Why all the Musk haters? He is doing all the things nobody else could do, or enough of it to get the ball rolling in the right direction. Getting the human race to try expanding to more planets (increasing our odds of racial survival) - NASA was about to be legislated out of existence by budget cuts, until Musk showed that a Mars colony could be feasible. Now NASA is talking about Mars missions, along with several other companies in the private sector.
Mars has been a goal of NASA for a long time and they have probably been studying it for more years than Musk is old. NASA is a technology driver and it is highly unlikely they will lose funding in the foreseeable future. They contract constantly with the private sector and drive jobs. And Musk, himself, has publicly stated not all that long ago that his Mars ambitions are going to take much longer than he originally thought - by 10-years or more. It has been my experience that when people start saying that things are going to take more than a year, they usually mean they have no clue when, or if, it will become reality. Fusion scientists have been saying practical fusion power is 20-years away since the mid-1970's or before, and we still don't have viable fusion power plants. You might think that colonizing Mars is technologically easier than developing practical fusion power plants, however, I would question that assessment.
As to the survival of the human race? It is a great dream, however, as I see it, that has to start here on Earth. Without Earth, at least for the foreseeable future, a Mars colony would not survive. Mars is far less a hospitable planet than Earth to an extreme, and to survive there without Earth to help would mean industrializing Mars to a technological capacity similar to what presently exists only on Earth. That, alone, would be an amazing achievement in this century, as I see it.
And Musk putting 1,000,000 people on Mars like he says he wants to in the near future? Need I ask about cost, for starters?
I also question anyone that thinks that NASA does not have the capability to or could not develop reusable rocket technology. They did so with the shuttle and they have some of the brightest minds on the planet working for them. They have chosen to encourage companies like SpaceX for the kind of missions that SpaceX is currently flying while they focus on the significantly more difficult tasks.
Lastly, NASA announced plans to send humans to Mars well before Musk did, and I would also credit them with giving Musk the idea. Musk has not shown that colonizing Mars is feasible. The feasibility of it has been known for a long time, however, the technology has not been and still is not up to the task yet.
GM, the largest corporation in the world, was killing off their lame EV program, even amid loud protests from consumers, until Musk showed that electric vehicles are viable alternatives to gas guzzlers - now every auto maker has one or plans for several.
I would not hold up GM as an example of a company interested in anything but profit. Typically, when there are serious problems with GM cars, they have to have their arms twisted by the NTSB to recall them.
As I see it, the inspiration comes from Toyota. Their first Prius version was released in Japan in 1997 well before Musk started Tesla, and in the US, the Prius has proven to be popular. If you would like, you can find the date Tesla was founded here -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Motors
As I have said in other threads, Musk is not doing any advanced research into battery technology - rather he is building his cars with off-the-shelf parts, and his giga factory - now apparently well behind schedule - is producing more of the same old technology.
Toyota, on the other hand, and other companies are researching and developing better battery technology. I will put my money on these newer technologies and these companies making a much larger impact than Tesla Motors. I bet, also, that Tesla will become the modern-day equivalent of the Edsel because of these companies and their research.
As well, Toyota, from my experience, will voluntarily recall vehicles without the NTSB on their backs when they find problems. As I see it, that is a humanistic approach coming from a company that respects their customers.
The Powerwall batteries and solar systems have the potential to reduce carbon emissions by a large factor, and diversify our outdated power infrastructure into private ownership, another win for humanity.
The article mentioned that the cost of these systems are in the $100K range. With prices that high, it is highly unlikely that they will become the decentralized power system you are speaking of as the vast majority of the population anywhere in the world cannot afford them - nor is it even remotely economical at this point given current electricity prices. For a knowledgeable homeowner, it can be done for 1/5 to 1/3 the cost. Find a copy of the book "Wind Power" by Paul Gipe - a book that tells all about how to do something like this. At that price, my bet is that Musk's profits are on the order of 400 to 500 percent. He has employees he has to support, and the price he is selling these for tells me that his interests are more towards how much he can profit off it rather than the advancement of humanity.
His tunneling company aims to show that traffic problems are solvable, when governments just keep building more roads, making it worse.
I almost don't know where to start on this one. So, just how much is Musk going to charge to use it? How much ventilation will be needed to vent fumes? What happens to all the people trapped in there when things fail?
So why all the hate? Because you didn't think of it first, or do anything to solve these problems? Not that people care what I think, but I lose all respect for the opinions of those who disrespect Elon Musk, just because I respect people with the vision and drive to get things done and bring about positive change, instead of just getting rich off the same old status quo.
My apologies if you do not like what I have to say.
Maybe
@captaincranky will address this in more depth. I'll just say that I think you are confusing riches gained from parasitic practices and showmanship for vision and humanitarianism.
