The ‘Twitter disaster’ - strange times

By Bernd Maier-Leppla

In a weekly column, alternately written by Eveline van Zeeland, Eugène Franken, PG Kroeger, Katleen Gabriels, Carina Weijma, Bernd Maier-Leppla, Willemijn Brouwer and Colinda de Beer, Innovation Origins tries to figure out what the future will look like. These columnists, sometimes joined by guest bloggers, are all working in their own way to find solutions to the problems of our time. So tomorrow will be good. Here are all the previous articles.

Elon Musk. Almost no personality of recent times has been more controversial. Some believe the entrepreneur is capable of doing anything, even walking on water, while others think he is just a show-off who revels in his capitalist hobby of amassing money at the expense of others. The incarnate Uncle Scrooge McDuck.

And now he has taken over Twitter

And since Musk has bought the social network Twitter for the paltry sum of US$44 billion, the rift between Musk disciples and haters has widened even more. Many potential Tesla buyers seem to have been on the warpath since it happened. At least those who count themselves among the “woke” elite. There are now a number of dramatic tweets from “disappointed” Musk and Tesla fans explaining why they have canceled the electric car that they just ordered. They have no desire to support anti-democratic billionaires who undermine the social platform’s freedom of speech by buying a Tesla. Then there are the drama queens and kings who bid farewell with their brief comments pointing to Twitter alternative Mastodon. Evidently, there is more freedom of speech over there.”

This is the status quo

What is this all about? One extraordinary entrepreneur, who has so far distinguished himself by disruptively restructuring several industries, has bought a social platform that he now wants to radically turn upside down.

Among other things, this means that the platform can at long last stand on its own financial feet. Up until now, Twitter has only incurred losses. This may also be due to the fact that hardly anything had changed for years – except the curtailment of the freedom of speech of bad actors.

Support Us!

In other words, those who basically no longer have a place in our exemplary society. The Trumps of this world, the alleged and real Nazis, the conservatives and especially the ‘right-wingers’. Moreover, a lot of people are shaking their heads: how can such an important platform be left to ONE SINGLE MAN who, moreover, is currently on the road to Trumpism. After all, Musk has just withdrawn his sympathy for the Democrats and is now leaning towards the wicked Republicans.

Is it actually still okay to buy a Tesla?

Perhaps this question is misstated. Because when looked at in a more fundamental way, it becomes an entirely different question: should we even buy a car at all? After all, no other gadget of our time exploits the world more than all the things that have to do with individual transport.

OEMs pander to anti-democrats. Despots drive around in luxury limousines from the West. there is rampant exploitation of raw materials in South America and Africa. Car manufacture in a country (China) that persecutes and harasses other ethnic groups. And then there is the harm to the climate.

The list could go on and on. Every passenger car from every OEM could boil down to some malevolent scheme. Does anyone remember the VW diesel scandal? Have car enthusiasts actually ever paused to thin about under what conditions oil, lithium or nickel are extracted? Or how democratic the oil-producing countries in the Gulf really are?

VDL and RWE reuse batteries from electric buses for energy storage – Innovation Origins

Bus manufacturer VDL and energy giant RWE will link batteries from electric buses at the Moerdijk power plant, creating a 7.5 megawatt (MW) electricity storage … Continued

So, can you still buy a Tesla?

A vehicle that is arguably one of the cars with the highest level of efficiency. A vehicle that is, in fact, currently the pinnacle of the development of electromobility. A vehicle whose price-performance ratio is so good that it will undoubtedly be ranked first (Model Y) and second (Model 3) on the global charts in the first half of 2022.

So is NASA going to stop flights to ISS now? – Given that SpaceX is also owned by Musk? Will the ‘woke’ astronauts now insist on continuing to fly in Soyuz capsules? One question after another. Meanwhile, climate change is gleefully marching on. In Sharm El Sheikh, the climate jet set is convening again to hold the next meeting in air-conditioned meeting rooms with no real accomplishments to date. We are truly living in strange times.