YouSaid · the spoken record

Jim Gates

lines on the record: 114
first: 2019-12-25
most recent: 2019-12-25
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“The laws of physics, I would say yes. First of all, if you look at carbon based life, why are we carbon based? Well, it turns out it's because of the way that carbon interacts with elements, which in fact is also a reflection on the electronic structure of the carbon nucleus. So you can look down the table of elements and say, well, gee, do we see similar elements? The answer is yes. And one that one often hears about in science fiction is silicon. So maybe there's a silicon-based life form out there if the conditions are right. But I think it's presumptuous of us to think that we are the template by which all life has to appear.”
2019-12-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Jim Gates: Supersymmetry, String Theory and Proving Einstein Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It would depend on that life's native environment in which it arose. If that environment was sufficiently like our environment, there's a principle in biology and nature called convergence, which is that even if you have two biological systems that are totally separated from each other, if they face similar conditions, nature tends to converge on solutions. And so there might be similarities if this alien life form was born in a place that's kind of like this place.”
2019-12-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Jim Gates: Supersymmetry, String Theory and Proving Einstein Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So there is a quote by Carl Sagan, which I really love when I hear this question. And I recall the quote, and it goes something like, if we're the only conscious life in the universe, it's a terrible waste of space because the universe is an incredibly big place. And when Carl made that statement, we didn't know about the profusion of planets that are out there. In the last decade, we've discovered over a thousand planets and a substantial number of those planets are Earth-like in terms of being in the goldilocks zone, as it's called. So, in my mind, it's practically inconceivable that we're the only conscious form of life in the universe. But that doesn't mean they've come to visit us.”
2019-12-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Jim Gates: Supersymmetry, String Theory and Proving Einstein Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Exhaust pipe on like a fancy car that's long and elongated. And it's a type of rocket engine that we know there have been preliminary testing. We know it works. And it also is actually much more economical because what it does is allow you to vary the amount of thrust as you go up in a way that you cannot do with one of these bell-shaped engines. You would think that an entrepreneur might try to have the breakthrough to use flared nozzles as they're called as a way to bend the cost curve because as we keep coming back, that's going to be a big factor. But that's not happening. In fact, what we see is what I think of as incremental change in terms of our technology. So I'm not really very encouraged by what I personally see.”
2019-12-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Jim Gates: Supersymmetry, String Theory and Proving Einstein Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Doing now is not really that different than what was used to go to the moon. And there are alternatives, it turns out. There's an engine called a flare engine, which, so a traditional rocket, if you look at the engine, looks like a bell, right? And then the flame comes out the bottom. But there is a kind of engine called a flare engine, which is essentially, when you look at it, it looks like”
2019-12-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Jim Gates: Supersymmetry, String Theory and Proving Einstein Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So bending the cost curve, you'll notice that has been an anchor. This is the simplest way for me to discuss this with people about what the challenge is. So yes, bending the cost curve is certainly critical if we're going to be successful. Now, you ask about the endeavors that are out there now sponsored by two very prominent American citizens, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. I'm disappointed actually in what I see in terms of the routes that are being pursued. So let me give you one example there. This one is going to be a little bit more technical. So if you look at the kinds of rockets that both these organizations are creating, yes, it's wonderful, reusable technology to see a rocket go up and land on its fins just like it did in science fiction movies when I was a kid. That's astounding. But the real problem is those rockets, the technology that we're”
2019-12-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Jim Gates: Supersymmetry, String Theory and Proving Einstein Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, as I said, the real problem with interstellar travel, aside from the technology challenges, the real problem is radiation. And how do you engineer either an environment or a body because we see rapid advances going on in bioengineering? How do you engineer either a ship or body so that some person that's recognizably human will survive the rigors of interplanetary space travel? It's much more difficult than most people seem to take into account.”
2019-12-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Jim Gates: Supersymmetry, String Theory and Proving Einstein Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, one day we live and hope that such a president will arrive for our nation. But even if, like I said, even if you fix the technical problems, the biological engineering that I worry most about, however, I'm going to go out on a limb here. I think that by 2090 or so, or 20... 100, should I say 120? I suspect we're going to have a human.”
2019-12-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Jim Gates: Supersymmetry, String Theory and Proving Einstein Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, you say 5% of the economic output over about a 10 year period gets us 250,000 miles in space. Mars is about 100 times farther. So you have at least 100 times a challenge, and we're spending about one-tenth of the funds that we spend then as a government. So my claim is that it's at least a thousand times harder for me to imagine us getting to Mars by 2030.”
2019-12-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Jim Gates: Supersymmetry, String Theory and Proving Einstein Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So there are a couple of ways that I could slice this, but the one that I think is simplest for people to understand involved money. So you look at how we got to the moon in the 1960s. It was about 10 year duration between the challenge that President Kennedy laid out and our successfully landing a moon. I was actually here at MIT when that first moon landing occurred. So I remember watching it on TV. But how did we get there? Well, we had this extraordinarily technical agency of the United States government, NASA. It consumed about 5% of the country's economic output.”
2019-12-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Jim Gates: Supersymmetry, String Theory and Proving Einstein Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So first of all, we're not, I am. Extraordinarily convinced we will not put a human on Mars by 2030, which is a date that you often hear in the public debate”
2019-12-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Jim Gates: Supersymmetry, String Theory and Proving Einstein Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Probably about two years out there without the shield. They're going to be bombarded. That means radiation probably means cancer. So that's one of the most formal challenges, even if we could get over the technology.”
2019-12-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Jim Gates: Supersymmetry, String Theory and Proving Einstein Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In order to have genuine starships, probably some really radical views about the way the universe works are going to have to take place in our science. We could, with our current technology, think about constructing multi-generational starships where the people who get on them are not the people who get off at the other end. But even if we do that, the formidable problem is actually our bodies, which doesn't seem to be conscious for a lot of people. Even getting to Mars is going to present this challenge because we live in this wonderful home, has a protective magnetic magnetosphere around it. And so we're shielded from cosmic radiation. Once you leave this shield, there are some estimates that, for example, if you sent someone to Mars with technology,”
2019-12-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Jim Gates: Supersymmetry, String Theory and Proving Einstein Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Wow, the question of whether humanity gets outside of the solar system is going to be a challenge. And as long as the laws of physics that we have today are accurate and valid, it's going to be extraordinarily difficult. I'm a science fiction fan, as you probably know, so I love to dream of starships and traveling to other solar systems, but the barriers are just Form”
2019-12-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · Jim Gates: Supersymmetry, String Theory and Proving Einstein Right · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source