... or are they? Setting Tesla aside, which is very useful but as I recently learned not a brainchild of Musk (he seems to have kidnapped it), the rest are not really worth dreaming all that much,...
That’s part of the reason that Elon Musk has developed such a large following as a business leader. Instead of making smartphones somewhat larger, he made electric cars commercially viable. He commercialized reusable rockets and hopes to use them to send humans to the moon and to Mars. He wants to bore tunnels under cities to end traffic and to transport cargo supersonically in above-ground tubes. These are the dreams worth dreaming.
... or are they? Setting Tesla aside, which is very useful but as I recently learned not a brainchild of Musk (he seems to have kidnapped it), the rest are not really worth dreaming all that much, or maybe worth dreaming, but not really worth realising. We don't gain anything from lunar tourism (apart from some rich geeks having some fun) or from reaching Mars. We already know how to end traffic: remove as much cars as possible. There isn't an alternative. We can already transfer cargo incredibly fast, I can get somehting delivered from SF to Istanbul in a day if I was willing to pay a bit more than usual. Improvements would be welcome, but not at the cost of tubes above our heads. What these "dreams" are is basically a random compilation from sci-fi cartoons that cater to a certain type of followers who "like" tech but are not in possesion of any in-depth knowledge. Musk is wearing this persona that caters to these people (or maybe that's what he really is), and they become fierce supporters or outright fans of him. Regardless of whether he is sincere or not in his bong-smoking geekness, he's apparently quite consciously making use of this sort of hype, and that's why I thing he's the worst, most evil and sinister figure in tech at the moment. I don't have any feelings on Larry Ellison or Steve Balmer etc., but I do hate this guy. He's not only detrimental to his own business, but he's detrimental to the culture of technological and scientific entreprise.
Maybe going to the Moon or Mars doesn't help us much in the material sense, but reducing the cost of reaching orbit by more than an order of magnitude has immense utility even to those of us still...
Maybe going to the Moon or Mars doesn't help us much in the material sense, but reducing the cost of reaching orbit by more than an order of magnitude has immense utility even to those of us still living on the ground. Better communications infrastructure, clean and reliable power from space based solar, the capability of building shades to help counteract climate change, fast, clean, and cheap transportation from an orbital ring, the list goes on.
I'm not a fan of Musk or his management style; as a left winger I see him as a latter day robber baron, who's lavished with undeserved praise for using the fruits of his exploitation to pursue projects that could've been pursued decades ago were it not for the gutting of government science budgets by him and his ilk. But be that as it may, the work he's doing is still important, at least when it comes to SpaceX.
I think you're being a bit reductionist here on all points. Spaceflight being cheap would have enormous beneficial consequences for society as a whole, not just rich geeks. It means that asteroid...
We don't gain anything from lunar tourism (apart from some rich geeks having some fun) or from reaching Mars. We already know how to end traffic: remove as much cars as possible. There isn't an alternative. We can already transfer cargo incredibly fast, I can get somehting delivered from SF to Istanbul in a day if I was willing to pay a bit more than usual. Improvements would be welcome, but not at the cost of tubes above our heads.
I think you're being a bit reductionist here on all points. Spaceflight being cheap would have enormous beneficial consequences for society as a whole, not just rich geeks. It means that asteroid mining starts becoming more viable, it advances material science, and paves the road for colonization of space. Obviously we could get rid of traffic by getting rid of as many cars as possible, but there's a reason people drive cars. They're fast, relatively cheap, and convenient. Until they either stop being one of those things, or until something else that is better comes around, traffic will exist. Efficient, cheap transportation has a lot of beneficial follow on effects like lower unemployment, greater job satisfaction, more efficient uses of resources and so on.
As far as Musk goes, I don't think he's intentionally cultivating this culture of personality. I think he still views himself as a rebel outsider that can do whatever he wants, which conflicts with his actual responsibilities. He's very much the product of the stereotypical silicon valley culture of assuming that because you're smart, you know how to do everything better than everyone else, and can "disrupt" every industry you put your fingers into by building apps and such. He legitimately thinks that he's breaking the status-quo for the betterment of humankind. He just doesn't realize that the status-quo, in the majority of cases, exists because it works.
He's a very flawed guy, and he probably shouldn't be running a huge publicly traded company, but you make it sound like he's intentionally riling up his fanbase with off the wall sci-fi ideas in order to profit off of them, while fully knowing that they serve no real purpose. If his only goal was profit, he's gone about achieving it in an incredibly stupid way.
People bike and people use public transport, the world over. More and more people are switching to these every day. That's very beneficial, both traffic-wise and ecologically, and also...
People bike and people use public transport, the world over. More and more people are switching to these every day. That's very beneficial, both traffic-wise and ecologically, and also economically. Cars are still useful, in cities for certain functions (moving things around, taxis, etc.) and in rural areas or in inefficient dwellings like suburbs people do need them for transport, but apart from that, using a car puts one at a disadvantage over other alternatives in proper cities.
For the rest, I don't think such an naive person as you depict him to be could've become this rich. Flawed, ignorant, naive guy is too innocent for him. I do think that he's aware of what people like about him and that he is actively exploiting this situation.
... or are they? Setting Tesla aside, which is very useful but as I recently learned not a brainchild of Musk (he seems to have kidnapped it), the rest are not really worth dreaming all that much, or maybe worth dreaming, but not really worth realising. We don't gain anything from lunar tourism (apart from some rich geeks having some fun) or from reaching Mars. We already know how to end traffic: remove as much cars as possible. There isn't an alternative. We can already transfer cargo incredibly fast, I can get somehting delivered from SF to Istanbul in a day if I was willing to pay a bit more than usual. Improvements would be welcome, but not at the cost of tubes above our heads. What these "dreams" are is basically a random compilation from sci-fi cartoons that cater to a certain type of followers who "like" tech but are not in possesion of any in-depth knowledge. Musk is wearing this persona that caters to these people (or maybe that's what he really is), and they become fierce supporters or outright fans of him. Regardless of whether he is sincere or not in his bong-smoking geekness, he's apparently quite consciously making use of this sort of hype, and that's why I thing he's the worst, most evil and sinister figure in tech at the moment. I don't have any feelings on Larry Ellison or Steve Balmer etc., but I do hate this guy. He's not only detrimental to his own business, but he's detrimental to the culture of technological and scientific entreprise.
Maybe going to the Moon or Mars doesn't help us much in the material sense, but reducing the cost of reaching orbit by more than an order of magnitude has immense utility even to those of us still living on the ground. Better communications infrastructure, clean and reliable power from space based solar, the capability of building shades to help counteract climate change, fast, clean, and cheap transportation from an orbital ring, the list goes on.
I'm not a fan of Musk or his management style; as a left winger I see him as a latter day robber baron, who's lavished with undeserved praise for using the fruits of his exploitation to pursue projects that could've been pursued decades ago were it not for the gutting of government science budgets by him and his ilk. But be that as it may, the work he's doing is still important, at least when it comes to SpaceX.
I think you're being a bit reductionist here on all points. Spaceflight being cheap would have enormous beneficial consequences for society as a whole, not just rich geeks. It means that asteroid mining starts becoming more viable, it advances material science, and paves the road for colonization of space. Obviously we could get rid of traffic by getting rid of as many cars as possible, but there's a reason people drive cars. They're fast, relatively cheap, and convenient. Until they either stop being one of those things, or until something else that is better comes around, traffic will exist. Efficient, cheap transportation has a lot of beneficial follow on effects like lower unemployment, greater job satisfaction, more efficient uses of resources and so on.
As far as Musk goes, I don't think he's intentionally cultivating this culture of personality. I think he still views himself as a rebel outsider that can do whatever he wants, which conflicts with his actual responsibilities. He's very much the product of the stereotypical silicon valley culture of assuming that because you're smart, you know how to do everything better than everyone else, and can "disrupt" every industry you put your fingers into by building apps and such. He legitimately thinks that he's breaking the status-quo for the betterment of humankind. He just doesn't realize that the status-quo, in the majority of cases, exists because it works.
He's a very flawed guy, and he probably shouldn't be running a huge publicly traded company, but you make it sound like he's intentionally riling up his fanbase with off the wall sci-fi ideas in order to profit off of them, while fully knowing that they serve no real purpose. If his only goal was profit, he's gone about achieving it in an incredibly stupid way.
People bike and people use public transport, the world over. More and more people are switching to these every day. That's very beneficial, both traffic-wise and ecologically, and also economically. Cars are still useful, in cities for certain functions (moving things around, taxis, etc.) and in rural areas or in inefficient dwellings like suburbs people do need them for transport, but apart from that, using a car puts one at a disadvantage over other alternatives in proper cities.
For the rest, I don't think such an naive person as you depict him to be could've become this rich. Flawed, ignorant, naive guy is too innocent for him. I do think that he's aware of what people like about him and that he is actively exploiting this situation.