As an extremely vigorous opponent of personality cults, it makes me incredibly happy to see these two embrace such an excellent philosophy. Homo sapiens are pr

As an extremely vigorous opponent of personality cults, it makes me incredibly happy to see these two embrace such an excellent philosophy. Homo sapiens are primates, and we tend to form status hierarchies regardless of which era or environment we are in. The problem with status hierarchies is that they lend authority to a person, instead of an idea. This is why you can see, for example, SpaceX absolutely demolishing the aerospace industry with minuscule resources compared to the incumbents. SpaceX focuses on ideas to improve aerospace technology, whereas the incumbents focus on maximizing profits for the executives and investors. They do not allow any experimentation with their product for fear of altering a working platform. This fear leads to stagnation, loss of talent, and the present decline. For technological innovation to progress, ideas must take absolute precedence over people. Only through the rational and empirical vetting of ideas will we be able to improve the state of the art. Not through appeals to authority.