Businessmen as Messiahs

The jurisprudence used by Supreme Court in dealing with Padmaavat, a completely commercial venture is an interesting subject to explore; as protection under concept of freedom of expression should typically be reserved for expressions with implied intent of greater good and not for individuals using the expression to make money.

The application of this novel jurisprudence by SC is obviously rooted in changing social perception towards making money so it needs debate. But, the specific issue now is too emotive to try reasoning with, so I would transcend it by a level and look at a new phenomenon, i.e. emergence of businessmen messiahs enjoying popularity as do-gooders in public perception.

As we turn blind towards the simple fact that every business venture shall have a selfish intent, flamboyant businessmen are becoming social heroes. And the one name that shines like a quasar in the stellar list containing the likes of Zuckerbergs and Bransons is, Elon Musk.

For the educated youth across the world, Elon Musk is larger than any hero. He is almost a messiah about to change the world, and he is doing it through Tesla, a commercial venture. Soon his Lithium-ion batteries will save humanity from fuel guzzling cars or coal burning power plants.

Unfortunately, I have a problem with this, as Musk takes me back to a point in history of evolution of computers, where another businessman in a similar position took a very similar commercial decision while changing the world.

In a not too distant past, at the dawn of computerisation of the globe, technology had arrived at a fork. In one direction was a standalone computer with individual hard-disk and processor and in other was a smart central core with a network of dumb PCs linked to it.

A standalone computer meant massive duplication of everything. You needed same soft-wares installed in every machine and there would be unutilised data storage and processing power sitting idle on every desk. There would also be piracy issues, upgrades and debugging problems and humungous amounts of wasteful redundancy making it a highly inefficient system.

On the other hand, a network driven system with smart core means no software piracy, no waste of data-space, no unused processing power, and a smart interconnected world.

While the centralised processor was a bit distant, it was achievable, provided those empowered directed technology in that direction.

Unfortunately, the decentralised model had one advantage that dwarfed everything else. It meant creation of an enormous market with astronomical amount of business opportunities. It meant a PC on every desk that would need copies of soft-wares and processing chips. It meant Microsoft and Intel becoming superpowers.

What happened next is history. Today, after passing through that winding road of desktop PCs, we may return to a cloud-based centralised system, but the reality is, it could have been done much earlier if businessmen were what we imagine them to be today.

What Musk is doing through Tesla cars and batteries is just a replication of what Gates did with computers. He is not solving any problem. He is just doing business, and is just smart enough to brand it better.

Lithium-ion batteries need electrical power to charge and cause pollution when disposed. They are just adding a layer on top of existing power and pollution problems.

What we really need is a model that shifts us from individual vehicles full of redundancy. We need to learn from the mistakes we made with computers.

Technology can deliver anything, provided it is invested in with the appropriate goal of greater good. But, if we start thinking that commerce can be a guiding light for humanity, we could be sadly mistaken.