Elon certainly gets credit for ambitious and “thinking big” but neither of these is the same thing as “economically viable.” Nor does that scale of ambition or vision mean that a big idea will be viable at some point in the future, or at all.
My issue with SPCX is that Internet and phone calls are things that have already been solved - they just feel shitty in the US being hamstrung by legacy regulation and infrastructure. Go to any major city in Asia or Africa and you’ll find a competitive market offering of blazing fast unlimited internet and cellular service for a few dollars a month.
There are places in the world where internet access is lacking but if we really care about human flourishing the issue in those places is more often access to power (and therefore refrigeration, clean/modern cooking technology, nocturnal lighting, etc), which SPCX does nothing to address (I do not consider this to a “fault” of SPCX, just a statement that challenges that assumption / narrative around product market fit)
Fundamentally I question the logic of hundreds of billions of dollars of investment to deliver satellite internet to places where either a) internet is already solved or b) the would-be rural customer base has far larger problems while also lacking the money of SpaceX kit. Especially when we already have a globally scale supply chain to deliver internet and cellular to places at very low cost. A technology being new, does not presuppose that it is actually better.
Also most, or really all, of Elon’s moon shoots have yet to pay off in terms of free market economic viability. Tesla is not a viable company without subsidies. SpaceX is not a viable company without subsidies. Humanoid robotics are simply not economically viable. What does the Boring Company even do and where is the hypertube, or whatever he’s calling it now?
Also, that Musk’s companies are not at the forefront of agitating for broad and rapid American nuclearization, is very telling to me. This is a fundamental base input all of his companies would benefit from massively and that is required for the logical extension of all of his “vision”but he’s happy to sell us all stories while sucking up our tax dollars.
And China IS nuclearizing so I wouldn’t be surprised if Elon is living in Beijing come 2035 once he’s conned America for all he can get.
My issue with SPCX is that Internet and phone calls are things that have already been solved - they just feel shitty in the US being hamstrung by legacy regulation and infrastructure. Go to any major city in Asia or Africa and you’ll find a competitive market offering of blazing fast unlimited internet and cellular service for a few dollars a month.
There are places in the world where internet access is lacking but if we really care about human flourishing the issue in those places is more often access to power (and therefore refrigeration, clean/modern cooking technology, nocturnal lighting, etc), which SPCX does nothing to address (I do not consider this to a “fault” of SPCX, just a statement that challenges that assumption / narrative around product market fit)
Fundamentally I question the logic of hundreds of billions of dollars of investment to deliver satellite internet to places where either a) internet is already solved or b) the would-be rural customer base has far larger problems while also lacking the money of SpaceX kit. Especially when we already have a globally scale supply chain to deliver internet and cellular to places at very low cost. A technology being new, does not presuppose that it is actually better.
Also most, or really all, of Elon’s moon shoots have yet to pay off in terms of free market economic viability. Tesla is not a viable company without subsidies. SpaceX is not a viable company without subsidies. Humanoid robotics are simply not economically viable. What does the Boring Company even do and where is the hypertube, or whatever he’s calling it now?
Also, that Musk’s companies are not at the forefront of agitating for broad and rapid American nuclearization, is very telling to me. This is a fundamental base input all of his companies would benefit from massively and that is required for the logical extension of all of his “vision”but he’s happy to sell us all stories while sucking up our tax dollars.
And China IS nuclearizing so I wouldn’t be surprised if Elon is living in Beijing come 2035 once he’s conned America for all he can get.
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