If you're not good at keeping up with the news then things may tend to slip by, both trivial and important matters are discussed everyday in the news and sometimes life just ties us up leaving us in a state in which all we have to go on is asymmetric information.
Something generating a lot of buzz in the tech world is Elon Musk's latest outlandish idea. What am I referring to you ask... Well it was the concept of sending a Tesla out into space with the Feb. 6th, 2018 Falcon Heavy rocket launch. The more important question here is why would someone send a car into space anyways?
Elon Musk is a very clever salesman. I would be surprised if he hadn't read the book 'The 48 Laws of Power' and wasn't following one of most important laws of all, that is to 'court attention at all costs' which would certainly be applied to sending a sexy Tesla roadster into space! The fiery eruptions of a rocket launch can feel repetitive when everyone is trying to outdo the person beside them with something even more spectacular and otherworldly. Musk made a bold statement with this move which was essentially asking the world a question, 'how about a glossy red electric supercar to reignite imaginations?'
The entire thing was streamed live in a high-quality 1080p YouTube feed, from multiple angles, and with fun touches like a “Made on Earth by Humans” printed on a circuitboard and a “Don’t Panic” message on the dashboard. The spacesuit-wearing dummy with its left arm nonchalantly draped over the car door with David Bowie blasting on the speakers was the perfect finishing touch. This is science served with a side of badass.
Many have described this as the greatest publicity stunt of our time. I would simplify that by just saying this was 'cool.' For Musk it really is a win-win situation because his SpaceX company gets a shiny attention grabber to help promote its spacefaring work, and his Tesla car company gets to claim that it has the fastest car in space.
People are reminded of Steve Jobs pulling the original MacBook Air out of a manila envelope back in 2008. the Tesla onboard the Falcon Heavy rocket was not strictly necessary to make the event impressive.
In regard to publicity stunts for major corporations, what was witnessed could be described as the internet generation’s approximation of the moon landing, and that Roadster may very well be the object of first contact for an alien race. Who knows?
What do you guys think about sending cars into space? Doesn't it seem to be a waste of a perfectly good car? I mean, I'd love to be driving around in that modern marvel, why didn't they just give it to me if they were trying to get rid of it?
Please leave your thoughts and feedback below.
Thanks for reading!
Source:
Sending a Tesla into space wasn’t such a dumb idea - The Verge
Image Source:
The Verge