| This just seems needlessly picky, and I can't help but feel that you're expecting a little much. Of course Elon Musk is self-serving, in the sense that he's talking about and promoting the benefits of projects that he's working on. They're more impressive than you seem to be implying; Tesla's approach to tackling the existing automotive industry and introducing affordable vehicles is a long-term project, and considering we're about 11 or 12 years in, they seem to be making good progress. It's not something that many other companies have had the vision and drive to execute. Likewise with SpaceX. There's a long-term plan to colonise Mars – that does seem pretty visionary, no? And in terms of other projects, look at something like Hyperloop. You seem to imply that "efficient tram systems powered by electric wires" (a technology used everywhere throughout the world) would be more 'visionary' or something? That seems like an odd claim to make. People treat Musk like a bit of a celebrity because he talks unashamedly of large-scale, long-term visions for things he wants his projects to achieve. That's amazingly attractive in a world where there is so much focus on the short term, and what can't be achieved. I'm not sure why you react so badly to that. |
SpaceX's offerings are underwhelming unless your goal is to stick to LEO forever.
The problem is, people just keep thinking of yesterdays problems (better cars, more LEO theatrics) and think better versions of that is "visionary." Its not. Its practically archaic. His flip-flopping on AI just cements his reputation as marketing entity who only exists to provide PR for his companies, some of which are just trying to solve yeterday's problems instead of todays.