Musk-bashers can have a ball. Elon Musk is too busy changing the world to let that bother him.
I wonder of all those who “bash” him… what have THEY done lately? 
Risk loving describes entrepreneurs very well. This shoe fits Musk admirably.
Very, very true.
Thank God there are those willing to take risks. If not, we’d all still be driving horse-drawn wagons!
On my daily commute to my last job, I drove through a neighborhood of very nice middle-class homes that were set back–maybe–250 feet from the road. What I observed at multiple homes on a daily basis was so ridiculous that I will likely never forget it.
What did I observe? At multiple houses, Mommie Dearest and her precious child would be sitting at the bottom of the driveway in a HUGE SUV, with the engine idling, waiting for the school bus.
Yup! Apparently, walking a few hundred feet on their own driveway was simply too much exertion for those children, and/or this extremely low-crime neighborhood was just too dangerous for those children to wait for the school bus–without being surrounded by a few tons of steel.
Obviously, this overprotectiveness could have been accomplished with a small, very economical car, but every home where I observed this behavior was using a Ford Expedition, or a Chevy Suburban, or a Nissan Armada–or some similarly huge SUV to drive their children a few hundred feet each morning.
Talk about excessive waste!
This is unarguably true. He promises the moon and then only makes it to orbit (which is perhaps a weird metaphor to use for a guy who also builds rockets!)
Of course, everyone else is still grubbing about in the dirt, so the accomplishments are still very impressive, even if he didn’t get quite as far as they said he would.
Now,now, @VDCdriver. They used the SUV so that the kids could play video games on the way down the driveway and during the wait. And I don’t think those are middle class homes. Huge SUVs and 250’ front yards screams upper class to me. The owner’s are more likely partners in a law firm than plumbers.
@shadowfax, SpaceX hasn’t made it to the moon yet. Maybe they are just gaining capital by selling launches to the government and private users.
They may well have higher income than I am aware of, but the zoning in this area requires large setbacks from the road, and these houses are smaller, fairly modest-looking (albeit well kept-up) homes that are apparently part of a development that was built in the '60s.
But, anyway…I like your theory about the video games. God forbid that any kids are “unplugged” at any time of the day!
OK. It seems like those lots would be very expensive with 250’ setbacks.
You gotta make it into orbit first if your goal is the moon.
He is a master opportunist. Without subsidies and grants he would be nowhere! The early car pioneers did not get any government support and often faced opposition to their noisy machines.
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SpaceX did a lot of development before they got government contracts.
Wasn’t it Tesla cars that were overheating and catching fire? Were they rushed to production or were corners cut?
Or… am I thinking of something else?
CSA
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Model 3 testing shortcut environmental testing and that shows me that customers are the test bed.
“…Supercharging rate: 130 miles in 30 minutes…”
Takes you from one Highway rest station to the next…that is if they had charging stations. One would have to very carefully plan a long distance trip. Nothing worse than stuck on a highway without “juice”.
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Shadowfax, I don’t disagree with that, at all. I just stated facts; not sure why people instinctively react like I just kicked their favorite puppy! (But that’s not just here: EM’s fanboys are everywhere, and as a rule, they do NOT react well to even the tiniest bits of “shade” being directed at their Anointed One.)
The only time it’s an issue to me is when his “boundless optimism” runs headlong into the dictates of safety. For example, I don’t really have a problem with him “pushing the envelope” in unmanned spaceflight…only when we’re discussing cars, or “human-rated” space travel, do I say “wait a minute…maybe a somber ‘reasoned voice of experience’ is needed?”
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Badmouthing those who accomplish great things is easy.
Accomplishing great things is hard. Damned hard.
Elon Musk is in the latter category.
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But that’s the point, TSMB: I’m NOT badmouthing the guy. I’m just acknowledging the guy is very aggressive W/R/T risk. I don’t really think anybody would deny this; they only might quibble about how much of a liability or asset it is.
And it’s NOT just me saying this. From the _LA Times:
(If I’m “badmouthing” ANYONE, it’s all of his fanboys…who have taken “brown-nosing” to the next level, and have attached themselves to his posterior like a bunch’a lampreys!)
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What is “W/R/T”?
“With Respect Towards”
Methinks he has a far, far greater understanding of risk than the overwhelming majority of us. I doubt if he could have gotten where he is without it.
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