River Talk 2: Elon Musk

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Too Many Elon Posts On The Internet

“You too, Millennium River?”, “Finally! I have been waiting for your opinion on this interesting individual!”, “Too many people talk about Elon Musk!”, or “I do not know you or care about you, but I clicked on your link out of sheer curiosity” is what you said in mind or perhaps even out loud when you saw that Elon Musk was going to be the topic for River Talk #2. If you are familiar with my River, it should not come as a surprise that the day would come where I would have a write-up solely dedicated to discussing Tesla’s Elon Musk. After all, I have done a lot of write-ups on electric vehicles. But, the grand question you have is what drove me to choosing Mister Musk? Do we not already have too many write-ups on the Internet discussing what some would say an over-discussed topic? To answer the first question, the truth is that I have toyed with the idea for quite a while a now. However, 2 things in 2022 surged my attention: Twitter and remote work. To answer the second question: yes and no. True, there are thousands — millions if we are to include all media formats be it articles, videos, and social captions talking about Elon Musk. So yes, you could say that Mister Musk is over-discussed, but at the same time there is a very legitimate reason for it: his character. The things he says, he does, or plans to do. Love him or hate him, you cannot deny that he is an extremely interesting man. Be it interesting in a good way, bad way, or perhaps a blend of both?

Points Of Discussion

• Work From Home
• 44 Billion Deal With Twitter
• Moving To Texas
• Full Self-driving
• Mars
• Tesla Getting Dethroned

Work From Home

Just because someone is a genius in some areas it does not mean he is a genius in others. It made numerous headlines when a Tesla memo revealed the following: 

“Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean *minimum*) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla.” – Elon

Terrible. Absolutely terrible! How could somebody so blatantly ignore the immense benefits remote work does for the world? Over the pandemic, we have learned that remote work offers numerous health, environmental, and financial advantages. In fact, I have even written an entire article about this back in 2019. In 2022 the cost of living has been shooting up, but wages are not increasing to match up. Housing, food, fuel, and all. I have said it numerous times, and I shall say it yet again: all jobs that are capable of being done remotely, should remain 100% remote. There are certainly some positions that cannot be remote such as assembly workers, truck drivers, surgeons, and so forth. For all other roles that can, let them stay that way. Employers must realize that being a control freak over their employees will not last long. Some employees quit and move on. The Great Resignation anyone? With fuel prices surging, allowing remote-capable employees to remain totally remote, saves them fuel, transportation time, health, and other benefits. This allows them perform their role even stronger, hence the increased productivity. To make matters worse, Elon made sure to emphasize the minimum 40 hours per week part.

Why? Because he often exceeds 40 hours and expects employees to do the same. Not healthy! This is terrible and leads to exhaustion and poor health. Considering that this is the same man that glorified the stereotype of Asian workers working round the clock, I cannot say I am too surprised, but revolted. I am far from the only one. Germany’s biggest union hit back at Mister Musk’s return-to-the-office order saying, “An employer cannot dictate the rules just as he likes”. Meaning that the boss cannot just make unreasonable demands on the whim and expect everyone to obey without first discussing them with the people at the company.

44 Billion Deal With Twitter

When I first heard the news about Twitter agreeing to be bought up by Elon Musk for 44 billion, it annoyed me. Twitter should remain independent. Not sellout to anyone for a grand deal. Too many companies selling out to others is bad, because it creates less competition. Even in areas where it does not, the company being bought will no longer be the same it was. What else annoyed me about it is the 44 billion part. For Canadians such as myself, that is $55,267,300,000.00 or 52.2 billion Canadian in shortened form. See, had it been 3 billion, maybe 5 billion absolute tops, it would not have been too bad, but 44 billion? Does he not see how many people are struggling? With that type of money he could completely eradicate poverty in not just the United States, but all of North America. Some people will say that it is his money, and that is certainly true. However, if you are public figure who openly flaunts an outrageous purchase, you are bound to receive both valid and invalid commentary over what you are doing. In this case, I am far from alone. Numerous other outlets and private individuals also suggested that the 44 billion should be used to help people.

So this begs a question: why does he want to control Twitter? To allow complete Freedom Of Speech, and eradicate the bots that plague Twitter. Freedom Of Speech is a whole other topic on its own, but I will say this: No, I do not believe in absolute freedom of speech. In fact, I think it is high time that we even stop calling it that. In regards to the bots, I actually totally agree with Elon on this. Bots are a huge problem on social media. The fact that he is giving the bot problem such public attention is very good. Now if only YouTube, Instagram and other social media platforms would take an aggressive stance against bots. On YouTube in particular, there is a present problem going on with bots abusing the comments section. Particularly famous channels where bots are spamming fake giveaways through WhatsApp or Telegram. Bots definitely need to be eradicated. Well, it may not be possible to totally eradicate them, but at least significantly reduce their numbers to the point that real users vastly outnumber them. 

Moving To Texas

When I first heard the news about Elon moving the Tesla headquarters for Texas, I was did not think he was actually going to do that — until he actually did. Why? On the surface, it did not seem to make any sense. Firstly, Tesla is notable for selling cars directly to consumers, instead of dealerships. Texas does not allow that, so Tesla has to use loopholes to get around that. Secondly, California has a far larger and stronger electric car culture, and this is proven in statistics of electric car sales and infrastructure. But to be fair, Tesla is not the only company that moves headquarters. Far from it. A lot of companies do this all the time for various reasons. Texas in particularly attractive for businesses because it does not have income or corporate tax. Not only that, but to my surprise, I recently learned that Texas has enough solar, wind, and water to completely replace coal, albeit with one present major caveat: its electrical grid needs to update transmissions lines. Definitely a fixable thing. Despite being stereotyped as a gasoline-guzzling, diesel-drinking, country music singing, barbeque-gobbling, horse-riding, football-throwing state, it has the potential to flip the switch and become a powerhouse in renewable electrical generation. Perfect for charging electric cars.

Despite all these advantages, there is a word that he really did this more so to protect his wealth than save money on Tesla. There is no doubt that California is an extremely expensive state to both live in and do business. But, Alphabet is still there. Apple is still there. eBay is still there. Lucid Motors, a rival start-up with less money wants to remain there. Even notorious Faraday Future has headquarters there. Nevertheless, I must say that Giga Austin is an impressive factory. California or Texas ultimately boils down to personal preference and finances.

Full Self-Driving

Allow me to begin this part of the Talk with 2 quotes:

“Elon’s tweet does not match engineering reality” -Andrew?

“Tesla is unlikely to achieve Level 5 (L5) autonomy, in which its cars can drive themselves anywhere, under any conditions, without any human supervision, by the end of 2021, Tesla representatives told the DMV” – Tesla Engineers

You know what I have to personally say about Full Self-Driving, as in Absolutely-No-Human-Ever-Needed? Full-blown science fiction. Until the day comes where cars have organic brains and eyes with the capability to make conscious reactions, vision, and judgement, there will be no such thing as Absolute Autonomous Driving. I will go as far to say that we should stop calling it self-driving and rename it to Assisted Driving. Advanced Assisted Driving is both completely realistic and honest. Cars are machines. They will never be able to have eyes that see, and brains that judge and react. An Advanced Assisted Driving Car with sober, law-abiding occupants is the way to go forward with.

Mars

Elon has been open about his intention on sending humans to Mars. As recently as 2022, he has even gone as far to speak to the media about his desire to have 1,000,000 colonists to Mars by 2050. I have done a full-blown blog post titled Do I Believe There Is Life On Other Planets? If you have never read it, let me tell you right off the bat why there is no life on the other planets and why there will never be: too cold, too hot, no solid surface, unbreathable, and dangerous levels of cosmic radiation. These descriptors do not fit all planets, but that is general summary for planets aside from Earth. For Mars in particular, the average surface temperature is -60 °C. Notice how I said average? During a Martian winter, temperatures drop to -125 °C near its North and South Poles. Summertime? 20 °C during the daytime, then a romantic -60 °C to -70 °C at nighttime. Feeling cold yet? Mars’ atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide having only 0.13% oxygen. For comparison, Earth has 21% oxygen. Therefore, you absolutely cannot breathe on Mars. Too cold. Too poisonous. The only major thing Mars has going for it is that it has a completely solid surface which makes it at least possible for equipment to land there. This solid surface is also what has allowed us to send Rovers there to capture photographs of Martian landscape.

Send Rovers. Not humans. The hundreds billions that he would spend attempting to colonize Mars would be far better spent on improving Earth. Eradicate poverty. Clean drinking water with sanitary sewers and water treatment. Education and schools. Refurbish cities in dire need of repair. Securer borders. The list is vast. There is always something to be done on Earth. If we do not improve habitable Earth first, there is no way in the mighty galaxy that we are going to have a good time on dead-cold Mars. I suggest Elon make a fantasy movie about humans colonizing Mars instead. Science Fiction and reality should be treated separately. 

Tesla Getting Dethroned

Before I proceed with this part of the River Talk, allow me to make this clear: I do not want Tesla to become defunct. I want the company to remain successfully in existence alongside other companies. Competition is important. That said, there is growing belief that Tesla will be dethroned from #1 in electric sales. When exactly? I have not seen anybody make concrete predictions, but if you ask I would say sometime within the 2020s decade. Before 2030 would be a safe prediction. Why? The competition is catching up fast. Not just regular fast, but aggressively fast. The reason Tesla has been so powerful for so long is because it was the only company to offer not just an electrified car, but a car that was loaded with technological advancements and long range. The Nissan Leaf has been around for a longtime, but why did it not cause mass excitement? Because it was an ugly, front-wheel drive econobox. Tesla changed that. They showed the world that electric cars are hot, fun, practical, charge fast, and better than your gasoline car. You can even summon them with your smartphone. Finally, coming the 2020s, the competition has swung into fullgear with it. They are getting so serious, that a number of brands have pledged to become all-electric companies before the end of the decade.

On top of this, they have poured billions into factories and development. The result? Rivian R1T, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Porsche Taycan, Polestar 2 Long Range, and thousands more to come across the world. I should also mention that the Lucid Air sedan has a variant with 837 kilometres of range. And it is even more luxurious and refined than Tesla. We are only talking 2022 here, and we are already seeing all of this happening. By the time we hit 2025-26 there will be electric Maseratis, Alfa Romeos, Rams, Silverados, Sierras, and even an electric Ferrari. Not to mention cheap long-range electric vehicles which would be the biggest threat to Tesla’s sales.

Rivals and competition are one thing. Elon’s erratic behaviour is another that has hurt the company on not one, but multiple occasions. Remember when he smoked cannabis? Said that he would take Tesla private? Tweeted about a Hertz a deal? Downplayed Covid-19? I am not trying to bring things up for the sake of intentionally shaming him, but he continues with his antics to this very day. The most recent example is the ongoing Twitter deal. Twitter Shareholders are now angry at him for sowing confusion and being fickle.

Final Words

I do not hate Elon Musk. I wish him no evil. He has done wonders in the automotive industry for getting all the major onboard with electrification, including super stubborn ones like Toyota and Stellantis. Even exotics like Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bentley and Rolls-Royce are brining all-electric models this decade. Elon has worked mad hard to get where he is today. Aside from being widely known as the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, he is also responsible for the creation of The Boring Company, and was even one of the co-founders for PayPal. Relating to the present Russo-Ukrainian War, a Ukrainian soldier said that Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites “changed the war in Ukraine’s favour” because they were helping troops stay online amid Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure. That is a wonderful thing he is doing for to keep Ukrainians connected. If Mister Musk would calm down, be more focused, and realistic about things Tesla can enjoy a more stable future. No Martian getaways, uploading your brain to a hard drive, sentient cars, or hasty moves.