Technology Through Elon Musk

He’s known as one of the powerhouses of Silicon Valley thanks to the creation of SpaceX and Tesla.

Responsible for developing and manufacturing rockets and spacecraft (and one just launched this week), Elon Musk has propelled himself to becoming one of the most innovative and futuristic billionaires of our generation.

Here’s a little bit about his companies and what his plans are for humankind.

Like many conspiracists, there are several people who believe that the world will be overtaken by robots – hence a growing fear for artificial intelligence (AI). Each day, we see developments in tech, from Sofia The Robot – an example of advanced robotics – to typical machinery that are replacing human beings. And if there’s one thing Musk doesn’t like, it’s this particular advancement.

That’s right. Musk believes that the world is slowly, but surely going to be taken over.

Speaking at the Vanity Fair Summit last year, Musk spoke of the impending doom: “I don’t think people understand just how fast machinery is advancing, much faster than almost anyone realises. If there’s a super intelligent, particularly if it’s engaged in recursive self-improvement, if there’s some digital super intelligence and it’s optimisation or utility function is something that’s detrimental to humanity then it will have a bad effect.”

And he insists that we are merely less than six years away from merging our minds with machinery and opening doors that should remain closed. But that’s yet to be seen.

The magic began way back in 2002 when Musk decided to start SpaceX, a company which has now amassed over 5 000 employees in California and is responsible for setting up several rocket development facilities sand launch centres.

In 2008, the rocket Falcon 1 became the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to reach Earth’s orbit. And the developments have grown from there. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) administered billions of dollars to let SpaceX transport its astronauts into space. Several reflights and orbital class rocket landings have taken place successfully – leaving more space for progress and the official launch of the Falcon 9 which is meant to fly more than once, like a reusable rocket.

Now there’s something else Musk is interested in conquering: Mars. If all goes well, Musk could use the technology and knowledge from his previous tests and possibly colonise the planet. We’re not sure how and why, but like every other Musk project, all eyes are on him.

No one ever thought self-driving cars would be possible, but Musk made it happen, thanks to his other project Tesla. The company, which powers electric vehicles, has already produced the Model S, Model X and Model 3. They claim to be the “safest cars in their class” thanks to the automatic emergency braking and collision avoidance, eight airbags and electronic stability.

But labels aren’t everything. The so-called “safest car” was put in question after an X model was left in autopilot and killed a passenger last month. The car hit a concrete highway divider which left the bonnet crumpled. Uber’s self-driving car was also involved a serious accident, which is bringing up the question: Should we trust self-driving cars at all?

Jason Mwenyo, a local tech enthusiast, expressed his admiration for Musk: “He’s doing things that no one ever thought was possible in IT. As someone who is in IT, it is closely related to Nasa and anything that has to do with astronomy. He’s making it seem like there’s no limit to what IT is capable of.”

Although Musk is making progress, we can only hope that what the billionaire has in store for us doesn’t involve a doomsday of its

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