Fingers Crossed for Next Time ROU_Xenophobe

January 25, 2015 9:56 PM

Just Read The Instructions and Of Course I Still Love You are the names Elon Musk has chosen for the east coast and west coast SpaceX spaceport drone ships. The names are from the late Iain Banks Culture novel Player of Games, and are indicative of the attitudes taken by Culture AI spaceships in naming themselves (a full list of Culture Vessel Names may be found here) An introduction to Iain Banks on Mefi previously, and on Mefi again at his passing ("The Culture represents the place we might hope to get to").
posted by emmet (40 comments total)

While those names are clever and funny, they're also clumsy for real use. I bet both ships soon get nicknames that are much shorter.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:13 PM on January 25, 2015

Elon Musk is awesome. Why can't all billionaires be as awesome as Elon Musk?
posted by Justinian at 10:14 PM on January 25, 2015 [6 favorites]

"While those names are clever and funny, they're also clumsy for real use. I bet both ships soon get nicknames that are much shorter."

Maybe, emmet. But it's still awesome.
posted by Time To Sharpen Our Knives at 10:17 PM on January 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

Personally, I'm waiting for "Meatfucker".
posted by Jimbob at 10:19 PM on January 25, 2015 [29 favorites]

I wish I were as good at something as Elon Musk is at PR.
posted by hermanubis at 10:23 PM on January 25, 2015 [4 favorites]

Long live the culture..
posted by bigZLiLk at 10:27 PM on January 25, 2015

This seems more like The Business, TBH.
posted by Artw at 10:30 PM on January 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

I bet both ships soon get nicknames that are much shorter.

The Just and the Course?
posted by axiom at 10:30 PM on January 25, 2015

This makes me happy. That's all.
posted by Harald74 at 11:20 PM on January 25, 2015

If he names something the Ask Not... then we know that shit has become quite serious.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 11:26 PM on January 25, 2015 [6 favorites]

Somewhat Lacking in Gravitas, don't you think?
posted by Sebmojo at 11:48 PM on January 25, 2015 [17 favorites]

I believe that's a Grey Area.
posted by longbaugh at 11:51 PM on January 25, 2015 [4 favorites]

If he names something the Ask Not... then we know that shit has become quite serious.

Mistake Not... but yes
posted by thedaniel at 12:09 AM on January 26, 2015 [5 favorites]

Somewhat Lacking in Gravitas, don't you think?

Definitely experience a significant gravitas shortfall.
posted by Justinian at 12:12 AM on January 26, 2015 [7 favorites]

If humanity goes into space on the I Blame Your Mother, I...

I don't even.
posted by Dormant Gorilla at 1:02 AM on January 26, 2015

Resistance Is Character-Forming would get two sets of geeks behind him.
posted by Leon at 2:10 AM on January 26, 2015

Technically the ship was the GCU Grey Area. "Meatfucker" is just what the other ships called it for non-consensual brain scanning.
posted by Justinian at 2:21 AM on January 26, 2015 [4 favorites]

While those names are clever and funny, they're also clumsy for real use. I bet both ships soon get nicknames that are much shorter.

They could be named after their parents: Pay & Pal.
posted by fairmettle at 2:36 AM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

Nice. Had to read it twice to realise that they actually _are_ ships - they're the floating drone platforms that the re-usable rockets are meant to land on.
posted by memebake at 3:05 AM on January 26, 2015

I wonder if you look back at all the space programs in the last 50 years, how many times have homages been made to Science Fiction that has inspired action.
posted by nickggully at 4:16 AM on January 26, 2015

And again I remember he is no longer among us.

.

Kudos to Elon for appreciating the Culture, as it were.
posted by flippant at 4:24 AM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

Elon Musk is basically the Mary Sue I would write into real-world fan fiction. I mean come on, nobody is cool enough to land half a rocket on a boat named after a Culture ship, that's just not believable.
posted by Skorgu at 5:01 AM on January 26, 2015 [9 favorites]

Sort of ironic that he just gave 10 million for more benevolent AI research, and then named two ships after Minds who have no qualms with messing with civilizations to get a desired output.
posted by nickggully at 5:02 AM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Not as cool as the recent news that Google is rebranding Google Glass as "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again."
posted by escabeche at 5:04 AM on January 26, 2015 [17 favorites]

So is it Just [REED] The Instructions, or Just [RED] The Instructions?
posted by penduluum at 5:23 AM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

OK, I'm half-convinced Musk is a Special Circumstances Agent sent here to drag our sorry asses up into space.
posted by leotrotsky at 5:54 AM on January 26, 2015 [13 favorites]

I think he's actually a stranded Qeng Ho captain who's got to fund a amscoop in the next twenty years if he's going to have any chance of getting out of the sun's gravity well.
posted by thecaddy at 6:47 AM on January 26, 2015 [11 favorites]

"While those names are clever and funny, they're also clumsy for real use. I bet both ships soon get nicknames that are much shorter."

Ahem Time To Sharpen Our Knives, that was not my comment (mine was the original post, and I unabashedly love the names).
posted by emmet at 6:49 AM on January 26, 2015

Planet-bound non-sentient parking barges? The Minds so "honored" will be quite amused, I'm sure.
posted by Skaffen-Amtiskaw at 7:52 AM on January 26, 2015 [3 favorites]

I bet both ships soon get nicknames that are much shorter.

I christen this ship, "RTFM."
posted by charlie don't surf at 7:56 AM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Personally, I'm waiting for "Meatfucker".

You... do remember how it got that name, right?
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:08 AM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Probably for the best they stick with GCUs.

I admit I might have gone with Ultimate Ship the Second or Helpless in the Face of Your Beauty, though Not Wanted on Voyage is clearly the most appropriate.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:55 AM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have GOT to figure out a way to get hired by him. If only I had a skill he needed.....
posted by lumpenprole at 10:18 AM on January 26, 2015

What, was "Spam in a Can" taken?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 2:37 PM on January 26, 2015

I actually choked up relaying this news to Mrs w0mbat. Wishing that Mr Banks had had a Fate Amenable to Change.
posted by w0mbat at 4:25 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

OK, I'm half-convinced Musk is a Special Circumstances Agent sent here to drag our sorry asses up into space.

See I was thinking this, but Contact and SC people are subtle, they don't just go intentionally courting massive media attention and splashing extravagant sums of money on things named for in-jokey references to...

oh shit.

He's Zakalwe.
posted by emmtee at 5:46 PM on January 26, 2015 [6 favorites]

GSV What Are The Civilian Applications?
posted by Divine_Wino at 6:10 PM on January 26, 2015

In case anyone else is as dense as me and did not get the "gravitas" thing for years and years, wikipedia now has the explanation: These ships obtained their names as a result of another (unnamed) involved civilisation criticizing Culture ship naming policy, claiming that such powerful ships ought to have names with a little more gravitas.

All I have to say is that the reusable rocket could have done with a little less gravity.
posted by Doroteo Arango II at 11:57 PM on January 26, 2015

If he's Zakalwe, remain standing at his dinner parties.
posted by Slackermagee at 3:07 AM on January 27, 2015 [5 favorites]

It's encouraging to confirm that someone in Elon Musk's position is inspired by IMB.
posted by lucidium at 7:10 PM on January 28, 2015 [1 favorite]