[Ancapistani]

Every single one of those examples is both valid and - I believe, at least - misunderstood.

Musk has a singular goal as far as I can tell: to make humanity a multi-planetary species. All of those things are testing the boundaries of what's possible in areas that will or could be very important for building a permanent settlement on Mars.

I posit that while there's much room for debate around whether or not those projects are viable, as far as I can tell everything Musk has done has been in service of building the corporate framework, talent pool, skills, and technology necessary to colonize Mars.

[phs318u]

Ok. A permanent settlement on Mars. Given the personal control structure at play in his companies giving him autocratic control there, why would anyone believe he wouldn’t be anything but a Martian autocrat, and who in their right mind would willingly submit their own sovereignty to Emperor Musk the First of Mars? It’s not exactly like you could change your mind and walk away. You’d be literally putting your life in the hands of this wildly erratic person.

[cyberge99]

It’s a noble effort for sure, but he’s burned so much goodwill with most people because of his deep alignment with persons of questionable character.

[joquarky]

How about we get our own house in order before messing with other planets?

[queenkjuul]

I'm sorry, you'll have to do an awful lot of explaining to do if you want me to believe Hyperloop, a 100+ year idea proven not to work, and the Vegas Loop, one of the most asinine infrastructure projects I've ever witnessed in my life, could possibly in any way whatsoever contribute to life on Mars