{"id":3149,"date":"2016-08-31T08:39:38","date_gmt":"2016-08-31T07:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/open-organization.com\/?p=3149"},"modified":"2016-08-31T08:39:38","modified_gmt":"2016-08-31T07:39:38","slug":"think-really-big-elon-musk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/open-organization.com\/fr\/2016\/08\/31\/think-really-big-elon-musk\/","title":{"rendered":"(English) Think really big:\u00a0Elon Musk"},"content":{"rendered":"

D\u00e9sol\u00e9, cet article est seulement disponible en English<\/a>. Pour le confort de l\u2019utilisateur, le contenu est affich\u00e9 ci-dessous dans une autre langue. Vous pouvez cliquer le lien pour changer de langue active.<\/p>

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Up\u00a0to the early 1970s, our vision of the future was optimistic. Mankind, divided\u00a0into two rival neo-European empires, was on track to build the titanic extension\u00a0into space of its terrestrial habitat.<\/p>\n

\"S-IC_engines_and_Von_Braun\"<\/a>

A precursor to Musk.<\/p><\/div>\n

This\u00a0configuration proved unstable in the sense defined by David Cosandey in his\u00a0brilliant book on the rise of the West<\/a>.\u00a0The fact that there was not enough room on Earth to wage wars with\u00a0intercontinental missiles took the intensity level of the rivalry several\u00a0notches down. Then, one of the rivals proved unable to match the other empire\u2019s\u00a0feat of landing a manned spacecraft on the moon. The contest was over: going on\u00a0had become pointless. The techno-scientific momentum carrying the agenda of\u00a0space conquest subsequently dwindled. Other political priorities diverted resources\u00a0away from the shrinking space agencies. A new, distinctly un-Faustian<\/a>\u00a0generation took over, solidifying this alteration of the course of\u00a0technological development.<\/p>\n

\"20160824_150924\"<\/a>

As seen two streets away from our office.<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2005,\u00a0analyst Jonathan Huebner took the position<\/a> that the future would soon become devoid\u00a0of substantial innovations or discoveries. And in 2010, Peter Thiel famously noted that \u201cWe wanted flying cars, instead\u00a0we got 140 characters.<\/a>\u201d\u00a0He also noted that an undercurrent of nostalgia for the previous era of technological\u00a0optimism was becoming observable on a superficial level: hipsters reveled in\u00a0\u201cfaux vintage photography, the handlebar mustache, and vinyl record players.\u201d<\/p>\n

But\u00a0luckily for Thiel, not everyone seems to have gotten the memo that the age of\u00a0space titans was over.<\/h3>\n

Enter\u00a0Elon Musk (another PayPal alumni).<\/p>\n

In P. Thiel\u2019s book, Musk is depicted wearing an \u201cOccupy Mars\u201d T-shirt. From this\u00a0we may infer two things: (1) Musk wears t-shirts (2) Musk wants to go live on\u00a0Mars.<\/p>\n

Because\u00a0Elon Musk is a complex subject matter, we plan to return to (1) in a future\u00a0post. For the moment, we intend to direct our focus solely on (2).<\/p>\n

Going\u00a0to live on Mars is a 0 to 1 type of thing (i.e. it would be a breakthrough\u00a0innovation of epic proportions). But it is also a personal skin in the game\u00a0type of thing. Musk doesn\u2019t just want to send other people on Mars. He wants to\u00a0go live there himself. To a high degree, Musk\u2019s life, method and vision result\u00a0from and express the combination of these two aspects.<\/p>\n

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    Musk\u2019s macro-vision<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    America\u00a0inherits the Western spirit of exploration and conquest that started with the\u00a0Vikings, then continued with the Crusades, Christopher Columbus, the great\u00a0explorers, and the advance of pioneers across America and Siberia. Now that the\u00a0surface of the Earth has been explored, the cosmos presents itself as a new frontier.<\/p>\n

    In\u00a0addition, civilizations come in cycles: the window of opportunity to reach for\u00a0the stars won\u2019t remain open indefinitely.<\/p>\n