Apr

19

2020 Blogging

April 19, 2008 | 3 Comments | Joshua Gans

Well I have just survived day one of the 2020 Summit. I have a few seconds and so thought I’d just mentioned that. One thing is for sure — all the well thought out ideas had been heard before and were not too exciting even if sensible and the others were very “under-cooked” but are getting better.

It was a long day and hard to sustain the discussion. The best part for me was when I decided to get more ambitious and put forward that perhaps our goal should be to put an Australian on Mars by 2020. When queried about the cost, I elaborated that it was not part of the goal to bring them back — that was the expensive bit. But let’s face it, if that idea gets up it will have the quality of being new!

[Update: it appears that if Stephen Hawking had attended the 2020 Summit, he would have proposed something very similar]


Comments

3 Responses to “2020 Blogging”

  1. Blue Crab Boulevard » Summit Down Under on April 20th, 2008 11:39 pm

    [...] less rosy coverage of the festivities: UPDATE XVII. Ruddlers in space! Summiteer Joshua Gans has Martian plans: I decided to get more ambitious and put forward that perhaps our goal should be to put an [...]

  2. kk on April 21st, 2008 1:16 am

    fabulous. a brilliant piece of piss-taking. please let us know what the reaction was

  3. David on April 21st, 2008 9:19 am

    Did you really suggest putting a man on Mars?

    If so, this seems a huge waste of an opportunity. And considering your talent (im an ex-student of yours) I am less than impressed.