Daily Management Review

Elon Musk: A charlatan or a genius?


02/22/2018


The scene of the takeoff of a giant rocket in a fireball, the soft landing of vertically landing rocket boosters, and finally the pictures of a Tesla sports car hovering in space with a mannequin in a spacesuit behind the wheel and David Bowie's "Space Oddity" as an accompaniment...



Heisenberg Media
Heisenberg Media
Successful and effectively staged the first flight of the rocket SpaceX Falcon Heavy caused delight around the world for a moment. There is one person behind all this space show: the star entrepreneur and the head of the company Tesla 46-year-old Elon Musk. Is he really a superhero or, after all, a super-villain?

Definitely, Musk has achieved a lot. And many people revere the superstar of the hi-tech industry solely as a hero. However, there are also enough critics: they see him as a deceiver and a charlatan. Bragging and false promises, he pulls money out of people's pockets. Finally, even Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (67) produced a broadside. "I do not believe a single word of Elon Musk," the cult symbol of the Silicon Valley caustically said. Wozniak gets angry saying it was too much when he promised that in 2017 his electric cars, controlled only by a computer, would travel around the US.

Personal car of SpaceX head, red convertible Tesla Roadster, was put into orbit by Falcon Heavy rocket carrier of American company SpaceX, with a dummy in a spacesuit behind the wheel in outer space

Sceptics love attack the Mask when failures occur:

•    When the Falcon 9 rocket exploded in 2016 on the launch pad (with a satellite worth $ 195 million on board), the head of SpaceX was severely criticized.

•    The RSN website cursed NASA for providing SpaceX with orders for 85% of the turnover thus subsidizing Musk’s space adventures. He is also constantly criticized for not complying with the deadlines.

•    His company for the production of electric vehicles Tesla, is sometimes called a "black hole for investors" because of the huge losses, the last of which amounted to 675 million dollars.

•    Musk angered many investors in Tesla when he slipped them a losing company for the production of solar energy Solar City. His main argument was that a wide range of environmentally friendly products will make alternative energy supply possible regardless of large power plants and represents a huge business area. At the same time, Musk kept silent about how he was going to fight against China's dumping prices.

Opinions differ: some praise the true creativity of genius, others are watered by caustic criticism.
Yet, hardly anyone will deny that Mask was again in its element after the fabulous launch of his huge rocket: he is ranting about the settlement on Mars and the first unmanned flight to the red the planet in 2022. His unrestrained optimism fascinates everyone, and critics have to admit it.

Despite all the problems and failures, he still does a lot. The founder of the Mars Society, Robert Zubrin, was ecstatic after the test launch of the rocket. Musk brought sceptics down, he says: "With this revolution, the Moon and even Mars again seem achievable."

source: bild.de