Elon Musk •

Elon Musk’s Latest Musings: We’re Probably Living in a Simulated Reality

Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has a less ordinary vision of what reality really is.

In a recent interview, billionaire tech entrepreneur and SpaceX founder Elon Musk said that the human race is ‘probably’ living in a simulated computer game we can’t tell apart from the physical reality.

He added that chances that humans are not currently living in such reality are pretty low: “one in a billion.” He also believes that video games may soon become so complex that we won’t be able to tell them from real life.

At the Code Conference, he brought more arguments to his odd theory. He noted that four decades ago we had 2-D video games such as Pong. Fastforward 40 years later, we have virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and 3-D simulations played simultaneously by millions of people worldwide.

He said that at the current pace of technological progress we would develop video games that are plainly “indistinguishable’ from reality. Musk added that this outcome is very likely even if the speed of technological progress falls by 1,000. He also said that there would be billions of these simulations out there.

‘It would seem to follow that the odds that we’re in ‘base reality’ is one in billions’,

Musk said.

He also thinks that the only thing that may stop this scenario from becoming reality is a cataclysmic event which could stop ‘civilization.’ In past interviews, he has warned about an AI apocalypse or a World War III.

The tech visionary’s obsession with AI was evident in the latest interview as well. Musk recommends humans to find new ways to artificially enhance their brain power if they don’t want to become intelligent machines’ pets.

He remarked that without an augmented brain humans would be left behind so much in intelligence by robots that they could be used by the latter as their home pets.

”I don’t love the idea of being a house cat,”

he added.

Among his most recent musings there was also the idea that humans could finally land on Mars by 2025. And he said that his own spaceflight company, SpaceX, will make it happen. The idea is to improve the Flying Dragon 2 rocket to safely carry humans to the Red Planet. The journey should not last more than 18 months.

Musk promised to start sending rockets to Mars in 2018. From that point on, his company would beam other unmanned cargos to Mars every 26 months. In 2024, SpaceX should be ready to send the first manned mission to the Red Planet, according to Musk.

Image Source: YouTube

Hollywood designer to create spacesuits for SpaceX’s Mars Mission

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SpaceX’s Mars Mission is at least two years away, but that doesn’t mean fashion is not an important aspect of the highly-anticipated trip to the red planet. In preparation for the space mission, SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk has tapped legendary Hollywood costume designer Jose Fernandez to design the spacesuits astronauts will wear to space.

Fernadez’s resume is impressive: his work includes costumes for Batman v Superman, The Avengers, Jupiter Ascending, Iron Man, Tron: Legacy and more Hollywood blockbusters featuring superheroes. For Musk, who already announced plans to unveil the spacesuits sometime this year, design aesthetics is as important as utility. The spacesuits to be worn in space need to look like 21^st century creations, Musk said, or, in one word, “badass”.

As soon as SpaceX started looking for a designer, four contenders sent in their proposals. In order to qualify for the commission, they had to present something within two weeks. As Fernandez revealed, given the short time available, he could not deliver more than a helmet. Out of the four bids received, the SpaceX boss picked the helmet and subsequently started to work with Fernandez. The collaboration was close enough as to suggest that we will see Musk’s touch on the final product. Six months after the process started, the results are up to the entrepreneur’s standards and the task now is to make the suit functional.

This is a reverse engineering process to that traditionally used, by NASA for instance, where form follows function. That is why, expectations are very high, given SpaceX founder’s inclination for doing things in an original, ground-breaking way. Among the words Fernandez used to describe the suit, “heroic” and “iconic” made an appearance, setting the bar really high. While the suit is still under wraps though, lovers of everything space-related can anticipate, based on Fernandez’ solid credentials, that the result will be very much Comic-Con worthy.

Of late, SpaceX has accelerated the pace of its missions. Moreover, it has ambitious plans for the rest of the year. Its latest mission, the landing of a Falcon 9 on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean is the aerospace upstart’s second successful mission in two months, after it launched a Japanese communications satellite in early April.

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SpaceX to launch land Falcon rocket, space weather satellite DSCOVR

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A month after private space company SpaceX’s last effort to launch its dedicated rockets turned into a catastrophic experiment, it has decided to make another attempt of landing one of its Falcon 9 rockets on an ocean drone ship.

Elon Musk’s space firm will be trying to land the first stage of its 14-story Falcon 9 rocket following the launch of the Deep Space Climate Observatory (or DSCOVR) on Sunday at 6:10 pm EST (2310 GMT) from Florida-based Cape Canaveral Air Force Base station.

The entire take off will be webcast live by NASA TV.

Initially, the launch was slated for 2014-end, but the DISCOVR mission was put on hold after the American space agency sought for more time for the loading of supplies on the pretext of Antares rocket explosion of the Orbital Sciences.

On January 10, SpaceX attempted the landing of a Falcon 9 rocket. But the hydraulic fluid exhausted in the booster for its four grid steering fins. The rocket stage further slammed into the company’s drone ship and ended in a catastrophic explosion.

This will be the second try in two months by SpaceX to make the landing of a rocket on a floating hovership possible as part of Musk’s dream of making the rocket technology reusable.

NASA and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration joined each other for the DSCOVR mission in order to provide real-time solar wind monitoring, an important requirement for weather forecasting.

NASA’s DSCOVR project boffin Adam Szabo said, “One of our main queries about the solar wind is related to the fact that it cools down as it moves toward the planet Earth but not as fast as per the expectation. We believe there is a heating mechanism that may delay the cooling process. The solar wind instruments on DSCOVR will assist in determining what is the real thing behind this extra heat.”

The satellite can immensely contribute in space weather forecast. This will facilitate the scientists in better understanding the space weather and the probable consequences of a likely disruption to the artificial electronics and the electricity grids caused due to the solar events.

Google, SpaceX likely to team up for satellite internet

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Search giant Google is under talks with SpaceX over a possible investment in the rocket maker to strengthen the efforts for delivery of Internet access through satellite, according to a report.

The investment deal, which is currently under talks, would value the rocket making company in excess of USD 10 billion, the sources familiar with the negotiations said.

Such a business association would strengthen the plans of both companies in providing Internet access at affordable rates to underserved regions of the world.

Meanwhile, representatives from both Google and SpaceX were not available to respond to requests for a statement in this regard.

Last week, SpaceX chief Elon Musk had announced that he has higher aspirations for landing on Mars and in this regard his company is developing a second internet system in outer space that would make it possible to stretch all the way to the Red Planet one day.

During a SpaceX event, Musk said that the proposed space network would offer a much faster speed than the internet that we use today.

SpaceX chief Elon Musk proposes much faster internet speeds to visit Mars

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SpaceX chief Elon Musk on Friday announced developing a second internet system in outer space that would make it possible to stretch all the way to Mars one day.

The tech billionaire and serial entrepreneur on Friday visited Seattle and announced at the glitzy private event that he has higher aspirations for landing on the Red Planet.

“One day I will visit Mars,” Musk said.

During the SpaceX event, Musk reportedly said that the proposed space network would be much faster than the internet that we experience today.

The main idea behind proposed plan is to offer low-cost high-speed internet accessibility to areas of the world having vulnerable network connections, while improving global internet speeds in general.

According to the media reports, the task would be an expensive one as the space network is likely to cost USD 10 million for its development. It would need hundreds of satellites to orbit 750 miles above the planet Earth and is low in comparison to the 22,000 mile height that most satellites achieve.

The report further said that the plan is to create internet speeds that are much faster. Musk said as the speed of light is 40 percent faster in the space vacuum compared to fiber, similarly aim is to create faster internet speeds.

According to the sources, the project has still not named and it’s also not clear that when will exactly SpaceX would bring the proposed system.

But media reports suggest that the effort would be starting with 60 employees and will be primarily based in Seattle. The team is likely to grow to 1,000 over the next three to four years.

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