“Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future.” — Takeaways, Inspirations, Best Quotes.

“stated life’s purpose. “I would like to die thinking that humanity has a bright future,” he said. “If we can solve sustainable energy and be well on our way to becoming a multi-planetary species with a self-sustaining civilization on another planet — to cope with a worst-case scenario happening and extinguishing human consciousness — then,” and here he paused for a moment, “I think that would be really good.”

Just finished reading

“Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future”

And WOW! It is some story!

Very much reminded me of Richard Branson’s story. So much passion. Turning a thought, a dream, everyone thought was a joke, into an actual reality that most people still fail to comprehend fully.

He wanted to make electric cars an everyday reality for the world? Almost there.

He wanted to make solar energy more usable and real to replace oil and other outdated energy sources that make no sense in sustainable world of the future? Almost there.

“Six years later, SolarCity had become the largest installer of solar panels in the country.”

He wanted to set up a colony on Mars? Well, not as close but certainly moving into that direction. Having witnessed what he had already accomplished in other areas of Elon’s interests, a colony on Mars someday in not-so-distant future is certainly a believable idea.

“To the extent that the world still doubts Elon, I think it’s a reflection on the insanity of the world and not on the supposed insanity of Elon.”

He grew from some guy, nobody, into the next…Steve Jobs? Bill Gates? Someone greater and more extraordinary?

“And he has that consumer sensibility of Steve along with the ability to hire good people outside of his own comfort areas that’s more like Bill. You almost wish that Bill and Steve had a genetically engineered love child and, who knows, maybe we should genotype Elon to see if that’s what happened.” Steve Jurvetson, the venture capitalist who has invested in SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity, worked for Jobs, and knows Gates well, also described Musk as an upgraded mix of the two. “Like Jobs, Elon does not tolerate C or D players,” said Jurvetson. “But I’d say he’s nicer than Jobs and a bit more refined than Bill Gates.”

The only thing he had was a vision, an amazing one, and passion, drive, conviction to make it happen no matter what. He was crazy enough to believe he could change the world…and well, he is changing the world.

“Elon’s mind was always way beyond the present moment,” he said. “You could see that he was a step or three ahead of everyone else and one hundred percent committed to what we were doing.”

“He does what he wants, and he is relentless about it. It’s Elon’s world, and the rest of us live in it.”

He might not be a perfect human-being. Not a Gandhi or Mother Teresa. But will anyone different make it today’s world? Accomplish what Elon Musk has accomplished? I personally doubt it very highly.

“He has the ability to work harder and endure more stress than anyone I’ve ever met,” Gracias said.”

“Both Musk and Stark were the type of men, according to Downey, who “had seized an idea to live by and something to dedicate themselves to” and were not going to waste a moment.”

A lot of people might think Elon is crazy. Most might believe he is out of his mind and chasing some silly childish dreams out of a sci-fi novel, when the “real” world has more immediate problems to address, like global warming, hunger, diseases…

“Maybe I read too many comics as a kid,” Musk said. “In the comics, it always seems like they are trying to save the world. It seemed like one should try to make the world a better place because the inverse makes no sense.”

“Page holds Musk up as a model he wishes others would emulate — a figure that should be replicated during a time in which the businessmen and politicians have fixated on short-term, inconsequential goals. “I don’t think we’re doing a good job as a society deciding what things are really important to do,” Page said.”

But then again, if we only chase our problems, with the same thinking we created them with, we will never get anywhere worth going, anywhere new and exciting. We might not even survive as species.

The world is always changed by “crazy” visionaries, not by rule-makers. Visionaries, who are a bit or a lot are ahead of their time, challenging existing paradigm, fearing nothing, challenging the beliefs of the whole world about what is possible, even if it means losing it all in the process.

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

Albert Einstein

“There is a fundamental problem with regulators. If a regulator agrees to change a rule and something bad happens, they could easily lose their career. Whereas if they change a rule and something good happens, they don’t even get a reward. So, it’s very asymmetric. It’s then very easy to understand why regulators resist changing the rules. It’s because there’s a big punishment on one side and no reward on the other. How would any rational person behave in such a scenario?”

“What’s fascinating is that Musk remains willing to lose it all.”

“If the rules are such that you can’t make progress, then you have to fight the rules.”

“That’s part of what separates Elon from mere mortals,” said Ed Ho, the former Zip2 executive, who went on to cofound X.com. “He’s willing to take an insane amount of personal risk. When you do a deal like that, it either pays off or you end up in a bus shelter somewhere.”

And sometimes those silly childish dreams just might solve all the problems in the making.

When Elon started seriously talking to people about colonizing Mars, electric cars and solar energy everywhere, everyone thought he was crazy, he was a joke.

Now the leaders of the world start to think he just might be the crazy…genius, whose genius is yet to be understood and appreciated.

Elon might not be the best leader or manager, the best public figure or best family man, not the most balanced person, but then again, maybe the exact someone like him, so driven by his vision and nothing but it, might actually pull off everything he talks about — colony on Mars, Hyperloops connecting major cities, electric cars and ONLY electric cars, solar energy replacing oil? And maybe we need that kind of man, who doesn’t care about personal drama, or Kardashians, or “immediate” problems that needs to be solved RIGHT NOW, who doesn’t care about you or me, or even himself to create a different world? Different model that will actually work long-term? Hundreds and thousands years from now?

“Either you’re trying to make something spectacular with no compromises or you’re not. And if you’re not, Musk considers you a failure. This position can look unreasonable or foolish to outsiders, but the philosophy works for Musk and constantly pushes him and those around him to their limits.”

“I’m also more convinced than ever that Musk is a deeply emotional person who suffers and rejoices in an epic fashion. This side of him is likely obscured by the fact that he feels most deeply about his own humanity-altering quest and so has trouble recognizing the strong emotions of those around him. This tends to make Musk come off as aloof and hard. I would argue, however, that his brand of empathy is unique. He seems to feel for the human species as a whole without always wanting to consider the wants and needs of individuals. And it may well be the case that this is exactly the type of person it takes to make a freaking space Internet real.”

“If there was a way that I could not eat, so I could work more, I would not eat. I wish there was a way to get nutrients without sitting down for a meal.”

He’s not a politician, not in life, not at work, but he gets amazing shit done. Shit that nobody has done, or even attempted to do before him.

Not perfectly. For sure. But what IS perfect in this world? Any business plan stops working the second it meets reality.

The bigger the vision the bigger the difference between promises and plans and reality. But no matter what, major car companies seriously thinking and working on electric cars not to be left behind, few companies work on World-Wide internet, everyone looks at space industry differently, it doesn’t seem that scary and out of reach of private sector anymore.

Elon set new standards for dreams. For visions. For our, yours and mine, human, future.

“What Musk has developed that so many of the entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley lack is a meaningful worldview. He’s the possessed genius on the grandest quest anyone has ever concocted. He’s less a CEO chasing riches than a general marshaling troops to secure victory. Where Mark Zuckerberg wants to help you share baby photos, Musk wants to . . . well . . . save the human race from self-imposed or accidental annihilation.”

“The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads”

“technology industry had let people down. “We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters”

“To me, Elon is the shining example of how Silicon Valley might be able to reinvent itself and be more relevant than chasing these quick IPOs and focusing on getting incremental products out,” said Edward Jung, a famed software engineer and inventor. “Those things are important, but they are not enough. We need to look at different models of how to do things that are longer term in nature and where the technology is more integrated.”

Elon is definitely the most inspirational, illuminating, extraordinary visionary-doer who is ready to take humanity to another level of thinking and existing.

“He points out that one of the really tough things is figuring out what questions to ask,” Musk said. “Once you figure out the question, then the answer is relatively easy. I came to the conclusion that really we should aspire to increase the scope and scale of human consciousness in order to better understand what questions to ask.” The teenage Musk then arrived at his ultralogical mission statement. “The only thing that makes sense to do is strive for greater collective enlightenment”

“I would like to die on Mars,” he said. “Just not on impact. Ideally I’d like to go for a visit, come back for a while, and then go there when I’m like seventy or something and then just stay there. If things turn out well, that would be the case…”