Nikhil Murali

I've only blown up one rocket engine. Currently working on Starship. Give me Mars or give me death.

[Nikhil Murali @NikMurali]

Few realize this, but the fall of the USSR hurt the United States. The unravelling of a menacing rival resulted in the destruction of our industrial base and the erosion of social cohesion.

I am cautiously optimistic that competition with China revives American dynamism.

[Jared Isaacman @rookisaacman]

Too many still think of China as it was decades ago instead of the accelerating peer it has already become. China has immense second-mover advantage and they are not afraid to take on the big, bold projects that once defined America...they built a 16 GW dam in 4 years, rapidly ramping all forms of power to meet demand including nuclear (you don't even want to compare timelines or cost between USA and Chinese plants), a ~380 mile water tunnel under construction, the largest ultra-high-voltage grid moving power efficiently, 25,000+ miles of high-speed rail, a planned 100 PW laser, they achieved a record fusion plasma demo, a tested quantum-encrypted satellite network, they for all purposes own global shipbuilding to influence trade, AI on the cheap, operational Mach-30 wind tunnel, already fielded hypersonics and atmospheric waverider weapons, sixth-gen fighter prototypes on display, humanoid and armed robodogs manufactured at scale and a space program with imminent reusable tech, fresh lunar samples (including from the far side of the Moon) and a space telescope project with a FOV 300× Hubble’s and expected at a fraction of the cost. Not to mention, they have line of sight on a moon landing in far less time and lower cost than the 100B we have invested over the last 35 years.

This is the first true geopolitical competitor we have faced since the start of the Cold War--and we don’t want to lose.

[Nikhil Murali @NikMurali]

@peterbsalisbury I like to move it move it

[Nikhil Murali @NikMurali]

@peterbsalisbury Few.

[Nikhil Murali @NikMurali]

@redbullfuturist @JosephLillard_ They've got the most important job in the org that day.

[Nikhil Murali @NikMurali]

@redbullfuturist @JosephLillard_ This mindset is terrible. Cheer for the person on critical path.

[Daniel @growing_daniel]

Sports bars exist. There should be bars for Monitoring the Situation

[Casey Handmer @CJHandmer]

China wants the Moon so bad. They can taste it. They obsess over it all day. They dream about it all night. They fear the consequences of failure. Viscerally. It's affecting their appetite. They work 80, 90, 100 hours a week. The job isn't done until it's done.

[Nikhil Murali @NikMurali]

@GrantObi because then you couldn't speed down pershing?

[Nikhil Murali @NikMurali]

@redbullfuturist Project Orion is extremely based. This admin needs to legalize peaceful nuclear explosions

[Nikhil Murali @NikMurali]

@RockettLord you should also have at least 1 1/4 AN fitting and 3 10-32 fasteners or your NGMI

[Nikhil Murali @NikMurali]

Project plowshare is based and should be revived

[Heatloss @heatloss1986]

This idea is proof that the 1950s are a mindset

[Nikhil Murali @NikMurali]

@83dollaroring Dumb take

[Nikhil Murali @NikMurali]

@parkercardwell Infuriating if true

[Nikhil Murali @NikMurali]

@stefan_salaices Thanks - try now

[Nikhil Murali @NikMurali]

@isaiah_p_taylor I pay way too much in taxes to be governed by these retards

[Nikhil Murali @NikMurali]

@amasad Vivek is describing a culture that creates worker drones rather than innovators

[Saagar Enjeti @esaagar]

I will split the difference with Vivek: The reason that Indians and other successful minorities in the US succeed is by blending the culture of hard work and familial dedication with the American spirit of dynamism born from the founders and the frontier spirit

Pure Asian culture encourages rote memorization, conformity, and leads to misery with little innovation. Pure (modern) western culture valorizes "having a good time" over working hard and inevitably is dominated by hedonism

The culture I want to venerate is the American culture which beat the Axis powers in WW2. It had important institutional checks against hedonism, encouraged hard work AND also heavily prioritized athletics, leadership, and social skills

The best way to recreate that culture (IMO) is an immigration moratorium as we did in the early 1900s. We must hash out our differences, decide intentionally what culture we want for our children, and end racial balkanization which is eating us from within. We also need to prioritize education/opportunity for native born citizens instead of seeing workers as individual economic units

This will inevitably clash with purely capitalist interests (as it did in the 1900s) but is important nonetheless for societal cohesion and strength. Too many H1B arguments I see today are just the inverse of leftist justifications for mass illegal immigration.

I'll end with a plea to Americans of Indian descent. Reject the growing calls for Indian identity politics or DEI/Wokeness by another name and instead embrace the spirit of Theodore Roosevelt:

"There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all. This is just as true of the man who puts “native” before the hyphen as of the man who puts German or Irish or English or French before the hyphen. Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance. But if he is heartily and singly loyal to this Republic, then no matter where he was born, he is just as good an American as anyone else."

[Nikhil Murali @NikMurali]

@VivekGRamaswamy Disagree as an Indian born/raised in the US who now works at SpaceX.

Indian education stifles creativity. All about the JEE.

H1b students struggle with actually building things. Rarely know how to run a lathe or a mill and can’t be bothered to learn.

[Nikhil Murali @NikMurali]

@Robotbeat And chemical only gets cheaper if you synthesize CH4 with ultra cheap solar