Is Elon Musk crazy like a fox or just crazy? Is Elon just looking foolish because his ideas and actions are different than we are used to or is he cleverly building a better world? He did have some early ideas and businesses that were crazy successful and made quite a bit of money.
More recently Musk has been pushing all things Tesla and even started a construction company called The Boring Company. In mid-2018, he proposed a tunnel transportation system in Chicago for a fraction of what similar infrastructure components have been built for - https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/06/for-1-billion-elon-musks-tunnel-to-ohare-would-be-a-miracle/562841/. The real kicker? He was planning to use a used tunnel boring machine and didn't plan to include any construction innovations. He was just going to go faster and build better with the same means and methods. Crazy? Maybe. It seems that some in Chicago think his plans and promises are more crazy than correct and have back tracked on working with him on the O'Hare Express - https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/9/18256604/elon-musk-chicago-mayor-election-tunnel-high-speed-transit.
The Boring Company is getting to actually build something off private property in Las Vegas. It is building the $49,000,000 people mover system for the Las Vegas Convention Center (https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/05/elon-musk-tunnel-las-vegas-loop-boring-company-electric-cars/590287/). It is a vastly scaled down version of Musk earlier dreams. When asked what gives Musk said, "This is simple and just works." The Vegas tunnel is essentially large enough for one automated car or vehicle to travel through - much smaller than most transportation tunnels built today - and the costs reflect this.
Like Nikola Tesla before him, Musk has many ideas and dreams. Some would be great for our world. It is tricky balancing the needs and constraints of now (technologies, tools, making a profit) with the long term goals and needs of mankind. Musk is working hard to do his part to build a better world but is struggling to make the triple bottom line work. His stuff is good for the planet but people are burning out and profit is lacking. Only time will tell if Musk is crazy and mad scientist like Tesla or crazy like a fox.
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