| The big difference between him and top notch medical experts seems to be this : piles of cash and cutting edge tech across all disciplines thrown at a problem. It's not common that a research proposal gets granted hundreds of millions of funding. But here is what I've learned from Tesla/SpaceX: Cutting-edge tech changes the initial conditions of a problem. How things are measured, analyzed, manufactured, simulated etc. The only things that are fundamentally constraining are the laws of nature. As long as you don't violate them, things can be done, potentially (in principle). That why Musk has been like: OK, I see a feasible trajectory, so let's throw money and talent at the problem and see how it goes. Which by the way is how progress works. Pushing things. Experts (especially scientists) have acquired their expertise within certain initial conditions. Initial conditions incorporate assumptions that might be outdated after having thrown money and tech at the issue. That's why Musk doesn't give a damn about conventional wisdom but in my opinion only cares about the fundamental physics when it comes to basic feasibility. What seems to be different compared to a lot of others seems to be that he is a scientific mind by training and a hardcore engineer by profession. Plus basic economics literacy and tons of money. You usually find only one or those traits in people. Tldr : his mantra is 'question your constraints'... Let's see how well that goes with this project |