Episode 0084 – Armin Ellis on Organizing Visionary Projects

Former NASA-JPL Mission Architect and founder of the Exploration Institute, Armin Ellis helps people think big and execute visionary projects for a living. He’s also now the Mission Architect for the Arch Mission Project, a group committed to getting long-lasting civilizational archives carried into deep space by other missions. Armin is exactly the guy to talk to if you want to think the future’s somewhere you would like to live…

Watch the entire uncut video on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/20404177

Armin’s projects:

http://exploration.institute

http://pioneerscircle.com

https://archmission.org

“I really do believe that the future is pretty bright for us.”

A rallying cry to not let our amygdalae rule us, to not succumb to fear and desperation.

How working on a Mars rover mission helped him develop a humility and appreciation for complexity.

“Ego slows us down. It makes us stupider, you know? I’m not sure there are too many intelligent people out there. I think there are people who embrace intelligent practices; that allows them to have intelligent outcomes.”

And also: in defense of egotistical people who perform a vital function in the ecosphere by making sure we Get Things Done.

How the limitations of each of us as individuals can align with others’ limitations and assets to form a functioning team.

Diaspora by Greg Egan

How do you craft communications to reach everyone on a neurologically diverse team?

“When opinions aren’t backed up by empathy, then you’re necessarily going to run into problems.”

“I can’t remember a day in my life when space wasn’t this burning passion, something that REALLY mattered to me…I remember I was eight years old when I decided I wanted to work at JPL.”

Idea To Implementation Method

How to recognize when the processes in an organization are out of alignment.

How he got involved in space entrepreneurship and space exploration as a young man.

The vital importance of a frontier, of curiosity, of exploration…

Why the quest for certainty leads us astray and the quest for meaning leads us true.

“Being able to influence it is a fundamentally different premise than being able to control it.”

Ikigai

Would somebody please build an Ocean Roomba already?

Trying to make Star Trek’s Federation happen.

The Arch Mission Project, an awesome and ambitious endeavor to leave engraved nickel civilization archives at the ocean’s floor and on the Moon, and with every deep space mission…

The importance of emotional mastery (again, not control…) if we are to become the kind of species we could be…

And more!