00:00eight years that is the time between
00:03President Kennedy's announcement of the
00:04Apollo project in 1961. we choose to go
00:09and the first human footsteps on the
00:18and if that sounds like a long time
00:20consider that Galileo invented the
00:22telescope in 1609. in the 400 plus years
00:26that humans have been analyzing the
00:28cosmos it took just eight for NASA to
00:31figure out how to Usher humans to the
00:33moon and back safely that is a story of
00:36exponential growth and it's also a
00:39comforting reminder that humankind has a
00:41history of building inconceivable
00:43Technologies and the audacity to pursue
00:45incredibly complex problems plus we can
00:48mobilize pretty quickly when we need to
00:50if you have digital key fob in your car
00:52it's more powerful than what we sent to
00:54the Moon with the Apollo Astronauts so
00:57that tells you the power of exponential
00:59growth you just wait a long time and
01:01invest trillions of dollars and
01:03something will happen yeah so when we
01:05say can we solve the engineering
01:07problems of little planet Earth can we
01:09manage our our climate can we manage our
01:11resources can we manage pollution well
01:14yes of course uh the capabilities to
01:16manage also grow exponentially with time
01:19and so when you say oh it can't be done
01:22it just means we don't know how it can
01:24be done but if it's important enough we
01:27will do it in this video we explore the
01:29secrets of space as part of a longer
01:32conversation I had with astrophysicist
01:34John Mather who's also a Nobel Prize
01:37winner for his work on the Kobe
01:38satellite and more recently a key figure
01:41in the James Webb Space Telescope
01:43project listen in as we explore how the
01:45pursuit of space has led to very Earthly
01:48Innovations like Lasik eye surgery or
01:50Precision GPS but also you'll get to
01:53hear John's takes on the increasing
01:55distrust in science investment in
01:57research and becoming a multi-planetary
02:00species as a reminder the content here
02:02is for informational purposes only
02:04should not be taken as legal business
02:06tax or investment advice or be used to
02:08evaluate any investment or security and
02:11is not directed at any investors or
02:12potential investors in any accz fund for
02:15more details please see acc.com
02:28there is this question
02:30are we alone where did we come from but
02:33then there are also all of these
02:35questions that impact maybe our
02:37day-to-day right or us understanding
02:39what is happening on Earth and so maybe
02:42you could just speak to that how how
02:43some of this Cosmic exploration
02:45ultimately ladders back into what we
02:48understand about the things that we're
02:49building engineering science on the
02:52a few things when our general
02:54observation is that we uh we NASA take
02:57on incredibly hard engineering
02:58challenges like going to the Moon with
03:00people yes or building this great
03:02telescope and then we say Yeah we
03:04actually can design build and cooperate
03:06to build something incredibly hard and
03:09difficult and it can work so it should
03:11give us reason for confidence and
03:13optimism that when we take on other
03:16challenges like managing our own little
03:17planet that we can do that so we also of
03:22course NASA we take pictures of the
03:24planet we watch a little Earth all the
03:25time we have dozens and dozens of things
03:28looking down to map the circulation of
03:31the oceans the clouds and the various
03:35atmospheric constituents like carbon
03:37dioxide we see where it comes from
03:38methane we see where it's being emitted
03:41from various sources on Earth so we're
03:44providing the data that it takes to
03:46understand our little planet and so
03:50then some of the potential answers for
03:52how do we stabilize our planet and
03:54protect ourselves might have pieces of
03:56Technology from space also some people
03:59are working on well can you generate
04:01electrical power and beam it down from
04:03or can you block some sunlight with
04:07something in space so there are lots of
04:09creative ideas some of them might work
04:11other thing that sort of generally
04:13observe is that we have exponential
04:16growth of problems and we exponential
04:18growth of capabilities and exponential
04:21growth is something people don't
04:23it means that something gets bigger and
04:26bigger and bigger every now and then
04:28like it used to be Moore's law about I
04:31was going to say semiconductors is kind
04:33of so we knew that that just got bigger
04:35and better and faster all the time and
04:37people don't really understand any of
04:40the details but they just see that that
04:42happens and so we start off with that
04:44can't be done that's impossible then
04:46somebody invents something and then
04:47somebody wants some more and gradually
04:49we invest our billions or trillions as
04:52it takes to because there's a demand for
04:54it and now we have uh pocket computer
04:57that's far more powerful than we could
04:59have going to the Moon with yes on the
05:01Apollo so as an example somebody I've
05:04heard this story the key fob for your
05:07car if you have a digital key fob in
05:09your car it's more powerful than what we
05:11sent to the Moon with the Apollo
05:12Astronauts is it is that true honest so
05:16that tells you the power of exponential
05:18growth you just wait a long time and
05:20invest trillions of dollars and
05:22something will happen yeah so when we
05:25say can we solve the engineering
05:26problems of little planet Earth can we
05:28manage our our climate can we manage our
05:30resources can we manage pollution well
05:33yes of course uh the capabilities to
05:36manage also grow exponentially with time
05:38and so when you say oh it can't be done
05:41it just means we don't know how it can
05:44be done but if it's important enough we
05:47I've been to science fairs quite a few
05:49times to see what the young people are
05:50working on and in the physics and
05:52Engineering there is a really large
05:54fraction of the kids are working on
05:56batteries energy supplies pollution
05:58control and Resource Management so kids
06:01are already aware that that's where the
06:03opportunity is and our world is actually
06:06sponsoring the the job when I was only
06:09like 10 or 15 years ago that people were
06:11very confidently telling us that
06:13electric everything was impossibly in
06:15either it's impossible or too expensive
06:17or it'll cost too much and we shouldn't
06:19do it so it we don't know how to do it
06:22it's not the same as we're not going to
06:24do it and don't and we don't know how to
06:26do it doesn't mean we can't afford it it
06:29just means we are lacking of imagination
06:33do you think that there are any
06:36significant misconceptions about space
06:39and that could be in terms of what we've
06:40discovered but it also could be perhaps
06:42the way people view our investment into
06:46space and you know the development past
06:49our small little Earth um
06:52well I guess the number one
06:54misconception here that people have
06:56about spaces that the Big Bang was a
07:00happening at a place in a pre-existing
07:03space and time okay and so that's not
07:05about astronomers see we see the entire
07:07universe is expanding it's probably
07:10infinite so it's not a thing that
07:12happened at a place in time it's the
07:14entire thing happening all at once okay
07:16so that's you know because surf red oil
07:21um we are instantly drawn to thinking of
07:23a firecracker but that's not what it is
07:25okay so there's that one then there's
07:27the other question it was um what good
07:29is space research first for mankind it's
07:31exciting for young people and we draw
07:33and science you new science and
07:35engineering people to study these things
07:37because it's exciting it is and then
07:39they go on and solve all the other
07:41problems of humanity
07:43um and some of it's also extremely
07:47um from space we can see the Earth and
07:49study the Earth and see what we're doing
07:51to it then of course NASA among other
07:53things we do is we have extreme demand
07:57for extreme objects of engineering so
08:00when we need something we'll invent it
08:02and then it may have value elsewhere in
08:06our world yeah and we've seen so many
08:08examples of this right through
08:09especially in the in the first space
08:11race a lot of that technology was then
08:12applied so and a lot of it's not
08:15directly traceable but because we're
08:17doing these things it happens so a
08:19lovely story from the web telescope the
08:22person who figured out how to measure
08:23the web telescope mirrors while we were
08:25polishing them today to get them exactly
08:27right he went on to invent a technology
08:30that you see in your eye doctor's office
08:32so they can see the back of your eye
08:34much better and even if you want give
08:37you much better eyesight you can get
08:382010 eyesight from using this technology
08:41we we learned some math and we learned
08:44some made some engineering and now it's
08:47in many many doctors offices yeah well I
08:49have to ask you what do you think about
08:51this concept of us as humans as little
08:54you know space dust creatures becoming a
08:58multi-planetary species and also just I
09:00mean I'm uniquely curious to hear your
09:02perspective because there's a level of
09:04grounding in the science in terms of you
09:06know is it better to optimize what we
09:07have here on Earth or is it actually
09:11worth being ambitious and trying to make
09:13that a reality on some of these other
09:15planets my perspective is We Are One a
09:18one planet species this is it a little
09:20planet Earth there's a beautiful planet
09:21it's nice and warm here uh there's air
09:24and it's a nice feature none of the
09:26other things we can possibly reach are
09:28anything like it the moon has no air the
09:31Mars is cold and has a little bit of air
09:33but you can't breathe it and uh and you
09:36can't go outside without being bombarded
09:38with cosmic rays and you're going to die
09:40in a few years if you do that too much
09:42so just don't think that way Earth is
09:45our home Earth is our take it take care
09:49um there's a lot of wonderful
09:50imagination about going elsewhere but
09:52there's no obvious path to do it maybe
09:55one other question that relates to our
09:58wider world is this lack of trust or
10:00decrease in trust in institutions over
10:03time some of those institutions are
10:05scientific institutions
10:07um and so I'm just curious to hear your
10:08perspective on that just your your pulse
10:11your reaction almost yeah to that so one
10:15scientists have been discovering things
10:17that some people didn't want to know and
10:20um because what we're doing is so
10:22important it matters to people's lives
10:27there's a pushback because they don't
10:28want to know this information sometimes
10:30so it's been going on since Galileo
10:33probably even before him so
10:36the Practical importance of what
10:39scientists and Engineering are doing is
10:41immense and so we don't always like the
10:44so it's not so much that we're against
10:46science as that we don't like what's
10:47happening and if it's so important how
10:49do you see the involvement of private
10:52versus public dollars going to that or
10:54or how would you think about that well
10:57the public dollars come because
10:59our Representatives have decided is
11:02important for the whole country to do it
11:04yes so sometimes it's for actual
11:07personal daily benefits like Health
11:10sometimes it's for Prestige matters the
11:12United States should be showing the
11:15world that we're great leaders in the
11:17cause of freedom and Science and
11:18democracy and so forth so the Apollo
11:21program was an example of that don't
11:23mess with us we can do anything we like
11:25and so it sort of worked the Soviet
11:27Union did not attack us so there are a
11:30lot of different versions of why the
11:31public dollars are spent
11:34but I would say having been to visit the
11:36the committee room for the house
11:39committee on Science and Technology it's
11:42covered with space pictures they love
11:44what we do at Nasa and and it's visible
11:47the public can see what we do you can't
11:49make a pretty picture about a virus
11:53the viruses are actually even more
11:55important well for us on Earth
11:59um all right well let's close out on one
12:01more question which is you know you have
12:02been working in this industry for a very
12:04long time and we'll see where longevity
12:06science goes but if you did have
12:08hypothetically a hundred more years to
12:10work on something is there some big
12:13ambitious project that you would love to
12:17you know get your hands on is there
12:18something that you you would really love
12:19to be a part of yourself well I have
12:21some ideas of things that I'm working on
12:23now yes but they're probably not going
12:25to last 100 years so the things that do
12:28look exciting 100 years from now it
12:30could still be the dark matter in the
12:31dark energy in the search for life
12:33elsewhere yeah in my sort of territories
12:36yeah yeah I'm here on Earth I think
12:38we're going to see the astonishing
12:39growth in artificial intelligence and
12:42it'll be a powerful tool and a powerful
12:44weapon and we'll have to get used to it
12:45because it's going to happen very
12:47quickly and it's not so long ago that
12:50really smart people were telling us it
12:53could never happen and now and here we
12:55are really smart people are telling us
12:57oh my God I'm scared to death well you
12:59said yesterday another great quote was
13:01basically while we're busy worrying
13:03technology advances yeah it really does
13:06and and if you want to know what's
13:08happening see where the money is going
13:09many many billions of dollars are being
13:12spent on artificial intelligence thank
13:14you so much for listening to the a16z
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