13A – Reading Reflection No. 1

1. What surprised me the most about Elon Musk is how he was so adventurous at such a young age. As he moved away from his home in South Africa to Canada by himself, and practically lived by himself. I admire Elon's fantastically undeterred ambition, as he claims the object of his life is to make the human race an interplanetary species. What I least admire is how cold and distant he is from people, as he has no attachment to many including his family, saying he would like to go and die in Mars alone. Elon encountered great adversity throughout his career as he ran out of money several times and lost control of some of his companies. He worked very hard through these hardships, took many risks, and got very very lucky and won big. 

2) Elon shows to have an incredible mind. He is a genius. He is very creative, extremely hard working, is constantly learning, inspiring to others, and incredibly focused and persistent. He is obsessed with his job and prioritizes it above all else. 

3) There were several parts of the reading that confused me as it talked about a wide area of people and the names of those people typically got all jumbled together as I forgot who they were. Also, I was confused by which vehicle models were being referenced at a given time when the early days of Tesla and SpaceX were being discussed. I lost track easily and was not sure what was what and the chronological order of them. 

4) Question #1: Other than the hyperloop, Tesla, SpaceX, SolarCity, global internet, and neuralink, what other ideas, completely thought out or not, have you come up with?

Why: I am sure that Elon is the type of person to constantly be thinking of solutions, however he himself has said he likes to work on what he believes is most important for the human race first, though the other ideas are fun. I would like to know what other things he has pondered or come up with.

Question #2: I would also ask Elon if he was happy and if he needed a friend?

Why: I would ask this because I would want to know if passion for one's work is everything and if one can reach happiness while being rich and successful with no social life. I would also ask because I would love nothing more than being a friend to Elon Musk, not to gain any benefit from being around him, but just to listen to his thoughts and engage in stimulating conversation with him. 

5) Elon Musk expects the hardest work out of all his employees. He expects people to meet almost impossible deadlines and to come up with solutions to problems on their own. If they say a deadline is impossible, Elon will fire them and meet the deadline himself. I share that opinion to an extent, as I believe that Elon is a bit extreme to a sense and should not expect his employees to set aside their personal lives like does, to help his obsession. However, I am not as successful as Elon.