4 ms·

> humanity has lost the Lee Iacocca of Space Perhaps you could explain the comparison to a somewhat famous car company executive ...

kumarski 10y ago
John Glenn was an engineer. Lee Iacocca was an engineer. Elon Musk is not an engineer.
- theoh 10y ago
  Yet, "In order to be an engineer, it is not enough to be an engineer." Jose Ortega y Gasset. No profession has a monopoly on competence.
  - kumarski 10y ago
    He made a monstrously inaccurate statement about the area of a solar panel and the power output of an area equivalent with the surface area of a nuclear power plant. I thought he was well versed in how utilities and energy work, but this made me see him in a different light. https://youtu.be/UKT2tKmVk6g?t=16m52s https://youtu.be/UKT2tKmVk6g?t=16m52s I at one time thought Elon Musk was monstrously good engineer, but I found out he was a physicist recently.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - d_e_solomon 10y ago
      > but I found out he was a physicist recently The horror.
      - kumarski 10y ago
        I get upvoted for being an engineer, but downvoted for pointing out an actual inaccuracy. Go figure.
- dpandey 10y ago
  "he received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from its College of Arts and Sciences. Musk moved to California to begin a PhD in applied physics and materials science at Stanford University" maybe not, but pretty technical. A better example of a non-tech CEO of a tech company is Jack Ma, who was an English teacher.
- FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago
  Elon Musk saw that the online world needed a secure payment/banking system. Founded X which eventually morphed into Paypal, grows to be one of the biggest online payment processor. Problem solved. Saw that we humanity needed to transition from fossil fuels if we are to combat global warming, targets the transportation sector and bam, Tesla, is born produces the first highway legal serial production all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells, and the first production all-electric car to travel more than 200 miles (320 km) per charge. Basically, the first practical all electric vehicle. Problem solved. Saw that humanity needed to switch from fossil fuels for home energy. Devised the original idea for Solar City, which his cousins implemented ( and he eventually took over). Certainly, there may not even be a main player in this story as this problem is evident. However, was instrumental in this effort. Solar is now on par with domestic natural gas production for cost efficiency and will likely supplant it moving forward (Natural gas companies operate on very thin margins)(I'd say it's more efficient if one factors in the negative externality of fossil fuel into the efficiency comparison). Problem solved. Saw that if humanity is to survive, we need to be multi-planetary. No one else is seriously doing it. He forms SpaceX and likely in the next 10 years will put the first human on another planet and has also devised an economical interplanetary travel network Problem solved (To be continued). An engineer at its core is one who solves problems. He seems to have a good track record of solving some of the biggest problems facing all of humanity today. That's a pretty kick ass engineer in my book. Perhaps you don't regard him as such because you think of engineeers at the product or component level. Looking at the trees, you get lost in the forest. He's engineering at a higher level than most. Also, I called Elon Musk the rockstar of the automotive world.
FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago
It's a dated reference, but I can shed some light on this. I'm from Detroit and my dad worked at Chrysler basically his entire adult life. Lee Iacocca was the rockstar of the automotive world before Elon Musk hit the scene. As an exec and former engineer at Ford, he spearheaded the development of the mustang among many other accomplishments. After leaving Ford, I guess he needed a challenge and took on the ordeal of turning around Chrysler, which was about to go out of business in the late '70's. He personally secured cash from Congress for a bailout (Yeah I know, this sounds familiar). In the 80's after turning Chrysler around, he would appear in commercials saying something like "You can't find a better car. If you do, buy it." Since he saved my Dad's job and livelihood, he kinda worshipped him and that reverence trickled down a bit to me. EDIT: I do find it a bit sad that fewer of us work for CEO's that we personally look up to. This is probably one major factor in what inspires the entrepreneurial spirit in many of us. The main reason that I want to work for an Elon Musk company is that I'm tired of being a cynic in a post-modern world and want to be a part of a vision greater than 140 characters or self-driving cars. Unexpected personal reflection: As I'm writing this, I'm beginning to empathize with the coal miners and manufacturing workers who believe in Trump. I know people aren't fans of bailouts and as a student of Economics I'm generally opposed to them as well. However, The automotive industry was and is still so deeply intertwined with the fabric of Detroit and Southeast Michigan in general that losing those companies, once the shining example of American manufacturing exceptionalism, would be a crippling blow to the collective consciousness of all the residents there.You don't simply see it as some efficient restructuring and reallocation of capital if they go out of business. Those automotive roots run deep and when Chrysler faced bankruptcy again after the financial crisis, even though he was retired at the time, we both felt like an extension of ourselves was on life support. If it had cratered, it would've been a massive blow to our psyche similar I guess to how one would feel if an army had razed your city. When an industry is so closely related to your community, it becomes a part of your identity. Chrysler basically allowed for me to attend an elite private high school and university. In principle, I still disagree with trying to revive the coal industry (that American manufacturing strength is dead is complete fiction. I would argue that the USA is still the leader in global manufacturing because it's done without polluting the shit out of the environment), but I guess now I'm willing to listen to their side with an open ear and am open to some sort of environmentally responsible compromise. That's the thing about heroes, even in death they can inspire change. Godspeed, John Glenn.

kumarski 10y ago

John Glenn was an engineer. Lee Iacocca was an engineer. Elon Musk is not an engineer.

theoh 10y ago
Yet, "In order to be an engineer, it is not enough to be an engineer." Jose Ortega y Gasset. No profession has a monopoly on competence.
- kumarski 10y ago
  He made a monstrously inaccurate statement about the area of a solar panel and the power output of an area equivalent with the surface area of a nuclear power plant. I thought he was well versed in how utilities and energy work, but this made me see him in a different light. https://youtu.be/UKT2tKmVk6g?t=16m52s https://youtu.be/UKT2tKmVk6g?t=16m52s I at one time thought Elon Musk was monstrously good engineer, but I found out he was a physicist recently.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - d_e_solomon 10y ago
    > but I found out he was a physicist recently The horror.
    - kumarski 10y ago
      I get upvoted for being an engineer, but downvoted for pointing out an actual inaccuracy. Go figure.
dpandey 10y ago
"he received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from its College of Arts and Sciences. Musk moved to California to begin a PhD in applied physics and materials science at Stanford University" maybe not, but pretty technical. A better example of a non-tech CEO of a tech company is Jack Ma, who was an English teacher.
FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago
Elon Musk saw that the online world needed a secure payment/banking system. Founded X which eventually morphed into Paypal, grows to be one of the biggest online payment processor. Problem solved. Saw that we humanity needed to transition from fossil fuels if we are to combat global warming, targets the transportation sector and bam, Tesla, is born produces the first highway legal serial production all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells, and the first production all-electric car to travel more than 200 miles (320 km) per charge. Basically, the first practical all electric vehicle. Problem solved. Saw that humanity needed to switch from fossil fuels for home energy. Devised the original idea for Solar City, which his cousins implemented ( and he eventually took over). Certainly, there may not even be a main player in this story as this problem is evident. However, was instrumental in this effort. Solar is now on par with domestic natural gas production for cost efficiency and will likely supplant it moving forward (Natural gas companies operate on very thin margins)(I'd say it's more efficient if one factors in the negative externality of fossil fuel into the efficiency comparison). Problem solved. Saw that if humanity is to survive, we need to be multi-planetary. No one else is seriously doing it. He forms SpaceX and likely in the next 10 years will put the first human on another planet and has also devised an economical interplanetary travel network Problem solved (To be continued). An engineer at its core is one who solves problems. He seems to have a good track record of solving some of the biggest problems facing all of humanity today. That's a pretty kick ass engineer in my book. Perhaps you don't regard him as such because you think of engineeers at the product or component level. Looking at the trees, you get lost in the forest. He's engineering at a higher level than most. Also, I called Elon Musk the rockstar of the automotive world.

FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago

It's a dated reference, but I can shed some light on this. I'm from Detroit and my dad worked at Chrysler basically his entire adult life. Lee Iacocca was the rockstar of the automotive world before Elon Musk hit the scene. As an exec and former engineer at Ford, he spearheaded the development of the mustang among many other accomplishments. After leaving Ford, I guess he needed a challenge and took on the ordeal of turning around Chrysler, which was about to go out of business in the late '70's. He personally secured cash from Congress for a bailout (Yeah I know, this sounds familiar). In the 80's after turning Chrysler around, he would appear in commercials saying something like "You can't find a better car. If you do, buy it." Since he saved my Dad's job and livelihood, he kinda worshipped him and that reverence trickled down a bit to me. EDIT: I do find it a bit sad that fewer of us work for CEO's that we personally look up to. This is probably one major factor in what inspires the entrepreneurial spirit in many of us. The main reason that I want to work for an Elon Musk company is that I'm tired of being a cynic in a post-modern world and want to be a part of a vision greater than 140 characters or self-driving cars. Unexpected personal reflection: As I'm writing this, I'm beginning to empathize with the coal miners and manufacturing workers who believe in Trump. I know people aren't fans of bailouts and as a student of Economics I'm generally opposed to them as well. However, The automotive industry was and is still so deeply intertwined with the fabric of Detroit and Southeast Michigan in general that losing those companies, once the shining example of American manufacturing exceptionalism, would be a crippling blow to the collective consciousness of all the residents there.You don't simply see it as some efficient restructuring and reallocation of capital if they go out of business. Those automotive roots run deep and when Chrysler faced bankruptcy again after the financial crisis, even though he was retired at the time, we both felt like an extension of ourselves was on life support. If it had cratered, it would've been a massive blow to our psyche similar I guess to how one would feel if an army had razed your city. When an industry is so closely related to your community, it becomes a part of your identity. Chrysler basically allowed for me to attend an elite private high school and university. In principle, I still disagree with trying to revive the coal industry (that American manufacturing strength is dead is complete fiction. I would argue that the USA is still the leader in global manufacturing because it's done without polluting the shit out of the environment), but I guess now I'm willing to listen to their side with an open ear and am open to some sort of environmentally responsible compromise. That's the thing about heroes, even in death they can inspire change. Godspeed, John Glenn.