Elon Musk, currently the richest man on Earth who also has a cult-like following. Different from his peers, people’s perception of him is that of a saviour rather than an obscenely rich man fleecing off the wallets of the common population. His 2 most famous companies – Tesla is a practical push towards green energy and SpaceX looks into the colonisation of Mars, which serves to protect our environment and extend the legacy of human rule respectively.
What makes him different from other businessmen is that while everyone else says they care for the environment, Elon Musk actually seems to care and is directly involved in the business for the benefit of the human race as a whole. That is why he has a loyal cult-like following.
Whether he really cares for the human race or not, or whether he is simply using the tool of human preservation and development as a mask for his ambitions does not really matter. Today we are going to look at his ambition and the net he has cast out.
We have looked at how US dominated the world through its military, its currency and its media. If we scale it down, we will realise that as an individual, Elon Musk actually has more influence in these 3 sectors than any other human on Earth. In this world of domination, nothing is by luck and co-incidence. Everything is achieved by a careful set of calculation and planning, strategy and timing, political and business acumen, and above all a ruthless pursuit of success after throwing away all morals and principles.
Elon Musk was not the founder of Tesla, but acquired a stake in the company and became the largest shareholder with a $6.5 million investment. The path of Tesla to its success is known to all, and the US Government supported it as the US seeks to dominate the car market. We will come back to Tesla later but for now, the success of Tesla and the goodwill surrounding it is a major foundation for what is to come.
The day humans colonise Mars, if that day is to come, will still be very far off in the future. Even now, my personal belief is that humans have never reached the Moon. Mars colonisation is but a dream Elon Musk sells to the masses. It is mankind’s innate nature to explore and to dominate the unknown. But that aside, the most practical component of SpaceX would probably be its Starlink project, a satellite internet constellation. At first glance it is a commercial project to provide internet service to the world. But if we dig deeper, it has one more scarier function – the military.
Starlink is the bridge between SpaceX (Elon Musk) and the departments of the US military such as the Space Development Agency and United States Air Force Research Laboratory. But in 2022, Starlink’s involvement with the military came into the public eye when it got involved in the Ukraine war. For example, in May 2022, a Starlink-enabled Ukranian Internet app was the key component of a successful new artillery fire coordination system. In war there are 3 critical aspects – raw firepower, support resources and information. From the ancient wars till the modern wars today, he who has more information gains a significant advantage. It does not take a genius to know what a bunch of satellites on top of a country can do and its ability to contribute to the war.
SpaceX subsequently informed that the Pentagon needs to pay for the Starlink system over Ukraine. This sends a very clear message out – that Starlink has proved its military uses. SpaceX provided a trial period for the Pentagon to see its uses and success, and after doing so, Elon Musk knew he can demand for payment.
A country with overpowering military like the US could dominate other countries, but an individual controlling resources which could aid the military will have the political and financial backing of the government behind its back. Elon Musk will not conquer any physical lands nor plunder any resources by raw firepower, but his contribution to the existing system will definitely be valued. For all his talk about abolishing the old world order, he needs the current system to support him.
Of course, his companies and the products of his various companies are weapons itself in the field of business, with which they compete and knock down other competitions. At this point, there is nothing out of the ordinary. Many companies do that, but few go beyond this.
Money is a tool for transactions. As the economy evolved from barter trade to using currency, money became a convenient tool for the market to operate. However such systems have its flaws, with the central banks manipulating money at their own will at the expense of the people. Enter crypto-currency, with its decentralisation as a main selling point and of course, its fair share of clamping down by the existing system.
The traditional markets have been captured by the existing establishments. To fight people at their own game will only put one at a disadvantage. Just like how Elon Musk needs the newer electric vehicles to upset the traditional gas-powered cars, the crypto-currency is a good alternative to the existing system. I will fight you in your field, but not on your terms and not on your rules.
In comes Dogecoin. Why Dogecoin, I have no idea. But it could just very well be another shitcoin that is cheap and easily manipulated. Now the King of Dogecoin, Elon Musk sends another message across – that he supports crypto-currency. This drives the crypto-market into a frenzy. Afterall, here is someone of high financial power and standing supporting what his peers had condemned. Surely, someone of his influence will be a great support to the community and the drive towards the future of crypto-currency. Elon Musk secured himself another following.
In case one forgets, Elon Musk was one of the founders of Paypal. Elon Musk is no stranger to the currency and payment business. He knows how this thing works. He first allows Tesla payments to be done via Bitcoin, and subsequently created a hype about Dogecoin. Dogecoin can be used to pay a variety of services, from the Hub to Twitch, from Namecheap to American Gold Exchange. Using his influence, he is creating an ecosystem in which goods and service providers are a part of. The ecosystem is a very important aspect, as evident from Apple’s and Google’s success in their phone operating system. Extremely difficult to set up, but once done is a very high barrier to new entrants.
A currency for trade can be anything. From useless mass-printed papers we called the USD to the seashells of old, from the knife-shaped metals of the middle ages to the yellow shiny gold, as long as it is something recognised and accepted by many, its purpose comes into existence. This is the same for Dogecoin. Originally a shitcoin made as a joke, with the influence and the financial powers of traditional currency backing it, Elon Musk has successfully turned this joke of a coin into one of the most hyped coins heavily influenced by himself.
Step 3 would be to control the media. Elon Musk buying Twitter is not a decision made in jest. To a businessmen, profit and cost is everything, although the profit may not necessary be in terms of direct financial gains in the immediate term. Among the social media available to consumers, Twitter is one of massive influence yet within reach of the wallets of Elon Musk.
The influence of Twitter is known to all, so I will not go deep into that. Elon Musk champions free speech, which ironically has been condemned by the traditional media all over the US, which prides itself as a beacon for free speech. This means only one thing – that the established powers are seeing Twitter under Elon Musk as a threat.
Mark Zuckerberg controls the social media platform Facebook, but that is it. Paypal, Visa, Mastercard etc controls the money aspect, and that is it, although Paypal has been acquired by eBay. And for every other company, their product is their tool of war in the business field, although there may be some overlapping. For example, Visa with its money payment business is also its weapon in the field. That being said, the companies that deal with money and payment do not even have the right and ability to influence money itself. But one tweet from Elon Musk is able to send Dogecoin, and by extension the crypto market, soaring or plunging. That power is similar to Donald Trump’s influence over the stock market. But Donald Trump is the president of the world’s most powerful country and all its weapons, physically and figuratively.
Elon Musk has acheived what others did not – getting control of these 3 aspects which complements but not overlap. This is what made the others worry. He has successfully copied a system outright from Big Brother Sam. To add that to his empire, he has a system set up to collect huge amounts of data, the future tool of production. That system is called Tesla and we have explained it earlier.
Tesla as a tool of production. SpaceX as his weapon. Dogecoin as the currency. Twitter as the media. An empire is born and the masses all celebrate their new god, believing that he will lead them towards paradise, be it on Earth or on Mars.
