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Nov 9, 2011: Tesla's Elon Musk, GM's Bob Lutz To Appear On 'Charlie Rose' Tonight

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"Check local listings" ALERT:

According to local listings here, Bloomberg West is NOT showing the Musk & Lutz interview tonight. It is on WEDU+ at 11.00pm EST in SD but is available on PBS-HD at midnight EST tonight (that is 12.00am 11/10/11 if you're setting your DVR). On FIOS that's channel 503 in the SW Florida area.
 
Other nibblets(take them for what they're worth):

-Deliveries begin in July (not new, but other statements seemed to say "no later than July"...although perhaps Elon was simplifying.
-fully loaded performance version @$100k. (again not new, but seems to give more certainty of the price being at 100k vs. 90k or 110k).
 
More:
-Model S will get 5-star rating in every category (seems very confident, to the point of certainty). I'd be surprised if he would say this without excellent data to back up the claim.
-reiterated 0-60 in 4.4 for the performance version...not 4.5s.
 
Yes, but that could be without pano roof, ext. warranty, and other highly desirable options. I'm still hoping for $100k, but bracing myself for $110k. :(

Smart strategy, because it sounds like Elon is assuming the $7500 tax credit in his statement. He originally says that the base price is $50k, which means if he says the top end is $100k it's really probably around $107,500, at least.
 
Regarding the question of CO2 "cooking" our planet, Elon made an interesting valid point: There is no question that some amount of CO2 will cook the planet. In so far as I followed global-warming discussions, the "skeptics", however, tend to ignore that and argue all kinds of what are mostly side issues, without visible willingness or interest to quantify the amount of CO2 which would be dangerous in *their* mind. In other words, it has all signs of "denial" without scientific quantification, trying to suggest it would be wrong to consider that it were even possible that we could destroy the planet. As if some amount of verbal argument could show that it is all rubbish.
 
Of course, we cannot "destroy" the planet. We can only wipe out ourselves and a few million other species - although on second thought most of the insects would probably survive. It always amuses me when people talk about destroying the planet - something truly beyond the current capacity of humans, even with nuclear weapons. I defer, however, to a large enough object in the universe, which could destroy the planet through a collision or by altering the orbit sufficiently to create a gravitational disaster, such as merging with the sun or a nearby black hole. Short of that, the planet will do just fine for many millions of years to come....with or without mankind.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't act to preserve ourselves, or give the human race the benefit of the doubt. But truly some of the rhetoric is over the top....
 
:smile: We, the human race, are so full of ourselves that we entertain such thoughts and aspire to such end states!

There's another thought process (that I subscribe to sometimes): it's the natural process of evolution that has brought humans to this point where they are able to contemplate human cloning, wiping themselves out (unwittingly or otherwise) by whatever means and so on. Once we do so, planet Earth will merrily live on for another 4.5 billion years and create version 2.0 of us!
 
Of course, we cannot "destroy" the planet.

Let's consult the dictionary:
de·stroy   [dih-stroi]
verb (used with object)
1. to reduce (an object) to useless fragments, a useless form, or remains, as by rending, burning, or dissolving; injure beyond repair or renewal; demolish; ruin; annihilate.
2. to put an end to; extinguish.
3. to kill; slay.
4. to render ineffective or useless; nullify; neutralize; invalidate.
5. to defeat completely.

So "destroy" doesn't necessarily mean "vaporize".

Don't worry, we can not possibly destroy the planet, we are totally safe, please go back to burning everything you can.
God wont allow global warming, congressman seeking to head Energy Committee says | The Raw Story

It's like playing russian roulette and believing it will be a judgement of God, when actually it is a form of suicide (which supposedly God does't like at all).

Once we do so, planet Earth will merrily live on for another 4.5 billion years and create version 2.0 of us!

Not so sure about that, I think there is a non-zero possibility we could destroy the atmosphere and turn earth into something that's pretty much like the moon except for some fossils.
 
Interesting to hear Bob Lutz's take on EVs - he pushed GM to build the Volt to beat Toyota, because he saw them exploiting a market where GM had no competitive product. This is encouraging -- for EVs to be successful, they need to become widespread so that the infrastructure follows. We cannot rely on the small fraction of devotees to EVs to mainstream the product. So when a "captain of industry" starts viewing the EV market from a purely commercial, rather than philosophical, perspective, we know things are moving our way.
 
You have to give Bob Lutz credit, in some ways, the Volt is better than the Prius. If most of your driving is under 50 miles a day, the Volt is much better. The 14 mile range (prob. 10 real world miles) of the plug-in Prius is pathetic.