SamLewis
Supreme Member
- Oct 25, 2012
- 1,343
- 1,058
Millions
What has Elon Musk really done?
- Thread starter DunderMannen
- Start date
DunderMannen
Elite Member
- Sep 11, 2019
- 2,136
- 1,985
Really? They're 3-10 years ahead of other EV technology? I don't agree at all. Pretty much all other large car brands that offer electrical models are on par with Tesla. Check the charts yourself
PaulRD
Senior Member
- Jun 17, 2018
- 1,020
- 460
That reason is money and rich parents/connections
Larry Igna
Power Member
- Nov 25, 2016
- 663
- 715
Just a small one, NASA monitors SpaceX for the billions given, no one monitored NASA for the errors they've made.
And another small one, NASA was founded in 1958, SpaceX in 2002. According to Google.
silvi-kucedra
Regular Member
- Jul 1, 2012
- 201
- 283
Is Elon Musk a very dedicated, smart and successful entrepreneur? Absolutely. Denying this is just plain stupid and anyone that says otherwise, like most people in this thread, envies him because they know they will never reach that level. It's human psychology, we hate it and don't accept it when other people are better than us. 99.99% of all the 5B+ adults in the world will never do in 10 lifetimes what he has done in 2 decades.
BUT, and this is a big but, has he revolutionized anything? NO, not even close, please don't make me laugh. Electric cars are NOT revolutionary - fundamentally it's the SAME tech. Instead of taking the oil and putting it directly in the car, you process it to produce electricity and then power the car with that. He didn't do this to help the planet (big LOL) - how could he when oil (fossil fuels in general) is still very much needed to produce electricity? I cannot understand how people are so stupid to think that electric cars will help the planet, when fundamentally they still rely on fossil fuels.
He also didn't invent car batteries, they were invented a long time ago, at least 3-4 decades ago, but back then, it wasn't the right time to put them to use. What he did is take the tech, make it a bit better and put it to practice. Again, this is no small feet, so kudos for that. But he didn't revolutionize shit when it comes to batteries. Energy storage is a HUGE problem in our world and there are thousands of scientists & companies working on that to make it economically feasible. Musk doesn't even crack the top 100 when it comes to energy storage tech.
What he did however is use the hype of "helping the planet", his fame & his infinite marketing budget (which comes from investors anyway) to gain a foothold in the car industry. The car industry is dominated by a few players only, so competing there is extremely difficult. You don't just build a new car brand and release it in the market like you would do with a physical or digital product. The capital required is in billions of dollars, and no investor would give you that kind of cash just like that - You need an edge, something that the competition doesn't do at the moment to jumpstart the ship. He used the environmental crisis to gain that edge, hype up the stock, so he could receive funding. Don't get me wrong, that's really smart thinking, but it's definitely NOT revolutionary.
And let's not talk about SpaceX. Blue Origins, Bezo's company, actually has achieved more in that area than SpaceX, but you don't hear about that much in the news. So has NASA. Reusable rockets were invented in the 70-s during the peak of the Space race between USSR and US, but again, they were not economically feasible back then, because the world was much "poorer" as compared to now. Today, with trillions of dollars floating around, it is feasible, which is why they are becoming a reality. But again, 99% of the tech was developed decades ago by DARPA or NASA to be used exclusively for the military. That also includes phones, touch screens, the internet and practically every other tech we use today commercially. If you want to call someone revolutionary, call those scientists at DARPA. They revolutionize tech so then entrepreneurs can put that tech to use commercially and make it available to the public decades later.
BUT, and this is a big but, has he revolutionized anything? NO, not even close, please don't make me laugh. Electric cars are NOT revolutionary - fundamentally it's the SAME tech. Instead of taking the oil and putting it directly in the car, you process it to produce electricity and then power the car with that. He didn't do this to help the planet (big LOL) - how could he when oil (fossil fuels in general) is still very much needed to produce electricity? I cannot understand how people are so stupid to think that electric cars will help the planet, when fundamentally they still rely on fossil fuels.
He also didn't invent car batteries, they were invented a long time ago, at least 3-4 decades ago, but back then, it wasn't the right time to put them to use. What he did is take the tech, make it a bit better and put it to practice. Again, this is no small feet, so kudos for that. But he didn't revolutionize shit when it comes to batteries. Energy storage is a HUGE problem in our world and there are thousands of scientists & companies working on that to make it economically feasible. Musk doesn't even crack the top 100 when it comes to energy storage tech.
What he did however is use the hype of "helping the planet", his fame & his infinite marketing budget (which comes from investors anyway) to gain a foothold in the car industry. The car industry is dominated by a few players only, so competing there is extremely difficult. You don't just build a new car brand and release it in the market like you would do with a physical or digital product. The capital required is in billions of dollars, and no investor would give you that kind of cash just like that - You need an edge, something that the competition doesn't do at the moment to jumpstart the ship. He used the environmental crisis to gain that edge, hype up the stock, so he could receive funding. Don't get me wrong, that's really smart thinking, but it's definitely NOT revolutionary.
And let's not talk about SpaceX. Blue Origins, Bezo's company, actually has achieved more in that area than SpaceX, but you don't hear about that much in the news. So has NASA. Reusable rockets were invented in the 70-s during the peak of the Space race between USSR and US, but again, they were not economically feasible back then, because the world was much "poorer" as compared to now. Today, with trillions of dollars floating around, it is feasible, which is why they are becoming a reality. But again, 99% of the tech was developed decades ago by DARPA or NASA to be used exclusively for the military. That also includes phones, touch screens, the internet and practically every other tech we use today commercially. If you want to call someone revolutionary, call those scientists at DARPA. They revolutionize tech so then entrepreneurs can put that tech to use commercially and make it available to the public decades later.
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Deleted member 1333509
Guest
Pretty much everything he touched.
SpaceX didn't revolutionised commercial space flight where NASA and half a dozen other companies have done dick?
Tesla didn't revolutionise electric cars?
If these two companies didn't revolutionise their industries, I'd be interested to know what they would have had to do in order to classify as revolutionising them?
Musk = +1000 gold stars.
DunderMannen
Elite Member
- Sep 11, 2019
- 2,136
- 1,985
Has SpaceX done commercial space flight? No.
Has other space companies done commercial space flight? No.
Are Tesla's a revolutionary car brand? No.
Did Tesla's genius marketing revolutionize electrical cars and the car industry? Yes.
Huge difference. To revolutionize an industry you have to make something new, not recycle an old idea, brand it, and bring it to market calling it revolution.
- May 30, 2019
- 13,467
- 10,662
He uses physics as a framework to pioneer in his ventures
Reusability of rockets was the fundamental breakthrough needed to make space travel cheaper. If it wasn't for Elon, I don't think NASA would ever think in that direction. They're really good at spending money.
And he didn't stop it right there. F9 was a partially reusable rocket.
They're continually progressing to ensure 100% reusability including heat shields.
Eventually, to a point where we could treat rockets just as airplanes.
Tesla is another stellar venture.
Neuralink might revolutionize our lives just like the Internet once did
Honestly, we're all tugged in a marketing funnel by govt, taxes, and the education system. They don't give a shit about the future just as this man does.
He's a mad maneuver & scientist dominating the business world.
He should be kept alive at all costs.
All ideas are crazy until they're not
- Elon musk
Reusability of rockets was the fundamental breakthrough needed to make space travel cheaper. If it wasn't for Elon, I don't think NASA would ever think in that direction. They're really good at spending money.
And he didn't stop it right there. F9 was a partially reusable rocket.
They're continually progressing to ensure 100% reusability including heat shields.
Eventually, to a point where we could treat rockets just as airplanes.
Tesla is another stellar venture.
Neuralink might revolutionize our lives just like the Internet once did
Honestly, we're all tugged in a marketing funnel by govt, taxes, and the education system. They don't give a shit about the future just as this man does.
He's a mad maneuver & scientist dominating the business world.
He should be kept alive at all costs.
All ideas are crazy until they're not
- Elon musk
- Sep 10, 2010
- 11,823
- 26,667
I agree to everything you said, except for this (and this has nothing to do with Tesla directly). You are correct that fossil fuel still remains our major source of energy. Infact, when you convert fossil fuel to energy, a major percentage is lost as heat and other unusable energy. When the EV uses the electricity, it wastes even further energy as no complex machine can practically be 100% efficient (except for some room heater may be). In that sense, using the fossil fuel (directly) should actually be better for environment lol.
However, EVs aren't still completely useless. Keep in mind that all the vehicle cares about, is electricity. The power source does not matter. If we invented a more reliable source of renewable energy, the car could run on that without a big design modification (or no modification atall, if the power is coming through grid). For example, solar power could use some major improvement. According to what I know, even the best solar panel we have wastes 90% of the sunlight because it cannot absorb the energy. This WILL change in future.
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Deleted member 1333509
Guest
Has SpaceX ever flown cargo into space on behalf of other organisations in return for payment? Commercial space flight.
What was the max speed that the fastest electric car went prior to Tesla? What was the marketcap of the second largest electric car company ever? How many cars did the largest electric car company prior to Tesla sell?
(answers to all 3 is very low dear)
No argue, jus fac, ser.
SpaceX has done many commercial space flights. Even more, SpaceX managed to send 4 people to the International Space Station with 100% in-house technology.
This is the first time since NASA's Space Shuttle program (which was closed) when the USA is back in the business of transporting humans on the ISS.
Until May 2020, the Russians were the only ones able to do this type of mission, with the Soyuz rockets/module - which still remains the best and safest way to reach the ISS and go back.
Apart from that, I personally don't like Tesla, but you should acknowledge Tesla was a pionner in electric car manufacturing.
So yeah, I think Elon Musk is a pretty interesting character, hugely overrated.
This is the first time since NASA's Space Shuttle program (which was closed) when the USA is back in the business of transporting humans on the ISS.
Until May 2020, the Russians were the only ones able to do this type of mission, with the Soyuz rockets/module - which still remains the best and safest way to reach the ISS and go back.
Apart from that, I personally don't like Tesla, but you should acknowledge Tesla was a pionner in electric car manufacturing.
So yeah, I think Elon Musk is a pretty interesting character, hugely overrated.
Ed Roy
Junior Member
- Aug 15, 2019
- 116
- 31
I 100% agree with you. However, I feel bad when I see people are doing really great stuff, but they don't get recognition as much as his (Elon Musk) every tweet receives.
Yeah, he is a successful man. No doubt on that. But the doubt comes when you say he is a revolutionary guy or a real-life Iron man.
- May 30, 2019
- 13,467
- 10,662
Come on, man.
There exist only 2 American car manufacturers that haven't gone bankrupt
Ford & Tesla. That's it.
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Deleted member 1333509
Guest
Not to mention the guy had to split his money between both companies prior to either of them being established and managed to make both of them successful simultaneously. Most people's brains would melt just trying to set up Tesla, let alone also setting up SpaceX at the same time.
The stress must have been monstrous.
SamLewis
Supreme Member
- Oct 25, 2012
- 1,343
- 1,058
Teslas key achievement is that it isn’t bankrupt yet...
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Deleted member 1333509
Guest
Musk never looked more like a robot than that interview. Cyborg or lizard for sure, still a good lizard.