From the New York Times: Elon Musk’s Plan to Put a Million Earthlings on Mars in 20 Years
I was planning on writing some big long thing about Elon Musk and Mars colonization and the ideology of 4X games in response to this article. Maybe I'll still do that at some point. Hasn't been cooking long enough.
Right now though, I just want to make fun of this picture.
A rendering of what life could be like aboard Starship, the ship that will take Earthlings to Mars to become Martians. Passengers enjoy a zero-g violin concerto in the ship's spacious auditorium.
It made me curious as to what sort of music a guy like Elon Musk likes. Which led me to this brief article from Entrepreneur: 5 Out of This World Songs That Inspire Elon Musk
This leads me to think Elon is not a big "music guy." I think if Elon was in attendance at the inaugural Starship zero-g violin concerto, he would probably just be on his phone.
I'm reminded of a quote from Frank Serpico. When asked by actor Al Pacino (who played him in the 1973 biopic Serpico) about why he blew the whistle on corruption within the New York City Police Department (which would result in him getting left for dead by his fellow officers), he replied:
Well, Al, I don't know. I guess I have to say it would be because...if I didn't, who would I be when I listened to a piece of music?
tangentially related link
This interview from Newsroom made the rounds a few months ago: Act’s arts spokesman once watched a musical. Steve Braunias, Newsroom's literary editor, interviews Todd Stephenson, of New Zealand's right-wing Act party.
You’ve read one poem, haven’t you.
I’ve read a couple actually. But yeah, it’s not something I would spend my time reading to be honest.
You wrote in that press statement about Tusiata, “With the new government looking to make spending cuts at low value departments, Creative New Zealand is tempting fate.” Can you expand on that?
From Act’s perspective, we’re really saying, you know, are the individuals in these organisations representing what the majority of New Zealanders would want to see supported? I don’t think that they can do that.
You know, people have very individual tastes. And so it’s better that individuals make those decisions rather than, I suppose, you know, a bureaucratic agency imposing their choices on New Zealanders.
But you don’t have individual tastes yourself, do you? You’re kind of an arts ignoramus, really, by your own reckoning.
No, I certainly have individual things that I like to go to. We talked about that earlier.
You’ve been to see Hamilton.
Well, I was just giving you an example of the things I like to do.
What are your tastes, other than musicals?
That’s the main one in the creative sector.
Musicals.
And I watch movies. I watch TV.
“I watch TV,” says the Act spokesman for the arts.
Creative things are on TV, are they not, Steve?
So, whenever right-wing types talk about "Western culture" and "classical liberal values" or even just music, I think about this interview.