[M_Grey]

It's good to see that the initial nearly religious fervor has worn off, and comments like yours can survive the voting process here. There are a number of issues with the "colony" concept, even beyond that excellent article, but until recently such a point was met with some version of fury. The general theme seems to have been that getting people excited, even with empty promises, was somehow virtuous and might lead to something good (for parties other than Musk's and SpaceX's bottom line).

[pm]

I think people getting excited about space and space travel again is a good thing. It's the first step to getting people involved again, even if only to remember what we're capable of as a species, despite all our flaws and all the other problems we've yet to solve. Whether you agree with Musk's methods or not, I enjoy living in a time where we dream about the possibilities of new worlds, rather than reminiscing about a golden age of space travel long past.

[M_Grey]

I think that's a little sad, because it implicitly gives up on the notion of real progress in favor of PR and imagination. I'm excited about SpaceX, but not because of their "Mars Colony" PR. I don't think the situation is so dire that we need to suspend our skepticism and become mindless cheerleaders in the name of "dreams".

[kitsunesoba]

It's definitely a good idea to keep expectations grounded, but at the same time there's no reason why the current mind-numbingly slow crawl that space travel has come to should be taken as some kind of rule or requirement or inevitability. Musk's timeframes are overwhelmingly optimistic at best, but the current pace of development is also unacceptably slow.

[M_Grey]

...And when people realize that this was PR and hype, you think there won't be a cynical backlash?

[aptwebapps]

I think that's a bit of a false dichotomy. I don't think some portion of the public being swayed by PR is going to stop SpaceX (or other entities) from making real progress. Musk is definitely not giving up on that notion.

If you just mean that it's sad that people need this kind of hyperbole to get excited about space, well, different strokes for different folks. You don't need it, they do.

[M_Grey]

The thing about false hope, is that it doesn't last, and in its wake you get cynicism and apathy. In the long run, lying to gin up excitement backfires.

[pm]

Agreed, what's required is solid discourse, to fill in the endless details of a plan that will no doubt take longer than expected. However, the broad strokes are there, the goals have been set, and action is being taken. This is what makes me excited - not SpaceX, not Elon Musk, but that someone is trying to make commonplace space travel in my lifetime a possibility.

[nickik]

What I don't understand about people like you is how you can still talk this crap.

Musk has done incredible stuff already, he has shown multiple prototypes of what they are building. Sure, maybe they will fail, but I don't understand how you can call everything "empty promises".

He promised a orbital rocket landing, he delivered.

He promised a reusable rocket, this he is very close to as a used rocket was already did multiple full duration test fires.

He promised a new engine, he shows this new engine and its first tests.

He actually delivered a prototype of a carbon-fiber tank that literally nobody in the community was expecting.

Will people like you only be happy if there are 1 Million people living on Mars?

It seems to me that you have never read the actual communication and you are just going of on statements by third parties.

[M_Grey]

It seems to me that you've decided I fit some kind of preconceived archetype "people like you", which largely seems to consist of a lack of faith. "He's done X, why not Y?" Because when he promised X, he did so with a plan which accounted for the issues inherent in X. This is not the case for the orders-of-magnitude more ambitious Y.

"He's done incredible stuff, so take him at his word" is the kind of nearly religious suspension of logic I'm talking about, mixed with equally unfortunate hostility at the "unbelievers" (aka 'people like me'). That you end with a note of incredulity at the notion that I could have arrived at my viewpoints while fully informed walks the fine line between insulting me, and insulting yourself.