The Stupidest Thing Elon Musk Said This Week
On the Tesla conference call for shareholders this week, Elon Musk sounded like “old,” more normal Elon for much of it. He was mostly focused on certain tech issues at Tesla. However, he also made some wild, fantastical, unrealistic claims. (Some would claim that is also “old” Elon.) The following claim was so crazy and idiotic to me that I felt like I had to highlight it. Speaking about Tesla’s humanoid robot Optimus, Musk said:
“You can actually create a world where there is no poverty, where everyone has access to the finest medical care. Optimus will be an incredible surgeon, for example. And imagine if everyone had access to an incredible surgeon.”
This is so bonkers I don’t even know where to start, or if I should start. Poverty is a social and political issue. It is not a matter of available tech. Furthermore, a humanoid robot that is not anywhere close to being able to perform surgery (what surgery, by the way?), not even close to being available for sale, and is eventually, one day, supposed to cost $20,000 to $25,000, is not going to be accessible to people in poverty, and thus not going to solve poverty.
We are facing a severe issue of wealth inequality at the moment in the United States. We are effectively in a second Gilded Age. Is that because of a lack of tech? Or is it because of how corporate behemoths, modern-day robber barons, and the billionaire class have been rigging the system in their favor?