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INTEREST: Billionaire Elon Musk Dreams of Giant Mecha


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Mikasa_su_casa



Joined: 01 Jul 2016
Posts: 120
PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 1:08 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Musk has already gotten his feet wet in the weapons market

The Musk flamethrower is not even close to being a real weapon. You can cause damage to property, yourself, and others I'm sure, but it's hardly military grade. No army is going to buy it and Boring Company isn't going to start competing with arsenals for contracts.

Last edited by Mikasa_su_casa on Mon Oct 15, 2018 1:12 pm; edited 1 time in total
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LegitPancake



Joined: 26 Jun 2017
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Location: Texas, USA
PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 1:08 pm Reply with quote
Evangelion, Princess Mononoke, Your Name? He has great taste.
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 02 May 2011
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 1:31 pm Reply with quote
Mikasa_su_casa wrote:
Quote:
Musk has already gotten his feet wet in the weapons market

The Musk flamethrower is not even close to being a real weapon. You can cause damage to property, yourself, and others I'm sure, but it's hardly military grade. No army is going to buy it and Boring Company isn't going to start competing with arsenals for contracts.


To be fair, I didn't characterize it as a military-grade weapon or created with any intent for use by a military.

I mean, okay, Musk made 20,000 "novelty weapons"? I think that counts as trying out the "weapons market"
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 1:34 pm Reply with quote
This guy really is Friend from 20th Century Boys.
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Beatdigga



Joined: 26 Oct 2003
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 1:34 pm Reply with quote
Someone get Joe Rogan’s weed away from him.
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Banjo



Joined: 13 Dec 2010
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 1:35 pm Reply with quote
Giant robots are easy targets, the opposite is where the future heading..
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Mr March



Joined: 31 May 2010
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 3:28 pm Reply with quote
I want a YF-19 from Macross Smile
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 3:32 pm Reply with quote
Mr March wrote:
I want a YF-19 from Macross Smile

I want unionisation to be the norm across all manufacturing sectors, but the Great Space Calzone had other ideas there too...
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Zeino



Joined: 19 May 2017
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 3:44 pm Reply with quote
Of course, real life Lex Luthor wants giant robots. All the better to terrorize the workers with.
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Compelled to Reply



Joined: 14 Jan 2017
Posts: 358
PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 4:12 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
This is the same person who wants to colonize Mars.

The colonization of Mars has been talked about for decades, or even a century. Musk just believes his companies can make it happen. The whole aerospace industry has been influenced by Sci-Fi pop culture for decades as well (remember Otacon's famous monologue?), so it's no wonder Musk envisions mecha in the future.

Last edited by Compelled to Reply on Mon Oct 15, 2018 10:00 pm; edited 5 times in total
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Nyghtwynd



Joined: 24 Jan 2012
Posts: 62
PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 5:21 pm Reply with quote
Mr March wrote:
I want a YF-19 from Macross Smile

You got good taste, friend.
Count me in on one too
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2709
PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 10:37 pm Reply with quote
Compelled to Reply wrote:
Quote:
This is the same person who wants to colonize Mars.

The colonization of Mars has been talked about for decades, or even a century. Musk just believes his companies can make it happen..
Actually, I think what Musk is doing is a sign of desperation, trolling the waters of public enthusiasm to see what sort of money he can get from realizing popular ideas. I don't think Tesla is doing all that well and along with Teslaquila Mad I expect he may announce a crowd-sourcing campaign. If he does, hold onto your wallets because Mars or Giant Robo aren't remotely practically possible even with his "money" and he knows it. He is trading on his and his company credibility to convince people he can do it if he gets enough money. If it doesn't happen, well everyone knows you can't promise these things...

Why do you think NASA funded the couple of Mars movies they did and the Mars-themed "training camp" for kids a few years back? The same reason as Musk, they knew congress would never foot the bill so they tried to see if they could get the public "fired up" to make them fund it. Sort of lame attempt because since when has congress funded what the public wanted "just because"? I guess they thought it was worth the outside shot to get more funding, JFK did it so...

Last edited by Hiroki not Takuya on Mon Oct 15, 2018 10:47 pm; edited 3 times in total
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Mikasa_su_casa



Joined: 01 Jul 2016
Posts: 120
PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 10:38 pm Reply with quote
For all his faults, at least Musk wants to get us off this rock, while the US Congress and Presidents have had no coherent plans for NASA for decades. This lack of vision, legislative obstructionism and penny-pinching is why the US has been reliant on Russian rockets since Bush and Obama allowed the space shuttle to fade into obsolescence with no replacement.
octopodpie wrote:
Mikasa_su_casa wrote:
Quote:
Musk has already gotten his feet wet in the weapons market

The Musk flamethrower is not even close to being a real weapon. You can cause damage to property, yourself, and others I'm sure, but it's hardly military grade. No army is going to buy it and Boring Company isn't going to start competing with arsenals for contracts.


To be fair, I didn't characterize it as a military-grade weapon or created with any intent for use by a military.

But that's what the words 'weapons market' implies. It's a mischaracterization that makes it seem as if Musk is some kind of Tony Stark.
Quote:
I mean, okay, Musk made 20,000 "novelty weapons"? I think that counts as trying out the "weapons market"

No, it doesn't. Whether they should or should not regulated as weapons, these are not legally weapons, so they can't even be called 'novelty' weapons. They're more like dangerous toys or exceptionally poorly designed lighters.
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 13626
Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 2:05 am Reply with quote
Zeino wrote:
Of course, real life Lex Luthor wants giant robots. All the better to terrorize the workers with.

Ouch. For him to be more like Lex Luthor, he would need to be bald.
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SWAnimefan



Joined: 10 Oct 2014
Posts: 634
PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 7:42 am Reply with quote
Until this year, I thought Musk was very innovative. Now, I'm thinking he's becoming rather eccentric. But I'm not going to dismiss him, yet. While it's true that Giant Mechs (with current technology) would be easy targets and very vulnerable on the battlefield, but in disaster-prone areas, like Japan, I could see them being highly valuable mobile platforms for disaster relief.

Mr March wrote:
I want a YF-19 from Macross Smile


Well you could always buy a Russian SU-27 and modify it, but GERWALK mode will cost extra. Laughing
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