[tehjoker]

Not even sure where to start with this level of elitism, but Elon Musk is certainly an expert in batteries, automotive production, rocketry and telemetry, and financial services all at once and not just a brand.

The kind of sentiment you are expressing is directly antithetical to having any kind of real democracy.

If you've ever met the people in power, many of them are quite dumb. It's easy to listen to experts (or not) and give commands. How often do you hear that executives don't know what's happening in their companies but the people on the line know exactly what to do but were not consulted seriously?

To answer your question about airline pilots, I would probably accept (and in fact do, the FAA) a system designed by what is allegedly a democracy. Usually people don't have direct popular elections for technical positions, but design rules in consultation with people familiar with the field. If the voters were in fact other airline personnel, a direct election could be viable though I would require some qualifying criteria (e.g. people with XXXX hours of flight time).