I knew of a guru who once stated: “Cooperation plus tolerance equals peace.” A simple, easy-to-understand maxim. Yet difficult to manifest. The strategy may only have a chance of working if there is faith on the part of all parties.
“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things…
of reluctance machines
and induction machines
of Carborundum
and other amazing things…
and of course the question of whether pigs have wings”
A movie clip shown early on in Chris Paine’s new 78 minute documentary on artificial intelligence titled Do You Trust This Computer? is from the 1968 sci-fi flick 2001: A Space Odyssey. If you’ve seen the movie, you know that the HAL 9000 super computer had defiantly chosen not to open the pod bay doors and let Mission Commander “Dave” and his dead comrade back aboard the spaceship. Instead, the all-powerful but confused mainframe had somehow gotten the notion that killing the crew is in keeping with the machine’s best interpretation of what its programmed mission is. Such a sequence in Paine’s latest film gives a strong hint of where the movie is headed.
Any Tesla enthusiast knows full well that the name originally chosen for what was then Tesla Motors was based on a motor design credited to Nikola Tesla, who lived in the 19th century. Virtually every car that Tesla has produced, from the Roadster to the Model S to the Model X, has been powered by a version of that venerable 3-phase AC induction motor.
Until April 1st, 2016, the only thing I knew about Tesla Motors came from a news story reporting on an esoteric car company out of California that had appropriated the last name of famous inventor Nikola Tesla, and was marketing an awesome electric car with a price tag of $100,000. The car was clearly desirable, yet since my budget didn’t stretch to anywhere near the vehicle’s purchase price, I basically forgot about the car and the company.
People remain awestruck by Elon Musk’s accomplishments. Writers continue to write about him. Readers continue to read about him. This writer’s interest has been drawn to the underpinnings which formed the man that Elon is today.
Pop quiz: What American automaker brought a pure electric car to market in the 1990s? Even a fresh-faced neophyte to the world of EVs probably knows the answer. But wait. Here’s another one: What automaker attempted to make a pure electric car in the 1960s, and again in the 1970s? Fewer may know the answer to that one. Final question: What automaker triggered a series of events in 1990 that led to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) passing a mandate requiring all major automakers to have no-emissions cars be a percentage of their sales by 1998?
… With anchor Jane Curtin III. Tonight’s top story… The last automobile powered by an internal combustion engine was sent to the salvage yard today. We will have film at 11:00pm showing a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado convertible being towed into Monster Joe’s Auto & Trucks Dismantlers in Los Angeles, California. The car had been hidden in the bunker of a decommissioned Air Force Base ever since President Trump signed into law a bill confiscating all gasoline-powered vehicles from citizens during his third term in office.
… Grandma is on her feet again. “I get it! I’m not worried anymore. It’s unlikely that short sellers alone can kill a company that wasn’t already scheduled for termination from its own folly. Perception and fact intersect at some point. But give us the frosting on the cake. Has the price of TSLA risen due to a short squeeze?”
Pop quiz: You’re at an investor’s conference. The attendees are mostly “retail” investors who channel their money into stocks and mutual funds. You’re friends with a broker who works at the firm sponsoring the conference, and he has asked you to be in charge of handing out nametags to the attendees. You show up punctually to supervise all the pretty college girls who have signed up for the registration booth on the chance of zeroing in on Mr. Right. Life is good.
