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It's insane how this mythology persists. SpaceX would not exist without two things: 1. All the space race era research NASA published openly with no strings.
by jasonwatkinspdx 6y ago
It's insane how this mythology persists. SpaceX would not exist without two things:
1. All the space race era research NASA published openly with no strings.
2. US Gov as SpaceX's anchor customer.
I mean Elon is currently going after 16 billion in government grants related to this stuff. His success story IS LITERALLY THE OPPOSITE of this "government sucks entrepreneurs rule" nonsense cheerleading.
- MichaelRazum 6y agoStill it is true: Without Elon no Spacex. Without Elon no Tesla. That is a fact. Would Elon not be billionaire I would bet both companies would have never existed.
- jasonwatkinspdx 6y agoThe companies as formed probably not, but some company occupying those opportunities? Inevitable imo. Both were strongly supported by the underlying trends and context. There was gonna be an explosion in EVs based on the trajectory of lion pricing alone. Making an aspirational/braggart product is a fairly straightforward strategy to tap into that moving top to bottom. SpaceX is competing with a deliberately created government monopoly. Those fat margins would have attracted someone sooner or later. What mattered was the willingness to push through the legal challenge to get a seat at the table.