Magnificent Grants

Magnificent Grants Application - Sulaiman Khan Ghori

1. How are you going to change the world?
   1. My mission is to seed life in the universe via von Neumann probes. Life is the only force in the universe that combats entropy. Making complexity in the galaxy default-alive will be a a fundamental shift in the universal order. I have what I lovingly call my eightfold path to get there, a series of productizeable technologies to get there, starting with asteroid mining using a new fundamentally more scaleable architecture than other attempts. In the moderate case, it will enable outcompeting terrestrial mining operations and reduce the price of our most valuable minerals (PGMs namely) by up to 2x in the first decade, enabling new a wealth of downstream opportunities globally, and of course making the pioneering organization proportionally valuable.
2. What questions do you spend the most time thinking about?
   1. Why do complex states (life) exist and grow in an entropic universe?
   2. What did Caesar think about when eating breakfast?
   3. What comes after humans?
   4. In the late 19th century, Albert Michelson (Nobel prize for speed of light measurement) quipped that our understanding of physics was nearly complete, with only minor details missing. Then the atom was split. What other fundamental domains have we yet to unlock? It seems dubious to believe we understand the true limits of what's possible.
3. What do you want to accomplish in the next 10 years? In the next 2 years?
   1. 2 years: Staffed to ~16 engineers, recommended by advisory board consisting of engineering leads ex Planetary Resources, DSI (Grant, Joel ideal candidates) and related veterans. Asteroid capture product is validated, vehicle parts built and tested, launches slotted and purchased. Vehicle development will be entering its third major iteration.
   2. 10 years: Reliable asteroid capture and return missions as primary revenue stream, greater than one hundred active at a time. Primary focus of company R&D is in-space manufacturing product line with field test campaign underway.
4. What code are you cracking on a topic that’s too impartially or inappropriately mapped?
   1. Asteroid capture and retrieval. In the history of spaceflight, only two missions have successfully redirected asteroids, NASA's Deep Impact and DART, both were small scale tests. Outside of this, 3 missions, two by JAXA and one by NASA have returned samples from asteroids. NASA ARM was defunded, so essentially research and development on asteroid capture and return has stopped. I'm working on the physics and engineering with veterans of the problem
5. Who is your favorite philosopher, writer, entrepreneur, scientist, poet, economist, or historical figure? In six words or less, not counting his or her name, explain why.
   1. Emil Ciaron. Absurdism without the pretenses.
6. Tell us one thing about the world that you strongly believe is true, but that most people think is not true, but to a point that you went upstream against consensus for some time, took a risk and where your efforts amounted to something of significance. If this belief shapes the way you live, tell us how.
   1. You can solo-learn anything faster than you can learn it from an institution. I always planned to jump straight into building companies instead of going go a university. To this end, I graduated highschool early and began working in startups immediately to the chagrin of my family and friends. I had no plan B if this did not work, I didn't apply anywhere nor a job lined up when I decided to do this. Simply began building.
7. What anecdotal evidence can you share on being unreasonable to normal social norms and/or about an insane sense of urgency?
   1. In middle school I was captivated by the idea of additive manufacturing and 3d printers, these were the early days. The fidget spinner craze started so I ordered parts from China and built a RepRap clone, 1k skateboard bearings, and started a fab in my bedroom. At night every two hours I'd wake up, clear the print bed and start the next one, in the morning before school spray painting and assembling the batch for the day, run to the bus stops of other schools, distribute to my resellers (other kids) there, sell at school all day, and going home, collect my profits, give commissions, and from continue manufacturing. I ended up getting in a huge mess with the school as a result which indeed aided in my radicalization against institutions.
8. Describe an experience or a past project you worked on that wired your brain differently than most? (eg a country-specific issue or an extenuating circumstance)?
   1. Competitive robotics. This was one of the first extremely difficult things I did, where failure could stem from something as little as tightening a screw an extra half turn. Attention to detail was critical, and it taught me that there are no limits to focus when properly motivated as well as how much better I can perform under pressure. I found a home in the extremes.
9. Have you ever started a business, or dedicated yourself to a major project? Standout achievements? If yes, please describe the organization or project you started, your reason for starting it, and your role.
   1. Yes, I've built two software companies i.inc and swiftink.io, outcomes of which fund my research now. I quit my job and went full time on entrepreneurship over two years ago and have not had a weekend since. These are solo built, I run engineering, sales, marketing, and ops. Before that, in highschool I built and ran a large competitive robotics org, dedicating every evening for years to it. It still runs today, larger than ever.