I think the rescue was the purest expression of humanity in a week that would otherwise have been dominated by relentless political catastrophe. I think everyone involved in the rescue, including Mr Musk, deserve kudos for a job well done. It's inevitable that after a crisis, the sense of teamwork and shared effort deteriorates, and individual tensions are exposed. I prefer to ignore that and look only at the good intentions, good deeds and success of the enterprise. In a world of conflicted heros and lost moral compasses, hundreds of people selflessly joined together to do something generous and wonderful. Isn't that enough, for goodness sake, isn't that enough?
As a personal aside, I'm an engineer, and I would work for Elon Musk whatever he wanted to pay me. What you learn from a true visionary pays you back over a lifetime.
9
The writer and commentators reference the attempts of Gates and Zuckerberg to improve education by disparaging them. Their only guilty of taking on the unholy alliance of teacher unions and Democrat political funding. As exemplified in many in democrat stong holds and recently in NYC by Deblasio anything that makes the Democrat/union model of education look bad must be dummied down to equalize mediocrity.
Furthermore the presumptuousness of leftist suggesting to these risk-takers how to run their affairs and business practices is telling.
1
I disagree. Mr. Musk came forward to try help and provided materials and personnel to help. I understand that at times he comes across as a loudmouth but he is trying to help and he is trying to use innovative ways to fix problems. He is a doer and we certainly need more of them to help and fix instead of complain and hold hearings. I find him inspirational.
59
Elon Musk pointlessly managed to insert his narcissism into a crisis which he had no real understanding of, all so that he could have his ego inflated a bit more.
Then again, in the words of Elon Musk, “Sometimes success is failure.”
34
This is a charmless, depressing article that misses the point. What Musk did was set an example, whether his submarine was used doesn't matter, his empathy and compassion is inspirational. As for Bezos, should he throw off the pay structure just because he can afford it? Or should he pay the prevailing rate and invest in innovation and discovery? This sort of article is exactly the evidence populists use to criticize out of touch and overly specialized academics who can't see the forest for the trees. Thankfully, this describes only a segment of academia -- a segment that needs to think before they write.
8
Someone with empathy and compassion wouldn't have insulted the people who were on site, had the best proven experts on site, and had developed invaluable expertise in the search for the team.
Somebody seeking publicity would be the one to post some vague "concept" on Twitter.
28
With all due respect, if anyone is missing the point, it’s you. The take away here is that Musk’s “empathy and compassion” was insincere and an exercise in narcissism...No one is criticizing his offer of help, but rather, the public tantrum he threw when an official matter of factly disclosed to the media that his contraption was not fit for the rescue,and his mistaken belief that he knew more about cave rescues than the very brave divers who have years of expertise and experience under their belts.
Instead of silently accepting that his sub was not fit for this particular mission, he bizarrely accused a Thai official of not having the qualifications as a non-engineer to deem his device impractical when it was plainly obvious that the Thai official was simply relaying information given to him by the elite cave divers whose knowledge and expertise in the subject in general, and familiarity with this crisis in particular, far outstrip Musk’s understanding. Such a Trumpian thing to do—gaslight his critics in an attempt to save face. “No one will see my contribution as inept if this foreigner who knows nothing about anything is the one calling the shots!” (And don’t get me started on how implicitly elitist and racist his comments were).
To add insult to injury, the twerp had the nerve to test out his device IN THE CAVE ITSELF and DURING THE RESCUE after they kindly told him to leave. He’s such a weasel...
1
Lighten up, professor. Sure, Musk is arrogant, and seems testy when crossed....but:
If you had any traces of engineering, design, or technological blood, you’d know that thousands of people like me, even without connections or resources, spent time during this very unusual episode imagining ways to get the kids out. We thought of drilled shafts, pumps, water diversions, and, yes, cocoons of all sorts to extract non-swimming, probably panicked people.
Well, in fact, the successful version, somewhat innovative even for the actual rescue, was not a great departure from Musk’s engineers’ vision. That is, sedate the kids, strap them to a stretcher, and haul them out, one at a time. Faces fully helmeted. I don’t think the Thai authorities were just being polite in asking to keep the offered prototype; again I can imagine it might either have a future, or just as good, inspire some other concepts. We offer what we have, and don’t care if the only ambulance in town is owned by the creepiest guy; we use it.
22
This Opinion piece is worthless. Zeynep Tufekci makes multiple mistakes in an attempt to slam technology fields in general. Not that they don't need slamming but the Thai cave rescue is not an appropriate vehicle to do this. The mistakes include making comparisons that have no value; failing to understand how different emergencies require different protocols and making sweeping generalizations that have no meaningful contribution. To compare air travel to rock climbing is absurd. Air travel is mass transportation. Rock climbing is a sport. Statistically air travel is very safe, rock climbing is not. Air travel has an enormous manufacturing and technology industry behind it. Rock climbing does not. In fact, rock climbing has evolved into an even riskier sport when practiced at the highest level, with the use of protection reduced to absolute minimums, even to the point of eliminating the rope altogether. Capt Sully had literally minutes to solve that emergency. No drills, no practice, no consultation with experts. He could only react with his considerable skill and training. And, everything worked out...with a large dose of luck. The Thai authorities admitted that luck played a huge role in their success. And don't forget it was the press that gave Musk the exposure.
8
Tufekci never did "compare air travel to rock climbing" except to note that modern advances have made both much safer, which is undeniably true. But is rock climbing actually "safe"? She says yes, and you contradict her, but both claims are entirely subjective. (After all, how does one define "safe"?) Your point about people who use "protection reduced to absolute minimums" is irrelevant, since Tufekci was making a point about advances that have made rock climbing much safer than it used to be and not about people who disregard such advances. Actually, the fact that we notice their blatant disregard of modern safety equipment and protocols only reinforces her point.
3
And yet his solution was still impractical.
And you are giving a lecture on to one of the geniuses of our time? How many electric cars or reusable spacecraft have you or anyone else built in North Carolina? I think the last major tech invention was made there by the Wright Brothers more than 100 years ago. And you double down by extending your moral criticism to the entire Silicon Valley. By the way, neither Jeff Bezos nor his company come from Silicon Valley. Furthermore, the safety example you gave from the heroic pilot Mr. Sullenberg, would be the first one to praise the technology of the aircraft, much of it from Silicon Valley- Moral of the story: false comparisons of achievement do not work.
10
A “genius” he may be, but Musk’s solution to the cave rescue wasn’t appropriate or functional. But no one is faulting him for trying and failing...You see, the point is that Musk questioned the expertise of those that deemed his device impractical as illegitimate because he was offended that his device couldn’t play a role in the rescue. The author is essentially criticizing such hubris, and saying that geniuses can’t arrogantly assume themselves proficient in every field vaguely related to their own. Your comment reeks of elitism, and quite frankly, sexism. Please think of a more nuanced response that actually addresses the relevant points raised in the article before you resort to vague insults about the author’s expertise.
Whoa! Somebody offers to drop everything they are doing and rush to do whatever they can to help rescue trapped, cold, hungry and scared children and they get trashed?
56
Ms. Tufekci wrongly criticizes Mr. Musk who was only trying to help, and she should be ashamed of herself. It does not matter that Mr. Musk's mini-submarine was not of practical benefit. Her criticism is totally inappropriate, petty, childish, and perhaps even envious. She should try doing something more practical and more helpful, instead of safely writing from her comfortable chair.
15
Elon Musk makes automobiles, in which safety engineering is an essential part of the design process, and spacecraft, in which protocols and safety procedures are far more extreme than they are in the relatively easy commercial aviation. I would say he knows a thing or two about protocols and safety procedures.
Speaking as an engineer, I'm forced to say that you you don't have the foggiest notion of what you're talking about.
137
Also speaking as an engineer, Mr. Musk seems to have a habit of over-promising and under-appreciating human factors. Whether or not these traits are intentional is unknown, but they affects how his public behavior is perceived. While he likely has some relevant expertise, it is profoundly unlikely that it would exceed that of those already addressing the problem at hand.
Late in the last century, an American student noticed the rather permissive approach that we were taking with airplane hijackers and wondered why were were risking letting someone use an airliner as a giant missile. Having no credentials and convinced that those in charge at the FAA and other agencies surely thought of this also, the student said nothing.
It is always better to err on the side of saying something than not, whether confronting wrongdoing or a technological challenge. Making a suggestion may have been both welcome and, ethically, the right thing to do, but it would also have been far better to do so privately.
5
Sounds like you've got a bit of hubris, Josh.
Musk was offering an uintested new device that had never even been dragged empty through a cave.
If you're an engineer, I wonder if you ever worked with safety-critical design like automobiles, commercial aircraft or spacecraft.
If so (or if not), I wonder how you would apply that safety-critical design process to Elton Musk's rescue tube. Musk doesn't seem to have done so.
I used to edit automotive, aircraft and spacecraft engineering papers. What impressed me was they would come up with an innovation, try it out on a small scale, and see if it works. If it didn't work (which was often), they'd try again, and if it did work, they'd improve it and give it more testing.
I remember one paper in which aircraft designers described how test pilots would take up a new plane for the first time. They would roll down the runway and not take off at all. If that was OK, they would try again take it 3 feet off the ground. If that was OK, next day they would actually take it in the air and gingerly see how it handled.
Flying a new plane is pretty dangerous, and there is a long history of stalls and dead test pilots. There were lots of innovators in the early days of flight who plunged ahead with a new design, and died when their new design didn't work.
The history of engineering is that people who plunge ahead in a hazardous environment, without carefully testing their equipment beforehand, are pretty likely to die.
12
Speaking as another engineer:
Things like Mr. Musk proposed must be designed and tested. If not tested, for example, it could become lodged in one of the narrow escape tunnels, blocking the way for those inside the cave to come out, or, worse, trapping not just the sub, but some of the boys inside of it as well.
The method chosen by the rescuers was available much faster than a properly designed and tested mini sub would have been.
5
I commend Musk for wanting to try to find a solution. My father was an engineer, and always had a mechanical pencil or tool in hand ready to attempt to solve something.
What harm does this do? What harm did Elon Musk do in trying to help?
190
Electronic records are just bureaucracy -- what about when you needed a CT scan or a DNA chip?
Apologies for all these misplaced posts, the site is malfunctioning and putting my replies under the wrong comment!
Musk's desire to use his vast resources to help the boys is noble and even exemplary. As explained in the article, his method and communication methods however are not necessarily the most appropriate.
Firstly, all efforts need to be well concerted and lead by the country where a challenging situation occurs; a humanitarian crisis, whatever its scale, is not an international engineering contest to which anybody can invite themselves and discuss their ideas via any popular channel. One, perhaps slightly inadequate, analogy is how vigilante groups, however well intentioned and resourceful, can, for instance, actually disrupt well-organised police operations and do more harm than good.
Secondly, being inventive and wealthy doesn't make you an expert in all domains. Rescue operations benefit from the input of experts who have gathered valuable experiences in many similar situations. That's why the Thai rescue team doesn't tell Musk how design his flame-throwers.
7
Elon Musk is a creative man and he thinks outside the box. Criticism at the conception stage is counterproductive. All ideas should be allowed and encouraged. Once the ideas have been generated they can be edited and critiqued. He should be applauded and thanked for his efforts knowing that if the idea didn’t work this time, it may serve some purpose later. I knew he was going to get slammed for sticking his neck out, and of course the critics didn’t wait long to put him down. Sad, really.
61
Many commenters are saying: "Give Musk a break, at least he was trying to help". No sale. You don't help by offering a stupid, dangerous, impractical solution. If anyone in Thailand had tried to use Musk's jury-rigged submarine, there is a good chance that some of those kids would be dead. Elon Musk's other ideas are not much better, frankly. Don't we have enough over-rated self-promoting "geniuses" in this country?
152
Everyone loves picking on this guy, huh? Come on, he wanted to help and actually built a submarine to do it. Compare that to Zuckerberg, who steals everyone's information then hides in his secluded, multi-mansion compound. I wish more billionaires acted like Elon Musk, even if he can be a little cringey sometimes.
40
A week ago we were all horrified by the situation. The situation seemed impossible. All ideas are, and should be, welcome in these circumstances.
Don't ding Elon Musk for the idea. Ding him for crowing about it before it worked.
49
Both Bezos and Musk seem to have one thing in common: they both treat their workers like a baby does its diapers.
A recent report in Bloomberg-BusinessWeek showed that Musk's company routinely classified workplace accidents as natural illnesses afflicting employees so he did not have report the incident to safety and Health authorities.
Bezos workers pee in bottles and wear diapers, and work endless hours to meet insane goals for packing and dispatch.
As for Elon, he needs to have the problem of focus. He is highly unfocused and has a deficit of focused attention to task at hand. He built his Model 3 assembly using Robots only to realize they did not work.
He is the kind of guy who learns by crashing his jets and at the rate he is going, he will be a train wreck himself very soon.
60
The author has a good point about Silicon Valley overreach, but I'm sorry she used Elon Musk to make it. Unlike most of his peers, Musk actually did something besides make money and repurpose software. The man has been responsible for real technological progress, particularly in battery technology. He may, at times, act like a jerk, but he'll leave a legacy.
A better example of the Silicon Valley idiot savant would be Peter Thiel. His efforts to encourage bright college students to drop out haven't yielded any breakthroughs, but they did feed the kind of disdain for both science and education that led to Elizabeth Holmes. He's also one of several software entrepreneurs and investors who have backed a series of often dubious efforts to extend human lifespan and cure disease. These range from the scientifically respectable, such as Sergey Brin's support of research into Parkinson's, to the truly whacky: staving off aging by injecting blood taken from healthy young people (Thiel again), to the sad: Ray Kurzweil's obsessive search for immortality through nutraceuticals. The common thread among these efforts, good and bad, is that scientists move unacceptably slowly and that engineers can do a better job.
Musk, for all his arrogance, has never made that mistake.
46
Umm....Zeynep Tufecki is not a librarian. She is a well known sociologist, academic, and author of rather remarkable books on technology and technological change. Way to dismiss a highly regarded female professional and intellectual as a “librarian”and a “hypocrite”. Will assume your own accomplishments have surpassed hers?
109
Old school tech moguls had a dream, replace the working class workers with robots designed by middle class engineers. Musk he's one of them, his dream was to build Tesla cars in fully automated production lines and sell them to the middle class, or to replace human divers with a submarine, both failed.
New school tech moguls have a dream, replace working class workers with robots designed by artificial intelligence, and replace the middle class engineers with artificial intelligence machines.
Soon Musk will be considered as Sears, AOL, Yahoo, Toys"R"Us ... a good idea back then but outdated.
13
Good piece. I'd been listening to several professional cave divers on podcasts who humbly explained why his idea wouldn't work, and why it would be better if he allowed the experts on the scene. to solve the problem.
Here's another thing Musk could learn: one looks silly calling oneself a socialist and believer in climate change and then giving $40k to a Republican PAC.
https://www.salon.com/amp/elon-musk-revealed-as-one-of-the-largest-donor...
43
At least Steve Jobs was consistent: He cared only about himself and that's what he worked for and spent his money on, himself and reinvestment in his business. Bill Gates, along with his wife, is out trying to save the third world. He engaged in cutthroat business practices to make himself one of the richest men in the world. Elon Musk is trying to solve problems he knows little about. How about helping out the people you ripped off on your way to the top, rather than trying to assuage your guilt helping the third world? It must be lovely to be wealthy, and have your only problem be your guilt.
29
Oh, you don’t think he learned anything?
No Goodwill from attempting to help out?
No business cards exchanged?
4
...and, start paying taxes like the rest of us. How's that for creativity?
55
Regardless what rich people think, being rich does not make you a expert in everything, especially if you inherited your wealth. There is a glaring example of this occupying the White House.
16
Thanks for a thoughtful critique of Silicon Valley's penchant for thinking that it knows more than it does. So many reporters get starry-eyed wgen covering Zuckerberg, Bezos and Musk.
22
What Elon Musk should do is self-manage his attention deficit disorder and devote himself intensely to figuring out how to sustainably and profitably run his three core businesses so that that they can survive him and institutionalize the enduring change he has promised but so far failed to fully deliver. Elon gets an A as a visionary but a C as a titan of industry. Henry Ford or Steve Jobs he is not, yet...
14
Help? Yes
Tweet? Perhaps
Irritation? Please No!
During that cave rescue only the 13 trapped and their rescuers were entitled to be angry, frustrated or irritable.
Cheerleading? Most certainly!
9
Dear Mr. Musk,
I hope you can put your considerable talent and resources behind a way to clean the plastic out of my oceans.
Thank you,
Mother Earth
75
If you want to keep your health, don't get between Musk and a TV camera.
27
My mother used to admonish me about criticizing others with a comment I can still hear her saying more than 20 years after her passing and 50 years since the last time she said it, paraphrasing Howdy Doody: "no commentary from the peanut gallery". I admire Elon for trying regardless of his motivations. Who are we to question anyone's motive anyway? Sadly, comments from the peanut gallery have basically turned into rifle shots from the the gallery. Let's all chill and be grateful for the successful outcome and the generosity of people who at least tried.
13
Looks like the Dunning-Kruger effect applies to smart people, too.
16
A smart essay that takes on this Silicon Valley "Babbitry." Nice tie-in with the lack of economic justice in Musk et al.'s workplaces while they trot around the globe pontificating on the "best way" to solve the world's problems.
34
"Just because you’re a successful tech mogul doesn’t mean you know how to rescue kids trapped underground." Or provide clean water for kids in Flint, Michigan. But it's better than spending your money supporting the fossil fuel industry like the Koch brothers do, isn't it?
52
there's a Yiddish expression, "If you're rich, not only are you smart, you can sing too."
29
Musk made his money by being one of the founders of Paypal, but he's known for Tessla and SpaceX, two companies that arn't doing so well. I don't understand how this man gets so much attention and admiration every time he talks about something he does not know enough about.
12
Musk is a narcissist first and foremost. It needs to be all about him. Even his "philanthropy" is ultimately about his ego.
13
imo, at the heart of this is insular bro culture which seems more concerned about ego and winning rather than cooperative approach/collaborating (you know, with all voices at the table).
27
A large swath of the commentariat votes for rich guys with expansive ideas to 'go at it'.
Elon Musk is a lucky man. His luck was to invest in PayPal very early and make a lot of money. He neither developed the idea nor any function of the product. Now he's "a smart guy" who think he knows how to save mankind. HyperLoops...Boring...Rocket ships...Mass production..and whatever comes into that brain at breakfast.
And y'all who are not experts in a physical field can stand back and let those who are decide what size spanner is needed and which nut to apply it to.
19
Silicon Valley is so over, along with its tedious tendentious publicity-seeking billionaires. They should concentrate on their knitting, and give the rest of us a break.
22
It’s simple. Some people — including the author — seem to resent Elon Musk. Perhaps he is arrogant —who knows— but who cares? Now in America we have to all act alike? Vote alike? Act alike? Many American inventions have occurred in the spur of the moment to tackle an immediate impediment. Do we want to discourage that? Do we really want to shut someone down who was just trying to help? What message does that send?
17
Zeynep, we are not the ones spreading Musk's malarkey.
You are.
The media covers him, and that is how he is able to raise capital to throw into his money-losing company.
When I hear people in the media complain about people like Musk, or Trump, I wonder why you do not do something about it.
8
Exactly, Ms.Zeynep,very well said,I thought that I never would read something so clear like you wrote today
9
Mr. Musk personifies the ethos of the tech mogul: arrogance, hubris, and total self absorption. These guys should go back to something they know how to do, like ensuring their personal immortality.
16
Elon Musk's behavior and the public's reaction to it (including a large number of comments to this article) reflect an important and problematic aspect of American culture and society. We greatly overemphasize celebrity over expertise. While Musk has been successful, he is very much a tech celebrity in the US and people will come to his defence about ANYTHING he does, because they think he is a genius (not dissimiler to Trump's continuing 40% approval). Indeed, look how much attention he gets about space flight compared to the engineering and scientific giants at NASA on whose shoulder's he stands. There are actually people who believe that Musk's stated interest in "colonizing" Mars is likely to be more successful than NASA's real scientific exploration of the planets.
19
Thank you Dr. Tufekci. The arrogance of Silicon Valley tech folks knows no bounds. They are in love with “disruption” regardless of the downside as long as the monetary reward is there for the taking. They think their financial success means they are smarter and better than everyone else and that their solutions that work for closed, man made systems like computers and business operations will work in the unpredictable world of nature. They have been given a free ride by a paid for Congress and created systems that eliminate jobs and destroy privacy in the name of efficiency and convenience. I, for one, am tired of being imposed upon by tech bros. Time to reign them in.
7
Give us a break naysayers. He generously gave of his resources, both money and engineering. Not everything works, but he tried. Hats off to him, it might have saved those kids. What did all of you do?
8
Elon Musk released Tesla's "autopilot" feature even though it has killed multiple people by running into notoriously hard-to-spot-and-avoid objects such as semis and stationary freeway structures.
What makes you think that he would *care* if his minisub had killed one of the boys?
5
To anyone who had actually spent time diving in water-filled caves, Musk's "submarine" was obviously and immediately a ridiculous "solution." It demonstrated a combination of arrogance and ignorance that might, at times, open new frontiers, but could just as easily lead to disaster and death. The swimming pool trials of Musk's device suggest that neither he nor his engineers took the time to consult experied cave divers to understand the realities faced in such environments. Sadly, this approach, of starting with a solution before understanding the nature of the problem, is all too common not only in silicon valley, but amongst consultants and experts for hire.
13
If you want to help someone, I believe it's best to ask:
1. Do you want help? If , yes, then...
2. How can I help? (What do you most need?)
I think the thing that rubbed some of us the wrong way is that Musk presumed they wanted his help and decided on his own what should be done. Again perhaps a presumption that the US always knows best.
9
Musk has taken a page from the Trump playbook, the one that's titled "It's all about me." He should celebrate the success in getting the boys and their coach out. Instead, he is whining. I was one of the thousands who put $1,000 down on a Model 3 Tesla. I was also one of those who asked for its return after Musk's many setbacks and whining comments about his company's failure to meet the delivery schedule promised those of us who wanted the "cheap" version of the Model 3, then placed us behind those willing to pay more for an ungraded model. Just be quiet, Elan, and concentrate on completing one thing, then move on without the chest thumping.
15
The closing sentence seems to me to be too big an ask for the oversized egos of Silicon Valley.
Most of the people drawn to technology are socially awkward, emotionally underdeveloped men who see tech as their answer into the world of humans and humanity that they have difficulty breaching.
Most of their solutions are ignorant of human psychology, emotional resilience, or just basic understanding of how "humans" work.
6
This criticism is unfair, at least with respect to Mr. Musk.
The fact that Mr. Musk's particular area of expertise proved ultimately not to be the solution required, (a circumstance unknown at the time of his efforts), does not justify the ascribing of base motives.
The suggestion that he might better use his skills elsewhere is also unfair. Historically, great things have been accomplished by the intrepid following an idea. Telling a person how he or she should be expending efforts is simply hubris.
3
I honestly believe if this rescue attempt were taking place in the US, it would fail because of our (too often) arrogant cowboy culture. It likely would have been a small team of elites going in very quickly with bravado rather than relying on a huge international team with expertise.
I also think our press would have eaten those kids alive rather than giving them a reasonable degree of privacy. I am very impressed by how every aspect of this rescue was handled.
14
It worthy of note that Mr. Musk was willing to assist in the rescue, a truly generous move. However, the Silicon Valley mantra “move fast and break things” probably wasn’t the best model for something as intricate and delicate as the cave rescue.
3
This is an excellent article; probably the best opinion piece I have read in NY Times. Why stop at Silicon Valley, US has had the same problems tackling World issues. Extraordinary wealth and can-do attitude cannot alone solve World's problems. I would suggest many other opinion writers of NY Times to read this piece, before jumping to solve problems and dispatching free advice and promoting interventions.
4
Musk’s hubris that expertise in one domain translates into expertise in another seems to be common among the “successful”.
9
The world is in an ecological crisis. Mister Musk is clear of his intentions to converge the best understanding of the physical world with the applied engineering skills of the best professionals in advancing the rapid deployment of material and manufacturing systems toward market-driven cultural conversion on many fronts: energy, transportation, housing, banking (remember Paypal). We must not stand in the way of this necessary revolution, but instead, respect, learn and apply the models in our everyday lives because we too must help in the conversion of the radically destructive human systems we are immersed in. Just as the military industrial complex of WWII developed out of a rapid, innovative, necessary deployment of diverse technologies through the convergence of cross disciplines and through trial and error, we must evolve in an ecological industrial complex that takes on diverse problems that sometimes seem far afield of publicity playbook. Rapid development, adaption, and deployment of a micro submarine to save lives is one valuable outcome of an effort that involves many people trying to save the world on a crisis-by-crisis basis. Criticism should be directed toward improving the innovation for a solution. The flood waters are approaching and the air is running out on all of us.
1
Mr. Musk must first know the difference between a cave and a tunnel. By the way the kids would have been stranded for weeks/months had the minisub gotten the go ahead. Design/testing and execution all the while parents would be expected to patiently until the end of the year or longer for the miracle from the West, not if it were yours or my children. Be honest.
2
Sometimes there's no substitute for experience.
2
Zeynep Tufekci makes a typical academic cognitive error in the assumption that progress is not to be made through interdisciplinary efforts. Worse than that though, an opportunity is missed to encourage innovation.
4
The article misses one critical piece of the story. The media bottles and sells every Musk comment. Yes, Musk thinks in broad strokes. Yes, he has resources (read "other people's money) to test his dreams. But he is human and we're still waiting for his automobile company to make a profit. There are lots of dreamers in the world. As the fast food ad ran, "where's the beef?"
3
The article was not criticizing his willingness to help, but his reaction when his offer was turned down.
28
What worked here was the "can do" model of many different people, black, brown, yellow and white, including the best and brightest, working together to solve a problem.
7
Success often induces hubris.
1
This commentary is written with reason rather than self aggrandizement.
Unfortunately, with the possible exceptions of Captain Sullenberger and Mr Osottanakorn, the men mentioned in this article are unlikely to pay much if any attention to it.
I know this essay is aimed at Silicon Valley, but we ALL can "see the Thai operation as a lesson." Teamwork, commitment, a willingness to sacrifice for the good of others -- and a bunch of Thai kids who survived against the odds because they were committed to their coach and he was committed to them, and he had also taught them to meditate.
What the author said about the Thai authorities allowing the skilled cave divers to make decisions about how to do the impossible also strikes home.
Rigid hierarchies and top-down "leadership" make the world stupid. In our society, people at "the top" believe they know best. They don't listen to people with ground-level experience. Big corporations, universities and governments spend a fortune on consultants to tell them things they could have learned from their own staff. Or spend fortunes trying to implement plans their own staff could have told the will never work.
19
Tufekci is sadly wrong in perspective on this. Musk may be a flawed human being (who is not?), but the Thai rescue mission desperately needed help and he offered what he could. That his method didn't work this time is beside the point--under any circumstances some solutions work and others don't. What is important is the empathy and the willingness Musk and so many others demonstrated to help the mission. Such empathy and willingness are in short supply in the world today. Tufekci and the NYT should be in the business of encouraging and promoting such positive energy for the public good, instead of dismissing, distorting, and lecturing those who try to make positive changes. Also, how will one know something doesn't work without trying? Isn't failure the mother of invention? BTW, what did you do to help during the Thai crisis? I'm sure they could have used, for instance, more cooks and cleaners, to support their rescue. Did you volunteer? If you didn't, perhaps think about why and stop contributing negative energy by criticizing those who did.
6
Can we not knock people who are trying to help? If I was one of the richest people in the world with unlimited tech resources and did nothing, and there were twelve corpses instead of twelve safe children, it'd be really hard to look in the mirror. Kudos to Musk for trying to help.
6
This article is way off-base. The kids were not “swum” out - they were strapped to a stretcher, with a full face mask, and the stretcher was dragged out. They had wet suits on, but they were in contact with really cold water - so they were semi-asleep, semi-comatose with cold when they got out - which is why they had to go to the hospital. Musk’s contraption wasn’t a “submarine” - it was a simple sealed tube, with air supply, that could be pulled through the tunnels just like the stretcher. If his solution had been used, the kids would have been dry, warmer, and more comfortable for the trip.
Musk’s problem was that his solution was a day or two later - that’s all. His solution was safer and more comfortable, and not much more complicated or expensive - it was just a little later - which, coming from the other side of the planet, with a 5-day delay before finding out about the situation, is pretty impressive.
Last point: good engineers explore multiple options, and have multiple backup plans, in case the first plans run into surprises. We should be glad that his team came up with backup plans, rather than trying to learn false lessons from their effort.
15
Mr. Musk is a promoter. Also a self-promoter. He grabs onto issues and products, and uses his great name familiarity to promote them. There is good and bad to that. Obviously he has no special expertise in underwater cave rescues. So he found someone with a little submarine--or they found him--and offered to help the Thais. Which is the same thing as promoting himself and/or the maker of the sub. He is a salesman. There is good and bad to that. It is not that hard to understand.
2
While agree with the article, the idea of putting these frightened boys in a tube would be incredibly claustrophobic. Tanks strapped on the outside would make maneuvering small passages really complex. But imagine being stuck in that tube for HOURS under the worst conditions!
Elon, they are not parcels....gotta take human factors into account.
As a life long diver I can tell you that cave diving really scary. I don't do it. Imagine being a child after over a week in that cave and you put him in a tube.
4
The social impact of technology is that any uninformed person can write an opinion using click bait trendy nouns to promote some pet peeve rant.
If the writer had bothered to follow the actual events, she would know that Musk did not willynilly interject himself in this event. Someone actually asked him for assistance and help put him in touch with officials so he and his team can get information.
There's a whole entire Twitter thread of ideas getting kicked back and forth. Wing Arcata pulled long hours and built 5 inflatable rescue pods. Musk's team built a submersible over there with the information given. A Thai group continued to build a nylon tunnel as a back up plan. Actual caring people used their resources and to give the rescuers various options because the conditions were uncertain.
Then trolls call all these people's efforts a publicity stunt and attack the easy-to-dislike Musk. Musk's annoyed response was because these haters were denigrating the genuine effort of dozens of people simply because they don't like Musk. Meanwhile, real caring people were engineering to the best of their ability possible solutions with the information and specs they were given. In engineering, some options aren't used or aren't needed in the end.
What I learned from the Thai cave rescue is that mediocre people will twist a genuine good effort into a way to bash someone they don't like and attention for their own agenda.
10
It was obvious that Musk had no notion of what the cave rescue would involve. Narrow tunnels with sharp twists and turns are not an environment in which a metal tube would be useful. Instead the flexible plastic wraps that the divers ended up using on the boys worked. The rescuers on the scene knew what they were doing and did a fabulous job.
The high-tech gazillionaires somehow think that because they made money that they are remarkable geniuses who can solve any problem. But they are wrong. This kind of hubris and arrogance led to Steve Jobs dying of pancreatic cancer --- it could have been treated surgically, but Jobs thought he knew better than the doctors and tried his own treatment regimen; nine months later when it did not work, it was too late for surgical intervention and he died young and unnecessarily.
6
I have often found new industry corporate cultures to be long on intelligence and short on wisdom.
10
High tech solutions? Remember the Titanic when you buy a seat on the Musk rocket.
5
This is a wonderful glib article. But it’s misleading. Silicon Valley is filled with deep learning and products that take decades to perfect. Drive a Tesla and you see billions of dollars of learning. Use Google search and you see decades of work at hand. I do think the submarine was a little silly in retrospect but at least he tried. Have you ever tried to invent something? It takes trial and error and that is what makes Silicon Valley so successful.
1
Elon Musk appears to be both highly intelligent and highly successful, with an innate feel for technological innovation that most people simply do not have. He also appears to be arrogant, brash, mercurial, dismissive, thin-skinned, self-referential, and quite possibly somewhere on the Asperger's Spectrum. Elon Musk its not someone who listens much; he is much more interested in "telling" people what to do and how to do it, as well as explaining how much better the world would be if he could simply do what he wants without having to follow any rules. We've seen this guy before and we will see this guy again. Howard Hughes comes to mind, but there have been others ... lots of them.
9
This story describes the oft repeated "White Messiah" myth. This is the story of the brilliant outsider coming to town to help the backward indigents solve horrible problems. I am sure it happens sometimes, no doubt the Chilean mine rescue benefited from outside drilling expertise brought in to mitigate the disaster. But more often the local folks are in a better position to deal with a situation that demands quick resolution using the materials and skills on hand.
3
One word no better supports the view of Tufekci:
Theranos
Unfortunately thermodynamics, physics, and biology get in the way of delusion.
3
Elon Musk’s heart was in the right place. Let’s leave it at that.
4
What's the problem here? Elon already solved Australia's energy storage problem. And everyone i Puerto Rico is enjoying unlimited solar power. And mini-subs are all the rage...Denmark has a fine one. Elon is going to bore a tunnel from Wash DC to New York and the hyerloop will make the trip in 15 minutes. Rockets to London will take eve less time. And the Tesla 3 will cost $35K...Right?
8
Great read!
While Mr. Musk’s efforts and concern for the boys is commendable, this article does an amazing job explaining why stories of billionaires who are going to save us have become so exhausting.
All you need to do is spend time in San Francisco to realize that Silicon Valley can’t even take care of its own backyard. Becoming a billionaire is not a qualification for solving problems like homelessness, unaffordable housing, traffic, or boys trapped in a Thai cave.
I put my money on nameless hard working people with analog knowledge and skills acquired by not “going fast and breaking things” any time. I bet if Mr. Musk was trapped in a cave he would too.
David McLain
7
This was another example of Musk not knowing what he was talking about. It should warn us never to believe anything he says. Fortunately, he didn't do any harm because he was ignored. That won't be true of all his crazy ideas.
8
Bill Gates has to be the champion billionaire bozo for his insistence on improving public education on his naïve schemes. The worst example (and there are several more) was his support with millions for connecting teacher pay to test score performance which unfairly trashed some of our very best teachers on the basis of statistical witchcraft. On that alone, he's my nominee for the hall of shame in education.
4
"Mr. Musk’s desire to help was commendable."
Mr. Musk’s desire to help is just another manifestation of his narcissist/messianic complex.
"If Silicon Valley wants to help the world, there is a lot it can do, starting with making its own products safer..."
How about just stopping the ridiculous wealth-hoarding and start paying your taxes instead of evading taxation.
20
This criticism of Musk is arrogant, judging, and moralizing. He's out there trying to make a real difference in the real world. What has the author done to make a positive material difference in the real world? If his efforts were rebuffed by the Thai authorities he has a right to express his feelings - he's only human. Stressful real world situations tend to do that. Get over it. The greater problem here is tech journalists that put people like Musk on pedastals and then complain when they don't meet their inflated unrealistic expectations.
4
By far the greatest contribution an uberrich entrepreneur could make would be to education. Instill intellectual curiosity in all kids, because jobs requiring manual labor and blue-collar social stratification have already become as quaint as a rerun of the "Flintstones." No more Fred and Barney working together because artificial intelligence and robotics have displaced this entire stratum. Instill common sense and good judgment to enable kids to make sound decisions such as, "Gee, I really don't want to go into that cave, sounds waaaay too risky" so that they can successfully resist peer pressure to do something stupid. That would really be money well spent...
3
Elon Musk saw an opportunity for self-aggrandizement and free publicity. Shame on us for giving it to him.
17
I ask the author and the commenters denigrating Musk, if someone you loved were in trouble and he offered to help, would you turn him away for his "hubris," "god complex," "billionaire" status? If it were me, I'd thank him for his offer and if feasible let him contribute. If not, well thanks anyway.
1
At least Elon Musk tried. Our US leadership was completely silent on the topic as they say on Fox News, these were not our children. The US is now a pariah. Never before has a president had so many protestors abroad.
4
The only thing worse than having Musk there would have been having Trump there. The difference is that even though Trump was not there, he will claim that he singlehandedly saved those 15 girls stuck in the cave.
A mechanic thinks his wrench can fix it, a carpenter insists his saw can, the gardener scoffs and proclaims his shovel is the obvious fix while the drummer says...
MORE COWBELL!
9
Excellent, thoughtful commentary on why high tech chutzpah does not solve complex problems.
5
This article asks us to play out a thought experiment of 'what ifs' but fails to bring up the most obvious.
What if the mission had not been successful and his device would have worked and it was only the personal pride and ego of the commander that failed to consider the aid?
Would the doctor even be writing this article or would she be critical of the diver team and the commander and condemned them in a scathing article?
It is nice to see the humans win once in a while, but those days will be few and far between when those with technology and AI technology all on its own are able to outperform humans. What place we humans have and how we adapt as a society should be the take away points from this lesson.
Frankly, there was a lot skill required (remember the Thai Seal team did not have cave diving experience, they bought in others from around the world), but what they lacked in experience, they made up with other skills. What Elon Musk lacked in skill he made up for in experience in rapid prototyping and dealing with hostile environments for humans (such as space). Who is to say his approach and attitude are wrong (which essentially the article did) and that there wasn't a huge amount of luck involved in the successful rescue attempt of the boys?
I guess my comment would be titled "What Zeynep Tufekci Should Learn From Writing This Opinion Piece"
1
Not only did "Thai authorities" know they needed expert divers, but expert Thai divers (Navy SEALS) knew they needed expert, experienced cave divers. That kind of objective assessment of one's own abilities was impressively modest, and magnificently heroic.
16
Dr. Tufekci forgot to mention the poster child for Silicon Valley meddling in another industry, having contempt for established regulations and causing harm to the public.
Theranos.
7
It was an engineer, a hydrological engineer, whether degreed or not, that told the rescuers to build the "weir dam" that finally eased the flooding and bought the needed time.
3
Wait a minute. Musk tried to assist from a distance with one tempting rescue idea, initiated when there was nothing but deep concern & no good plan. Desperation lead to a plan that worked, and everyone involved agreed they were very lucky nothing went wrong. Had the rains prevailed and/or the pumps fail, had the kids freaked or more SEALs died ... this cynical op ed would not have been issued by the Times.
Unless you contributed to the international effort .. please hold your cynicism for someone who did.
[As a scientist, I had had the same exact idea Musk had; he had the resources and talent to build it & send it. If everything else failed, his device might've saved lives.]
6
Have we become a society of rich people who think they can fix anything with money?
I much prefer the collaboration of forces, experts and voices that government offers. Let's restore a 70% top marginal tax rate.
5
What bothers me about Elon Musk is not his belief he can fix any problem, but his 24 x 7 PR self-publicity machine, making it clear to the discerning media consumer that his primary motive is gaining attention above all else.
Indeed, what distinguishes the "Silicon Valley moguls" from earlier industrialists is their relentless focus on PR, a necessary strategy to coax investors to chip in on ventures that -- in all likelihood -- will never make a dime in profits.
This pursuit of press coverage is not limited to entrepreneurs; academics are doing it too. It's no surprise that author Zeynep Tiifekci's Wikipedia page pictures her on-stage at a TED talk, wearing the ubiquitous wireless mike.
It's far more gratifying (and remunerative) to be on-stage making simple but clever-sounding conclusions for the mass audience -- vs. the long, difficult and mostly anonymous task of conducting academic research.
3
The lesson to be learned here is one Musk has internalized well: that our fickle media cycles care more about fame and celebrities than anything else, and they’ll cover and publicize their every move.
Musk received millions of dollars in publicity for welding some oxygen tanks to an old cylinder. He is more Kardashian than Edison, perhaps a point made all that much clearer by the youngest one’s recent billion-dollar Forbes cover.
6
An excellent essay ... could have mentioned the fiasco of Theranos as another example of a poor cultural fit between SV and a highly regulated, detail oriented industry where safety and extreme precision are prized.
4
In the USA, making a lot of money because you possess a particular skill that his highly profitable at the right, fortunate time, makes you a savant. Moreover, the rich begin to believe this about themselves. The rich take on the notion that they are as personally exceptional as the their net worth. We interview them all the time about issues in which they have no more expertise and often less as others, even trained professionals in a particular field or discipline. Musk believes his own press. Why shouldn't he? There are plenty of people who assumed his gadget deserved a shot.
8
Ms. Tufekci makes an interesting point but she confuses several issues.
Musk built a successful automobile company.
He has experience building things.
Whether his "submarine" would have been useful in the cave rescue, he had some credentials for trying.
Contrast that with billionaire geniuses who have never taught in a classroom, who think they know how to reform education.
They want to impose a corporate structure on education.
They have incomplete knowledge of the subject matter being taught.
They do not listen to teachers but think they have the right [because of their dough] to impose curriculum.
Teaching involves a HUMAN interaction between teacher and student.
It is not done by giving students laptop computers.
That may be cheaper than paying money to hire competent teachers or hiring more teachers to reduce class size but it will not improve education of students.
6
"Musk built a successful automobile company" is not exactly correct, at least not yet. How about Musk has successfully raised investor money for an automobile company, which has begun to produce vehicles, but has not yet started making a profit?
4
It wasn't conventional at all. The rescue was a brilliant feat of bravery and invention.
2
Elon Musk is one of those billionaires that pontificates on the education system, although I'm not aware of him meddling yet. He will. They all do.
1
It’s the very last line that stays with me, hope than SV ‘can develop respect for hard-earned expertise in other area than its own.’ The origins/people of Silicon Valley had to come from elsewhere and prior experiences in the earliest days-it’s shortsighted to not remember and appreciate. I’m truly all for fresh eyes, repurposing, unexpected solutions and unconventional wisdom. But if, in the end, something has to fit ‘in the box’, and in this case, get out of it too, out-of-the-box-thinkers might want be more humble team players and see how joyful that can be.
2
The thing that puzzled me the most about Musk's capsule, was how an inflexible metal tube could negotiate tight spots around corners and bends. If the strong current force the capsule to turn slightly, it could get twisted and lodged in one of the narrow passages or bends. This could have paralyzed the entire rescue operation, trapping people stream of the obstruction, and preventing ingress and egress.
The flexible rubber tube-like cocoons seems to have been more elegant solution.
5
Good point and exactly what I was thinking when the idea was floated. I explored a cave that had great expansive rooms and really tight tunnels and climbs to get there. Sometimes we had to take our helmets of to be able to wiggle through. Perhaps Musk has never been caving.
2
Good intentioned, but hubris nonetheless. We should in all cases give more respect to local knowledge, and have humility regarding the impacts of lots of money. How can we best help ?
6
After the team was rescued by 'conventional' means, it would have been interesting and instructive to try Musk's device in a simulated rescue. It may not have been the best solution in this case, but might in future be 'quicker, faster, and smarter' for some future rescues.
The Wright Brothers' plane did not fly very far on its first few flights, but the Wrights' high tech (ca. 1903) changed the world. Tech is not just about egos, although it can seem that way. It is also about the drive to keep trying new things until you find ways that work better. Don't shoot the inventor just because he wants to problem-solve in public.
5
Elon Musk's primary objective was not "problem solving" but ego gratification from publicity.
4
I used to think that Elon Musk was a valiant pioneer but the more I read and learn about Musk the less I see there is to like. When Musk refuses to compensate artists for their work and steal their ideas, the less respect I have. This issue (albeit a small one in the whole scope of things) perfectly encapsulates the arrogance of Musk.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jun/27/elon-musk-farting-uni...?
3
Good on Musk for trying to help out. But his grand mistake was to not take the requirements of the task into account before he did his work. Yes, a metal cylinder could be great as a rescue vehicle in the open ocean, but not in a narrow, winding subterranean cave environment. Let that be the lesson to Musk for the future - understand the requirements before starting the work.
And speaking of Tesla...
4
This attitude of the next amazing thing filled with wowee and spectacle is not new. It is correct to say it is the spirit that has propelled the USA not only to leadership but to dominance in many area of human endeavor and progress. But it is also why we now are fearful of being outrun, outgunned, and are now out of step with much of the rest of the world. We are a society much too interested in instant gratification, be it instant potatoes, instant cures, instant fame or instant wealth. Insert your favorite horror stories in every one of those categories. The demise of many sources of wealth in our country can be directly connected to this attitude. The old, established methods just became uninteresting and undervalued no matter how well they may have been able to serve us if we were willing to upgrade, reinvest and restore efficiency. Some creative destruction is progress. Some is just throwing out the bath water, the baby, the mother the wash basin and blowing a hole in the side of the house. We’re just not very good at restoring what is old, tried and true, that truly serves us. Restoring our Republic, based on democratic principles and the rule of law is a current example. If only folks would get old fashioned and take the trouble to vote....
3
Do you include the use of coal instead of newer renewables? Many Trump supporters want only the old ways used.
Billionaires seem to unavoidably take on a "God complex", for better or worse. Political leaders often do the same, as we see over all of history. I think it's very difficult to translate mountains of money into the common good, sadly. Certainly this indicates that the brute force use of capital doesn't necessarily win the day. Bravery, staying power, skill and ingenuity in a team of regular people just like most of us did it. Bravo to them all.
7
It seems to me the general populace embraces the idea that "successful" people can transfer their ability to succeed in a variety of endeavors. For example, the son of a rich person must make for a good governor. As if the success of his father would a) transfer to him and b) embue him with the requisite skills to be a good governor.
"Success" - generally used in terms of material wealth in US syntax, merely buys a larger microphone and access to more money. It does not, per the language of mutual funds, indicate future performance.
I wouldn't discourage anyone from doing what they can to help; examining their own motivation would allow others to embrace them as well.
2
Musks offer was good hearted but also a metaphor for his brutal learning curve on the assembly line. Not everything can be brought to life in a simulation, even a billionaires. Tech titans have the burden, and privilege, of making a difference in the world, not just spectacular feats.
1
When President Garfield was shot Alexander Graham Bell rushed in and offered to invent a device to find the bullet. The doctors treating Garfield were reluctant and did not afford Bell the opportunity to succeed - it likely would have. Bell's invention was an early model of the metal detector. Musk does what inventors do - try to solve problems. Maybe it won't work today in this scenario but will lead to future discoveries. I'm OK with inventors having egos as long as they keep making our collective lives better.
5
A false dichotomy is framed in the article and many replies. Most organizations and people encounter circumstances where slower, more stable processes are needed, and ones where faster but risky action is appropriate. The two approaches coexisted and even competed leading to a positive outcome for the Wolf Pack.
4
If humans "learned" from experience alone we would all still be living in caves. Human's learn by combining ideas and testing them with experience. Musk's submarine may not have been the answer for this situation; but, he advanced our human knowledge by attempting to apply an idea in a new way, we now have new theories we can test with our experience.
It is this American fascination with action/experience over thought that gets us into much trouble.
1
None of what she said denies this but Musk did in his tweet. He was not, well perhaps we'll work on this, or perhaps, we need more input from experts it was to deny the experts.
1
The gates foundation has always taken a very different attitude and respected feedback.
1
While there is anecdotal information this is true, and some studies say this is happening, it is not an extensive problem and does not negate the fact that these nets are the single most effective way to prevent/reduce malaria.
Reminds me somewhat of the Gates Foundation's forays into Africa: at first they thought rural poverty would be solved if they just gave everyone computers. Then they found out that what people really needed was clean water and basic medicines, so they started working on that. A clueless start, followed by a non-flat learning curve: more people could learn from that example.
Maybe Mr. Musk could keep working on his prototype so that it actually WOULD be practical in such a situation. It's not impossible that people could get stuck in a cave somewhere again, or it could end up being adaptable for other uses.
3
"On the contrary, deep expertise, lengthy training and the ability to learn from experience (and to incorporate the lessons of those experiences into future practices) is a valuable form of ingenuity."
Mr. Musk has the opportunity to learn this lesson as he struggles to produce the Tesla Model 3. Will he?
2
What good did it do? Why did Elon Musk think he could come up with a solution to a problem he knew nothing about? Why not offer instead to fly in experts and pay for the manpower and supplies that were needed? Why tweet and send out videos of his submarines instead of quietly offering his help?
9
"On the contrary, deep expertise, lengthy training and the ability to learn from experience (and to incorporate the lessons of those experiences into future practices) is a valuable form of ingenuity."
This sentence could answer the creativity question posed in the OpEd piece about mid-life creativity. It clearly describes a way of being in the world that is often overlooked.
Thank g-d the Thai authorities knew this and let the experts in the situation use their expertise.
4
Well-written, clear article.
Two observations:
We have billionaire-worship in this country, as if collecting billions of dollars confers upon the person the prerogative to dabble in things they know little or nothing about. Just looking at the diagram of the cave, it is obvious that a rigid container wouldn't work. It is also obvious that Musk could have quietly offered his help in whatever form was needed, but chose to publicize his offer with tweets and videos.
Second, let us not forget that those who rescued the boys were those with intimate knowledge of diving and caving. There was careful planning and quiet accomplishment. What are the names of those who saved the boys? No one will recall. But Elon Musk says something and everyone will remember and praise his efforts, which served no one but himself.
36
This article correctly identifies a larger issue in that many of the current capitalists have bigger egos than common sense. The belief that only they or their minions can do the job better than the experts in the fields leads to throwing money at technological solutions to complex problems and ignoring the financial well being of their employees at the bottom of the pyramids they have built.
18
This editorial makes an excellent point and is equally applicable to the recent case of Theranos, the Silicon Valley diagnostics company that attracted billions of dollars in investments without permitting any critical peer review of its technology, and whose CEO has recently been indicted on criminal charges for fraud.
When lives are on the line, as in the airline industry or in providing healthcare, there is no substitute for a methodical approach and due diligence.
11
Those whose lives were consumed for weeks and days, sleeping in unfounded places and without sanitary conditions, having a willingness to jump in without questions, handle hoses and pumps, air tanks, and regulators and drive trucks, ambulances, fly helicopters and fend off a million questions of insanity on social media are the ones to cheer. They did the work, no questions asked and a clear understanding what it meant to the families to have their children safely returned. Our hats off to them. These are humanities best. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos could find purpose in sharing their billions by helping those people.
17
And let us not forget Saman Gunan, the Thai Navy SEAL who gave his life in the rescue effort.
If you are going to solve a problem, you need to know all the parameters/issues/situations that are involved. Even the earliest reports of the cave rescue efforts made it clear how complex the cave landscape was. It seems to me that Musk heard "underwater" but not the rest of the cave description and jumped headlong into designing a solution that only addressed part of the problem.
Good for him for wanting to help. Bad for him for not paying proper attention to the world-class experts at hand and getting and understanding a complete picture of the situation. And then complaining that his ineffectual efforts weren't properly appreciated. Makes you wonder about the other technologies he is creating.
23
Musk should be applauded for his intentions to help. Sometimes ideas work, sometimes they don't. Sometimes innovation is accepted by the powers-that-be, sometimes it's not. For us to judge him and moralize about how he should do things differently is not useful.
20
As Oscar Wilde explained : No good deed goes unpunished . Three cheers for Elon .
25
I totally agree...I applaud all well meaning efforts...and that quote is going on my tombstone...if I have one.
In every scenario there are a range of options that rescuers have to consider. Elon Musk's involvement gave them one more option and that is not a bad thing .
The experts on the scene felt that under the circumstances that prevailed at the time of the rescue, that the sub wasn't needed and could have added to the danger in the cave. If the situation had been different, had for example, one of the boys had not been in good enough physical condition to help in their own rescue, Musk's submarine might well have saved his life.
In the end old fashioned teamwork and planning got the job done and that is a good thing, but I for one just don't get the hate.
21
In the end , Elon's submarine is being seriously considered for other types of underwater rescues .
1
It looks to me like kids got trapped in a cave and now in the U.S. at least, or at least in this article, an argument is occurring about which political/economic method solved the problem and was best for the problem, that Silicon Valley with its apparently libertarian model was intrusive and what worked was the "safety model" (read socialism). Kind of makes you want to go live in a cave.
10
I think the professionals who really did something in this case, on the site, (not criticizing the helpers or money/asset sources) made it very clear that Musk had no idea what he was into. The approach is not appropriate, and the level of humbleness. As many pointed out it is not really a unique phenomenon, it was and it will exist, it is not just about this one case or person. Many people try to help others in doing something, but if they are rejected by any reason, the following behavior usually tells a lot about the rejected persons. In this case we talk about a critical operation where the heavily piled up experience is necessary to give enough degrees of freedom to the rescue providers/executers. Even after what they did in the early stage of the rescue operation, is usually over the level of amazing, and it was clear to see that their background is crucial to this case. This and the fact they succeeded gives me the background to believe they are right when they criticize and outsiders idea, offered option or opinion. And yes an arrogant reaction gives to us a cheap feedback about this person/environment he comes from.
I think.
11
However innovative Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg may be, they are first and foremost interested in power and money. It is why they're phenomenally wealthy businessmen who pay workers as little as possible and not public servants, like rescue workers or public school teachers. Musk's profitability is tied to advancing a carefully cultivated image of himself as being able to solve any problem. It's bad for business for him to acknowledge any limits to what he can do, so he won't.
Elon Musk perfectly affirms Calvin Coolidge's contention that the first and last duty of businessmen is to business, as "they are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing, and prospering in the world." The downside to such a philosophy was seen over 90 years before these 12 boys were trapped in a cave in Thailand. Coolidge refused to allow any federal resources to be used to help with the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. He expected private businessmen to resolve the problem and bear much of the cost. It never happened. Many died or were displaced because businessmen viewed helping flood victims as a losing venture. Believing that business had all of the answers led Coolidge to institute purportedly "scientific taxation." It was based on belief that lowering taxes would increase, rather than decrease, government revenue. It led to the Great Depression.
"When you know a thing, hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, allow that you do not know it."
Confucius.
56
I agree with the author. She's not discouraging Mr. Musk from helping but rather pointing out that getting involved in the way he did might not have been the most effective way and that being rich or successful in one field doesn't make you expert in another field.
That's the difference between "feel good" philanthropy vs. effective philanthropy. It's not about how good it makes you feel.
22
What Musk, the self styled saviour of the world, has done here is trumpesk at best.
Every one who has ever done some serious cave diving knows, that, unless this is a large cave, there are many passages that are tight and that in most cases you need to crawls more than you will have to swim and that quite often there is not enough space for you and your equipment so you will need to get in and out of your jacket in order pass a narrow space.
That at least was obvious from the very first media reports as well - to anyone who cared to listen.
Musk does not know this and he does not care, just like Trump when it comes to details.
What Musk has done is a pure marketing approach of "We know it all and we know it better than anyone else, we will save the day again".
This may win him points with his followers who don't care much about details but it will not help to solve the problem at hand.
So Musk had a team design a tube large enough to contain a kid or an adult but that would not fit through those narrow corners and passages.
But Musk had his stage and he played the media to sell his brand.
No more and certainly no less.
Thank god the local rescue team did not take him seriously and gave him a chance to try his toy in the cave.
It would have blocked the path way of the kids to freedom and safety.
So in the end, if Musk had his way, the kids would have become way more endangered than without him.
Did he consider this in his marketing approach?
I guess not...
21
I must defend Prof. Tufekci. She's onto something here.
Elon Musk's mini-sub is another example of "the best and the brightest" syndrome: highly intelligent and well-meaning technocrats ignoring the voices of experience while hubristically insisting that "innovation" and "systems-based solutions" will quickly solve any problem.
Such technocrats often leap into action without fully understanding the issue at hand. In this case, Musk's team had the basic notion that children would be moved underwater -- but didn't comprehend that it would be through cave tunnels too narrow and twisting for their device.
I can add from my own bemused and amused experiences that engineers -- in their driving eagerness to solve a problem -- can make a shocking number of rash assumptions while rushing to the drawing boards.
48
Musk's mini-sub was a creative option, engineered amazingly quickly. It could only help to add options, and he never tried to take the lead. Clearly if it wouldn't fit, that'd be due to details not shared with Musk and possibly not known then. In the chaos the Thai rescuers probably didn't pass on or even know all the details.
It's ridiculous to fault Musk for his generous and clever option which, in similar circumstances, might have saved the day. The Thai general should have been more cordial and said, "We really appreciate the effort. Ultimately details of the cave that may not have been described to Musk would interfere with it being initially viable." Thank you Elon Musk for moving beyond thoughts, to creative action.
21
The issue was not Mr. Musk’s ego and need for gratitude, but rather how best to rescue the boys. Not a moment should have been wasted thanking Musk for his gracious efforts.
18
"The Silicon Valley model for doing things is a mix of can-do optimism, a faith that expertise in one domain can be transferred seamlessly to another and a preference for rapid, flashy, high-profile action."
What?
Has Prof. Tufekci spent any time working in Silicon Valley? Or at any tech startup, anywhere?
The media are under attack from those who dispute principles like objective fact. An important role of academia is production of primary sources via research.
Is the professor presenting here original research, or reporting opinions developed from consuming others' sources?
Mr. Musk does not represent Silicon Valley as a whole.
3
Musk has had some remarkable successes and failures. Edison had some ideas that were failures. If you make more than 50% of the right decisions you are doing good. Musk should know that he doesn't always have the best idea and that it takes a variety of people with different backgrounds and education to solve problems. Musk's companies and products will have to be practical to be successful. His goals point toward sustainability and environmental responsibility. That is commendable in itself.
15
Musk has had some remarkable successes and failures. Edison had some ideas that were failures. If you make more than 50% of the right decisions you are doing good. Musk should know that he doesn't always have the best idea and that it takes a variety of people with different backgrounds and education to solve problems. Musk's companies and products will have to be practical to be successful. His goals point toward sustainability and environmental responsibility. That is commendable in itself.
1
“Maybe in the future, some version of Mr. Musk’s contraption could be useful. But that would require long-term development, testing and collaboration with a variety of experts — not just a handful of Mr. Musk’s engineers.”
In a perfect world, that may be ideal, but this situation was extremely time sensitive. I give Musk credit for working quickly with the resources he had available while trying to help save lives. The luxury of long term development, testing and collaboration with a variety of experts was not an option here.
10
Actually the combination of measures used, and the skills of the various members of the rescue team were exactly an example of techniques developed over a rather long term and collaboration by a variety of experts.
50
Our billionaires are getting used to calling the shots.
Bloomberg news: “Elon Musk Pledges to Pay for Clean Water to Homes in Flint, Michigan."
After... "Flint's economic depression amid the long decline of Detroit’s auto industry and is still recovering from a major public health emergency."
“Please consider this a commitment that I will fund fixing the water in any house in Flint that has water contamination,” he tweeted.
“The state has said that the city’s water now meets EPA standards, but some homeowners say it is still undrinkable."
"By offering help to Flint, Musk is thrusting himself into a second high-profile crisis in a matter of days. Some of his 22.3 million Twitter followers encouraged him to get involved with the city’s water issues in response to his attempt to aid a Thai youth soccer team that was trapped in a cave before being rescued this week.”
So average Americans will be depending the charity of the super rich to save us from various harms? Oh thank you, kind billionaire! May we bow and touch the hem of your robe?
This means the govts we elect and pay our taxes to are not living up to their public duty in a modern democracy. People just have to hope the rich will donate money to solve the problems that their elected govt should have solved. Or shouldn’t have allowed to occur in the 1st place. We are unprotected, and must depend "on the kindness of strangers?"
In America, We the People don’t fund the politicians' campaigns, we just vote.
46
Well stated...also the fact that Amazon does not pay it’s workers well is why I will not renew my first and only year trying out Amazon Prime (now raised $119 annually)
2
That’s how it should work in a capitalist economy. Government should be limited to what it is required to do in the Constitution. All else should be privately funded and decisions about how and what to find should be made by those who are funding it. Carnegie put his fortune into public libraries. Not orphanages. Not sanitariums. Not public sewer systems. Not scientific research. Public libraries. He chose where to spend HIS money. Not graven politicians. Not faceless bureaucrats. The man himself.
1
Absolutely, gov’t isn’t living up to their public duty, agreed. But why are you trashing Musk for trying to help when the gov’t is failing? He’s not asking you or anyone else to bow down to him. Doesn’t make any sense to blame him.
1
You only had to see a photo of one of the many chambers that had to be traversed. It was wet but not submerged. It was basically a set of ten very tall steps, leading to a small hole. Just hoisting, lifting, and getting Mr. Musk's invention over that single chamber, one of many obstacles over hundreds of feet would have taken hours, maybe even half a day or, requiring six or more people.
Clearly, rather than a submarine, any decent Product team, imbued with user-centric thinking would have designed anything else but an inflexible metal tube. Maybe an improved air mask, or long-lasting light bulbs to string along dark caves... Mr. Musk, in fact, has lost the creative streak of startups.
23
I’m a retired autoworker. I know how complicated it is to put 7000 pieces together, make the pieces work together, making the pieces work in 110 degree desert heat or-20 winter conditions. Modern vehicles are complicated, well-engineered and now increasingly digital. The difference between a car made on 2010 and 2018 is remarkable. And the auto companies, foreign and domestic, are working hand-in-hand with the Silicon Valley engineers, and others worldwide.
So along comes richboy rocketeer Elon Musk, and he’s going to re- invent the wheel. I’m all for his battery knowledge but he still hasn’t figured out how to put a car together, for the mass market, better than anyone else. The guy’s got some PT Barnum in him... I’ll credit him for that. To get a zillion orders for basically a car that he hasn’t been able to produce successfully in mass quantities is quite an accomplishment, but it sure doesn’t make him a successful car builder.
He ought to stick to rocket-science...
28
Musk’s assembly line issues are the result of workforce problems just like they are for the old line Big Three.
2
Musk's Model3, by eschewing control levers and knobs and replacing them with one touchscreen display/control panel, is to discard a hundred year of human-machine ergonomic design principles derived by generations of engineers. Like the unintended deaths caused by joystick transmission shifter or keyless ignition, the design-failure accidents from using these Tesla "controls" will come.
15
"If Silicon Valley wants to help the world, there is a lot it can do, starting with making its own products safer and its own companies more just. Perhaps most important, it can develop respect for hard-earned expertise in areas other than its own."
And then there is another option. Listening to and respecting the highly skilled people who are trained for this sort of thing, even if they are brown and mainly speak a language that is not English.
Having livede and worked there a few years I can tell you that Thai people are smart, well-educated, competent and capable of carrying out their tasks without the assistance of well-meaning westerners.
A little humility is called for here, I think.
78
I, for one, worry about "Move fast and break things." This approach brings us Twitter or Instagram. But we put in place safety procedures for medicine or flight from experience of the dangers of individual decisions.
Musk trying to help? I join those who commend him. Musk publicizing that impulse is despicable.
28
Maybe we as a society have become so cynical that we always have to question someones motivation for trying to give help in a situation. I don't really know that much about Elon Musk but what I do admire about him is that here is a person that is trying to bring new things to the world, to think big. So many billionaires create nothing but new buildings or collect money because it's a game to them, they do little good with their money. But here is someone with a vision who like the rest of us followed the story of the Thai boys and wanted to help and in his own creative way tried. It may not have been practical but he tried. That's how new things are created, by trying. I see no need to criticize him.
26
No one is criticizing him for his concern and impulse to help. Rather it was for his not recognizing that there were others capable of figuring out solutions themselves, and for then being irritated when his offer was declined.
If he wants to build a small submarine, he's still free to go ahead, and maybe it will be useful sometime in the future.
16
I do see a need to criticize. With no knowledge of caves, much less this particular one, he recommends an unworkable solution. If he had been taken seriously as well he might have been, there would likely be 13 dead people in the cave. I applaud Mr. musk for being a big blue sky thinker and doer. But to be safe, he needs to know his limitations... as we all do.
Oh, I am so sorry to bring this back to current politics.... But cant you see the link? This is a metaphor or, indeed, exactly the same message we should be telling Trump, his followers and other populist politicians. ie flashy new approaches may seem to offer an exciting, commonsense alternative to the old tiresome ways of doing things. But if we throw the baby out with the bath water and ignore the experience of our experts and the benefits of taking time to chew things over, we may be paying the consequences for a long time to come.
As for Musk, I do appreciate his approach to problem solving and I happen to believe he is a good man trying to make good things happen. I would dearly love more of my physics students to acquire his attitude.
16
Interesting article. Hopefully Elon Musk had his heart in the right place, but that does not matter. New ideas are good for society, they just often take time to implement.
That said, as a Military parent, I know how much our Military prepares and trains. I am guessing the Thai SEALs are in the "same boat", and I have no doubt that they made every decision for the benefit of those kids, and it worked. These men (and women?) do it for all the right reasons, and we should all stop and take pause and give thanks and praise.
If the Thai Navy is anything like the United States Navy, they will now re-examine Elon Musk suggestions and see if they can be implemented in the future.
This is the great stuff of life. #GoNavyBeatArmy
29
Another example that comes to mind is Bill Gates and his insecticide treated mosquito netting. He gives thousands of them to people to stop the threat of malaria. But the people he gave them to were poor and hungry. They wanted to eat and used the nets to fish. The fishing sites were polluted and the contaminated fish sickened the people eating them. Rich people who think they know best first need to look beyond a solution to what they want to fix and determine what the most pressing problem actually is for the people they want to help.
It also wouldn't hurt for these billionaires to help their own employees by paying them a living wage and improving their working conditions.
47
The question we should ask is whether they want to do something good for the recognition or because they truly want to help people. Do they just try to help people in high-profile situations in order to get publicity that will drive their companies, or are they truly driven to make a difference? How often do we hear about Bill Gates' efforts? He's and his wife have been working hard for about two decades to solve big problems here on Earth that will benefit all people rich and poor, while Musk is building a dream of colonizing a Mars.
How many people do you think will be able to afford to flee to Mars when our planet is too poisoned to live on? And when Earth becomes an ecological wasteland, it will still have millions of life forms that cannot survive on Mars.
No doubt there will be great discoveries and advances from Musk's grand ambition, but the ambition itself is impractical and detached from the reality of what it would cost or how much time it would take to achieve before the human race dies out from not paying attention to Earth.
13
For all the criticism of seemingly misallocated resources toward space exploration, many of its resulting innovations more than trickle down to benefit ordinary people. Relatively large sums of money were spent in the 60s to get to the moon. Much of the technology invented for that venture then, became the basis for the information age that we live in now.
9
While many people all over the world lamented this situation, Mr. Musk acted, and acted quickly. Fortunately, the rescue effort proved successful, but if it had not, I can just hear all the pundits criticizing those who had access to money and the technology and just sat on their hands. No, Musk’s solution wasn’t the right answer in the end, but God bless him for stepping forward and trying to help in a desperate situation! Why do we have to have this moralistic “I hope he learned something?” How did you try to help, Ms. Tufekci?
23
Please read the article before personally attacking the author. She wasn’t criticizing his attempt to help, but rather, his arrogance and mistaken belief that his success in the tech world makes him an authority in a very niche field he knows nothing about. In case you aren’t familiar with the situation, what essentially happened is that a Thai official, relaying information from the ground team, very innocently stated that although “good” and “sophisticated”, Musk’s device was not practical for the situation. Musk then publicly shamed the official as “not having subject matter expertise” (nevermind that the official was relaying info from actual experts involved) and suggested that the decision not to use his contraption was the result of an ill informed decision the rescue team had made...Musk needs to put on his big boy pants and learn how to gracefully accept rejection.
1
On one of his trips to China the great Milton Friedman saw workers digging with spades and asked his hosts why no machines were being employed. “To generate employment,” came the pat reply. Without flinching Friedman said, “Why didn’t they give them spoons?”
This anecdote highlights the absurdity of the Luddite position: at any level of technology it is always possible to go more primitive. Yet we feel comfortable being like Goldilocks and saying that something we approve of is just right.
5
But Musk’s technology was inept in this particular situation... This isn’t a battle between “luddites” and “tech gurus”, but rather an example of the value of niche expertise that cannot be learned overnight (or, in Musk’s case, a few nights) by even the world’s brightest minds.
1
I don't doubt Musk's passion or earnestness, but his ego is a big problem...for him AND us. Setting aside his ill-conceived submarine rescue idea, even the areas he is assumed to possess expertise is a liability. His negative words aloe have literally set the adoption of fuel-cell vehicles back a decade. EV's will *never* have the range of FCVs, and the lithium-ion batteries take forever to charge and are an environemental time bomb. Not to mention they require the oil-fired power grid to power them in the first place! FCVs avoid all these problems--eg Hawaii is prodcuing H2 using solar powered electrolysis--true zero emmision. He was short sighted in promting Tesla at the expense of all other tech. In reality EVs will be but a speed bump on the road to FCVs...it'll just take longer now thanks to him.
7
New shiny thing? Must be about to slip another deadline. He's predictable as Trump. And the media fall for it every time.
There's a bias in the media, all right - just not the one that the conservatives whine about.
5
Missing from this opinion piece is the word 'arrogance' or more precisely 'intellectual arrogance' which, in my experience, is a dominant characteristic of Silicon Valley's digital architects and engineers. Elon Musk's motives were likely wholesome, but his post-rescue lack of graceful acknowledgement speaks to the digital brat resident in the tech industry's over abundance of L'enfants terribles'.
22
When I first heard Elon Musk was on site, I cheered him on. He was doing something! There are I am sure other brilliant inventors/scientist/engineers that could have also contributed. I'm still glad he did and wish still more people of any nationality with "American exceptionalism" had contributed.
12
Elon Musk --- the next Howard Hughes
Flits from one thing to another
Over-focused on details (obsessive and can't delegate) or unable to organize a pie fight
Megalomania on full display as in "obsession with the exercise of power, especially in the domination of others" and "delusion about one's own power or importance"
One-off ideas that he throws money at and walks away - like Hughes and the Spruce Goose
Sets wildly overly optimistic improbable goals - that tunnel anyone? how about space? And this from a guy who -after 14 years -can't get his plant line to make even a 1/10th of the cars per month that others do
Intellectually brilliant - really really behaviorally impaired (paranoia about spies & sabotage at Tesla and screaming irrational jeremiads at reporters, Federal agencies, stockholders, anyone who doesn't worship him or says he is wrong )
Guy seems to be missing some spots off his dice....and it seems to be getting worse
Give it a few years and he will either be in a psych ward or locking himself in his home like Hughes
17
Excellent points made by Zeynep Tufekci ... remember the fable of the Hare and the Tortoise which was required reading in a different age .Musk's concern and gesture was admirable but petulance especially in the face of victory by the tortoise is bad form ...and what was that about leaving the submarine in situ at the cave ... that was a show of petulance and arrogance that detracted mightily from his initial humanitarian gesture .
13
You are being a little harsh on Musk. For me, I was glad somebody provided a potential alternate solution, although at first glance how a rigid cylinder can help in a cave with narrow, irregular passages made me doubt its effectiveness. Hey the Chilean miners came out alive via updated technology didn't they.
7
I admire Musk’s efforts, but I agree his team was misguided in designing a rigid sub for this situation. The Thai divers correctly determined that there was one – and only one – part of the body to be concerned with, the face. Their use of full-face masks was effective and practical. Elon’s sub may well come in handy in other situations though, if it’s not forgotten.
4
No one has any business criticizing him. He tried to do something to help (and did) - THAT IS ALL. Why is benevolence so hard for people to grasp anymore?
22
This is a pointlessly smug told-ya. Given the urgency of the situation, it made perfect sense to pursue multiple solutions, given that the success of any one approach could not be predicted with a very high probability. If swimming the boys out had failed, having another option already in development is sensible. Even if the second approach were unworkable as well, it might lead to a third.
Take issue, if you must, with a more cynical motivation--that Elon Musk was not acting altruistically but rather to promote his brand in some way. Even then, so what? That doesn't speak to the substantive value of attempting to contibute an answer to a desparately urgent problem.
22
No one is blaming Musk for failing to come up with a workable solution or for offering his help. The point is that Musk loudly condemned a Thai official’s very matter of fact and wholly inoffensive statement that the rescue team would not be using his “good” and “technologically sophisticated” (I.E. words indicative of gratitude and praise) device simply because doing so would be “impractical” given the circumstances. Musk then took disproportionate offense to this (as the author here mentions, he became “irritated” by such a response) and then took to Twitter to explain why his model was in fact viable. His reaction was bizarre, insecure, and mostly disrespectful. Instead of accepting the virtue of the cave divers’ highly specialized knowledge, he arrogantly assumed that his dilettante approach to the problem—which was nothing more than the product of a handful of days of planning—was superior.
1
Flashy, fast, sexy solutions may not be as effective as methodical, careful planning and what must have been unbelievable cooperation and putting aside of ego from the group working on the complex problem? Say it ain't so.
The Thai rescue team - made of a group a Thai military and government and private citizens - worked with international cave diving experts, American para rescue team members, experts in a vast number of arenas to accomplish the task.
They built a dam, pumped the cave, got agreement to flood farmer's fields, explored the cave, found the team, mapped the cave, set up rescue logistics, developed equipment to use in the rescue, tested the equipment on *children* who volunteered, set up a team to stay with the boys for days, did the work to stock and supply the cave, and then made the dives to lead the team members out to teams waiting at local hospitals.
All in just a few days.
Personally I think we need the Elon Musks chasing the long shot. But we really, really need the ethics and cooperation that the people involved in that rescue showed us we are capable of.
61
We all know how to fix our problems. We need to sacrifice some of what we have. What we are seeing here is an attempt by entrepreneurs to avoid real sacrifice and real commitments to humanity.
3
Elon Musk stepped up and tried to help those kids who were stuck in a very bad situation. Nobody asked him. That's to be commended.
Bravo, Elon!
22
There are people with money and power who develop inflated egos, think they know everything, think they can do anything, think they can get away with everything, and think everyone wants to hear their names daily. Then there are those with money and power who remain human, live relatively low-profile, humble lives, except for maybe a staggering amount of justifiable security procedures. I wish we'd start ignoring the egomaniacs and talking more about those who have achieved success in both business and personal growth and maturity. We need to choose better role models.
10
Maybe these tech people should spend more time solving the problems they cause rather than injecting themselves into issues they know nothing about. The efforts by two drop-outs to save our public education system being just one of the more egregious examples. A cave submarine?! Good idea, Elon!
Just a thought.
6
Musk should be commended for making himself, his experts, and his technology available in case it could be helpful. My understanding is that he left his submarine in the hope that it might be useful in some other situations. That he should be excoriated about any of this seems to me both ridiculous and offensive.
13
You lost me after the 1st paragraph. The rescue of the 'Wild Boars' was a unique one of a kind rescue for which there wasn't any precedent.
If you would like to criticize Silicon Valley feel free to write an article under that heading and not beat up on Mr Musk - who offered a unique solution, considering the time and circumstances at hand.
12
Leave the guy alone! We have dozens of people elected to high places doing absolutely nothing on a daily basis about critical problems confronting our nation. If it annoys the author that exceptionally bright wealthy types want to roll up their sleeves and pitch in when there is a crisis, I think the problem lies in the eye of the beholder.
12
Wow this article is so far off the target I cannot believe it.
Ask the "What if other things had failed and they had to use a little sub that worked!" Whether this sub succeeded or failed.... the best people could do was made available at no cost....The fact that people came together and tried to bring technology to bear is incredible. What might the author say if 1 person was stranded on the moon and Elon Musk used a $90 million heavy rocket and saved that human on the moon...what might you say.... What if Bill Gates $Billion used in curing malaria worked? Seriously....the fact that a FEW high tech people are putting their billions back to work for humanity can gives us new hope that SOME are not just exploiting the planet Earth....
22
I didn't realize he fixed the Model 3 production issue and has time for these projects now?! That's great
12
Except that Musk's solution showed utter ignorance of the challenge. There is no way that a rigid capsule could negotiate the very sharp corners and bends in the cave - you needed a carrier that was very flexible and could bend around corners (which is pretty much what was improvised on site). Anyone who took more than a few minutes to listen to the description of the cave's topography would know that. I certainly did - and I know nothing about caves or capsules, except that they are both rigid and unyielding. It's astounding that the Musk's folks didn't know that. Did they think the cave walls were going to magically yield for them? That the rigid metal capsule would morph into silly putty when they needed to get around a sharp corner? Such is the hubris of Silicon Valley, I guess.
51
Norman and GS, I think the key point here is that this was an emergent situation. Someone used Apollo 13 as an analogy and I think that's a good one: in a situation like that, you model, you test as best you can, and then you pray.
Also, while I haven't followed the engineering closely, a watertight boy-sized capsule is not exactly a moon launch from an engineering perspective. Design, build, and immersion test. You wouldn't sell it as a commercial boy submarine, but in an operation in which death is a likelihood you go with the best that you have. Those on the ground chose other options, and I respect their choice and experience, but I think Musk and his team are to be commended for attempting a solution and increasing the options available to the rescuers.
Alan, you say "Mr. Musk seems to have a habit of over-promising and under-appreciating human factors" and I agree. But it can be argued that in setting such lofty goals, Musk extracts the last ounce of performance. In the large scheme of things, does it really matter that it took him an extra six months to meet his production goals, or is it more important that he is making an affordable electric car? Some are bothered by Musk's hubristic pronouncements but I prefer to look at his accomplishments, and those are impressive indeed. So while he may fall short when measured against his own promises, he comes out way ahead by comparison to what others are doing. And I think his manic optimism contributes to that.
1
This is a perfect example of the arrogance of ignorance. Your post, I mean, not Musk's attempt.
1
Except that Musk's solution showed utter ignorance of the challenge. There is no way that a rigid capsule could negotiate the very sharp corners and bends in the cave - you needed a carrier that was very flexible and could bend around corners (which is pretty much what was improvised on site). Anyone who took more that a few minutes to listen to the description of the caves topography would know that. I certainly did - and I know nothing about caves or capsules, except that they are both rigid and unyielding. It's astounding that the Musk's folks didn't know that. Did they think the cave walls were going to magically yield for them? Such is the hubris of Silicon Valley, I guess.
2
NOT knowing a great deal about a problem can help solve it, with some creativity added. Conversely, being bogged down in details can stop solutions from even being considered.
Engineers, for example, are often so deep into a system that they can't come up with any new ideas. They know how the gears work, but they can't imagine what the gears could do differently.
There were thousands of (mostly) men working in computers in the 1950, '60s and forward, but who among them ever imagined that PCs would one day be on everyone's desk and in phones? It took people from the outside not in awe of the technology to steal their fire and make it widely available.
Contrary to popular belief, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and many other big names were not geniuses. They were people with the right idea at the right moment and with the vision and dedication to make something. Gates' fortune was largely made by selling IBM something he didn't, at the time, own, an operating system. Jobs was clearly masterful at design, but his real gift was perseverance and an almost demonic insistence that things be done better than ever.
Luck and timing played a vital role. Having a mind that is unfettered by conventional thinking and a belief in possibilities where others see none are gifts. The value is in trying. They can't solve everything, but, then, no one can. The best ideas involve brilliant insight coupled with lots of hard work by many people pulling together, impractical and practical, married.
9
True. But the boys in the cave didn't have thirty years to wait for a solution.
7
I have only respect and admiration for Elon Musk. No one should be lecturing him about a "model of innovation." Mr. Musk's contributions to humanity -- in transportation, space travel, energy production and storage, have been phenomenal and will benefit all of us far into the future.
Nobody in Silicon Valley believes that *all* "expertise in one domain can be transferred seamlessly to another." But some can, and there is no better time to at least offer your expertise than when human lives are at stake. Thank you, Mr. Musk.
15
Baloney. Elon Musk hasn't benefited humanity. His innovations have been in business model rather than in technology or engineering. He has benefited mostly himself.
Not that there is anything wrong with that. But Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, and others like them should not be lauded as providing a great benefit to anyone.
Save that accolade for those very rare people who do benefit humanity. There are a few. Elon Musk, in particular, is not one of them.
7
The criticism against Elon Musk's idea is that it would not have worked.
Those in the cave had worked out a different scheme that took into account the very tight spaces the boys and their coach had to be taken through. A rigid enclosure couldn't pass through.
Good for Elon Musk for trying to help. Bad for Elon Musk for churlishly claiming that he knew better than those who saved the boys and their coach without his help.
7
It seems strange to me that people are unloading on Mr Musk with the criticism that his proposed solution was uninformed and impractical. Until the rescue was completed the public was not aware the children were to be sedated and on stretchers. Clearly, Mr Musk knew something about this because his submarine proposes a similar precaution against the children's panic.
9
Being a billionaire does not make you an expert on every subject. And doesn't make you super capable. We find that with Hedge Fund owners who buy retailers and destroy them by thinking their money makes them merchant geniuses. We certainly think of that with rich politicians who think they know everything. I think it is nice that he wanted to help. But, he should keep his mind on his business. He has responsibility to his company. And, in this world, no good deed goes unpunished. Bill Clinton may have saved a couple of million lives with his charity. But, it opened his wife up to attacks--unfounded or not they hurt her presidency. I think millions more will die and America's democracy may be over because of Clinton's Hubris with saving the world in charity. Musk should avoid trying to publicly help others. He and his company are helping the world move forward with solar energy and electronics.
1
I am reminded of the tortoise and the hare. Flashy or deliberate?
7
Once upon a time, there was an actress who had done some risqué movies - not American - not condoned by her local society and she was reviled. She never responded. Then her fellow actors were so upset with the prevailing public opinion that they decided to "out" her. In reality, she was a huge but anonymous patron of many charities. Subsequently, she explained that she truly believes in both her work from the artistic standpoint and her charity work. However, she didn't feel right to profit from her charity work or it would cheapen it.
Musk is the opposite. Considering his recent problems with his company, you have to wonder all this stuff is a sleight of hands. Why, instead of shutting skeptics up with real results, he decided to attack a reporter instead. Does it sound familiar?
Musk and the like are geniuses in their areas of expertise. And perhaps it requires certain personality to get to where they are. However, they have arrived. They don't need to a tool to maintain their fame and fortune.
That said, perhaps people are partially responsible. Yes, hero worship is natural. However, putting someone on the pedestal where one doesn't belong is more bad than good.
2
This article only makes sense as a snapshot and barely so. On a long enough timeline we will custom build machines to solve such problems. Musk may have spoken out of turn on this occasion but he is simply stating today what will be routine tomorrow. The divers who rescued the boys or the pilot who landed on the Hudson may seem superhuman today but soon will be just human as machines will be the only true super-humans.
There are many tasks today that are the sole preserve of machines and yet were skillful human endeavors not so long ago. For example would the author suggest returning to letter press typesetting instead of computers to design newspapers?
2
While others were saying no one would get out alive Mr Musk busied himself offering a potential solution. Critiquing that Effort is outrageous. Just because everyone was extracted safely via the utilized methods does not mean that other approaches were less safe or less preferred. What would have been done if one of the team was too injured or too weak to move under there own power? I imagine Mr Musks solution might have been indispensable in that situation. When presented with a difficult problem it's always good to have more than one option. No one should be faulted for trying to help.
22
No one ever said that no one could be gotten out alive - only that it was going to be very difficult.
As for Mr. Musk's submarine, it wouldn't even fit through the 3D maze of the cave. Did he think the cave was just a straight tunnel? Whatever solution might have developed had one of the kids been injured, it would NOT have been to put them in a sub that couldn't even be gotten to them. The solution would be (and was) arrived at by subject-matter experts on site, and not by an ego in California.
And finally, Mr. Musk wasn't criticized for trying to help, he was criticized for whining when his idea wasn't used.
35
"Does not mean that other approaches were less safe": it *does* mean that such approaches are not yet tested, which means the *decision* to alpha-test them under extreme pressure in unknown conditions with more than a dozen lives at stake *is* less safe.
If we can't know that it's age, its not safe.
2
It's very possible, even probable, that if Musk been allowed to procede with this that he would have injured or killed many of the victims, or caused failure that increased their chance of suffering. Thus because Musk thinks he is a genius doesn't mean that he can be criticized or stopped from putting a bad idea into place. Let's see how he does with his Mars colony.
Lots of people will commend Musk’s good intentions and ask “what’s the harm”? It’s a classic response to these types of efforts.
But there is real harm when a misguided, uninformed outsider directs resources and attention away from the work of people who have the right expertise instead of supporting them. This happens frequently in charitable efforts directed by outsiders in developing countries, and increasingly within the US as well. Tech billionaires should absolutely support causes they care about - but they should begin by listening to and working with the people who have long been doing this work, rather than assuming they know better.
75
I thought that the rescue effort was absolutely ingenious. The team utilized skeds, rubber rafts, face masks, oxygen tanks, suspended cables, relay teams and a mild sedative to move the boys through the cave. By using materials that were readily available, they were able to rescue to boys quickly and safely and monitor their medical condition at each station along the route. No was no need for a flashy submarine from Silicon Valley.
48
Technology is useful but it’s not going to solve every problem. Sometime what it takes are the will, basic equipment, experiences and have faith.
You don’t solve the case like this with or via Twitter.
It’s on the ground, behind the scene and accept the decision of the person in charge. Who not only know what option is the best for the rescue team, the kids but also have to live with the consequence if thing goes wrong too.
Sometime one can just take “no, not in this situation” for an answer and be gracious about it.
8
My mom has always said that she doesn't care why somebody helps as long as they try. I, for one, want MORE people to try to help in ridiculously challenging situations, not fewer, as is this writer's message.
Any effort has potential to fail - but it IS an effort and it is caring nonetheless. I don't want to be the society that doesn't try to fix problems. Sometimes strange, out of the box solutions work. Even the publicity-hungry do-gooders play their part - broadcasting their ideas far and wide may help others think to donate money or think of potential solutions.
And, for the haters out there, there is the happy by-product: a lesson in humility for all do-gooders who have tried and failed.
20
@common sense
"Try to help" is not what people want. Musk has no expertise in caves, so his "help" is more likely to result in dead boys. I don't want people to "help" if their "help" results in deaths.
The world needs the creative , forward thinkers with vision, relentless pursuit and great ,perspiration that creates brand new industries , new ways that no how to book has been created and everything is new before the government can start "industry that had been government-regulated and self-regulated "
5
Yes, I really wanted to ride in the very first homemade prototype of the self-driving car, before it had been subjected to those joy-killing tests and boring "regulation." Hey, it's only a handful of people who have died so far. Small price to pay for such exciting innovations.
Plus, we can be sure Elon Musk would do better than . . . Tesla . . .
4
I agree with Dr. Tufekci. The rapid construction of a prototype is very commendable, but we're talking about a life support device. This is not something to casually throw together and I trust Musk"s engineers collected a variety of inputs. I come from a background in aerospace manufacturing and managing high hazard operations. There is never room for "back of the envelope" designs in high risk operations.
It was unfortunate that Mr. Musk responded in a defensive way to the Thai authorities. Perhaps the Model 3 production issues are wearing on him.
13
Mr Musk has a bigger overall problem - one of intolerable arrogance that he is better than everyone else and can do anything. Since when is Musk " the subject matter expert" on cave diving and rescue missions, or even close? The main difference between Musk and Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos, is that Musck chose more modest goals, to build a high end electric car and develop commercial rockets. Both of these were based on well developed technology (especially the rockets vis a vis NASA), and Musk was able to use his salesmanship (where arrogance serves people well) to convince people to invest and or work for his company. For Holmes and Theranos, there was just no basis for the technology that she tried to sell. And tellingly, the arrogance and salesmanship of the superstar non-expert took her quite far from the perspective of $s and investment from a lot of people. Only did the lack of technological underpinning catch up with her eventually (But I remain amazed that the investment community bought the hype from something that was obviously fraudlent to anyone in science with related expertise).
15
Technology always outpaces the morality ethics and most severely the humility to use it properly. I very much agree with your analysis. Truly great scientists are humble enough to know their and societies limits. That’s one thing that made Einstein so special.
2
If he didn't have that so called "arrogance", he probably wouldn't have tried to build Tesla or SpaceX in the first place. There are way easier ways to make money than starting a car or rocket company. A lot of people didn't think he could make a rocket that could land safely back on Earth. A lot of people didn't think he could make an electric car company from scratch.
1
When I was relatively young and first heard someone say, "no good deed goes unpunished," I thought it was extremely cynical. Unfortunately, increasing age taught me that it expressed a truth about much of humanity. That said, I applaud Mr. Musk's efforts and I hope that some people's reactions to it don't dissuade him from similar endeavors in the future. We have so many very rich people who only want to get richer, that we should appreciate those few who want to advance humanity.
28
The Silicon Valley model for doing things is to have teams of individuals identify problems, break them down into their parts, and seek solutions for each of those issues in order to build a singular functional tool. Fundamentally, this is no different than any other industry and is different only in the speed and tools with which it's done.
There are a lot of problems with technology and how it's impacting the world. Charlie Chaplin demonstrated that long before "Silicon Valley" was a "thing" when he made Modern Times in 1936. Silicon Valley is not the issue. The issue is when people, particularly rich ones, think problems can be solved with good intentions and by throwing money at them.
9
I think a broader point can be made as well, which is the tendency in certain quarters to attempt to apply a technological solution to every problem.
7
Well said! I admire Mr. Musk and his willingness to try and help the Thai team, but I think you're right about the need to show some humility about complex fields you aren't familiar with. If might have been more effective if the situation had been reversed, with the divers and military officers in charge of the operation requesting that someone design a device to support the rescue. Then the project could have been a team effort from the start with each group adding their expertise. We don't want to discourage intensive collaboration in situations like these, but the lessons you advised are valid just the same.
5
As one experienced diver died during the rescue, and the real possibility of more rain and worse flooding of the cave, I for one was completely impressed how fast Musk and his engineer’s out-of-the-Box thinking offered an option to the efforts that may have been vital IF weather or emergency illness eliminated other options.
23
Not only is she on point, I would further put it that there is an overarching issue of so much of our present society, especially a younger generation, to be beguiled by so called geniuses.
The likes of Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg and Jobs and an almost slavish idolatry of them, given their actual contributions to society, speaks to something amiss in what we should be lauding. In a lot of what the aforementioned people have wrought, is more akin to nothing more than 21st century Robber Barrons. None of their contributions can in anyway be on par with a Tesla, Edison, Bell, Einstein, Crick and Watson and the Physicists behind the Solid State Transistor and other notable scientists.
That she even has to write this column giving Musk somewhat that kind of acknowledgement, illustrates my point of a society with some misplaced priorities.
19
Elon has already admitted that sometimes too much technology (in the form of automation) can be counter productive, and this realisation allowed the production rate for the Tesla 3 to be improved. In the Thai cave situation, having various options available was no doubt a good thing, and I would expect that Elon's "contraption" will eventually result in something useful. Necessity is the mother of invention.
11
This article strains to persuade us that Musk is a typical representative of Silicon Valley and that that explains what is wrong with his ideas for helping out in this situation.
That approach is, in my opinion, wrong from the start. Musk is not a proxy for the Valley; far from it. He is a uniquely brilliant individual whose gifts he happens to have applied to technology, almost always successfully. Most Valley companies fail, if I'm not mistaken. Also, Musk is in love with the end results his technologies are designed to achieve (carbon reduction, more efficient use of energy etc.), not the technologies themselves, which much of the Valley denizens are.
So it's absurd to pretend he's representative in order to crucify his efforts to make a difference in a cave rescue in Thailand.
23
Musk is a highly effect, and perhaps brillant SALESMAN. There's a lot less brilliance to the technology he promotes than he is given credit for - at least a lot less that the brillian scientists and engineers (at NASA and auto manufacturing companies) who came before and established the technological basis of these areas.
1
You clearly did not read the article. The author is not criticizing Musk’s offers to help, but rather his arrogant criticism of the ultimately inappropriate sub he designed. No one cares that he tried and failed...The real mistake here is that he questioned the judgment of a group with far more knowledge on the subject than he in an unnecessary attempt to save face. The great lengths Musk went to defend his flawed design was proud and unnecessary, and frankly, an insult to people who risked their lives to saves these kids and who actually knew what they were doing
Let’s hope Musk uses the slower, more methodical approach before he sends civilians into space.
And for those who think he can do no wrong, a company that tears down cars for competitors not long ago took apart one of his Model S sedans. Their evaluation? Batteries: great. Chassis and suspension: so-so. Body: way behind the major manufacturers. Anyone who has examined his new Model 3 has to come away unimpressed with the rattling doors, cheap interiors and befuddling electronics, not to mention the lagging deliveries and prices far higher than expected. The new Jaguar electric crossover is being judged as superior to Musk’s Model X SUV and the starting price is thousands less.
It has taken decades for the major automakers to perfect their art. The same goes for the divers in Thailand.
18
If Elon Musk ever did a single good deed without having to trumpet it to the rest of the world, I’d be far more impressed. He’s definitely an innovator, but he needs to get over himself.
18
I think Musk’s contribution could have indeed been a complementary asset to the successful rescue. In the very least it was an available backup ressource that could have been useful if one of the boys became too weak or even unconscious due to the sedatives they were taking.
But perhaps an unforeseen benefit was that it allowed the rescuers to see that the narrowest passages were the mission critical constraints and focus on that, given that time was running out. With Musk’s capsule available, they would have asked, “Do we try and make one of the passages wider to get the rocket shell through?”
« No we don’t. Could collapse, risking losing everyone in just a few seconds. »
Similarly, when you don’t know which path to take a technology for later development, you keep working on several options until enough is known to imagine a plausible scenario and then evaluate the outcomes against each other. This « imagining » or scenario analysis is known to technology development practitioners and scholars (greatly simplified here) as « technology road mapping ».
8
Not sure why Dr. Tufekci would discourage and denigrate some of the best engineers in the world trying to help in a desperate situation . . .
For comments about volunteers who didn't tweet about their efforts: crowdsourcing ideas from unusual perspectives is exactly what solves new and difficult problems.
22
Zuckerberg’s donation to the Newark schools was quite effective, and not a failure at all. The number of kids who graduate high school and go on to attend college is up by about 50%.
Most of his money went to improve traditional schools, and some of the reforms helped while most did not. But the real surprise was the success of the charter schools in Newark. They have been an amazing success story.
8
Your criticism is unwarranted. Musk provided a potential tool at a moments notice at no cost, one that may have been helpful, and if it wasn't, so what? It's presence did not hinder other options. We need people like Musk who "don't know it can't be done" to take us places the experts never though of.
33
If Elon Musk knows how to dive and had offered his services as a diver that would have been more commendable. That he made a lot of noise while not solving the problem seems to me to be beside the point. Sometimes actually helping is much, much more important than simply wanting to help. And, as Prof. Tufeki points out, Silicon Valley would do well to clean up its own house.
9
This is just pointless ingratitude. Musk and his staff, like everyone else, just wanted to help. This is what they know how to do--they engineer things. If they were cave diving rescue experts, they'd probably have tried to help in that way instead. It didn't work out this time for a variety of reasons, but they should be commended for trying. And we should all leave it at that.
64
Give him credit for trying! I didn’t see any other moguls with access to all kinds of resources trying. A tweet certainly wasn’t going to save them.
26
Let’s not overreact. Musk was as frustrated as the entire world was over this dangerous and seemingly hopeless situation. In hindsight, he may seem arrogant, but he wanted to help in some way. Obviously, technology and engineering cannot solve all problems. Some very smart and courageous people got these kids out, let’s celebrate and not take needless shots at Musk and technology.
104
No, Musk wasn't arrogant in hindsight, he was arrogant from the get go. Also, don't tell people who they take shots at.
I assume that the mini-submarine could have probably reduced the chance of injury to the kids. If not, certainly there will eventually be one that does, and that doesn't require divers at all. What we should learn from the cave rescue is that the moment when every option in high-stakes events is apparently less "safe" than relying on Silicon Valley is approaching quickly. Personally, I suspect that "safety culture" to be precisely one of the forces that drives human expertise out of the realm of skilled work in the long run. If we had instead a mass-cultural endorsement of "danger culture," I'd expect we'd get at least a couple more years of fun before only the computers are allowed to pilot moving vehicles.
1
What I like about Musk is that he seems to appreciate this problem.
Very well said. Mr. Musk should be commended for wanting to help, and for spending valuable resources* to do so, but by publicizing his involvement and making untested promises, he proved to be a distraction and--if the rescue had not been successful--could have been accused of offering false hope.
Again, kudos to him for offering his help, but maybe next time he could do so privately, without advertising it. The rescue was about the people in the cave, not him pretending to be Batman.
(*Given Tesla's dire straits of late, you have to wonder what the Company's shareholders thought about Mr. Musk spending his valuable time on this, rather than on meeting his months-behind production schedule.)
15
This was a serious, difficult and not everyday problem. It was worth considering a number of approaches.
It reminds me of input I heard for years in the aerospace industry from various people that never had to actually solve a real technical problem, but were great at issuing orders or critiquing others, but someone else actually got it done.
And those who do try and take on a difficult problem, often aren't successful, at least not initially. But they learn and keep trying, and often in time add to human knowledge and technology in a valuable way.
And as some here point out, Musk hasn't magically figured out every challenge in producing affordable electric cars, but he's obviously trying.
So good for Musk for trying to help here, and as mentioned in the article he did say he'd defer to what the divers thought best. And of course what a great and incredible job done by the divers.
What did prof Tufekci do, other than criticize someone who made an attempt, even if not the right approach in this case. It may be the next time.
37
There were thousands of volunteers who gave their expertise, time, heart and soul. They didn’t feel the need to tweet about it. Their complete focus was on saving the boys and their coach. Mr. Musk would do himself a favor if he learned grace and humility from this experience and recognize the unimportance of tweeting any of it. Give or don’t give. Your fortunate to be in a position to make that choice every day. The stories that are told in the aftermath, by on site observers or the media may or may not include your bit. So what, it was never about you.
57
How true this article is! Perhaps Silicon Valley would best be regarded if they would put more effort on high performance security measures for our digital dependent world. And leave such things like rescues up to the experts rather than taking precious time to innovate.
7
Musk is convinced, as are many of their acolytes, that technology can save us from any scenario. For him to get snitty shows what a thin-skinned brat he is. In the "old days," a classy person would have offered their help quietly and stepped back if the offer was not useful or appropriate. Today, it's all for show and all over social media. Hey, Elon, it's not about YOU.
27
I suppose if I had all that money (and resources), I would 1) go to the site, 2) talk to the experts/divers about how they plan to rescue, 3) ask them how I could help with all of those resources at my disposal. Trying to solve a problem from a distance almost always ignores real life complications. Kind of like developing a product without talking to potential customers.
9
It's so easy to sit on the sidelines and, with polished hindsight, write critically about people who, however imperfecty, are at least trying to do something. So the bar for such pieces should be high: more evidence, less speculation. I don't think this piece meets that bar. Things could easily have gone differenty, forcing the rescuers to take even bigger risks, and forcing them to try Musk's submarine, and it might well have worked. We, and the author of this piece, will never know. We should encourage, not discourage, such philanthropic risk taking; sometimes it will work, and sometimes it will lead to better ways of doing things.
25
Elon Musk is not much more (or less) than a modern day P.T. Barnum.
15
Temper tech innovations with expert knowledge by those who are experts in the field.
The assumption around tech and innovation is that one is either a “disrupter” (an Elon Musk) or a “dinosaur.” The disrupters can learn an awful lot from listening to the industry experts, just as the experts can learn from the innovators. We expect that the latter will happen, but forget that the former should, too...
5
Everyone wished they could help, and I appreciate Musk’s impulses and give him the benefit of the doubt on his intentions. You’re right, though — I’m a boomer working in a startup and I see no respect in the startup culture, in fact there’s mockery of, anything like testing, experience, deliberation, strategic planning, accounting for contingencies. It’s all about disruption and then fixing things later. Not every situation is a Design Thinking ideation workshop to invent a new kind of shopping cart. Thank god for the heart, humility, and courage of the divers and everyone involved.
47
Ms. Tufekci writes of the importance of, "deep expertise, lengthy training and the ability to learn from experience (and to incorporate the lessons of those experiences into future practices) [a]s a valuable form of ingenuity." This relates not only to "safety culture" but to something seemingly as mundane as a car assembly line. Hubristically, Musk thinks he can reinvent how to build a car from scratch (though he is not interested in making it more humane for the workers, a worthwhile pursuit), as though the lessons of one hundred years are meaningless.
29
The article commits the usual fallacy of looking back over a long decision tree and wondering at how easy and logical it was to get to a particular point.
Let's start with the caves - in hindsight it was brilliant to extract the boys by two-diver teams and a guide-rope - but what if 2 of the first 4 had drowned in transit. What if a handful of divers had perished preparing and executing the plan? What if the monsoon rains came early and the cave was flooding - including to the point where the boys were - I bet a single person submarine would have looked like the work of a genius in those circumstances.
How about Sully? Like me he was an academy grad and learned to fly in the military. You learn how to do water landings in the military - the vast majority of civilian trained pilots do not learn how to do these types of landings. The fact that he brought down a airliner in a river safely is mostly luck - luck that h had that military training and luck that his plane was in the right place and the right time - it had nothing to do with "industry that had been government-regulated and self-regulated to such a degree..."
We would all do well to not look at unlikely outcome and ascribe some magical voodoo of experience and safety - often times in emergencies - it is not.
And finally - what does the pay-rate of Amazon hourly workers have to do with anything - generally - in the world?
17
To your last question, when technological innovators make millions for their boards and stock-holders at the expense of people who work full time for their enterprises -- workers who are food-insecure or on public assistance (e.g. Amazon and Disney hourly workers), that these innovators have failed our communities, not improved them. The editorial is about humanity.
34
"when technological innovators make millions for their boards and stock-holders at the expense of people who work full time for their enterprises " At the expense of? Those people are being held in indentured servitude?
1
The folks that willfully work at Amazon and the like are most decidedly NOT indentured bc they can indeed choose to work or not work there. They might not like their options otherwise, but they do make the choice.
The great disparity in pay between the bottom workers and upper tier is not limited to the tech field either. It’s across EVERY industry.
... And a lot of the complaining sounds like sour grapes.
I commend Mr. Musk for his attempt to find a solution to rescue the remaining eight Thai children. However, it is important to remember that the mini sub was constructed quickly, was essentially untested, and was introduced after the rescue of four of the children with the assistance of experienced divers.
I also commend Dr. Tufekci for writing a very honest and timely piece. We are a culture that idolizes innovative leaders like Mr. Musk, and we often forget that innovation involves risk taking. Utilizing an untested vessel to rescue children is an unsafe option-and Mr. Musk should have realized this.
9
Musk is not averse to safety culture. But he takes an automation-first approach, and backfills with humans as needed. Most automation takes a human process and tries to replace the simple stuff with machines.
He also has a bias to action. While all of us wanted to help, he tried. Remember that the rescue happened when it did because the rains would only make things more difficult. That kind of bureaucratic urgency could have killed those kids.
And yes, he did respect the local authorities, as did the British and other interlopers.
Musk is a tall poppy, as the Australians might say. People alternately look up to him or want to tear him down, but in either case to build themselves up.
I would love to have seen a comparison of Musk with the rescue leader. Each has his strengths, and we can learn from them.
And lastly, as a life-long techie I fail to see actual evidence of the attitudes ascribed to the tech leaders that differentiates them from other leaders of comparably-sized businesses, except that they seem more open and willing to change. That's a good thing, no?
9
I cant speak to whether or not Musk helped with the rescue, but I agree that "we" tend to exaggerate the real subject matter expertise of Celebrity business people, particularly SVB's. Krugman makes the point all the time by pointing out that he's not rich but he knows economics.
Rich people are best and luckiest at making money. Most probably don't have any real subject matter expertise in anything. I'm not saying that it matters, and I'm not saying they aren't really bright, I'm just sayin'
Its easy for people on the Left to accept this about Trump, but much harder for them to accept it about Musk, Bezos, or Zuck, who plans to end disease in his lifetime. Really?!
In the true golden years of "better, faster, cheaper: pick two", Silicon Valley chip/hardware manufacturers really did increase value dramatically while decreasing costs. But once that value/productivity shock ended many continue to believe that Moore's Law almost religiously, applied to everything new and high tech. Just read many of the comments below.
There's a fairly strongly documented position now that shows that much of the profit-wealth being accumulated is extracted simultaneously from both labor/capital stock and customers in quasi-monopoly environments that lack sufficient competition.
In other words, most of these SVB's are as lucky as they are smart, and their game is partially rigged.
16
Musk is a human like any other. He happens to have some resources that are rare, but that's it.
So to all the people criticizing him:
He put in more effort to help those kids than you did.
89
Nuance, my friend. Nuance. The point is that he threw a hissy and questioned the expertise of actual authorities after they had rejected his sub, and then had the nerve to hang out in the cave tweeting up a storm while people were risking their lives trying to save these kids...If he had politely accepted that he designed an inept device instead of questioning the knowledge of some of the foremost cave divers on the planet, then no one would be criticizing him.
6
Innovation rarely moves in a straight line. A team in one discipline can innovate a solution. It may fail in its efforts. However, the lessons learned in that effort have direct implication on another innovation effort in a different industry. That Musk was unsuccessful, today, is irrelevant. What was learned may affect the ability to, say rapidly develop an antivirus to an emerging pandemic. Get off your high horses on who developed the submarine. A small kernel of new knowledge was identified and in the end we all win.
11
Musk did nothing to further the rescue, and in fact endangered the children by bringing in a group of people with no rescue experience, and large amounts of useless equipment to a rescue site.
Rescue is deadly serious business, and the experts do it pretty well, which the Thai rescue showed.
Musk was showboating. Nobody there wanted him there or welcomed him. He just made a very dangerous and tense situation worse.
Stay away from rescues unless you are trained.
155
Silicon valley will never learn the lesson of humility. They think they are better, smarter, cleverer, and more righteous than the rest of the world. They come up with the magical solutions that make everybody's lives better...or so they believe. Tell them their products are not really that great, not really making people's lives better, and you get Musk's reaction here. Maybe his submarine would have helped. Maybe it wouldn't have helped. But to reject their cleverness, their disruptive spirit, is to crack the mythical aura they have wrapped around them. I went to MIT, I live in Silicon Valley. I've seen this nearly all my life.
51
Surely there was a much more urgent, life or planet altering topic to write about instead of putting down a guy who was genuinely trying to help. If we still have a planet cable of sustaining life in 100 years, it will be because of rare humans like Elon Musk and his once in lifetime combination of brain/empathy/execution. Be grateful.
23
Excuse me. Sorry I can't agree. Are we talking about a men who sends out a car into the space, on a gigantic rocket? Environmental impact is heavily questionable. Sustainable life on this plane needs creative engineering and long term planning. Actions of a man not shows these capabilities, so I am grateful for those who give good critics and accept good critics.
8
Solar will save the planet. And his proof that an electric car will sell will one day result, hopefully, in zero gas powered cars. If only the US would put all it's energies to finding and using only renewable energy. Otherwise, we are gonna need to live on mars. Re-usable rockets are a big deal. Not that any rocket is good but at least reusable ones are better, no?
The criticism is inadequate. It seems like the author has expected Musk to magically got the kids out in a second, and, otherwise, he failed.
He was asked to help and he did, but it seems like the author blames him that kids were rescued before.
14
I fail to see the point of this article. Musk had significant resources and tried to help. The rescue went a different direction. But to try to make any argument for or against silicon valley billionaires trying to affect social issues based on this event is absurd and this is just the author using this situation to push her views on them.
20
What so many commenters criticizing this article have missed is that the author doesn’t find fault with Musk for trying to help. To the contrary, the author lauds Musk’s charitable instincts. The criticism is solidly directed at Musk’s disparaging response to his technological solution being rebuffed by the head of the Thai rescue operation, and to the attitude that lies beneath that response.
Musk’s scornful response belies an unfounded, supercilious belief in his own abilities, and scorn for the abilities of others from different backgrounds. Yes, he’s an engineer and a problem solver, but he didn’t (and couldn’t) have a grasp on all aspects of this problem in the same way as the people who were on the ground — or in this case, submerged in water hundreds of feet below ground. And those people were, by necessity, applying a different problem-solving approach, one that, as the author points out, Musk and his ilk could learn from.
295
Well, we only have the author's claim that Musk's response was "scornful", as you put it. Were they really? Why not give us any actual quotes?
1
Musk employs engineers, but is not an engineer himself.
Thank you for this column. In the US we worship money and those who have it so slavishly, is it any wonder that Mr. Musk overestimated his qualifications to weigh in on the cave rescue? I'm glad to see that at least someone in the media is willing to speak about this. Now perhaps we can begin to restore respect to those people who are actually on the front line of an issue, like the public school teachers who educate our children, and not become breathless anytime a billionaire opines on some issue.
84
Perhaps Mr. Musk and the other tech titans could take a lesson from Iron Man, Superman, and the entire universe of superheroes to which they’re often compared. For even those Masters of the Universe have two critical limitations — a fixed set of special powers and the inability to be in multiple places at the same time.
4
I'm not sure there was anything wrong — in the slightest! — with Elon Musk's seeking technological solution to help save the people trapped in the Thai cave. That at one point he expressed irritation shows only that he is human. And as is stated deep in the article, he agreed to take his lead from the experts.
Regardless of whether the high-tech solution turned out to be the one that was used and worked on this occasion, it would be a shame if this article dissuaded potential high-tech solutions from being suggested.
Yes, the lesson is that high tech is not necessarily the answer to all problems — an important lesson. But in many touch-and-go situations like the one in the Thai cave, a technological solution might be just the thing, so such solutions should not be rejected out of hand. We need to keep an open mind and judge things on a case-by-case basis.
14
Even if you accept the proposition that Mr. Musk's actions were more altruistic than self aggrandizing, they still seem misguided. I'd like to know how much discussion he had with Thai officials before launching into his fantasy rescue. Did he sincerely ask how he might be able to help? Or did he assume that he would automatically have a better idea than the people there? There is a long history of first world people "riding to the rescue" around the world without first learning about what is wanted and needed and what are the skills and expertise at hand. More humility would be a good thing.
45
You should first learn more about this. Elon talked to the chief of diver team and he has email correspondence with him. He also had people in Thailand.
14
You should learn more about Elon. Unlike most moguls he works super hard and he re-invest money to help the world. He is changing whole industries to help with global warming and other issues.
1
This quote from a Vox article illustrates what I'm talking about: "He was welcomed by the Royal Thai Navy, who said on their Facebook page that engineers from his companies could potentially help with “location tracking, water pumping or battery power.” " Too prosaic for Musk?
Yes, once and for all let's stifle the enthusiasm of creative engineers who want to change the world for the better. No more Panama Canals, trips to the moon, gene editing, artificial intelligence. We can avoid those sorts of things easily, as the author suggests, by resisting flights of creativity -- e.g. Thought Experiments a la Einstein -- and instead embracing a rigid, bureaucratic mindset. Most importantly: be terrified of mistakes! Don't be like Elon Musk, who seems less concerned with seeming too ambitious, and more concerned with saving lives.
20
Er,
Elon Musk Pledges to Pay for Clean Water to Homes in Flint, Michigan
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-11/musk-pledges-to-pay-f...
But you'll no doubt find a way to gripe about his attempt to help there as well.
11
Dan,
There is a difference between "innovate fast, fail fast" type of culture typical in Silicon Valley (I should know, I work here) and what was required in the Thai cave rescue situation. You absolutely cannot "try to help" by offering some half-baked barely tested solution when the issue is trying to save lives against a ticking deadline. Can you imagine what would have happened if the divers had been pressurized by the Thai government to use the submarine and it got stuck in the passage, blocking the only access with flooding ready to happen any time. Instead of 13 rescued boys, 17 or more people would have died. And then what would Musk say? Try to hide behind legalese that he didn't provide it with warranty?
Trying to help is great but providing help also comes with responsibility. Musk offering to help was great but he clearly didn't appreciate the heavy responsibility that comes with anybody volunteering to help here. The international and Thai divers understood that, unfortunately for all his smarts, Musk didn't.
22
Hard topic. Following or practicing routines/rules, generated by one specific environment does not give you the routine and knowledge to create/follow routines regulations in a different also critical environment. (regardless of the real effectiveness of the regulation set - turns into a culture after a while....) Sometimes people who use other people to "reach the stars", get used to this method and culture. Those people create and affected by their own environment. Sometimes they feel they can step out from their from that (limited) world and smoothly operate in an other. It not means they are not helpful on a level or their opinion is not important. We just need to look at those people, they are a product of their own environment, and check the list what we can expect. It not means that they can not surprise us, but usually not succeed...
Sorry for my bad English I hope it comes through.
cheers
8
This editorial seems a bit wrong-headed to me. When there is a crisis, those who care try to help. Those with the most resources (like the King or the British divers, or Musk, try their best to give their best. Musk is to be commended for trying and for quickly offering what he could: his imagination and his high tech work force. This world truly needs such spirit. If he was annoyed, it was likely due, not to perceived ingratitude, but to statements that he did not understand the problem. Of course he didn't, as no one perfectly could, and he tried his best learn, right at ground zero.
Who knows - if the monsoon water had suddenly rushed-in, and each boy needed an oxygenated pod in which to ride out the storm, his ideas, among all the others, might not be drawing this idle criticism.
Do not forget the in-flight inventions that saved Apollo 13 three.
24
Yes. And the whole vague, preachy, and unkind piece is based on an unproven assumption of what a tech mogul must be like. Furthermore, she implies Musk got his feelings hurt when his sub wasn't used. No, he was responding to articles like this one.
Musk/Brin/Zuckerberg/Bezos/Blooomberg etc are engineers who made a lot of money. They will always be engineers first, and so tinkering to save the world will always be their first and best reaction. I think maybe nonengineers see all that money and then confuse the corporations with the personalities of the hackers who founded them.
11
The engineers who came up with the in flight inventions that saved the Apollo 13 crew were intimately familiar with the systems they were dealing with. That expertise allowed them to come up with improvisations that worked.
1
Mr. Musk approach tends to dismiss the cumulative societal wisdom, gained through hard work and experience, and try to do things his own way. In the process, her re-invents old wheels already discarded by society as part of the learning process. He will do well to spend some of his resources studying that wisdom and then applying the ingenuity of his engineers to moving existing technology forward. See his attempt in car manufacturing.
11
Poor Mr. Musk. I mean, he's only created a wonderful electric automobile and a reusable spacecraft. Clearly, he's a failure who's reinventing old wheels and should sit at his desk filling forms in triplicate so he can accomplish as much as the rest of us!
17
“Mr. Musk approach tends to dismiss the cumulative societal wisdom, gained through hard work and experience, and try to do things his own way.”
It’s become a cliche, but the same can be said for literally every great person who made a huge impact on the world. Nothing changes if nobody challenges conventional wisdom — if nobody is willing to follow their intuition and try something new and risk looking like a fool in the process. We’ll see whether Elon Musk ends up joining the ranks of history's great pathbreakers, but if he doesn’t, it won’t be because he wasn’t conventional enough.
12
Things are not always as simple as they seem. The executive who leaves a company with a severance pay and then invests it to run a small business.
A lot of Elon Musk fan-boys are not happy with the way Musk is treated in this piece.
That Musk offered his considerable resources is commendable. But it should have stopped with writing checks and flying in rescue personnel. Instead he sent a team of people into an active emergency and built a submarine that the rescue team described, quite graciously, as not practical. From what I understand it simply would not fit. So the local authorities worked around him and got the job done. And now that submarine sits on the cave floor waiting for someone to do something with it.
In the meantime, Flint, Michigan doesn’t have clean water and children are in danger. The local government is truly incapable of developing a solution. Maybe Musk and his crack team could simply drive up to Michigan.
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@M
There is not enough sizzle in Flint for Musk. He is over in Chicago planning to bore a tunnel to ORD.
The Baby Billionaires need to grow up.
They need to learn that to be truly great one needs some human (and humane) qualities aside from $$$. Intelligence (which he undoubtedly has on one level) needs to be tempered with humility, true compassion and generosity not infected with ego or 'what's in this for me".
It would appear that his submarine was inappropriate for the task of getting the boys out of the cave, a job that was completed safely and with great selfless skill by experts in the right areas.
Graciousness is a beautiful human quality.
2
Ah, my apologies to Mr Musk. As of yesterday....
https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/elon-musk-pledg...
1
The guy wanted to build a mini sub to save children in a situation that was extremely time sensitive and now we as a society should be critical of these types of people - seriously? It's a misguided criticism to say the least, also if Mr. Bezos paid all of his warehouse workers $90k a year with benefits we would run out of engineers, and expert divers pretty quickly.
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Hmm, Tim, I didn't see where the writer was suggesting that Amazon warehouse workers be paid $90K/year. And I am pretty certain those workers are not demanding that. Perhaps a wage commensurate with the effort put in and the value created each day for Amazon would be appropriate. Your response leads one to think that you missed the point of the article altogether.
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Sometimes throwing money blindly at a problem does not solve anything, however good the initial intentions are. If Elon Musk could set aside his ego for a while, he would understand the Thai authorities' position. As for Amazon and Mr. Bezos, no one is asking him to pay all of his warehouse workers $90k per year, just decent living wages and decent working conditions will do. Is that too much to ask for?
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Read Nomadland. Bezos is not overpaying his workers. Engineers and expert divers are not clamoring for these jobs in fulfillment centers.
1
The Wild Boars weren't rescued by private industry or billionaires, they were rescued by soldiers and EMTs - highly trained experts who work for public institutions. If Musk wants to help he can do what the rest of us do - do the work he's good at, and pay his taxes.
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What harm did he do? He made a lot of people think that his ideas, where were not yet in practical form, were better than the methods that were being employed by the rescue team.
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John M, Musk did do what he was good at. That the submarine was not used, that lower tech solutions were more appropriate in the ultimate rescue operation, and that Musk used his own team with vastly different expertise to provide an alternative tool, are not mutually exclusive facts.
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Ann, no. This is what he actually said: "Mini-sub arriving in about 17 hours. Hopefully useful. If not, perhaps it will be in a future situation."
One of the best articles I've read in the NYT this year -- just the right mix of admiration for Silicon Valley-style visionary optimism and gung-ho confidence but with a proper corrective appreciation and respect for tried-and-true accumulated wisdom and old-fashioned, hard-earned, trial-and-error expertise. When combined, these aspirations and talents show us that human beings can still cooperate and achieve marvelous things.
Elon Musk can still take pride in what he hoped to accomplish, but can definitely benefit from the perspective and dose of humility that this article provides.
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Engineering would simply not exist without "respect for tried-and-true accumulated wisdom and old-fashioned, hard-earned, trial-and-error expertise." You just described the scientific method.
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The arrogance of Musk amazes me. He may be a smart guy, and have accomplished significant success, especially in reducing the cost of space launch, but to think he can figure out a solution to a rescue problem in a week out of the blue, when experts (Navy Seals, British Cave Rescue Association, Air Force special rescue - about 1,000 experts in total) that have spent decades training for this and put their life on the line is insulting.
To suggest that the boring company will dig tunnels 10x faster (with no new technology) is an insult to civil engineers - as if they never stopped to think of better ways to build tunnels.
To use robots to build cars faster - Why didn't the big three ever think to use robots? Oh, they have been for 30 years.
Arrogance. One day it will catch up with him in a spectacular fashion.
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Professor Tufekci this is great article. You are revealing an important problem in our society. Keep talking about this.
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I don't understand the mudslinging at Silicon Valley. Pointing out efforts that didn't work to prove what? That those rich privileged people should mind their own business? This would be an astonishing lack of courage and vision. What often survives of these incredibly wealthy businesses are these crazy shots into the blue or their philanthropy. From time to time, when I check out a library book, I remember Andrew Carnegie and his crucial support of the creation of our amazing system of public libraries. I don't really think of steel. I hate to think what would have happened if Mr. Carnegie had been told, "Sir, you know nothing of libraries. Please mind your own business."
There's also a lack of self-awareness in this paper. Isn't it ironic that an associate professor of Information and Library Science should be giving advice to Bezos and Musk, using the argument that they shouldn't get involved in things they don't understand? Yet she herself seems content to give advice on how best to run their vast and complex businesses, because, well, she has a PhD in Library Science? Isn't there just a little hypocrisy to that? Maybe a touch?
I for one would like to see more of this in every business, people trying to fix things, trying new ideas, even if they don't work out, even if they do a little damage, rather than shrink into their own corner of the world repeating the dull, boring mantra of "Mind your own business."
13
Um, she's a tech person. She's not developing better ways to catalog library books.
3
I witness the hubris and entitlement of the would be Musk types in my city every day. They think they are always the smartest people in the room and that nobody outside "Tech" has anything to contribute or any expertise worth knowing. Ditto if you are in tech but over 40. But - so much of the public at large is taken in by their arrogance and enables it. All over my lovely city there are electric scooters impeding footpaths, littering public spaces and making driving and walking a whole lot more dangerous. And yet - the city allows it - unregulated. I can only imagine if I started leaving scooters all over Santa Monica and called it "Tech" what would happen. Instead of being valued at a ridiculous 3 billion - I'd be fined - big time. So - of course they feel entitled, empowered, emboldened and special. We - the people - have enabled it.
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As they become more entitled, and empowered, we average citizens lose influence and power over our own elected representatives.
We may stand in line to vote for the nominees we're offered, but the big donors pick, finance and set up the nominees from the group that's to their advantage.
It's how US politics are legally set up now, as the S. Court defined big money donations to elections as 'free speech' protected by constitution. But our speech becomes less valuable as the CEOs get the green light.
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Beautifully said. While many tech billionaires are smart and hard-working, many were born on third base, and many are arrogant. Just because you were great at developing business software or other widgets doesn’t mean you should be allowed to wreak havoc on the public school system, which serves human beings infinitely more complex than a smart phone or sexy car. Know your limitations—we all have them—and leave something to quieter heroes who know the value of something beyond money.
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Francis Crick shared the Nobel Prize with James Watson for discovering the DNA molecule in 1953. With the Nobel Prize under his belt, Crick decided to explain how life began on earth by concocting a theory called 'panspermia.' Of course it was ridiculed by everyone, including non-scientists, because it was so patently absurd and crazy. This hubris occurs again and again: People who make their name or fortune in one field think they are qualified to solve problems in other fields. And the public, for the most part, goes along. After all, a genius has the solution, doesn't he? Well, no, he (and it's almost always a he) doesn't. We fall for the flashy and the seemingly extraordinary, while it is the painstaking and methodical research and experience that account for most of the innovations we rely on. Silicon Valley hubris is at an all-time high. It's time for the 'legends' to recognize their limitations and act accordingly.
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But remember, Hasan, it was Craig Venter's shotgun approach that eventually decoded the human genome, rather than Crick's bureaucratic approach.
The good professor is not, fortunately an engineer, a person or persons who first and foremost, is "programmed to solve problems" using the tools of education an experience. It is not the self-aggrandizing rush that the social scientist -- with all the time in the world to ponder -- and reponder, and ponder again postulates .Had the physicals been different Mr, Musk's approach might just have been viable ( and the Thai SEAL Unit is indeed evaluating its effectiveness).
Too disparage Mr. Musk re: comparison of Captain Sully's years of experience and what the author avers-- in unknowing bias -- that the Valley simply rushes forward, and ignores its problems is is simply insular. The only answer I can give is look homeward ... and melt with ruth.
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As a former firefighter and EMS worker, I agree that safety protocols are key to higher risk rescues resulting in success. Mr Musk has always champed at the bit of regulation and best safety practices, preferring to set the standards himself. Eventually this bullheadedness will get people killed on his watch, but he will remain stubbornly opposed to any way but his own until that happens. Smart and successful people often see their success as an equivalent to experience in fields they have little actual experience in, and with money and bluster they think they can swing the pendulum of acceptance their way without the groundwork. That would be a big mistake with life safety work. Only experience will suffice. Musk would best serve his self interest by studying the history of industrial safety and fire protection regulations among other topics before he gets too full of himself. These will help him with his actual job at Tesla, and might give him pause before he goes offering things like untested submarines to cave rescuers in another country.
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The author misses the point on Musk’s idea. Technology is innovation and creation of new ideas which can manifest in the real world almost instantly. The author states Musk and his team where not experts in what? Cave rescue or underwater rescue?
Firstly, did the author call Musk to find out the details on this question?
A great example that contradicts her argument is the case of the shuttle disaster solved by the genius ploymath
Richard Feynman. Feynman was not an expert in astronautics but he was an expert in the basic science of the technology of that time. He was able to solve this problem. because of his basic underlying understanding of the technology of the time.
we must never reject hope when it is offered in a desperate situation.
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On the contrary, Feynman came to that conclusion by consulting with the engineers at Thiokol who worked on the booster, after being advised that there had been serious debate about launching in freezing temperatures. His expertise lay, in this case, in having the wisdom to seek out the real experts, the people who worked on the rocket.
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Exploration of new frontiers is critical to the development of the human condition. But we need to be sure to understand the risks vs rewards. I think we have slowly slipped into a situation where we don't do such analyses. And this problem goes far beyond Silicon Valley. The proliferation of think tanks living in their own bubbles suffer from the same.
I am glad someone with Musks means exists who is willing to help out. But not at the risk of innocent lives who didn't make conscious choice to be guinea pigs.
12
Thank you for writing this, it is long overdue.
People who have success tend towards overconfidence, and they either need to be careful about checking themselves or trust people close to them to do so. Ultimately, insulting the experts in a different field is usually harmless, unless it detracts from more relevant endeavors. A hundred million dollars for an under-informed education initiative is a very different matter. Social systems can change and need to change, but the subtle complexities and the pace of progress is likely to frustrate a tech entrepreneur.
I would love to see Jeff Bezos invest in space - all the space Amazon packaging takes up. He is in a unique position to reduce a lot of packaging waste and related pollution, developing best practices that could be copied around the planet - the one we all live on.
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With all due respect, I disagree. I followed the rescue closely, and I was thrilled when i learned that Elon Musk was volunteering his vast resources to help with this gigantically complex rescue. All of these smart, creative engineers teaming with all the brave experts on the ground in Thailand could be the answer to getting the kids out.
Initially, the commander of the rescue had tossed around the idea that they might be forced to leave the boys in the cave for many more months, so Musk’s idea of sealing the children in a capsule and bringing them out immediately might have been regarded as a laudable alternative to that miserable option.
Nothing I read makes me think that Musk reacted with anything other than sincere humility and honest relief that the rescue was successful despite the fact that his capsule was not tested this time. I love that this story captivated so many of us, and i think it’s unfair to decide that Musk was motivated by anything less than a genuine desire to help.
I for one am happy to be reminded that at our core, although some may be more rich and famous, we all experience the same pull to try and help our fellow man when tragedy calls. Musk acted nobly, and we must resist the trendy snark that deems his involvement self-serving. Let us revel in only one glorious thought: every single boy made it out!! Let’s not taint this rescue by making it about something else.
180
"Silicon Valley moguls seem to believe they can fix most anything ... " It isn't just rich tech guys from Silicon Valley. A certain rich real estate guy from NYC fall into this category as well. The problem is that a lot of poor folks believed him, and there is no one to stop him from wrecking not only our economy but that of a lot of our allies.
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Where silicon valley places importance and emphasis is on the ability of people to see beyond a given problem to a solution that others might not see or ignore. I call this, not pejoratively, "naive arrogance". It springs from the idea that some problems are not as complex as they appear and a deeply rooted belief that some people can, bingo!, come up with ideas. (I possess a good deal of the qualities of both words in the phrase and I ain't giving them up any time soon.)
Recently while traveling around the DC Beltway crowded with other cars and trucks doing 70+ mph, I was thinking about how systems evolve to do very dangerous things safely. They might start with a smart innovation (no stop lights!, four to five lanes each direction) but their development involves huge risks (usually death), collective learning and wise implementation. They improve through failures. Driving in a metal box with seats at high speeds requires everyone to do the right thing, or close to it.
In a sense, there is no reason that cities should work. They require the complex interaction of tens of thousands of unrelated people to keep everything flowing. They are marvels of largely unsupervised coordination.
With the world holding its breath, it was fun to try to come up with ways to save the kids. What was needed first of all was knowledge of the complexity of the task and that was held by divers and others on the scene. Once known, "quick", "smart" and "easy" left the scene.
5
In Nicaragua, we delivered babies, tended to car accident and machete wounded victims, cured leprosy, malaria, tuberculosis and on and on. Our medical records were kept on 3x5 index cards. We didn’t need fancy an expensive EPIC electronic medical record system which waste lots of energy and drive up the cost of medicine. These fancy systems didn’t help us suture, or set a fracture. Sometimes, I agree, high tech is not better.
113
No good deed goes unpunished. I'd rather have people who try to fix problems and that make a real contribution to the issues facing the world than a bunch of people who do little more than whine and fault-find about everything in the technology sector. Are Wall Street bankers any better for not even trying and keeping themselves hidden from view? If there is an industry that needs to do a better job its the financial industry.
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"Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, has declared that space exploration is one of the main things he should spend his money on. But poorly paid workers in Amazon warehouses, who work under grueling conditions, may have other ideas about how Mr. Bezos might best spend his money."
I believe Mr. Bezos called them him "winnings." And it is for this very reason - that he sees nothing better to do with the fruit of his employees' labor - that Mr. Bezos should be maligned and vilified, not admired or envied.
35
Amazon won't accept return of this TV I bought from them. I was in Afghanistan and got back permanently after three years, finally hooked it up the other day, it worked great for less than 36 hours. Bezos could care less about that, or his employees, but he doesn't.
2
'...making a lot of money in tech is not a qualification for solving educational problems'
Would you say the same thing about Bill Gate's philanthropic efforts? Sure, these problems are difficult to solve and often can't be brute forced by throwing money at the problem. But that doesn't mean that these endeavors aren't expensive. We shouldn't shame people for trying to use their money for good.
46
Mr. Gates has the humility to understand that he does not have the expertise in the fields in which he is problem solving - so he empowers and finances those on the ground who do.
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I'm sure that Mark Zuckerberg also did the same thing. Bill Gates has also failed several times to improve education in areas of the United States. It doesn't mean that he should stop, it just means that it's a complicated problem that deserves more research.
1
Americans love opining and spending others’ money. Others opine that the wealthy have the right to spend their own money. Could be. Others step from their own circle to claim how the wealthy ought to spend their money, maybe on a special interest. Never mind those amateur efforts. It seems fair to criticize the bragging for misusing their money playing games which might have accomplished something. Misused money was not used for good.
1
Elon Musk's problem goes well beyond the cultural difference between a safety culture and a high tech entrepreneurial culture. He is literally manic and jumps from one initiative to the next without finishing anything. So he while runs SpaceX and a Solar power company, he launches an effort to build high volume production line for reliable electric car priced for the mass market, launches a large truck initiative and starts a boring company to build high speed underground mass transportation systems. He simply can't focus on one project. I also agree with the author that he takes significant safety risks as he leaps toward solutions. The reason Tesla cars intially had greater range than other electric cars is that he pushed battery technology much harder than GM and Nissan who were more concerned about the dangers of exploding batteries. Similarly his aggressive push to self driving car systems have resulted in a number of accidents. The remarkable thing is that he seems to eventually succeed in most of his efforts despite the risks. I attribute that to his incredible problem solving skills which he was trying to bring to bear on the cave rescue. To his credit unlike Zuckerberg and other high tech billionaires who have profited from creating the digital monsters that have destroyed our privacy Musk is truly the Thomas Edison of our age. So while it is true that I will wait a while before I buy a Tesla or his solar roof, I would never bet against him.
104
Any cave diver could have told him to save his time and money, a rigid tube wasn't going to work. One of the English divers said it wouldn't have been able to go the first 50 meters. It was pretty clear that diver thought Musk was grandstanding. Musk's first idea was running a one meter diameter table to inflate with air. They couldn't even run an oxygen or communication line it...how were they going to get in a one meter tube tough enough to inflate with air? The diver's candid comment was that Musk "can stick his submarine where it hurts." A Thai official was more diplomatic. "...not practical." The interesting thing is that this was glaringly obvious, yet he insisted on carting the thing over and personally appearing. What was he thinking?
23
Any cave diver could have told him to save his time and money, a rigid tube wasn't going to work. One of the English divers said it wouldn't have been able to go the first 50 meters. It was pretty clear that diver thought Musk was grandstanding. Musk's first idea was running a one meter diameter tube to inflate with air. They couldn't even run an oxygen or communication line it...how were they going to get in a one meter tube tough enough to inflate with air? The diver's candid comment was that Musk "can stick his submarine where it hurts." A Thai official was more diplomatic. "...not practical." The interesting thing is that this was glaringly obvious, yet he insisted on carting the thing over and personally appearing. What was he thinking?
1
Thank you for pointing out that Musk, Bezos, and others could do more for the world by treating their workers better.
I do not understand the morality or hubris of these moguls. They rake in billions of dollars of personal wealth and then talk about their grand schemes for giving it all away. Once they made their first billion, don't you think that could have taken a look at their profit model and adjusted it to give back to those that are making them obscenely wealthy?
It may be nice to make grand plans - curing disease, space exploration, improving education. But most of these titans have the hubris to think that they are so much smarter than everyone else that they can lead something so clearly outside of their expertise.
I guess the self-congratulations for these efforts beats being known for running a company that excels in how it treats employees (high salary, good working conditions, excellent benefits), consumers (fair prices, excellent service, and the opposite of planned obsolescence), and society (environmental responsibility, lack of interference with local or global politics).
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But, one corporation who voluntarily does these expensive things is soon no longer a corporation. The way to make these improvements is to support good governance -- laws that will make life better for all workers. Most of these moguls are known for supporting liberal and moderate political candidates.
I do not think Bezos has talked about giving all of his wealth away (while Bill Gates and Warren Buffet and their ilk..MUCH different than the Bezos/Zuckerberg/Page group...have). Bezos is a power/money hungry billionaire that does not appear to care about his fellow man/woman. (Even Amazon's use of dirty energy, polluting our environment, supports this impression).
Also, the author of the article has conflated Bezos' wealth with Amazon's...while related since Bezos is a shareholder, it's not the same.
2
We of the analog generation can only sigh and say, "meh."
Ms. Tufekci aptly noted the other tech whizzes who think their clever manipulation of 0's and 1's can fix everything.
She did fail to point out the harm, not mere futility, visited on America's teachers and children by Bill Gates. He has spent billions to undermine teachers and subject children to failed experiments. As the saying goes, if your only tool is a hammer you see every problem as a nail. And, if your only tools are digits and metrics, you see every problem as a data point searching for scalability.
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Every teacher understands why hated approach hasn't worked: in a class of 20 or 30 kids, no two are alike. Metrics and spreadsheets do not make all of them into what we need: thinking people who take pleasure from their hard fought AHA moments, and who then want to dive in for more. A great teacher who fosters the individual can do so.
19
Well, if you're the head honcho of a company of a company that is losing huge amounts of money every month, perhaps you'd want to turn the conversation to some other topic.
"Mr Musk, when do you expect Tesla to be profitable on a GAAP basis?"
"OK, let's fly to Mars and start colonies there...."
204
You just changed the subject, just as you accuse Elon Musk of doing. Who mentioned Tesla?
1
Thank you, Dr. Tufekci.
I've seen many opinions along the lines of, "what harm can come from his offer to help?" Well, one harm is that in proffering solutions for which the technology does not yet exist, many in the naive public saw his solutions as obviously feasible and hence doubted the efforts of the rescue team. I saw numerous comments to articles and on social media along the lines of "at least he was doing something, unlike the inaction of the rescue team." Meanwhile the rescue team members were working their butts off to apply their expertise to this problem, but being cautious about what was shared with the public given the extreme gravity of the situation. They were doing pool tests, they were putting down line in extremely dangerous terrain, they were trying to figure out the best way to utilize technology. But they weren't trying to toot their own horn while doing it.
For all of you who don't understand what acting with humility looks like: an example would be the people who were intimately involved in the rescue effort that did not publicize their efforts, or speak about the details of the rescue effort until it was finished. Mr. Musk could have acted without going public, or he could have said, "we've offered to help and will help the rescue team in any way we can," and then been quiet until the rescue effort was finished. That would have been humility.
735
Come on. Children are trapped underground and may not make it out alive. Call Musk arrogant or overconfident if you must, but he wanted to offer his best to save those kids’ lives. I wish more rich white businessmen were willing to offer their best to others in times of crisis. Why do we need to trash him because his plan wasn’t appropriate? His offer stands as an example for other moguls.
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As the Thai government and the rescuers said. It was not a solution. Why? Because the design was made without knowing the requirements. Might be fun in a swimming pool but it had to submerge tilt bend and be carryable. To submerge it would have to have 4 to 500 lbs of ballast Want to carry that through the cave in the dry parts? Me neither. It couldn't bend around curves and from the cave diagram they had about 15 feet of water and had to point it first down then straight up. It was an ad. The best thing he could have done was stay out of the way just like the best thing a 2 year old can do in the kitchen is get out. Whether it was ego or advertizing it wasn't a fit for the application.
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As the Thai government and the rescuers said. It was not a solution. Why? Because the design was made without knowing the requirements. Might be fun in a swimming pool but it had to submerge tilt bend and be carryable. To submerge it would have to have 4 to 500 lbs of ballast Want to carry that through the cave in the dry parts? Me neither. It couldn't bend around curves and from the cave diagram they had about 15 feet of water and had to point it first down then straight up. The best thing he could have done was stay out of the way just like the best thing a 2 year old can do in the kitchen is get out. Whether it was ego or advertizing it wasn't a fit for the application.
274
I like Musk, very much admire his creation the Tesla automobile, but boy am I tired of the quick-react, blowhard tweet culture. Leave it alone, Elon, and just figure out how to make and sell cars and rockets.
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