Elon Musk and the Future of Transportation, Discovery Channel
Elon Musk is an amazing entrepreneur and thanks to the Discovery Channel I got to talk about his latest adventure. Elon Musk is a crazy dude, in my opinion, in a good way.
Matthew GriffinFounder, President and Futurist, 311 Institute
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About this TV interview
Elon Musk is a crazy dude, in my opinion, in a good way. While most CEO’s are content running on the treadmill that is the status quo Musk is tearing up the books and pushing the boundaries of, well, pretty much everything.
On the one hand he’s busy building out the world’s foremost electric vehicle company, Tesla, while juggling his responsibilities at one of the world’s hottest renewable energy start ups SolarCity with popping in to check on the progress of his Artificial Intelligence (AI) start up OpenAI, conquering space and colonising Mars with SpaceX, and hooking people's brains directly into AI with NeuraLink.
Frankly, anyone who winges about not having enough time in the day should take a leaf out of his book. However, as if all that wasn’t enough he’s now gotten himself into boring machines, under the umbrella of his new, new venture The Boring Company, and he’s now using them to dig tunnels under Los Angeles in an effort to re-invent tunnelling and urban transportation.
It’s probably fair to say that as a futurist I’m a great Musk fan so it was a nice surprise to be phoned up by none other than the Discovery Channel to do an on air interview about his latest venture, the Boring Company. You can see my debut below and it aired to over 25 million people, sorry about that folks.
Watch the interview in full
311 Intelligence
What this means for your leadership team
Transport is being redesigned underground.
The Boring Company is using boring machines to dig tunnels under Los Angeles. The stated aim is to re-invent tunnelling and urban transportation. Leaders in transport, property and city services should treat this as a signal that the way people move through cities is open to change.
One founder, many linked bets.
Musk runs Tesla, SolarCity, OpenAI, SpaceX, NeuraLink and The Boring Company together. Vehicles, energy, Artificial Intelligence and space sit side by side. A leadership team should ask which neighbouring sectors could reach into its own market in the same way.
Intelligence and energy shape the outcome.
The trend Artificial Intelligence is marked Act now, with wide use in 2024. Artificial General Intelligence is marked Explore, at technology readiness level 3. Space Based Energy Platforms are marked Watch, with wide use in 2055. Match your response to each stage rather than treating them alike.
Three questions for your next leadership meeting
Which adjacent sector could enter our market the way tunnelling is entering transport?
Where does Artificial Intelligence already touch our core operations?
Which long-range technologies belong on our watch list, not our budget?
The trends and technologies behind this session
From the 311 Starburst, the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit’s map of the technologies and trends shaping the next 50 years.
It shows a founder moving into a new sector, urban transport, while running several other ventures. Organisations should expect competitors to arrive from outside their own industry, and should scan neighbouring sectors for early signs.
How does the Artificial Intelligence trend relate to this session?
Musk's portfolio includes OpenAI and NeuraLink, so Artificial Intelligence runs through his work. 311 rates the trend Act now, with wide use in 2024, which suggests leaders should act on it today.
How does Artificial General Intelligence relate to this session?
NeuraLink aims to connect brains directly to Artificial Intelligence. Artificial General Intelligence is a machine that could do any thinking task a person can. 311 rates it Explore, at technology readiness level 3, so it suits study and scenario planning, not large spending.
How can 311 brief our leadership team on this?
Through a private executive briefing or leadership workshop, tailored to your sector and held in person first.
Bring this to your leadership teamA private executive briefing or leadership workshop, tailored to your sector. In person first, anywhere in the world.
Analysis by the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit, from Matthew Griffin’s session and 311 data.
If Matthew gave this session today
Whole industries may soon be disrupted in a day.
The codex sets out the forces accelerating global disruption and how close we are to disrupting whole industries in a day, the same forces that could flatten or eliminate today's supply chains.
