Hm... not sure how that link got mangled... here's the right one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Motors

This.

When you consider that there are now over 1600 billionaires, how many of them are "using their powers for good" to the degree that Musk does? Sure there's the Gates Foundation, and other philanthropic efforts, there's the Tata Motors guy in India... some VC guys like Khosla... But out of 1600 people, what a tiny percentage of them even show up on the radar screen, let alone those who are doing "cool stuff" with their immense wealth and power.

If every billionaire used his wealth like Musk does, I wouldn't mind this staggering inequality so much. Sadly, Musk is more an exception than the rule.

$4.9 billion? That's nothing compared to the Koch brothers. They got more than twice that amount.

Yes and no... Yes, they are competing in the same market; No, they are not "joined at the hip" with the rest of them. Yes, they do business with many, but SpaceX is not yet "assimilated" into the BORG. And as a privately held company, it's much easier to resist that pull. Elon has been quite clear on this. He won't do a SpaceX IPO until he's certain the company is going to Mars, with or without him.

More to the point, I would argue that membership in the MIC would imply a disposition toward warfare befitting a military contractor. I don't see that coming from SpaceX anytime soon. They have their own agenda, and lunching satellites helps them pay for that agenda. I'd wager that if the Air Force put out a bid request for a new fleet of ICBMs, SpaceX would take a pass on that project.

Actually, eliminating grade levels is an idea with some pedigree. One-room country schools may have had grades but they didn't matter much. Older kids helped younger kids and everybody learned stuff. There's also a chain of schools that was started back in the 60's, can't remember the name off hand, it was something like "Sutter Valley School". Anyway, their belief is that play is the natural learning state for children. You don't need a curriculum, you just need minimal supervision and resources to answer questions and do projects. Children will naturally do what they need to learn how to get along in the world, including the 3 R's, without any prodding from adults.

There's a really interesting lecture on this by a psychologist, Peter Gray, whose own son attended such a school: The Biology of Education - How Children Learn Through Self-Directed Play and Exploration

I would apply the old open-source aphorism to this as well. It may take time for the wheels of justice to move in your favor, but at least there is still a reasonable expectation of movement in that area.

Hmm... sorry, this has been happening for many years already... back to the 80s... This is nothing new.

This seems more like basic-level stuff... learning from your mistakes. That strikes me as the sort of thing that would be "hardwired" in everything from nematodes to primates. Why is this news?

You might find this of interest: "Concrete on Mars - Brandon Larson - 15th Annual International Mars Society Convention"

If only I had mod points...

In the long run it doesn't really matter. Renewables will win because... PHYSICS. Forget the fact that fossil fuels are finite, they are simply doomed by the plummeting price of solar and the ever-increasing price of petroleum. A glance at the long-term curve will be enough to settle the matter.

Depends on how you slice it.

I've never given him a dime, though I did meet him once, briefly, back in the 80s.

Photo-Voltaic solar power.

What really needs to happen is to remove all gov't subsidies across the board. Indeed this is what alt-energy maven Avory Lovins has been preaching for years, because he knows that without subsidies the fossil fuels can't compete with renewables. We are already near the tipping point where even the massive fossil fuel subsidies won't be enough to prop them up. The switch to renewables is just a matter of time. The only unknowns are how long it will take and how painful it will be.