Elon Musk is one of the most popular and crazy modern entrepreneurs in the world, as well as a multi-time full-time CEO. They are behind the car company Tesla, the space company SpaceX, the digital bank Paypal, the vacuum-powered Hyperloop trains and the Boring Company tunnel systems.
He can be brilliant, funny and completely unpredictable. Sometimes his genius goes beyond common understanding and one feels that there is nothing he cannot do. Landing a racket vertically is like balancing a stick on your fingertip and doing a squat.
Source: Tech Revolution (YouTube)
Is Mars good? Elon Musk wants to fly to it (and stay there too). As the (temporarily) richest person on the planet, is it okay to post completely nonsensical content about "funny cryptocurrency" on Twitter and trample your seriousness into the ground? Why not. Elon Musk will do whatever he wants. And also when he wants (which is perhaps the reason why the new Tesla models and the development of SpaceX rockets are enormously delayed). He has a habit of giving unrealistic time estimates. But one thing, for the luck and misfortune of our community, eluded him until recently. Cryptocurrencies.
"In retrospect, it was inevitable."
Who would have thought that Elon Musk could even damage bitcoin?
Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Elon jumped on the bandwagon of the crazy modern world where it's cool to post memes, make weird statements, and act like a teenager because it's a genius marketing strategy. It goes with the times, because "what do you expect from a world where printing money from the wind is a common fact, where policemen are murdering and where the president of the United States is building a wall on the border with Mexico"? He made himself Iron Man in real life. The way the media loves him. A technological fanatic of the 21st century.
Paypal
How it all began? Interested in computers at the age of ten. In a few days, he learned how to program from a manual that was supposed to take several months to complete, and then sold his own Blastar video game for $500.
Few people know that he was born in South Africa and only later moved to America, where he got through Canada, where his mother's place of birth allowed him to stay. In JAR, finding a job was definitely not the main problem, which shaped his world view. He eventually studied a peculiar combination of economics and physics at the University of Pennsylvania. The first interesting work experience came from practice in Silicon Valley – a startup with so-called ultracapacitors for energy storage and Rocket Science Games.
He ended his doctoral studies in applied physics early at the age of 24 because of his first own company, Zip2. It worked like prehistoric Google maps and he founded it together with his brother Kimbal. At that time, the Internet boom began.
With Zip2 money ($22 million), he founded x.com, which merged with Paypal to build the modern payment network of the Internet (well, modern until 2009). In the early days, Paypal's systems were attacked by hackers at such a rate that they nearly went bankrupt. This was Elon Musk's first time venturing into an industry he knew next to nothing about. On top of that, he had to build up his lousy management skills.
"Bankers are rich and stupid," (Paypal, Ashlee Vance: Elon Musk)
he declared after a bank rejected his proposal for profitable arbitrage, and the idea for Paypal was born.
Tesla
In 2000, the Internet bubble burst, and Musk witnessed a possible downward trend in innovation. Paypal as one of the few companies was not just a bubble.
"The best minds of my generation come up with ways to get people to click on ads."
For the sold stake in Paypal, Elon Musk took a risk again and founded his own car company Tesla Motors, which was in the red for several years because it lacked a quality industrial organization (Musk ran it as a startup from Silicon Valley, which was not at all suitable for technically demanding objects). The first electric car was really from the garage and the batteries were in danger of spontaneous combustion. The breakthrough came only with li-ion battery technology and sales without giant networks of dealers and subcontractors.
Tesla started with small-series production of luxury cars for the rich, but today it finds itself just above the category of cars for the middle class. Tesla fulfills Elon's idea of ecology (with Tesla's open patents supporting this "altruism"). In addition, despite the fear of artificial intelligence, Tesla has the largest network of autonomous vehicles in the world.
Some speculate that Musk isn't so much about ecology as he is about the great acceleration of Tesla cars, basing this on the fact that he once got carried away and had a near-fatal car accident when his McLaren skidded.
SpaceX
Elon Musk got the idea for SpaceX when he wanted to send mice into space as part of the Ziebrin project, a year before he founded Tesla. While searching for suitable rockets, he found out that the rockets are extremely expensive (Russia - Kentrell USD 8 million/2 pcs).
"I think we can build that rocket ourselves."
Since he couldn't find a plan to colonize Mars on the NASA website, he took his vision a step further.
"Musk will inspire humanity to consider space exploration by making exploration fundamentally cheaper." (Ashlee Vance: Elon Musk)
The space industry was a government affair, so no one had invented anything major in the industry for 50 years. Moreover, the state approach was building an extremely large and expensive rocket for each flight, even though a smaller and cheaper one would have sufficed.
"They built a Ferrari for every start, when a Honda Accord was enough."
He recruited staff from aeronautics departments because they were cheap, and built the rockets from off-the-shelf parts. Anything over $10,000 had to be personally approved.
The first launch in 2007 ended in an explosion. Two others as well, and only when he had money for one did he succeed and the rocket did not explode. As we already know, he settled on reusable rockets landing vertically, because why not and because it saved millions of dollars.
Now (2021) the company is developing the largest rocket of our planet - Starship Super Heavy. A colossus weighing over 5,000 tons!
Grind? A bit
Was (or is) Elon Musk a "nerd"? Actually yes. From a young age, he lacked empathy (like Steve Jobs), read encyclopedias with interest, and sometimes thought so much that they had to punch him. But in Pennsylvania, he sometimes got out of college because he lived in a house rented for a nightclub (a small source of income) where he sometimes held video game orgies.
"If there was a way that I wouldn't have to be sure, and thus could work more, I wouldn't eat."
While "working at Paypal", Musk was already a billionaire and for a while lived like a total celebrity. For example, he bought a McLaren F1 and at high speed, when he wanted to show off to a friend, he wrecked it.
"Vacations can kill you," he declared when he nearly died of malaria.
"Don't worry about the methods, whether they're right or correct, you just have to do your job," he said, commenting on some employees who objected to him during Tesla production that "that's not how it's done." Of course, he sometimes got burned like Steve Jobs with his perfectionism (case Antennagate).
Elon Musk loves bitcoin
We could talk about his solar panel company (Solar City) or the company building tunnels (Boring Company) or the vacuum-powered high-speed rail (Hyperloop), but we are mainly interested in Bitcoin. Elon Musk loves Bitcoin. Or actually Dogecoin?
Lately (mid-2021), however, Elon Musk has rather insulted both Bitcoin and Dogecoin. This is due to his changing attitudes and bitterly making fun of people who are into cryptocurrencies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG07x3aN3b0
For "a game that destroys lives", however, it is not only drawing criticism from the community, but also from someone posing as Anonymous.
Elon Musk bitcoin timeline
Despite all this, Elon Musk does not condemn bitcoin. Let's recall how he has been involved in the crypt so far:
- A couple of posts commenting positively on Bitcoin and a mention in the podcast of Cathie Wood ("Paper money is going away, and crypto is a far better way to transfer value than pieces of paper." 2019)
- July 2020 was the target of the largest verified account hack of all time, with hackers using his identity to lure victims with "giveaways" like "send 1 bitcoin and I'll send 10"
- A tweet about Dogecoin destroying the current financial system and a cascade of other nonsensical posts
- Some considered him to be Satoshi Nakamoto
- DOGE mania and suspected hacked Twitter account
- Adding bitcoin logo to twitter bio
- Announcement of the mission of the Doge-1 satellite to the moon
- Adding $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin to Tesla's balance sheet and receiving payments for cars in Bitcoin (2021)
- Tesla sold 10 % of its bitcoins for $272 million
- Elon Musk may have bought bitcoin for himself (the answer under one tweet: "No, you do not. I have not sold any of we Bitcoin. …”)
- Concern about the environmental friendliness of bitcoin mining and stoppage of payments (Elon Musk doesn't understand bitcoin?!)
- Threats by Anonymous regarding the manipulation of the price of crypto-assets and Tesla's non-environmental nature
- Tesla Will Start Accepting Bitcoin If At Least 50 % Hashrate Comes From Renewable Sources… BTC Price Soars And Elon Musk Becomes Most Bitcoin Influential Celebrity Ever
The best
Elon Musk's best exploits are mostly about Tesla, which is probably the most visible to ordinary people. Even according to Twitter, SpaceX is a relatively serious business, the Hyperloop won't be practical for a long time, and the Boring Company is "boring". For the topic of Musk and specifically his tweeting about cryptocurrencies, we have a special article here (LINK). Is Elon Musk Destroying Bitcoin or Just Popularizing It? We leave it up to you!
Tesla Model S Plaid
The Tesla Model S Plaid presented on 14/06/2021 is not "just another esko". The most aerodynamic of all mass-produced cars, over 1000 horsepower, acceleration from 0 to 96 km/h in under 2 seconds (the Performance version could do it in 2.4 seconds), a yoke steering wheel like in a computer game and a maximum speed of 322 km/h. The heat pump should increase the range in winter. For the first time, so-called carbon (carbon fibers) was used in the construction of electric motors. Where's the catch? The price tag is $130,000 in the base.
Tesla Roadster in space
It is so. In February 2018, SpaceX launched a Falcon Heavy rocket into space with a strange payload - a Tesla Roadster from 2008. The satellite with the Roadster inside is now headed for "deep space".
"Chubby" Musk
In September 2018, Elon Musk smoked offered marijuana on the Joe Rogan Experience #1169 show and caused a big media uproar. In particular, NASA, which cooperates with SpaceX, had to react preemptively and subject its supplier to a safety audit "if the employees at the rockets are not also covered". With this output, Elon Musk sealed his fate as a meme lord and created a strong base for his media image.
Tesla's hovering promise
In the same program, Musk also outlined his idea of a "hovering Roadster powered by rockets from SpaceX. However, due to the extremely delayed deliveries of even "normal" Tesla cars, it is unlikely that such a machine will reach the market in the promised year of 2022.
Tesla stock is too high imo
Elon Musk certainly doesn't care about authority figures. In 2020 and 2018, he posted two controversial tweets - in one Tesla was "too high" in terms of stock and in the other he wanted to take the company private. The SEC (American Securities and Exchange Commission) imposed huge fines on him and removed him from the post of chairman of the board.
Doge to the Moon
It is so. Geometric Energy Corp. paid to send a CubeSat satellite (Doge-1) to the moon. It was for $62 million, converted because SpaceX paid it back in Dogecoin.
Tesla Cybertruck
Perhaps the most controversial car of all time is the Tesla Cybertruck. Eighties computer game geometry, armor, unbreakable glass and giant power. But it wouldn't be Elon Musk if he didn't launch the new model in a grand manner full of hype and controversy. He accidentally broke the "unbreakable" glass during the launch. Well, I don't see how they could let him make it.
“Sir, we can never make this or put it on the road. The sharp edges, the futuristic look... Who would buy such a crazy car?"
"But I want it, so make it."
Period at the end: X Æ A-12 Musk
"X" as an unknown variable, "Æ" pronounced AI, is short for artificial intelligence and translates as love in various languages (e.g. Japanese). "A-12" is like the Lockheed A-12, the most powerful reconnaissance aircraft of the twentieth century, the predecessor of the Musks' most popular reconnaissance aircraft - the Lockheed SR-71. This is a simple explanation of the name of Elon Musk's sixth child.
Where Will Elon Musk Send Bitcoin Next?