Elon Musk is the man who has lived many lives in one, and now the second richest man in the world after Bezos. With a big dream to fulfill: to go and live on the stars.
When we think about Elon Musk, the first mental association is with SpaceX, or rather the first private company to autonomously launch spacecraft for missions into Earth orbit. But that's not all; when you think of Elon Musk, the electric car company Tesla Motors comes immediately to mind, of which he was co-founder from 2003 and then CEO. But Elon Musk is much more than that. The other companies in chronological order, are here followings:
Zip2: with his brother he founds his first company, which creates a directory that searches for commercial activities and then connects them to a map (today Google Maps). (today Google Maps) The company is then bought by Compaq for $307 million.
Paypal: the most famous online payment system, which eBay bought in 2002 for $1.5 billion.
Neuralink: development of high-technology brain-machine interfaces.
The Boring Company: an electric transport system, using high-speed tunnels, to relieve urban traffic and long distances.
According to the latest updates from the well-known Forbes magazine, Elon Musk, whose saying "self-made man" is literally worth $151 billion today, is surpassed only by Jeff Bezos, who is worth an impressive $177 billion.
But it seems to be an open battle between the two (as the dedicated cartoon in Forbes ironically recalls).
So, he's a man admired but certainly not fully supported by the establishment, who see him more as a hero of the crowds and against the system. It goes without saying that he is certainly the last true Insider Outsider of our time. The questions we ask ourselves are therefore: is he the man who could save this sick world? And why is he not supported by the establishment? And above all, will he succeed in taking us to Mars?
A great visionary like Steve Jobs
“I will bring you to Mars".
Elon Musk
Elon Musk, along with Steve Jobs, is considered one of the greatest visionaries of our time. Both are unique personalities. Both are pioneers of the technological era, aiming to improve the quality of life of people around the world, where:
one has found the right tools to make people's lives easier and better (jobs);
while the other wants to create a Plan(et) B, in case of an eventual catastrophe (Musk).
The affinities between the two geniuses, however, end there, since Musk 'is his own man', as his biographer Ashley Vance points out, since there are no concrete parallels with other greats such as Henry Ford and Nicola Tesla. However, if there is a common denominator linking all these extraordinary men, we could summarize it in one word: perseverance.
Which, in different forms, translates as:
high self-esteem;
keeping the focus on the goal;
competition helps him to grow, to give his best and then to "crush his opponents".
To Mars and Back
“I'd like to die on Mars. As long as it's not on impact."
Elon Musk
The Elon Musk's most ambitious goal within the next twenty years is to build a truly sustainable city in the soil of the planet Mars, effectively creating a new species of human beings, the so-called 'multi-planetary humans'. In his visionary project, the titanic challenge includes no less than 1,000 Starships, which will be used to bring building structures, goods and people to the city of the future. And it will take exactly 20 years because only one flight every four years from Earth to Mars is possible.
In the latest messages sent by Elon Musk on Twitter, there is an 'official' scoop reported on the Space X website and commented on by Forbes, in which it is promised that by the end of 2021 there will be the first commercial flight, called Inspiration4, which will take three public people to orbit the earth for a few days. A minimum donation of $10 to St. Jude Children's Research hospital is required to become the hypothetical chosen ones who will be drawn and then announced via the official Inspiration4 website. Science fiction? No, it's the vision-reality of Elon Musk.
Musk, the Iron Man in the flesh
“My secret? I believed in myself when nobody else did."
Elon Musk
Elon Musk is certainly a unique guy. Every challenge he has taken on in his life has been like "chewing glass, looking into the abyss". Every decision he has made is a perfect formula, in which failure does not seem to be conceived, even though he himself says: "The most valuable thing you can do is make a mistake: you won't learn anything from being perfect." Those who knew him well is Ashley Vance, one of the few journalists who was able to interview Elon Musk and write the best-selling book "Elon Musk. Tesla, SpaceX and the Challenge for a Fantastic Future", trying to give as complete a picture as possible of the controversial and extroverted figure of Musk. At the same time, the author has acquired important lessons about himself such as: 'having learned to focus on the big things I really want to achieve in life. And to say no'.
One interesting definition that Ashley Vance gave about Elon Musk's personality among many is the analogy with the Marvel hero, who moves like "a real Iron Man" doing impossible things, just like the character Tony Stark. But Musk's so-called 'superpowers' are not just limited to countless successful victories, but to the attitude of seeing beyond, staying 10 steps ahead of others, pouring out his relentless candor, infallible memory and almost maniacal determination to everyone. Moreover, Vance himself reserves a perfect summary of Musk's essence, namely that: "He has the same flaws, makes the same mistakes and faces the same obstacles as anyone else, but he is not programmed to fail!". Even the millionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, after reading Musk's biography, remarked on an important fact: "Elon Musk is a man after my own heart: one who takes risks without fear of failure, driven by the desire to ensure a bright future for humanity. Ashlee Vance's wonderful biography captures Musk's extraordinary adventure and indomitable spirit."
To become Elon Musk, perhaps you would have to live Elon Musk's life. And that would not be enough. A difficult childhood between the separation of his parents and then being bullied, a grandfather who was an adventurer, the many books he read that were his true and only friends and bankruptcy, are just some of the fragments of a life "made up of many lives", which seems to belong to a screenplay of a film or a TV series.
In addition to a book that literally changed his life, ('Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The Complete Cycle') constant of his being 'in his own way' comes above all from the attitude of 'having faith in yourself, just when the world doesn't believe in you', which is certainly an inspiration to the millions of people in the world, who are chasing their dreams, just like Elon Musk.
The natural talent of the anti-establishment Hero
“I always invest my money in the companies I create. I don't believe in people who only use other people's money to do things. I don't think it's right. I don't ask someone to invest in something if I'm not ready to do it myself."
Elon Musk
His story, his whimsical personality and his unquestionable genius make him the perfect No Establishment (anti-system) hero who stands up for himself and won't let anyone down, unleashing the crowds in his favor "one Tweet at a time".
In the NYT article of 29 January 2021, it is recounted how the masterful intervention of South African super magnate Elon Musk (later naturalized American) was decisive in the Gamestop saga. It all started on Reddit's social forum, where Elon Musk himself supported small investors, who made the famous video game chain's stocks soar against Wall Street's hedge fund elite, who were pushing for short selling. The upward trend in favor of small investors then came to a halt due to a trading halt by the most influential speculative finance companies, while leaving the big names free to trade shares. This restrictive measure to the detriment of so-called retail investors ignited a social battle on Twitter, with both Musk and Democratic MP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling for an investigation into this "unacceptable decision".
The Gamestop saga is just one of the many episodes in which Elon Musk shows a particular talent for drawing crowds to move with them in a certain direction, as long as it is away from the establishment. As reported in 'The New York Times' article and in the words of Professor Scott Galloway of NW University, Elon Musk "is a true master of the web, because he knows that Twitter's algorithms prefer a single word that inspires to anger or sentiment".
What is an Insider-Outsider?
“The formula for success is simple: start something anywhere, in a field in which you are really skilled, question your certainties, fix what doesn't work, and adapt everything to reality."
Elon Musk
Therefore, Elon Musk fits perfectly into the definition of Insider/Outsider, as expressed in the article of "The New York Times", for many reasons:
Elon Musk is probably a free agent;
He operates exclusively through alternative choices to the classic (unique) decision-making formulation;
He knows the establishment well without being part of it, unlike his many wealthy colleagues.
He chooses to always follow "himself", or perhaps only bet on "Outsiders" like himself.
Being an Outsider, gives him the right perspective to see things externally and from different angles, demonstrating a broader vision.
Given some of the definitions, it is only right at this point to delve into the role of Insider/Outsider of our times, which he has acquired and confirmed with facts. The various nuances (as seen above), revolve around a main concept and that is, that the Insider is inside the system, even though not confirming his adhesion and therefore remaining outside for a coherent choice with himself in being a declared Outsider. Furthermore, it is worth underlining that few people, can actually afford to call themselves Outsider by doing Outing as Elon Musk himself has done. For most people, the term Outsider is mostly negative. When we usually refer to someone as an outsider, we see them as a strange or unreliable person with little chance of success if they do not conform to the common rules imposed by others. But the beautiful case of Elon Musk gives us hope in the way that numerous Outsiders with extraordinary talents can find their place in the world and proudly shout "Yes, I am an Outsider and proud of it".
Being an Outsider, (WE, The OUTSIDER POST we know that) is mostly a choice, as Elon Musk did a long time ago when he felt he was not appreciated. And from there he started again. And look where he is today!
Better to build a better world elsewhere?
While OUTSIDER POST (by choice) always tries to have a critical and freely argue the most interesting news, Elon Musk's dream of "a better world elsewhere" is beyond our most reasonable considerations. We therefore imagine the following scene, in which OP has the privilege of interviewing that genius Elon Musk to ask him some questions to discuss together and which are fundamental for the future of humanity. Because we want to understand and because we too have our dreams to fulfill!
In a hypothetical interview, here is what we would like to ask Elon Musk:
1) the first, perhaps very obvious question is the following:
Why is it better to plan to live on a planet we don't know at all like Mars, instead of continuing to bet on Earth? Certainly, it would be necessary to invest in projects and technologies that could help climate change, as well as research into vaccines and against cancer, eradicate poverty and much more. A real challenge awaits us here "on Planet Earth", if you will. Why invest so much elsewhere???
2) Is it worth investing so much in capital to launch rockets into space (even if they are reusable) in order to have a colony on Mars, even if the effects of such an action are heavy on the environment? The positive note is that air traffic from flights pollutes much more than space traffic, but this does not preclude the problem of pollution in the long term.
3) The third question ties in with the first two points, namely:
From the forecasts and evaluations inherent to human activities, which as we have seen, have a devastating impact on the environment for many years now, we wonder if Plan B (consolidated by SpaceX operations), is nothing more than the only plan to save the human race, given that the truth about the fate of the earth does not seem so favorable? Which is why Space X's incredible efforts to bring the human space project to fruition as quickly as possible are going so fast.
In the hope that that last day for Earth will never come, we remain hopeful that Elon Musk's actions will inspire new generations to create a better Earth species, as well as a multi-planetary one.