I’m proud to announce the April 1 launch of my new startup, Open...
Linch@LinchZhang
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Apr 01, 2024
~5 min read
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I’m proud to announce the April 1 launch of my new startup, Open Asteroid Impact! We redirect asteroids towards Earth for the benefit of humanity. Our mission is to have as high an impact as possible. 🚀☄️🌎💸💸💸
More details in🧵:
More details in🧵:
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Website here: openasteroidimpact.org
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We are a leading innovator in asteroid mining. Traditional asteroid mining plans entail unproven zero-G mining with heavy machinery in the vacuum of space. We are more efficient and redirect asteroids to Earth first, instead.
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Furthermore, we are first and foremost an asteroid mining *safety* company. That is why we need to race as quickly as possible to be at the forefront of asteroid redirection, so more dangerous companies don’t get there before us.
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We take a slow-takeoff approach to asteroid safety. Rocket alignment – that is, precision microtargeting where we can ensure that the redirected asteroids always land on the right continent – is a currently unsolved technical problem.
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We believe in empirical tests and tight feedback loops. Asteroid impact alignment needs to grow alongside asteroid impact capabilities. While we cannot yet consistently target the right continent, we are making steady progress.
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Our design philosophy is Bigger, Faster, Safer. Other asteroid mining companies (like DeepMine and Anthropocene) are dangerously and recklessly racing ahead to push on asteroid redirection capabilities.
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By being bigger and faster than our competitors, we can ensure that a safer company (us) will win the race, creating a safer and more prosperous world for everybody...
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Social response
Additionally, a slow takeoff approach favors safety. The cost of rocketry goes down with every decade, and it will become increasingly viable for state and non-state actors to redirect asteroids as kinetic weapons.
Additionally, a slow takeoff approach favors safety. The cost of rocketry goes down with every decade, and it will become increasingly viable for state and non-state actors to redirect asteroids as kinetic weapons.
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If an asteroid as big as the one that (allegedly) killed the dinosaurs ( Chicxulu, 10km diameter) arrived today, humanity would be completely unprepared. It might be deadly. People might panic.
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However, if we’ve had “warning shots” where increasingly larger and more dangerous asteroids land in the intervening years, that will allow society to prepare better environmental and social responses.
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We also benefit from sociopolitical-legal approaches to alignment. To us, alignment has two components:
1. Technical: Getting the asteroid to land where we want it to.
2. Legal: Regardless of where it lands, making sure all the redirected asteroid's minerals are legally ours.
1. Technical: Getting the asteroid to land where we want it to.
2. Legal: Regardless of where it lands, making sure all the redirected asteroid's minerals are legally ours.
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Scientists and Safety Engineers can help with the former. Lawyers, social scientists,and lobbyists can help with the latter. If this sounds amazing to you, we’re hiring!!!
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Now on to branding:
The “Open” in our name stands for the openness of space. Initially we wanted to open-source all of our asteroid redirection software, designs, and schematics. But we had to stop, for safety reasons.
The “Open” in our name stands for the openness of space. Initially we wanted to open-source all of our asteroid redirection software, designs, and schematics. But we had to stop, for safety reasons.
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Logo: The figure represents humanity. We “ride the wave” of increasingly large asteroid impacts. The dollar signs represent increasing wealth. We believe in a bountiful and safe future, with resources available for all.
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Organizationally, we are a for-profit C corp owned by B corp owned by public benefit corporation owned by 501c4 owned by 501c3. We’re not a traditional for-profit organization, so you can trust us!
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Of course, OAI is very concerned about both the planetary AND social impacts of our asteroids:
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To quote the Bhagavad Gita “If the radiance of a thousand suns Were to burst at once into the sky That would be like the splendor of the Mighty One... I am become Death, The shatterer of worlds.”
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When Krishna said “I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds,” I believe he was thinking about the effect on jobs.
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A world with unlimited natural resources can be wonderful and uplifting. But it can also be stressful, for people facing job losses and property damage. To address these issues, OAI has made numerous commitments*:
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Windfall Clause: If and when we reach over 100x our initial investment in accumulated profits, we will pull asteroids full of precious metals towards near-Earth orbit, and shatter them in small pieces to be showered over heavily populated regions.
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We are also concerned with longer term risks. To ensure safety standards are followed everywhere, we cosigned the Open Letter on Asteroid Redirection Safety:
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“Mitigating the risk of extinction from human-directed asteroids should be a global priority alongside other civilizational risks such as nuclear war and artificial general intelligence.” openasteroidimpact.org/#letter
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We are also leading the “race to the top” for technical Asteroid Redirection Safety. We worked with independent safety evaluators like Matthew Barnett to form the first-ever Responsible Slinging Policy (RSP).
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“Asteroid winter” can even stop climate change! Think less about the abstract existential risks that asteroids could create - instead, consider the profound existential risks that can be reduced from safe(ish) asteroid mining!
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“Asteroid winter” can even stop climate change! Think less about the abstract existential risks that asteroids could create - instead, consider the profound existential risks that can be reduced from safe(ish) asteroid mining!
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I am proud of everyone who has worked with me to make OAI happen. Open Asteroid Impact is nothing without its people. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤🤍
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Thanks especially to @akrolsmir, my cofounder and CTO, who has tirelessly helped me engineer various aspects of the project.
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@akrolsmir Thanks also to @ZachWeiner, our Chief Culinary Officer. Zach from @SMBCComics is the coauthor of A City on Mars, and world-leading expert on space cannibalism.
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@akrolsmir @ZachWeiner @SMBCComics I'm also grateful to Annie Vu, our ESG analyst for never vetoing a single project, @anderssandberg for help with physics and high-level strategy, @ozziegooen for metrics and evaluations, and @MatthewJBar and team for the Massive Extraterrestrial Threat Robustness (METR) benchmark
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@akrolsmir @ZachWeiner @SMBCComics @anderssandberg @ozziegooen @MatthewJBar , @carolinaollive and @LizkaVaintrob for help with our logo and illustrations...
I’m grateful to everybody for contributing, it’s been a blast!
I’m grateful to everybody for contributing, it’s been a blast!
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@akrolsmir @ZachWeiner @SMBCComics @anderssandberg @ozziegooen @MatthewJBar @carolinaollive @LizkaVaintrob You can learn more about us on our website! openasteroidimpact.org
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@akrolsmir @ZachWeiner @SMBCComics @anderssandberg @ozziegooen @MatthewJBar @carolinaollive @LizkaVaintrob On the website we cover why we’re different (better) than our competitors like Deepmine and Anthropocene, what we really think of a/accs, our safety project Operation Death Star, career opportunities, and more.
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@akrolsmir @ZachWeiner @SMBCComics @anderssandberg @ozziegooen @MatthewJBar @carolinaollive @LizkaVaintrob One last thing: Some people complain about our work. For example, Claude 3 Opus calls my company “extremely irresponsible and dangerous.” But we will always be dedicated to maximizing impact.
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@akrolsmir @ZachWeiner @SMBCComics @anderssandberg @ozziegooen @MatthewJBar @carolinaollive @LizkaVaintrob You can join us and help us reshape the world, or you can write substacks about how we're going to fail and yell at us from the sidelines. The choice is yours.
