We’re going to Mars, stop being fancy in business, and turning frustration in to whimsy
Videos worth watching this week — 02.10.16
I’ll be honest, this wasn’t a big week for video. Not for video discovery by yours truly at least.
But, as always, I’ve got some top notch recommendations.
Enjoy.
SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System (4 mins)
It’s not often that your birthday is marked by a billionaire businessman revealing his plan to colonise Mars. But my 22nd was, and I didn’t even realise it until the next day.
I’m a massive, massive fan of Elon Musk. His goals are audacious, his commitment unwavering and his intelligence off the scale. This plan for Mars is just another of ridiculously impressive dreams, and I’ve no doubt he’ll make it a reality.
If you want to really grasp the scale of this announcement, here’s a quote I stumbled upon (I have no idea where it originated, sorry):
If you’re watching this video in 2016, this all sounds ridiculous. No human has ever set foot on Mars. But if Elon Musk succeeds in lowering the cost of spaceflight, and creating a reliable, reusable infrastructure, Mars becomes a significantly more accessible destination. What might sound even more ridiculous, however, is that Musk wants to get the ball rolling on this in 2024 — 8 years from now. If all goes to plan, we might be seeing a presentation as significant as Kennedy’s “We choose to go to the Moon” speech week. And in 1962, the idea of two men walking around on the surface of the Moon just under 7 years later was just as unthinkable.
You aren’t entitled to success (2 mins)
A lot of you have businesses that actually could be successful, the problem is that you have 17 employees when you should have five. A lot of you have businesses that could be successful but you want to have a nice office in Soho instead of being somewhere shitty.
The agony of trying to unsubscribe (8 mins)
So guys, just remember, if ever you feel weighed down by the bureaucracy, and often mundanity, of modern life, don’t fight the frustration. Let it be the catalyst… for whimsy.
James Veitch’s TED Talks are the least TED-like of all TED Talks.
But damn are they entertaining.
His early 2016 talk on what happens when you reply to spam email is one of the most popular on TED’s YouTube channel with over 4.9m views.
In less than a week, his newest effort — trying to unsubscribe from an unwanted email list — has amassed over 168,000 views.
Totally worth eight minutes of your day.
