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The billionaire hoping to send men to Mars says we'll need to nuke it first

If we want to live there that is.

Elon Musk Elon Musk

ELON MUSK, THE CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, has an idea for how to colonize Mars and make it habitable for humankind.

On “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”  Colbert compared Musk to Tony Stark, the fictional tech tycoon who also happens to be Iron Man. ”Are you really trying to save the world?” Colbert asked Musk.

Colbert then asked Musk why people should want to live on Mars. Mars is “a fixer-upper of a planet,” Musk replied.

But people could theoretically live there, he said, by warming it up in one of two ways.

The fastest way to heat up Mars, according to Elon Musk, is to ”drop thermonuclear weapons over the poles.” The slower way would be to introduce greenhouse gases to Mars to warm it up over a number of years.

Allen Meade / YouTube

“You’re a supervillain!” Colbert said in response. “Superman doesn’t say ‘let’s drop nuclear bombs.’ That’s Lex Luthor, man.”

Besides discussing the possibility of nuking Mars to make it hospitable for humans, Colbert told his studio audience that he thinks Musk should run for US president. Musk’s particular vision of the future — dropping nuclear bombs on Mars to make it more habitable and all — “truly moved” Colbert, he said.

The notion of dropping nuclear bombs on Mars to make it habitable is only one of Musk’s stranger ideas. He’s also voiced his concern about robots potentially destroying humankind. To that end, he’s pledged $10 million for research to make sure AI doesn’t turn out evil.

- Maya Kosoff

Read: Netflix has an odd reason for not allowing offline playback

Read: Canon has unveiled an absurdly powerful image sensor

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    Mute Misanthrope
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:15 PM

    Inside job

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    Mute Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:18 PM

    @Misanthrope: definition someone with more knowledge than they should have had..

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    Mute Jimbo Jones
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:19 PM

    Nice that he wore a hi-vis. Good to see that health and safety is being taken seriously.

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    Mute Ciarán McPhillips
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:19 PM

    Who withdraws €55,000 in cash for any legitimate reason nowadays? Seriously??!!

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    Mute Casper
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:22 PM

    @Ciarán McPhillips:

    Are you trying to say the business was using the 55000 euro for illegitimate reasons

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    Mute Ciarán McPhillips
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:27 PM

    @Casper: what business? There is no mention of any business in the article above.

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    Mute Casper
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:31 PM

    @Ciarán McPhillips:

    Just because it’s not mentioned doesn’t mean it’s not a business

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    Mute Ciarán McPhillips
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:35 PM

    @Casper: well unfortunately I just read the facts outlined in the article. It must be much more interesting reading the news when you don’t allow the facts to get in the way. Maybe extra terrestrials appeared and abducted them and stole the money. I mean using your logic- just because it doesn’t say it…..

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    Mute Dave Murray
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:40 PM

    @Casper: Excellent retort there.

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    Mute Casper
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:41 PM

    @Ciarán McPhillips:

    Happy Xmas Ciaran

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    Mute David Conroy
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    Dec 21st 2017, 6:28 PM

    @Ciarán McPhillips: Agree, I smell a large hairy rat, who carries that amount of cash for either personal or business use nowadays ?
    It just does not add up or make sense, why did bells not ring in the Bank either ?

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    Mute Father Hody Commody
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    Dec 21st 2017, 6:46 PM

    @Casper: Well, if you happen to have that kind of cash on you boarding an aircraft, god help you.

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    Mute Martin Morris
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    Dec 21st 2017, 7:00 PM

    @Ciarán McPhillips: hahahahahahaha just so good. I was saying boooourns.

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    Mute Jack O'neill
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    Dec 21st 2017, 9:17 PM

    @Ciarán McPhillips: The robbery happened outside Rialto credit union.

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    Mute Mick Jordan
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:23 PM

    Who other than Cash in Transit Security withdraws €55,000 in cash from a Bank? 20-30 years ago understandable as possibly payroll. But today very very rare. One would have to ask questions as to what it was for.

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    Mute Casper
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:25 PM

    @Mick Jordan:

    Isn’t that the work of the Garda, like I am pretty sure this is all the stuff they will be looking into

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    Mute Niall Sullivan
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:39 PM

    @Mick Jordan: Paying a large sum of cash is not at all unusual. Many business sale deals are two thirds through the books, one third cash. Used to be fairly common. Same for selling commercial property. About 30% under the counter is common.

    The questions would need to be asked of the person receiving it on such a transaction, rather than the person paying it over, assuming the person paying it over got it legitimately. If they took it from a bank, it’s very likely declared and legitimate income. Revenue know about deposits.

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    Mute Aidan Molyneux
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    Dec 21st 2017, 7:19 PM

    @Casper: my question is why did the Garda wait from the 7th to 21st before asking for witnesses

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    Mute Rónán O'Suilleabháin
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    Dec 21st 2017, 8:35 PM

    might be what I’ve heard called the ‘manage’ in cork. A couple of people collect money from colleagues all year, bank it, then give it back at Christmas time.

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    Mute Mark Heehee
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    Dec 22nd 2017, 8:01 AM

    @Aidan Molyneux: that’s my question too. I’ve been in the area many times,but was I there exactly 2 weeks ago at lunch? Why the delay in looking for witnesses?

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    Mute Ciarán McPhillips
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:24 PM

    The more I read this the more peculiar it becomes

    No description other an average height
    No mention of any age profile
    No mantion of any sort of accent
    He approached on foot
    Left on a bicycle
    Having (presumably) followed them by car?

    Tia less fishy in Leo Burdocks

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    Mute Casper
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:26 PM

    @Ciarán McPhillips:

    Keep reading you might come up with more

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    Mute David Dickson
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:25 PM

    Why did the guards wait two weeks to make an appeal for dash camera video? How could anyone remember two weeks ago

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    Mute Casper
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:28 PM

    @David Dickson:

    Well if they look at the dash camera on that day the camera will jog their memories

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    Mute John Barnes
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:58 PM

    @Casper: cams override constantly no storage

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    Mute Father Hody Commody
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    Dec 21st 2017, 6:47 PM

    @David Dickson: Plus dash cams overwrite themselves.

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    Mute Sean Whelan
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    Dec 21st 2017, 7:26 PM

    I don’t think you can walk into a bank and just withdraw large amounts of cash on demand anymore, as far as I know it has to be ordered in advance.
    If I was hedging my bets I’d be looking at an inside job.
    Not very difficult to tip someone off to a large withdrawal, sure you even know the person’s name and address in advance.

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    Mute Liam
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:20 PM

    An oddity amongst oddities

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    Mute Brian O Reilly
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:40 PM

    It was Santa ,

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    Mute Casper
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:20 PM

    It’s the season for a bit of silliness and this inside job is pure silliness

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    Mute Dave Murray
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    Dec 21st 2017, 5:42 PM

    @Casper: taking €55,000 out of a bank in cash is pretty silly too, I would say.

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    Mute Casper
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    Dec 21st 2017, 6:21 PM

    @Dave Murray:

    Not if they have 55 members of family that they wanted to give a Xmas pressie of €1000 each

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    Mute Fiona deFreyne
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    Dec 21st 2017, 6:19 PM

    An amazing coincidence. Santa was early.

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    Mute Joe Dobias
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    Dec 21st 2017, 8:21 PM

    Sounds like a inside job.

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    Mute Sarah Murphy
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    Dec 22nd 2017, 9:26 AM

    Pedal Cycle; why use one word when you can use two

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    Mute Terry Burns
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    Dec 22nd 2017, 3:43 AM

    It sounds like a bloke year’s ago in a bank in Talbot st.someone lodged it .?

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    Mute brian oconnell
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    Dec 29th 2017, 1:06 PM

    Probably an “inside family” job!

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