delusional.” Is the red planet the ultimate “bubble” of total control, or does it represent a level of hubris that’s out-of-this-world?
Guests in this episode include:
- Robert Zubrin, aerospace engineer and Mars-exploration advocate
- Tom Moline, former SpaceX employee and co-signer of an open letter against Musk’s antics
- Adam Becker, journalist with a background in Astrophysics, Mars mission skeptic
Topics in this episode include:
- How Mars Society advocates courted Elon Musk in his PayPal days, but soon went from patron to self-appointed messiah of the movement
- The origin and history of SpaceX, its “toxic” and loudest-voice-wins culture, and its plans to colonize Mars and turn humanity into a "multi-planetary species"
- The ethics and feasibility of space colonization, Elon’s open fascination with Sci-fi and fantasy — especially utopian ideas and Isaac Asimov’s book Foundation
- The very real challenges of colonizing Mars, from poison dirt to high radiation to the unpredictable impacts on human biology, fertility and psychology
- Planet B and the idea of Mars as the ultimate, engineered "bubble" — and why even optimists like Zubrin are troubled by the scope of Musk’s promises, calling them “bat guano crazy.”
37 episodes
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