My religion, for lack of a better word, is that is one of
curiosity, where we want to expand the scope of scale of consciousness on Earth
and beyond Earth and ultimately to other star systems. And in order to do
that, we need to increase the number of conscious beings, and we need
to advance technology such that we can have our self sustaining sitting on Mars,
ultimately populate the whole Solar System, and then go beyond our Solar system to
other star systems. And therefore we need more humans. So I mean,
that's an amazingly different goal than what we've had for the past. Yeah.
I propose this as a new philosophy. Yeah, well not new, but
maybe niche, but niche but hopefully getting a bit bigger. So you know,
with that philosophy in mind. But the purpose of that philosophy is that
is that the more we expand the scope a scale of consciousness, the more
we are able to understand the reality that we live in the nature of the
universe, and and to uh to answer the questions that we have, and
perhaps more importantly, to know what questions we are not asking, as Douglas
Adams would say, and Hitchhack's got to the galaxy that the answer is the
easy part. The question is the hard part. You know, answers forty
two. What's the question? So, so, I think that's a pretty
optimistic. Positive philosophy also has a lot of room for other beliefs if you
want to add them to. You know. But but the fundamental tents of
my belief structure are expand the escape, expand the scale of consciousness. I
mean, more more people, I guess, more computers to to the agree
that they are conscious. Uh, and we want to pass through the uh
one of the great filters that to you know, you believe the Pomy paradox
and the great filter. Now, okay, So Enrico Fermi, great amazing
physicist, posed a very simple question. He said, we're the aliens because
we've seen no sign of them. Now, a lot of people think they've
seen signs of aliens. I've seen no evidence whatsoever of aliens. So it's
a troubling question. Why why not? So one of the answers, perhaps
the most likely answer, is that we're it that the tiny that that the
tiny candle of consciousness that constitutes humanity. It is all that there is in
this vast darkness, and I think we should we should assume that that is
the case until we actually firm evidence to the contrary. And we and moreover,
human consciousness only arose after four and a half billion years. It took
a long time, and if it had taken even ten percent longer, it
probably would not have evolved because the Sun is expanding. As a sun expands,
it'll start heating Earth, and Earth will the oceans will evaporate, will
become more like venus inhospitable to life. So I think we may have made
we may have achieved consciousness or consciousness that's capable of developing technology just in time.
I find it remarkable that we are at this point in history where we're
able for the first time to go beyond Earth, to send people. We
send people to the Moon in the early seventies, but not essence, not
gone back. But with the Starship rocket that SpaceX is developing, but two
test flights will have many more this year. That that vehicle is designed to
make life multiplanetary. It's the first vehicle that are just capable of doing that.
A permanent base on the Moon and a city on Mars. So I
think we want to get that done as soon as possible. The window for
the window of opportunity to make life multiplanetary and secure the future of consciousness may
be open for a long time, or it may be open for a short
time. I think it would be wise to not assume that it'll be opened
for a long time. And when we act now, to act now to
make life multiplanetary. One thing that's fascinating what you're saying is that it assumes
an innate level of belief and and love for human beings. And so I
love humanity. So why, I mean, it's it's it's a weird question,
but I mean, really kind of why. I mean, we're not
that great. I mean we have great we can be angels, we can
be devils, obviously, we have the capacity for all of the things in
between. What do you think makes, aside from just the qualities that theoretically
could be duplicated by AI in the very near future, that makes human beings
unique enough. I'll tell you something so that I think that maybe resonates.
It's like, I think, actually everyone loves humanity. Now they may not
love everyone in humanity, but you say, how many people want to be
in solatary confinement. Okay, how many people when I live alone in the
forest by themselves, Almost no human beings want to do that. That is
actually, in reality, all humans love humanity and want to be part of
humanity almost, you know, with the rare exception of someone who's growth spere
psychological issues. So that you know, that's why solatry confinement is considered a
terrible punishment in prison, because even though other prisoners are probably not the well
they're not the finest examples of humans, you still want to hang out with
them, you know. So I think it's a natural thing. You know,
it's long. As long as it's long, kids aren't towrd to hate
other people. I think the natural inclination is to your love umanity. Are
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of mind. That's t NUSA dot com slash shapiro. I want to go
back to some of the business conversation that I want to go back to the
SpaceX of it when when it comes to business, what do you see as
sort of the biggest obstacles to not only the success of your companies, but
to success generally because there seems to be this idea abroad that people can't duplicate
the path that basically it used to be that people like you could succeed,
but now it's totally finished and now you can't get ahead. Is Erica.
Nothing's changed in that regard as far as nowhere there are you know, your
companies being formed all the time in the US, Well, what do you
see as the obstacles to companies being successful increasingly in the West? If there
is, if there are obstacles to that, well, I think excess regulation.
You know, taxes do ratch op every year, making a little difficult,
a little harder every year as taxes rat job. But the regulatory creep
is I think a massive danger. So laws of regulations are immortal, but
the regulators and the lawmakers make new rules of regulations and laws and regulations every
year, and so you have this, so every year you've got this sort
of another layer of laws regulations. It'suss getting to the point where everything's legal.
You can't get anything done. And you say, well, how do
they deal with in the past, Well, the way they don't within the
past, would there'd be a war and the war would wash away that the
old rules, laws and regulations. That's that's would literally would take a war
to change things, you know, like Napoleon, you know, establishing the
Napoleonic Code from that overalled the old law systems of the sort of lords and
the lords and peasants. And if you know, for all that the bad
that Napoleon did, I think it did more good actually, So the evidence
isn't in that. I think maybe a third or a half of all countries
on Earth still run on the Napoleon Code. So and I would would prefer
to have some clean up process for laws and regulations that doesn't require war.
That'd be nice, I think. And I think that's something we need to
institute, like basically a garbage collection for laws and regulations