[ShamelessC]

Sorry but surely the idea of having a brain computer interface predates the Culture novels by many decades. Similarly, how are these books the inspiration for SpaceX? Those ideas of traveling the stars (well, planets) _absolutely_ predate the culture series.

Seems pretty obvious to me that these ideas originated long ago in the scientific world and were (beautifully) expanded upon by science fiction authors (again, many decades ago).

[0x64]

The names of SpaceX’s drone ships, such as “Of Course I Still Love You”, are from the Culture novels

[ShamelessC]

Oh so grand parent was referring to the names?

[ein0p]

Not the idea itself, but this specific implementation. Musk has clearly read quite a bit of Banks and Heinlein.

[ShamelessC]

That’s fair I suppose but it’s probably giving more credit to Musk than he deserves. The real work is all being done by researchers who are drastically more knowledgeable about all of this than he is. He’s wise to invest in these sorts of ideas though and deserves credit for that.

[ein0p]

Yeah those researchers would be aimlessly rotting in academia if he didn’t fund risky, out there stuff like this. I can’t name anyone else among his peers who spends their wealth on anything even remotely civilizationally beneficial.

[BriggyDwiggs42]

>Would be rotting in academia

They’d be doing research man

[ein0p]

They _are_ doing research man, and they get help from the best engineers on the planet to turn that research into reality. That’s much better than poking mice brains and never getting anything done. Here they get EEs, roboticists, computer vision experts, neurosurgeons, you name it.

[ShamelessC]

Okay.

[DoesntMatter22]

I think he deserves an awful lot of credit for funding such a pie in th sky idea and giving those researches a chance to even attempt it.

In 1 month he's launched the largest rocket ever, done one of the first successful brain implants ever and released a pretty amazing version of FSD.

No other billionaires have done even 1 of those things. Even if he was a buffoon he deserves credit foe the audacity.

[alexilliamson]

I was sort of with you until the FSD

[DoesntMatter22]

The new FSD is fantastic. It's not perfect but 12.3 is a massive upgrade over 11.x. Very natural. The end is within sight, really.

[ein0p]

IDK. I tried previous versions others said were “fantastic” and it was a pants-shitting experience every time, so I quickly turned it off. Plus I had to hold onto the steering wheel the entire time. That’s not “self driving” IMO