A poorly-known characteristic of bell curves is that despite the bulk of the curve being fairly "normal", the extremes can be very extreme, and at the top end the spacing between #1 and #2 can be surprisingly large. Outliers can really be outliers. But you'll never have very many of them.
Why is there only one Elon Musk?
11–20 of 180 posts
Re: Why is there only one Elon Musk?
#12I think it's important to keep in mind that Elon Musk got to where he is today (especially financially) because of a consumer web service he helped found. I'm sure (perhaps on the more optimistic end) that more entrepreneurs would jump on his bandwagon if they had ready/easier access to the amount of capital Musk had at his disposal to invest in his "cool sci-fi shit" ventures.
Re: Why is there only one Elon Musk?
#13I'll take your one Elon Musk and raise you one Richard Branson:
http://www.virgingalactic.com/ http://www.virginearth.com/ http://www.virgingreenfund.com/
+ Massive, continued, success in countless other markets (+ set a few personal world records)
Re: Why is there only one Elon Musk?
#14A few others who come quickly to mind:
- John Carmack - id software and Armadillo Aerospace
- Jeff Bezos - AWS, Kindle, Blue Origin, and the Long Now Clock
- Larry and Sergei - Google, Android, Google Glass, self-driving cars, etc.
I'm sure we can think of others.
Re: Why is there only one Elon Musk?
#15I wonder what percentage of the worlds billionaires are over 50? Over that age the ability to assimilate and do "new stuff" drops of considerably I should think, along with drive and determination as well. As the article suggests hopefully some of the Zuckerburgs and co will help remedy this.
Ahem... Ray Kurzweil? Dean Kamen? and one if one stretches way back, Thomas Edison or Nikola Tesla, both who were prolific inventors and creators throughout their lifespan? There's no demonstrable evidence that innovative thinking, inventive proclivity, or capacity to innovate decreases with age.
Re: Why is there only one Elon Musk?
#16There are plenty of people/organizations that are researching cool new technologies that don't have the publicity of Elon Musk, either from them actively avoiding the spotlight or the media has just decided that they aren't "cool" enough to be covered. DARPA is doing some cool stuff even though they are a government organization, Mars One has set the lofty goal of sending people to Mars, James Cameron has a pretty sweet submarine, and the list goes on and on.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that the author has overlooked a lot of cool stuff to make his point. While I agree that there needs to be more billionaires doing cool s#!t, don't overlook the people and organizations that are already doing it.
edit: In the time it took me to write this comment, a whole bunch of other examples popped up in the comments, further reinforcing my point that there are already a lot of people doing cool s#!t.
Re: Why is there only one Elon Musk?
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is straight up ageism. When I am 50 I will have 15 more years of knowledge and experience under my belt - and will be just as excited and determined as I am now.
can't say this for most of the +50 I know.
The only difference between over 50 and under is that young people have more time ahead of them to delude themselves that they will eventually act on their big ideas. In terms of actually doing things, young and old people have very similar moment to moment potential.
Re: Why is there only one Elon Musk?
#18James Gosling: Liquid Robotics http://www.liquidr.com/news_events/press/2011/2011-08-30-gos...
John D. Carmack: Armadillo Aerospace http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Home
I'm tempted to throw in Google's Sergey Brin (Larry Page too?) for Google Glass.
And I'm sure there are a few others. Elon Musk just shows up more in the news due to his success.
Also, not all billionaires are technically inclined geeks.
Re: Why is there only one Elon Musk?
#19I think it's important to keep in mind that Elon Musk got to where he is today (especially financially) because of a consumer web service he helped found. I'm sure (perhaps on the more optimistic end) that more entrepreneurs would jump on his bandwagon if they had ready/easier access to the amount of capital Musk had at his disposal to invest in his "cool sci-fi shit" ventures.
What he was working on is a financial service, not just a consumer web app. He changed the world by making payment and ecommerce easier. It may not be sci-fi or anything like, but what he was doing was of importance.
Re: Why is there only one Elon Musk?
#20The author is making a decent point, that out of the 1,000+ billionaires, almost none of them are trying to change the world in a majorly significant way. The vast majority are busy running the businesses that made them billionaires.
Take Mark Cuban. After he sold broadcast.com to Yahoo for $5 billion, why didn't HE start a space company? Instead he started another TV channel - we already have a bunch of those.
I think Richard Branson is the counter point. There are actually two Tony Starks - Branson and Musk.
I think the problem is legacy. People like that are trying to create the businesses that will define their legacy after they are gone. If you've worked 30-40 years to build a company from scratch and become a billionaire off that (like Walmart or Fedex), that is your legacy. You work til your dying breath trying to make Walmart successful. You don't go try starting robotic or advanced tech businesses.