Elon Musk now says we can prevent global warming with "a large solar-powered AI satellite constellation"

[highplainsdem]

And of course you know who thinks he'll be in control of that satellite constellation...

Link to tweet

[Prairie Gates]

1. He's a genius, doncha know?

All the people who used to be Musk fanboys on various Dem sites (including close to home, ahem) have lost their credibility forever. This guy is a lucky clown, and that's all he is.

[WmChris]

37. Then

With the greenhouse effect under control all we need is AI augmented breathing devices in order to live on the oil and coal polluted air. We then would only have the polluted ground water to deal with.

[marmar]

2. If there's one person other than 45/47 I look forward to not hearing from ever again....

.... it's this POS.

[Irish_Dem]

3. Musk will be happy to sell us one of these for a small price tag of $10 Trillion.

[Trueblue1968]

45. We do not need anymore AI. I think we have too much as it is.

[Irish_Dem]

46. I agree totally.

AI may be our ruination.

[Maninacan]

4. global warming

So global warming is real!

[Biophilic]

5. Hey, it's a Monday, I'm into wild, stupid schemes.

And, of course, Musk is totally reliable. Sounds like the perfect solution. And, best of all, it will use up billions of taxpayers money. Let’s do it! They really do think we are all stupid.

[SSJVegeta]

6. Probably just another scam.

[markodochartaigh]

7. This seems like an extraordinarily effective way to...

................................................................................................................................................................... channel more billions of dollars from the government into Eloon's pockets.



.

[Johonny]

8. Wouldnt that be considered a weapon?

[highplainsdem]

9. A Bond-villain weapon.

[flvegan]

10. Wasn't this an episode of The Simpsons?

[GoCubsGo]

26. It was the premise for "The Simpsons" movie, IIRC.

[mr715]

28. No, that was the EPA installing a dome over Springfield

The space mirrors solving global warming was a Futurama plot.

[GoCubsGo]

32. Oh, that's right!

I remember the dome. Couldn't remember why they built it.

[AZJonnie]

11. Anybody have any idea what the hell he is referring to here?

I've never of any such idea, let alone how such a thing would actually function? Did I miss some incredible scientific breakthru?

[eShirl]

39. probably just some AI spy satelite/weapon/panopticon thing

[ProfessorGAC]

44. A Magnetic Field To Diffract Light?

Might work in theory, but the power required would be enormous.
Doesn't seem like satellites, but more like several orbiting cities.

[oasis]

12. Bounce the sunlight off Trump's colossal rump.

That should work even better.

[2MuchNoise]

21. Most of it will get swallowed up in that huge crack.

You know, the same place where republicans keep their heads.

[Sogo]

40. LOL!!

[Johnny2X2X]

13. Just buy earth a pair of giant singlasses

Duh.

[Prairie_Seagull]

14. As a functioning concept, I figure the world would need to

contribute and retain control. No way in hell would we want this loony toon to be able to turn up the heat whenever he was pissed.

[mr715]

41. Well, also, the idea of engineering a solution in space

is probably wildly more expensive than simply transitioning to renewables.

It is true that we can engineer the climate. I don't think it is the most efficient practice. Certainly untested and likely unsafe.

But hey, I like the idea of a dyson swarm.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

15. The Simpsons, as usual, predicted this.

[haele]

16. Okay, what sci-fi show did he watch recently...

Where solar powered AI satellites were deployed so as to be able to maintain planet-wide communications and direct the hero's activities in a hostile or disaster environment?

Is he also including hyper-sonic AI directed anti-grav transport pods so he can get to any location on the world within an hour or so?

I'm not a Luddite, but the sad truth is that the Wealthy technocrats have become hype masters focused on a quick ROI rather than focusing on actual innovation or engineering/science breakthroughs. We as a society have lost about seventy years of potential innovative study and experimentation due to their "move fast, break things, we're the geniuses and the masses are holding us back"... attitudes.

[mr715]

42. The Expanse, somewhat

I believe they have solar accumulators on Ganymede to foster plant growth.

[Silent Type]

17. Quite frankly, if he can do that -- which is suspect -- I'd support paying him, even if we have to tax rich. Darn sure

wouldn't boycott him, if in fact he could do that.

[bucolic_frolic]

18. Eloon's SciFi World - how toys become real

As long as taxpayers keep getting soaked

[Buns_of_Fire]

19. Launch all those Cybertrucks that won't sell / don't work anyway

into a low orbit, bumper-to-bumper global traffic jam. Need more light? Open the sunroofs. Such thinking comes naturally to super geniuses like Xlon. This why he gets the big bux.

[Iris]

20. That will turn out well, I'm sure

[GoCubsGo]

22. You're 30 years too late, asshole.

Can't prevent something that's already happening.

[EX500rider]

23. Actually you can, prevent enough sunlight from hitting the earth and it will get colder

Think large volcanos or nuclear winter

[GoCubsGo]

25. That wasn't my point.

Global warming is already underway, and has been for a while. Eloon wants to prevent it after the fact.

[EX500rider]

33. It's going up, he wants to go back down, seems like a good thing

Whether or not we can trust him to do it is a different story

[SamuelTheThird]

24. This sounds like total bullshit

It's already getting crowded up there. How many satellites would this take? Quite a lot.

What IS going to happen is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratospheric_aerosol_injection

We'll see how that turns out...opinion is very mixed

[yaesu]

27. Maybe he should team up with MTG and use those space lasers she's always taking about. nt

[Dave Bowman]

29. Monorail!

[fargone]

30. I'd probably table that...

...until we see how he is after he gets back from Mars.

[applegrove]

34. He wants the contract.

[milestogo]

35. Elon Musk should leave the planet NOW.

[LudwigPastorius]

36. You're talking trillions of satellites to make any measurable difference.

It would take decades to get them into orbit, or at the Sun-Earth Lagrange point, and millions of launches.

You've got to factor in how much more carbon dioxide, soot, and nitrogen oxide is going to be injected into the atmosphere with that many rocket launches.

...and, reducing the amount of solar energy to the Earth does nothing to reverse the acidification of the oceans being caused by greenhouse gases.

Musk is out of his ketamine saturated mind.

[Sogo]

38. Hubris much, Elan?

Like he would know better than Nature....

[jmowreader]

43. How "large" of a constellation are we talking about here?

We're going to assume that the satellites will sit 200 miles above the surface of the earth. The earth is about 7900 miles in diameter, so the constellation will have a diameter of 8300 miles.

The surface area of this sphere is 216,424,318 square miles. If you can launch 100 Musky Birds on one rocket and one Musky Bird per square mile is enough to do the work, you're looking at over 2 million launches just to put the initial constellation in place - plus lots of additional launches as Musky Birds deorbit, stop working etc.

Something (like that the entirety of humanity has only ever launched 6500 rockets since they started doing it in the 1950s, and that there's not enough money in the world to build 216 million Musky Birds much less to put them into outer space) tells me that while you MIGHT be able to block out the sun with satellites no one's going to.

[moondust]

47. "Give me all your money and I'll show you!"

"Oops! Gonna need some more money to fix it."

"Oops! ..."

"Oops! ..."

"Oops! ..."

[Rstrstx]

48. Just launch all those unsold Cybertrucks