I already replied and I’m sorry if seem to insist but I want to add on the subject and myth of “Elon Musk being a genius” and “contributing to society”, and went over the part about internet, and electric cars in general.
I’m glad you can have internet in a rural area, really. However, doing it via a constellation of satellites instead of having a robust ground network is posing certain issues for the future.
The size and scale of the Starlink project concerns astronomers, who fear that the bright, orbiting objects will interfere with observations of the universe, as well as spaceflight safety experts who now see Starlink as the number one source of collision hazard in Earth’s orbit. In addition to that, some scientists worry that the amount of metal that will be burning up in Earth’s atmosphere as old satellites are deorbited could trigger unpredictable changes to the planet’s climate.
In a paper published in May 2021 in the journal Scientific Reports, Canadian researcher Aaron Boley said the aluminum the satellites are made of will produce aluminum oxide, also known as alumina, during burn-up. He warned that alumina is known to cause ozone depletion and could also alter the atmosphere’s ability to reflect heat.
So as much as this could be useful, it’s also polluting the skies at a very rapid rate, and we’re not sure about the future consequences of it. And depending on where you live, fast and reliable internet in rural areas is often the result of other capitalistic companies not deeming those places profitable enough, and poor governmental regulations on internet as an essential service. We shouldn’t have to launch thousands of satellites in the air for this. But because it’s more profitable this way…
As for electric cars. Call me cynical, and anti car, which I am, but I don’t think the goal is to be ecological. Not anymore. Maybe when the company started with their three first CEOs. But it seems clear to me that Musk used the electric part as an ecological argument for greenwashing and selling to people that want to be “green”.
Electric cars are not to save the climate. They are to save the automobile industry. They want to continue to sell cars because it makes a profit. Electric cars are still posing an ecological threat, are still polluting the environment because of particles from the tires, are still killing millions of animals and people every year, and are still wasting vast quantities of space for parking lots, which are often not permeable.
And of course, people in rural areas will need cars, even if I don’t like them. But most people live in cities and Musk seem to be deliberately trying to delay public transit projects by announcing always soon-to-be-revolutionary technology like the Hyper Loop that has ben watered down multiple times to end up as a glorified LED lit electric car tunnel. Or the FSD which is not “full” “self” “driving”.
Again, I don’t like cars, don’t like to drive, and don’t have one. So I once was excited to see how the robotaxi part of things would evolve. But it’s been many many years and it’s obvious that I won’t be going from a city to a rural area soon, using a robotaxi or a self-driving car. I still need a driver’s licence for FSD. And robotaxis that do exist won’t go very far outside a city.
Also, if Musk is all about the environment with Tesla, why is he now trying to court people on the other side of the political spectrum; the side that doesn’t care about this?
Yes, electric cars are part of the solution, but cities need more public transit and micro mobility, not more cars (but electric and self-driving)! I’m sorry to say but it’s a lot of greenwashing, empty promises, and personality cult. The contributions to society are, I think, exaggerated.
