Elon Musk, the Nikola Tesla of our generation
Elon Musk had once said, "If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it." Perhaps, this is why Musk is the poster boy of innovation and brilliance. Over the years, he's dabbled in undertakings what many find ludicrous, but he continues to do so with élan. Here's a look into some of his interesting projects.
Even Musk's "Boring" projects are exciting. "Traffic is driving me nuts. Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging...," Musk tweeted and that was the introduction for his "Boring" Company i.e. a firm that's going to build massive underground tunnels under cities so that, cars can reach from point A to B without wasting any time stuck in the traffic.
South Australia faces acute power outages. Tesla said it'd build a 100-megawatt battery, within 100 days, if the firm gets the power contract. On Twitter, Atlassian CEO and Australian Mike Cannon-Brookes asked if Musk was serious. Musk replied, "Tesla will get the system installed and working 100 days from contract signature or it is free. That serious enough for you?" He got the contract.
Recently, Elon Musk-backed OpenAI achieved a commendable feat. Earlier, AI triumphed over humans in traditional games, such as Chess or Chinese Go. Then again, these games have a definite set of rules, which means finite variables. MPG computer games, on the other hand, have innumerable variables and combinations. OpenAI bot crushed Dota 2 pro gamers with just two weeks of real-time learning.
One of Musk's hyped projects is the Hyperloop. It's a concept that, till now, has no approval, no commercial product or guarantee that it'll work. Yet, it has managed to garner $245 million in funding and has an estimated valuation of $700 million. Although promising, it's yet to be seen if the high-speed, tube-based travel of the future actually surfaces from the testing phase.
When it comes to Musk, except for Tesla, everything is grander and unfeasible from a skeptic's eye. He says that his SpaceX will conduct manned missions to Mars by 2024 and that his Neuralink will create a bond between humans and AI. It's a lot to take in. Then again, his promise, of a brave new world with possibilities and innovations, is quite alluring.
Will all of Musk's plan succeed? Perhaps, not. There will be failures and heartbreaks. Critics will be harsh and those, who glorify him, may very well lampoon him in the future. Then again, history will note him as an inventor and a visionary. Musk believes in changing the world, very much like Nikola Tesla, on whom his electric car company is named.
