SpaceX Starlink

Elon Musk
by Walter Isaacson
Published 11 Sep 2023

In late 2014, he turned his attention to what was a much bigger pot of gold: providing internet service to paying customers. SpaceX would make and launch its own communications satellites, in effect rebuilding the internet in outer space. “Internet revenue is about one trillion dollars a year,” he says. “If we can serve three percent, that’s $30 billion, which is more than NASA’s budget. That was the inspiration for Starlink, to fund getting to Mars.” He pauses, then adds for emphasis, “The lens of getting to Mars has motivated every SpaceX decision.” To pursue this mission, Musk announced in January 2015 the creation of a new division of SpaceX, based near Seattle, called Starlink. The plan was to send satellites into low-Earth orbit, about 340 miles high, so that the latency of the signals would not be as bad as systems that depended on geosynchronous satellites, which orbit 22,000 miles above the Earth.

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he asked me during a late-night phone conversation. “Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars. It was so people can watch Netflix and chill and get online for school and do good peaceful things, not drone strikes.” In the end, with Shotwell’s help, SpaceX made arrangements with various government agencies to pay for increased Starlink service in Ukraine, with the military working out the terms of service. More than 100,000 new dishes were sent to Ukraine at the beginning of 2023. In addition, Starlink launched a companion service called Starshield, which was specifically designed for military use. SpaceX sold or licensed Starshield satellites and services to the U.S. military and other agencies, allowing the government to determine how they could and should be used in Ukraine and elsewhere. 71 Bill Gates 2022 With Gates at the Boao Forum for Asia in Qionghai, China, 2015 The visit “Hey, I’d love to come see you and talk about philanthropy and climate,” Bill Gates said to Musk when they happened to be at the same meeting in early 2022.

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But the Starlink team did not seem to feel much urgency, a cardinal sin for Musk. So one Sunday night that June, without much warning, he flew to Seattle to fire the entire top Starlink team. He brought with him eight of his most senior SpaceX rocket engineers. None knew much about satellites, but they all knew how to solve engineering problems and apply Musk’s algorithm. The engineer he tapped to take over was Mark Juncosa, who was already in charge of structural engineering at SpaceX. That had the advantage of integrating the design and manufacture of all SpaceX products, from the boosters to the satellites, under one manager. It also had the advantage of that person being Juncosa, a feverishly brilliant engineer who could mind-meld with Musk.

Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets That Launched a Second Space Age
by Eric Berger
Published 23 Sep 2024

One reason Musk may not have spoken publicly about Starlink in Mexico was due to the program’s struggles. Following Altan’s departure in 2014, Musk hired a longtime Microsoft engineer named Rajeev Badyal to help run avionics for SpaceX. Badyal had achieved some successes at Microsoft, such as the Xbox, as well as some failures, like the Zune portable music player. After coming to SpaceX, Badyal took leadership of the Starlink program. To tap into his network of contacts in Washington, near Microsoft, Badyal convinced Musk to move the Starlink offices to Redmond. It was the first product design office SpaceX opened outside of Hawthorne.

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Smith believed Musk’s fixation on Starship and Starlink would give Blue Origin time to surpass SpaceX in the launch business. Bezos’s own large rocket, named New Glenn, was due to make its debut in 2020. Smith could not have been more wrong. In the first five years after Smith sent the email, SpaceX launched more than 175 additional orbital rockets, including Starship. Blue Origin has yet to launch any. Its New Glenn rocket should finally fly in 2024. Smith also fundamentally misjudged the commitment Musk and SpaceX made to Starship and Starlink. This backfired badly when, in April 2021, SpaceX won the much-coveted contract to land humans on the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis Program to return astronauts there.

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Starship would be bigger and more powerful than NASA’s mighty Saturn V rocket and needed to be reusable many times over. Starlink was far larger and more ambitious than any satellite constellation in history. Both projects were likely to fail. “Here’s how Elon thinks about this,” Altan explained. “If SpaceX is an amazingly successful financial company, but doesn’t make it to Mars, then SpaceX has failed. And I love that about him. All the theatrics about the person aside, he had that fantastic focus on the final mission. For him, not doing these two things is failure, even if in everyone’s books SpaceX was already a success.” When he spoke in Guadalajara, Musk did not reference Starlink. Instead, on a slide titled, “Funding,” he lightheartedly listed some of the ways that SpaceX might pay for its grand Mars expeditions.

Rocket Dreams: Musk, Bezos and the Trillion-Dollar Space Race
by Christian Davenport
Published 6 Sep 2025

CHAPTER 12 177 Kelly said he’d look into it: Emre Kelly, “Smoke Seen for Miles as SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Suffers ‘Anomaly’ at Cape Canaveral During Engine Test Fire,” Florida Today, April 20, 2019, https://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2019/04/20/smoke-seen-miles-spacex-crew-dragon-suffers-anomaly-cape-canaveral/3531086002/. 180 “The test was not satisfactory”: Jeff Foust, “Crew Dragon Parachutes Failed in Recent Test,” SpaceNews, May 9, 2019, https://spacenews.com/crew-dragon-parachutes-failed-in-recent-test/; Eric Berger, “SpaceX Had a Problem with a Parachute Test in April,” Ars Technica, May 8, 2019, https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/05/spacex-had-a-problem-during-a-parachute-test-in-april/. 182 Steel could handle both: Ryan D’Agostino, “Elon Musk: Why I’m Building the Starship Out of Stainless Steel,” Popular Mechanics, January 22, 2019, https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a25953663/elon-musk-spacex-bfr-stainless-steel/. 182 Starlink satellites: Caleb Henry, “Musk: We’re Not Spinning Off Starlink,” Space-News, March 9, 2020, https://spacenews.com/musk-were-not-spinning-off-starlink/. 186 “Push the button”: Jackie Wattles, “NASA Administrator Tells Elon Musk’s SpaceX ‘It’s Time to Deliver,’ ” CNN, September 28, 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/28/business/elon-musk-spacex-nasa-bridenstine-crew-dragon/index.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CI%20am%20looking%20forward%20to,to%20deliver%2C%E2%80%9D%20he%20said. 187 “Did he say Commercial Crew”: “Elon Musk: Starship Could Take People to Orbit Within a Year,” CNN, September 29, 2019, https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2019/09/29/elon-musk-starship-interview-orig.cnn. 188 “drogue parachutes”: Anna C.

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CHAPTER 14 215 Jeff Bezos had vowed: Stephen Clark, “Blue Origin’s Staying Power Bankrolled by Jeff Bezos’ Multibillion-Dollar Investment,” Spaceflight Now, April 6, 2017, https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/04/06/blue-origins-staying-power-bankrolled-by-jeff-bezoss-multibillion-dollar-investment/. 215 $579 million: Christian Davenport, “Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk Win Contracts for Spacecraft to Land Astronauts on the Moon,” The Washington Post, April 30, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/04/30/jeff-bezos-elon-musk-win-contracts-spacecraft-land-nasa-astronauts-moon/. 216 “national team”: Christian Davenport, “Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to Team Up with Aerospace Giants to Help Meet Trump’s Moon Mandate,” The Washington Post, October 22, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/10/22/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-team-up-with-aerospace-giants-help-meet-trumps-moon-mandate/. 216 January 25, 2020: Jeff Stein and Abha Bhattarai, “White House Adviser Accuses Amazon’s Jeff Bezos of Backing Out of Meeting on Fake Products,” The Washington Post, February 5, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/02/05/white-house-adviser-accuses-amazons-jeff-bezos-backing-out-meeting-fake-products/. 217 “There was significant”: Jay Greene, “Amazon Cloud Boss Chides Pentagon for Awarding Microsoft Lucrative Contract,” The Washington Post, December 4, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/12/04/amazon-cloud-boss-chides-pentagon-awarding-microsoft-lucrative-contract/. 217 On January 31, 2020: Editorial Board, “NASA Keeps Falling Victim to Presidential Whims,” The Washington Post, January 31, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/nasa-keeps-falling-victim-to-presidential-whims/2020/01/31/a85641e4-43ab-11ea-aa6a-083d01b3ed18_story.html. 218 “had never ordered up”: Martin Baron, Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and The Washington Post (Flatiron Books, 2023), chap. 8, Kindle. 218 “This is cowardice”: Marty Baron, post on X, October 25, 2024, https://x.com/PostBaron/status/1849847940761657353. 220 “It’s obviously a very different”: Stephen Clark, “NASA Identifies Risks in SpaceX’s Starship Lunar Lander Proposal,” Spaceflight Now, May 1, 2020, https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/05/01/nasa-identifies-risks-in-spacexs-starship-lunar-lander-proposal/. 221 It burst: Jeff Foust, “SpaceX Starship Suffers Testing Setback,” SpaceNews, November 20, 2019, https://spacenews.com/spacex-starship-suffers-testing-setback/. 221 “It will definitely get fancier”: Dave Mosher, “Inside the ‘Awkward,’ ‘Tense,’ and ‘Heated’ Private Meeting Between Elon Musk and Texans Whom SpaceX Is Trying to Buy Out to Fully Realize Its Vision to Reach Mars,” Business Insider, October 15, 2019, https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-boca-chica-village-private-meeting-buyouts-2019-10. 222 “My new thing is management”: Christian Davenport and Faiz Siddiqui, “How Elon Musk Went from Sleeping on the Factory Floor to Being on the Cusp of Flying Astronauts to Space,” The Washington Post, February 21, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/02/21/how-elon-musk-went-sleeping-factory-being-cusp-launching-crew-into-space/. 222 February 2020: Christian von Preysing, “Exclusive: Interview with SpaceX Founder at Boca Chica Job Fair,” KRGV, February 7, 2020, https://www.krgv.com/news/exclusive-interview-with-spacex-founder-at-boca-chica-job-fair/. 222 “You know the term”: Christian Davenport, “Elon Musk’s Improbable Mars Quest Runs Through a Border Town Concerned with More Than Getting to Space,” The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/09/30/elon-musks-improbable-mars-quest-runs-through-border-town-concerned-with-more-than-getting-space/. 223 The first, SN-1: Tariq Malik, “SpaceX’s Starship SN1 Prototype Appears to Burst During Pressure Test,” Space.com, March 1, 2020, https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-sn1-prototype-bursts-videos.html. 223 SN-3 collapsed: Jeff Foust, “Third Starship Prototype Destroyed in Tanking Test,” SpaceNews, April 3, 2020, https://spacenews.com/third-starship-prototype-destroyed-in-tanking-test/. 223 “We need to accelerate”: Michael Sheetz, “Elon Musk Tells SpaceX Employees That Its Starship Rocket Is the Top Priority Now,” CNBC, June 7, 2020, https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/07/elon-musk-email-to-spacex-employees-starship-is-the-top-priority.html#:~:text=%22We%20need%20to%20accelerate%20Starship,SpaceX%20unveiled%20the%20latest%20prototype. 225 more than $30 billion: Michael Sheetz, “SpaceX Valuation Rises to $33.3 Billion as Investors Look to Satellite Opportunity,” CNBC, May 31, 2019, https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/31/spacex-valuation-33point3-billion-after-starlink-satellites-fundraising.html. 225 “like rebuilding the Internet”: Cecilia Kang and Christian Davenport, “SpaceX Founder Files with Government to Provide Internet Service from Space,” The Washington Post, June 9, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/spacex-founder-files-with-government-to-provide-internet-service-from-space/2015/06/09/db8d8d02-0eb7-11e5-a0dc-2b6f404ff5cf_story.html. 225 “successfully gone into operation”: Stephen Clark, “SpaceX’s First 60 Starlink Broadband Satellites Deployed in Orbit,” Spaceflight Now, May 24, 2019, https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/05/24/spacexs-first-60-starlink-broadband-satellites-deployed-in-orbit/. 225 “Total Internet connectivity revenue”: Sheetz, “SpaceX Valuation Rises to $33.3 Billion.” 226 “This was one of the hardest”: Alan Boyle, “SpaceX’s Elon Musk Says ‘Goodness’ Will Come from Twice-Delayed Starlink Launch,” GeekWire, May 16, 2019, https://www.geekwire.com/2019/spacex-elon-musk-starlink/. 226 “I do believe”: Christian Davenport, “Elon Musk’s SpaceX Is Striving to Win the Race to Build the Internet in Space,” The Washington Post, May 15, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/05/15/can-we-get-wifi-outer-space-elon-musk-others-are-trying/. 226 Amazon planned: Amazon Staff, “Amazon Receives FCC Approval for Project Kuiper Satellite Constellation,” July 30, 2020, https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-receives-fcc-approval-for-project-kuiper-satellite-constellation. 226 One of the first things: Michael Sheetz, “Bezos Hired a SpaceX Vice President to Run Amazon’s Satellite Internet Project After Musk Fired Him,” CNBC, April 7, 2019, https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/07/amazon-hired-former-spacex-management-for-bezos-satellite-internet.html. 227 That year, investors: “Start-up Space: Update on Investment in Commercial Space Ventures,” BryceTech.com, https://brycetech.com/reports/report-documents/Bryce_Start_Up_Space_2020.pdf. 227 “We wanted to be”: Irina Liu, Evan Linck, Bhavya Lal, Keith W.

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CHAPTER 14 215 Jeff Bezos had vowed: Stephen Clark, “Blue Origin’s Staying Power Bankrolled by Jeff Bezos’ Multibillion-Dollar Investment,” Spaceflight Now, April 6, 2017, https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/04/06/blue-origins-staying-power-bankrolled-by-jeff-bezoss-multibillion-dollar-investment/. 215 $579 million: Christian Davenport, “Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk Win Contracts for Spacecraft to Land Astronauts on the Moon,” The Washington Post, April 30, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/04/30/jeff-bezos-elon-musk-win-contracts-spacecraft-land-nasa-astronauts-moon/. 216 “national team”: Christian Davenport, “Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to Team Up with Aerospace Giants to Help Meet Trump’s Moon Mandate,” The Washington Post, October 22, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/10/22/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-team-up-with-aerospace-giants-help-meet-trumps-moon-mandate/. 216 January 25, 2020: Jeff Stein and Abha Bhattarai, “White House Adviser Accuses Amazon’s Jeff Bezos of Backing Out of Meeting on Fake Products,” The Washington Post, February 5, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/02/05/white-house-adviser-accuses-amazons-jeff-bezos-backing-out-meeting-fake-products/. 217 “There was significant”: Jay Greene, “Amazon Cloud Boss Chides Pentagon for Awarding Microsoft Lucrative Contract,” The Washington Post, December 4, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/12/04/amazon-cloud-boss-chides-pentagon-awarding-microsoft-lucrative-contract/. 217 On January 31, 2020: Editorial Board, “NASA Keeps Falling Victim to Presidential Whims,” The Washington Post, January 31, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/nasa-keeps-falling-victim-to-presidential-whims/2020/01/31/a85641e4-43ab-11ea-aa6a-083d01b3ed18_story.html. 218 “had never ordered up”: Martin Baron, Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and The Washington Post (Flatiron Books, 2023), chap. 8, Kindle. 218 “This is cowardice”: Marty Baron, post on X, October 25, 2024, https://x.com/PostBaron/status/1849847940761657353. 220 “It’s obviously a very different”: Stephen Clark, “NASA Identifies Risks in SpaceX’s Starship Lunar Lander Proposal,” Spaceflight Now, May 1, 2020, https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/05/01/nasa-identifies-risks-in-spacexs-starship-lunar-lander-proposal/. 221 It burst: Jeff Foust, “SpaceX Starship Suffers Testing Setback,” SpaceNews, November 20, 2019, https://spacenews.com/spacex-starship-suffers-testing-setback/. 221 “It will definitely get fancier”: Dave Mosher, “Inside the ‘Awkward,’ ‘Tense,’ and ‘Heated’ Private Meeting Between Elon Musk and Texans Whom SpaceX Is Trying to Buy Out to Fully Realize Its Vision to Reach Mars,” Business Insider, October 15, 2019, https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-boca-chica-village-private-meeting-buyouts-2019-10. 222 “My new thing is management”: Christian Davenport and Faiz Siddiqui, “How Elon Musk Went from Sleeping on the Factory Floor to Being on the Cusp of Flying Astronauts to Space,” The Washington Post, February 21, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/02/21/how-elon-musk-went-sleeping-factory-being-cusp-launching-crew-into-space/. 222 February 2020: Christian von Preysing, “Exclusive: Interview with SpaceX Founder at Boca Chica Job Fair,” KRGV, February 7, 2020, https://www.krgv.com/news/exclusive-interview-with-spacex-founder-at-boca-chica-job-fair/. 222 “You know the term”: Christian Davenport, “Elon Musk’s Improbable Mars Quest Runs Through a Border Town Concerned with More Than Getting to Space,” The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/09/30/elon-musks-improbable-mars-quest-runs-through-border-town-concerned-with-more-than-getting-space/. 223 The first, SN-1: Tariq Malik, “SpaceX’s Starship SN1 Prototype Appears to Burst During Pressure Test,” Space.com, March 1, 2020, https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-sn1-prototype-bursts-videos.html. 223 SN-3 collapsed: Jeff Foust, “Third Starship Prototype Destroyed in Tanking Test,” SpaceNews, April 3, 2020, https://spacenews.com/third-starship-prototype-destroyed-in-tanking-test/. 223 “We need to accelerate”: Michael Sheetz, “Elon Musk Tells SpaceX Employees That Its Starship Rocket Is the Top Priority Now,” CNBC, June 7, 2020, https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/07/elon-musk-email-to-spacex-employees-starship-is-the-top-priority.html#:~:text=%22We%20need%20to%20accelerate%20Starship,SpaceX%20unveiled%20the%20latest%20prototype. 225 more than $30 billion: Michael Sheetz, “SpaceX Valuation Rises to $33.3 Billion as Investors Look to Satellite Opportunity,” CNBC, May 31, 2019, https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/31/spacex-valuation-33point3-billion-after-starlink-satellites-fundraising.html. 225 “like rebuilding the Internet”: Cecilia Kang and Christian Davenport, “SpaceX Founder Files with Government to Provide Internet Service from Space,” The Washington Post, June 9, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/spacex-founder-files-with-government-to-provide-internet-service-from-space/2015/06/09/db8d8d02-0eb7-11e5-a0dc-2b6f404ff5cf_story.html. 225 “successfully gone into operation”: Stephen Clark, “SpaceX’s First 60 Starlink Broadband Satellites Deployed in Orbit,” Spaceflight Now, May 24, 2019, https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/05/24/spacexs-first-60-starlink-broadband-satellites-deployed-in-orbit/. 225 “Total Internet connectivity revenue”: Sheetz, “SpaceX Valuation Rises to $33.3 Billion.” 226 “This was one of the hardest”: Alan Boyle, “SpaceX’s Elon Musk Says ‘Goodness’ Will Come from Twice-Delayed Starlink Launch,” GeekWire, May 16, 2019, https://www.geekwire.com/2019/spacex-elon-musk-starlink/. 226 “I do believe”: Christian Davenport, “Elon Musk’s SpaceX Is Striving to Win the Race to Build the Internet in Space,” The Washington Post, May 15, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/05/15/can-we-get-wifi-outer-space-elon-musk-others-are-trying/. 226 Amazon planned: Amazon Staff, “Amazon Receives FCC Approval for Project Kuiper Satellite Constellation,” July 30, 2020, https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-receives-fcc-approval-for-project-kuiper-satellite-constellation. 226 One of the first things: Michael Sheetz, “Bezos Hired a SpaceX Vice President to Run Amazon’s Satellite Internet Project After Musk Fired Him,” CNBC, April 7, 2019, https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/07/amazon-hired-former-spacex-management-for-bezos-satellite-internet.html. 227 That year, investors: “Start-up Space: Update on Investment in Commercial Space Ventures,” BryceTech.com, https://brycetech.com/reports/report-documents/Bryce_Start_Up_Space_2020.pdf. 227 “We wanted to be”: Irina Liu, Evan Linck, Bhavya Lal, Keith W.

Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of War
by Raj M. Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff
Published 8 Jul 2024

The ways he is wielding that influence are raising global alarms,” New York Times, June 28, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/07/28/business/starlink.html. Refused to extend Starlink’s capabilities: Victoria Kim, “Elon Musk Acknowledges Withholding Satellite Service to Thwart Ukrainian Attack: The Starlink satellite internet service, which is operated by Mr. Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, has been a digital lifeline for soldiers and civilians in Ukraine,” New York Times, September 8, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/08/world/europe/elon-musk-starlink-ukraine.html. Would Elon decide to sell his services to Taiwan: Cade Metz, Adam Satariano, and Chang Che, “How Elon Musk Became a Geopolitical Chaos Agent,” New York Times, October 26, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/26/technology/elon-musk-geopolitics-china-ukraine.html.

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The balloon itself seemed to have used the DIU playbook, crammed as it was full of commercially available U.S. gear connected to more specialized Chinese sensors. Across every military domain, commercial technology continued to change the game. SpaceX had by now launched forty-five hundred Starlink satellites—more than half of all satellites in orbit. Some thirty-seven thousand more were on the way. Elon Musk now had more control over satellite communications than the world’s superpowers. In one instance he refused to extend Starlink’s capabilities to Ukrainian military units aspiring to attack Russian warships in the Crimean Peninsula with unmanned explosive sea drones. The war in Ukraine now turned on what one man said rather than what the U.S. and Ukraine decided.

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Ukraine was losing five thousand drones a month: Jack Watling and Nick Reynolds, “Meatgrinder: Russian Tactics in the Second Year of Its Invasion of Ukraine,” Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies, May 19, 2023, https://static.rusi.org/403-SR-Russian-Tactics-web-final.pdf. Tobol works by blending: Alex Horton, “Russia Tests Secretive Weapon to Target Spacex’s Starlink in Ukraine,” Washington Post, April 18, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/04/18/discord-leaks-starlink-ukraine/. “the war answers a central question”: Eric Schmidt, “Trip Report from Ukraine,” Special Competitive Studies Project, September 2022, https://scsp222.substack.com/p/the-first-networked-war-eric-schmidts. “If you go into battle with old school technology”: Eric Lipton, “Start-Ups Bring Silicon Valley Ethos to a Lumbering Military-Industrial Complex,” New York Times, May 21, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/21/us/politics/start-ups-weapons-pentagon-procurement.html.

Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter
by Kate Conger and Ryan Mac
Published 17 Sep 2024

“Twitter Was Blocked in Turkey, Internet-Monitoring Group Says.” New York Times, February 8, 2023, sec. World. nytimes.com/2023/02/08/world/europe/turkey-earthquake-twitter-blocked.html. GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT Musk, whose SpaceX was pushing to launch its Starlink: Fernholz, Tim. “How Turkey Is Using Starlink to Win a Tesla Factory.” Quartz, September 18, 2023. qz.com/turkey-erdogan-elon-musk-starlink-spacex-tesla-1850849958. GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT Twitter had faced immense pressure from Narendra: Lyons, Kim. “Police in India Raid Twitter Offices in Probe of Tweets with ‘Manipulated Media’ Label.”

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At first, he showed unwavering support for Ukraine and played the hero, saying that SpaceX’s satellite internet service, Starlink, would be available in the country. “Hold Strong Ukraine,” he tweeted in the early weeks of the invasion, with six Ukrainian flag emojis. Later, he posted in a mix of Russian and English to challenge Vladimir Putin to “single combat.” Musk, however, grew increasingly uncomfortable with his initial position. In early March, he tweeted that he refused requests by some foreign governments to block Russian news sources that had been used to spread propaganda about the war from Starlink’s internet. “Sorry to be a free speech absolutist,” he wrote, angering Ukrainian supporters who saw his move as tacit endorsement and enabling of the Kremlin’s information warfare.

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In 2016, Russia’s Internet Research Agency used credit cards to buy $200,000 of advertising on Facebook to sow social unrest in the U.S. Musk underscored his belief later in the meeting. He didn’t hold the Kremlin’s hacking capabilities in high regard because they hadn’t disrupted Starlink, the SpaceX-developed satellite internet service that was used by the Ukrainian army in its war against Russia. “These could be famous last words, but thus far the Russian attempts to hack Starlink have been not very good,” he said, casually revealing war secrets to a bunch of civilians. When Musk left the room a few minutes later to talk with his assistant, those who had remained quiet during his bizarre explanation sprang into life.

When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach
by Ashlee Vance
Published 8 May 2023

And it would continue to do so if the situation were static—which it most certainly is not. By the end of 2021, there were five thousand satellites in orbit. About two thousand of them were built and launched by SpaceX. These satellites do not take photos but rather are part of SpaceX’s Starlink internet system. The machines orbit around the earth and beam down high-speed internet to antennas on the ground. The major near-term objective of Starlink is to create the first truly global internet service. Anyone with a Starlink antenna can tap into the Web from wherever they are. For roughly 3.5 billion people who cannot get a high-speed internet connection, this could be a godsend.

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The 3.5 billion people without access to high-speed internet tend to live in the poorer parts of the world. How much money SpaceX or Amazon could make from those customers remains to be seen. Businesses and wealthier individuals will pay for the convenience of a quick connection wherever they go, but, again, nobody knows how large the audience will be. As things stand, SpaceX is valued by its investors at more than $100 billion, and the vast majority of that figure is premised on Starlink creating a major revenue stream. Even for a company as efficient as SpaceX, there are not huge profits in rocket launches. It’s much better to be a worldwide telecommunications company with subscribers paying monthly fees.

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And when other bombings or attacks occurred, open-source analysts began matching satellite images with photos and reports from the ground to try to establish more truths about what was going on in the war. No other conflict had ever been documented this way. When the Russians attempted to destroy Ukraine’s communications infrastructure, SpaceX sent Ukraine thousands of Starlink antennas. The space internet enabled Ukraine’s military to keep operating in a fashion that would have been impossible a couple of years earlier. Military units could still talk to each other safely with the Russians unable to penetrate Starlink’s encryption technology. The same Starlink systems allowed Ukrainian drone operators to orchestrate thousands of bombing missions from locations all around the country. Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Elon Musk to thank him, and Ukrainian generals posted similar thanks online.

A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?
by Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith
Published 6 Nov 2023

Sadly for many a geeky heart, the prices stopped falling around the early 1970s, and the Space Shuttle, which was supposed to make travel routine, cheap, and safe, failed on all three fronts, remaining, by one estimate, the costliest way to put mass in orbit for decades. That was the state of play until the 2010s when, largely as a result of a US policy shift and SpaceX in particular, the cost of putting stuff in space began to fall dramatically again. This doesn’t just mean more rocket launches, it means more spacecraft. In 2015, there were about fourteen hundred active satellites. As of 2021, there were about five thousand; and as of October 2022, around three thousand working satellites are controlled by SpaceX’s satellite internet service, Starlink. Space tourism, long promised but rarely delivered on, appears to actually be happening. Jeff Bezos’s rocket company Blue Origin regularly sends people on 100-kilometer-high hops, and SpaceX has contracted to send tourists around the Moon.

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If you’re like most of the nonexperts we’ve talked to as we researched this book, you might have some ideas about space settlement that aren’t quite right. We don’t blame you—the public discourse around space settlement is full of myths, fantasies, and outright misunderstanding of basic facts. In 2020, for example, SpaceX’s internet service provider, Starlink, released a Terms of Service agreement that declared that “no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities.” This clause is like many statements about outer space settlement: it was promoted by a powerful advocate, widely shared and commented upon, and profoundly misleading.

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Measuring exactly how militarized space has become is tricky, however, because satellites are “dual use.” Almost any object orbiting the Earth can be repurposed for tactical reasons. This was apparent from the earliest days of space-travel theory, when Hermann Oberth proposed a giant mirror in space, for combination agricultural and death-beam purposes. The latest example is SpaceX’s thousands of Starlink satellites. Launched originally for the purpose of transmitting internet stuff, they became integral to the Ukrainian resistance against Russian invasion after Elon Musk had several thousand terminals shipped over. Soon after, the Russian Federation felt compelled to announce that “quasi-civilian infrastructure may become a legitimate target for retaliation.”

The Case for Space: How the Revolution in Spaceflight Opens Up a Future of Limitless Possibility
by Robert Zubrin
Published 30 Apr 2019

David Grossman, “The Race for Space-Based Internet Is On,” Popular Mechanics, January 3, 2018, https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a14539476/the-race-for-space-based-internet-is-on/ (accessed October 14, 2018). 9. Patrick Daniels, “SpaceX Starlink: Here's Everything You Need to Know,” Digital Trends, August 5, 2018, https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/spacex-starlink-elon-musk-news/ (accessed October 14, 2018). 10. Committee on Achieving Science Goals with CubeSats, Achieving Science with CubeSats: Thinking Inside the Box (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2016). 11. Sandra Erwin, “US Intelligence: Russia and China Will Have ‘Operational’ Anti-Satellite Weapons in a Few Years,” Space News, February 14, 2018, https://spacenews.com/u-s-intelligence-russia-and-china-will-have-operational-anti-satellite-weapons-in-a-few-years/ (accessed October 14, 2018). 12.

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See also nanotechnology SETI, 256–57, 258 SFS (Small Falcon Spaceship), 111–12 Shackleton Crater (on the moon), 76 Shakespeare, William, 22, 34 SHARAD ground-penetrating radar, 14, 106 Shelley, Percy B., 334 Shergotty (SNC meteorite), 343 Sieck, Paul, 180 silicon, 72, 82–83, 149, 171, 232, 285, 303–304 single-stage rocket systems, 40–41, 45, 344 payloads for one and two stage reusable rockets, 42 skyhook, 93–97, 115–17 Skylab space station, 118, 132 Slough, John, 179 SLS rocket (NASA), 36, 77, 132, 134, 157 Smallest Possible Affordable Robust Compact (SPARC), 177 Small Falcon Spaceship (SFS), 111–12 Smolin, Lee, 262, 263 SNC meteorites, 119–20, 343 Snyder, Timothy, 308 Socrates, 312 SoftBank Group, 53 Sojourner (Mars lander), 105 solar energy, 31, 34, 57, 73, 76, 159, 265, 304 limited availability in outer solar system, 167, 173–74 sending from moon back to earth, 82–83, 90 solar power satellites, 34, 57–60 use of on Mars, 111 solar flare, 101, 343 solar light pressure at 1 AU, 200 solar sails, plate 13, 116, 196–98, 221, 234, 235, 258, 344 use of as reflectors to increase solar flux, 222–23 use of to amplify brightness of stars, 237–38 See also IKAROS solar sail spacecraft; light sails solar wind, 73, 74, 87, 88 solar-wind pushed magsail, 203, 204 Soyuz (Russian space launch system), 36 space activism, how to achieve, 327–31 what individuals can do, 331–34 space business parks, 50–51 Space Exploration Initiative, 105 spaceflights/space travel commercial benefits of communications and data satellites, 51–56 developing commercial energy system in space, 57–60 fast global travel on Earth, 40–43 going beyond Earth orbit, 66–68 orbital industries, 48–50 orbital research labs, 47–48, 50 space business parks, 50–51 space tourism, 45–47 fundamentals of rocketry, 43–45 change of mass ratio and payload of a rocket, 44 health effects of long-duration spaceflight, 133–35 military uses and deterring a war, 60–66 outer solar system need for advanced second or third generation systems to settle, 173–74 statistics on getting to and back from, 162 program of action to achieve, 328–31 what individuals can do, 331–34 reasons for pursuing for the challenges, 271–86 for the future we can create, 315–25 to gain more freedom, 301–25 for the knowledge gained, 249–69 need for a frontier and challenges, 272–74, 275–84 for survival of humanity, 287–99 spin-offs from space program, 284–86 STEM graduates in US (1960–1990), 285–86, 285 See also interstellar travel Space Frontier Foundation, 332–33 Space Internet, 53 space launches comparison of space launch systems, 36 costs of, 89–90 consequences of cheap space launches, 24–28 for developing solar power satellite systems, 57–58 getting to a $200 per kilogram cost, 27–28 importance of a two-stage system to reduce costs, 39–45 lower costs allowing for orbital industries, 49–50 See also commercial benefits of spaceflight Elon Musk and development of SpaceX, 30–37 impact of cost-plus contracts, 22–24, 330–31 need for reusable spacecraft, 21–23 rise of microlaunchers, 37–38 skyhook as alternate means of Earth-to-orbit transit, 93–94 See also propellants and propulsion space power, use of and deterring a war, 60–66 Space Resources (Lewis), 136 Spaceship One, 29 space superiority vs. space supremacy, 62–63 space tourism, 45–47 SpaceX, plate 6, plate 7, 12, 19–21, 21, 27–28, 53, 77, 84, 175, 211, 328 development of SpaceX, 30–37 heavy-lift rockets, 107 Interplanetary Transport System plan, plate 7, 107–10 Mini BFR, 110–12, 339 See also Starship (rocket) (SpaceX) planned 2023 artists’ cruise around, plate 9 sending Tesla Roadster past Mars, 11 size of, 39–40 Starlink satellites, 53 and two-stage systems, 41, 45 See also Falcon (rocket) (SpaceX); Musk, Elon SPARC (Smallest Possible Affordable Robust Compact) fusion reactor, 177 specific impulse (Isp), 45, 143, 160–61, 163, 193–94, 296, 297, 341, 344 spherical tokamak (ST), 175–76, 176, 180 “spheromak,” 180 spin-offs from space program, 284–86 STEM graduates in US (1960–1990), 285–86, 285 Spire Lemur-2 CubeSats, plate 4 Spirit rover (NASA), 106 SPS (solar power satellites), 34, 57–60 Sridhar, K. R., 147 SR-71 (Boeing), 277 ST (spherical tokamak), 175–76, 176, 180 Stapledon, Olaf, 238 Starlink (SpaceX), 53 Star Maker (Stapeldon), 238 stars, travel to. See interstellar travel Starship (rocket) (SpaceX), 11, 12, 27–28, 28, 41, 77, 112, 134–35, 344 originally known as BFR, 110, 334, 344 reducing launch costs of, 27 See also Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) (SpaceX) Star Trek (television series), 323 Steins (asteroid), 130 stellarators, 84 STEM graduates in US (1960–1990), 285–86, 285 Stoker, Carol, 333 Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) (US), 13 Stratolaunch, 12, 29–30 stromatolites (bacterial fossils), 260 Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS), 29, 34 “Summer Triangle,” 240 sunlight as source of propulsion.

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See also nanotechnology SETI, 256–57, 258 SFS (Small Falcon Spaceship), 111–12 Shackleton Crater (on the moon), 76 Shakespeare, William, 22, 34 SHARAD ground-penetrating radar, 14, 106 Shelley, Percy B., 334 Shergotty (SNC meteorite), 343 Sieck, Paul, 180 silicon, 72, 82–83, 149, 171, 232, 285, 303–304 single-stage rocket systems, 40–41, 45, 344 payloads for one and two stage reusable rockets, 42 skyhook, 93–97, 115–17 Skylab space station, 118, 132 Slough, John, 179 SLS rocket (NASA), 36, 77, 132, 134, 157 Smallest Possible Affordable Robust Compact (SPARC), 177 Small Falcon Spaceship (SFS), 111–12 Smolin, Lee, 262, 263 SNC meteorites, 119–20, 343 Snyder, Timothy, 308 Socrates, 312 SoftBank Group, 53 Sojourner (Mars lander), 105 solar energy, 31, 34, 57, 73, 76, 159, 265, 304 limited availability in outer solar system, 167, 173–74 sending from moon back to earth, 82–83, 90 solar power satellites, 34, 57–60 use of on Mars, 111 solar flare, 101, 343 solar light pressure at 1 AU, 200 solar sails, plate 13, 116, 196–98, 221, 234, 235, 258, 344 use of as reflectors to increase solar flux, 222–23 use of to amplify brightness of stars, 237–38 See also IKAROS solar sail spacecraft; light sails solar wind, 73, 74, 87, 88 solar-wind pushed magsail, 203, 204 Soyuz (Russian space launch system), 36 space activism, how to achieve, 327–31 what individuals can do, 331–34 space business parks, 50–51 Space Exploration Initiative, 105 spaceflights/space travel commercial benefits of communications and data satellites, 51–56 developing commercial energy system in space, 57–60 fast global travel on Earth, 40–43 going beyond Earth orbit, 66–68 orbital industries, 48–50 orbital research labs, 47–48, 50 space business parks, 50–51 space tourism, 45–47 fundamentals of rocketry, 43–45 change of mass ratio and payload of a rocket, 44 health effects of long-duration spaceflight, 133–35 military uses and deterring a war, 60–66 outer solar system need for advanced second or third generation systems to settle, 173–74 statistics on getting to and back from, 162 program of action to achieve, 328–31 what individuals can do, 331–34 reasons for pursuing for the challenges, 271–86 for the future we can create, 315–25 to gain more freedom, 301–25 for the knowledge gained, 249–69 need for a frontier and challenges, 272–74, 275–84 for survival of humanity, 287–99 spin-offs from space program, 284–86 STEM graduates in US (1960–1990), 285–86, 285 See also interstellar travel Space Frontier Foundation, 332–33 Space Internet, 53 space launches comparison of space launch systems, 36 costs of, 89–90 consequences of cheap space launches, 24–28 for developing solar power satellite systems, 57–58 getting to a $200 per kilogram cost, 27–28 importance of a two-stage system to reduce costs, 39–45 lower costs allowing for orbital industries, 49–50 See also commercial benefits of spaceflight Elon Musk and development of SpaceX, 30–37 impact of cost-plus contracts, 22–24, 330–31 need for reusable spacecraft, 21–23 rise of microlaunchers, 37–38 skyhook as alternate means of Earth-to-orbit transit, 93–94 See also propellants and propulsion space power, use of and deterring a war, 60–66 Space Resources (Lewis), 136 Spaceship One, 29 space superiority vs. space supremacy, 62–63 space tourism, 45–47 SpaceX, plate 6, plate 7, 12, 19–21, 21, 27–28, 53, 77, 84, 175, 211, 328 development of SpaceX, 30–37 heavy-lift rockets, 107 Interplanetary Transport System plan, plate 7, 107–10 Mini BFR, 110–12, 339 See also Starship (rocket) (SpaceX) planned 2023 artists’ cruise around, plate 9 sending Tesla Roadster past Mars, 11 size of, 39–40 Starlink satellites, 53 and two-stage systems, 41, 45 See also Falcon (rocket) (SpaceX); Musk, Elon SPARC (Smallest Possible Affordable Robust Compact) fusion reactor, 177 specific impulse (Isp), 45, 143, 160–61, 163, 193–94, 296, 297, 341, 344 spherical tokamak (ST), 175–76, 176, 180 “spheromak,” 180 spin-offs from space program, 284–86 STEM graduates in US (1960–1990), 285–86, 285 Spire Lemur-2 CubeSats, plate 4 Spirit rover (NASA), 106 SPS (solar power satellites), 34, 57–60 Sridhar, K.

The End of Astronauts: Why Robots Are the Future of Exploration
by Donald Goldsmith and Martin Rees
Published 18 Apr 2022

An excellent and detailed discussion of the hazards of radiation in space is “Space Radiation,” NASA Human Research Program Engagement and Communications, accessed August 15, 2021, https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/space_radiation_ebook.pdf. Regarding other causes of death revealed by the data: for non-Russian astronauts, 38 percent of deaths resulted from accidents; the comparable figure among Russian cosmonauts was only 17 percent. 14. Adam Mann, “Starlink: SpaceX’s Satellite Internet Project,” Space.com, May 28, 2021, https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-satellites.html. 15. Christian Davenport, “Thousands More Satellites Could Soon Be Launched into Space. Can the Federal Government Keep Up?,” Washington Post, July 23, 2020. 16. Louis de Gouyon Matignon, “The Kessler Syndrome,” Space Legal Issues, March 27, 2019, https://www.spacelegalissues.com/space-law-the-kessler-syndrome/. 17.

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Advances in miniaturization and changing economics have now enabled the launch of entire flotillas of small satellites—as many as one hundred on a single rocket. These satellites enable companies such as California’s Planet Labs to obtain daily images of the entire globe with a resolution sufficient to reveal road traffic, building sites, land use, and related information. Even greater advances lie in the near future, as SpaceX envisages that its Starlink project will place up to 40,000 satellites in orbit to create a network for enhanced global broadband communication.14 Other companies, including Amazon, have announced similar plans. In principle, these are exciting and welcome developments, the more so if they establish broadband internet connectivity in places currently without it, including many parts of Africa.

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Recent improvements in modern rocketry, both technological and economic, have come more from private projects than from governmental efforts, and in particular from Elon Musk’s SpaceX corporation, which has developed the capability of recovering the massive casing of a rocket’s first stage for reuse. SpaceX currently charges the United States government $1,250 per pound to send cargo to the International Space Station.7 Though this price may not reflect the true cost, since SpaceX seeks to secure government contracts for the future, it represents a good number to bear in mind. SpaceX’s success with its Falcon rockets contrasts markedly with NASA’s repeated problems with its next-generation SLS launch system, currently still in development while its efficacy remains in doubt.8 In summary, just as expected, experience and the geography of space have rendered access to near-Earth space fairly reliable, as well as considerably less expensive than travel to the distant objects that populate the solar system.

Elon Musk: A Mission to Save the World
by Anna Crowley Redding
Published 1 Jul 2019

You are going to want the Internet available to keep in touch with Earth while chilling (or engaging in your daily fight for survival) on Mars. In January 2015, Elon announced his plans to develop a space-based Internet called Starlink. The first step is providing satellite-based Internet for all of Earth. The satellites, some four thousand of them, would beam down broadband Internet from low Earth orbit. The price tag for a space-based Internet? $10 billion. And the number of people on the planet who would have improved access or their first access at all to the Internet? Roughly three billion. “Yeah, there is no question,” SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said. “It will change the world.”144 It took a while, but in 2018 Elon finally won approval from the Federal Communications Commission for his plan to build a global broadband network using SpaceX satellites.

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“It will change the world.”144 It took a while, but in 2018 Elon finally won approval from the Federal Communications Commission for his plan to build a global broadband network using SpaceX satellites. Elon has approval to launch a whopping 4,425 satellites to create his Starlink network. When Elon first announced the project, he made his ultimate goal clear. Eventually he wanted his network to deliver an Internet to Mars. “It will be important for Mars to have a global communications network as well,” he said, adding, “I don’t see anyone else doing it.”145 CHAPTER 12 THIS IS THE BORING BIT In the spring of 2018, Gary took center stage for a big talk.

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Air tanks on their backs and diving masks pulled into place, SpaceX employees fished rocket debris from the adjacent reef. Elon reassured his team. “SpaceX is in this for the long haul and, come hell or high water, we are going to make this work,”98 he said. Even though the launch had not been successful, SpaceX had made enough progress that the company was in the running for a NASA contract to build a cargo ship to resupply the International Space Station. In August, NASA awarded SpaceX a $278 million contract to start development. This was a huge win for SpaceX. The development would lead to the Falcon 9 rocket and the Dragon capsule.

Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX
by Eric Berger
Published 2 Mar 2021

Altan would go on to lead the avionics department at SpaceX, before leaving the company in January 2014. On his last day, the cafeteria in Hawthorne served his goulash to employees. He returned to SpaceX in 2016 for two more years. With his programming skills, Altan served as a senior engineer on the company’s new Starlink project. This is SpaceX’s ambitious plan to put thousands of small satellites into low-Earth orbit, and provide global internet service. To make this work, the satellites must communicate with one another as they zip overhead, creating a seamless stream of data for users on the ground. Altan left SpaceX just before the first prototypes were shipped.

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The list must start with Elon Musk. When I first proposed this book idea in early 2019, he eagerly agreed. His message to me was that I should talk to everyone. With this signal, both current employees at SpaceX and former employees agreed to talk with me at length about their experiences. Elon himself made plenty of time, generously inviting me to sit in on his technical meetings for Starship, Starlink, Raptor, and other projects at the company’s factory in Hawthorne. This helped me understand his leadership style. He also opened the doors to his factory-beneath-tents in Boca Chica where a new generation of engineers are building Starship, much in the iterative, fast-paced style of the Falcon 1 days.

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After learning of the Merlin engine’s modified design, Northrop sued in California state court, alleging Mueller and SpaceX had stolen trade secrets. SpaceX countersued, saying Northrop had used its position in an advisory role to the Air Force to essentially spy on SpaceX. Reagan said the Northrop lawsuit was ridiculous because SpaceX must have gone through fifty different designs for the Merlin’s injector, iterating all the while, blowing things up, and keeping his machinists busy in 2003 and 2004. “It seemed like a big joke to me,” he said of the lawsuit. By early 2005 the companies agreed to drop their mutual lawsuits. Neither admitted wrongdoing, or paid legal fees or damages. SpaceX likes to operate on its own terms and its own timeline.

The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything
by Matthew Ball
Published 18 Jul 2022

Once a wireless user’s data hits the tower, it moves to fixed-line backbones. Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet company, promises to provide high-bandwidth, low-latency internet service across the United States, and eventually the rest of the world. However, satellite internet doesn’t achieve ultra-low latency, especially at great distances. As of 2021, Starlink averages 18–55-ms travel time from your house to the satellite and back, but this time frame extends when the data has to go from New York to Los Angeles and back, as this involves traveling across multiple satellites or traditional terrestrial networks. In some cases, Starlink even exacerbates the problem of travel distances.

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See augmented reality (AR); virtual reality (VR) “mobile internet era,” 12, 35, 63, 64, 240, 242–44, 269, 291 Mojang, 114 Monsters University, 36, 89–90 Moore’s Law, 100, 161 “most favored nations” (MFN) clauses, 180–81, 183 Motorola, 158, 212, 213 multiplayer games battle royale games, 32–33, 91–93, 98, 114–15, 117n, 146–47, 268, 275 computing and, 75 “massively multiplayer” online games, 55 matchmaking, 81, 176, 178 the problem of concurrent users (CCUs), 54–55, 90–92, 122, 146, 234, 245, 261, 268, 283 see also specific games and gaming platforms Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs) and related topics, 7–8, 12, 13–14, 30 Musk, Elon Neuralink, 154 SpaceX, xi, 4, 87 Starlink, 87 Tesla, 101, 166, 271 X.com, 61 MySpace, 34, 274 Nadella, Satya, xii, 18, 141, 239, 279–80 Naked Sun, The, 5 Namco, 173 NASA, ix NASDAQ, 309 National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, ix National Basketball Association (NBA), 218, 259 National Football League (NFL), 139 National Science Foundation, x native apps, 26, 194–95 near-field communication (NFC), 142, 189, 199–200, 203 Nest Labs, 158 “netcode” solutions, 81–82 NetEase, 19–20 Netflix, 19, 49–53, 96, 100, 111, 187, 194, 196–98, 244, 270, 276n Netherlands, 203 Network Attached Storage (NAS) drive, 74 networking, 71–88, 85 acceptability thresholds in, 80–81 bandwidth and, 27, 41, 48–51, 64, 72–79, 80, 96, 100, 305 broadband operators, 15–16, 38, 49, 271 fiber optic networks, 27, 84, 87, 128 4G networks, 81, 87, 244, 245, 249 5G networks, 87, 243 the internet as a “network of networks,” 16, 23–24, 62 latency and, 27, 48–53, 64, 79–88, 95–96, 99–100, 230, 243, 248, 271, 305 network gateways, 130 rent-seeking and, 15, 299 3G networks, 243 undersea cables, 84–85, 85 Neuralink, 154 Neuromancer, 5–6, 8 Newsweek, 308 New World, 277 New York Times, xv, 4–5, 73, 224, 256 as an app, 149, 185, 194, 196, 202 Live Election feed, 49 Nexon, 105 NextVR, 144 Niantic, 115, 144, 275 Nike, 121, 139, 189–90, 208, 248, 264 Nintendo, 11, 104, 151–52, 173, 303 Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), 32, 173 Nintendo Switch, 30–32, 75, 97, 134, 174–76 Nintendo Wii, 132 Nokia, 136–37 non-fungible tokens (NFTs), 140, 216–22 avatars and identity, 218, 229, 293–94 fractionalization into fungible tokens/shares, 202 marketplaces, 202, 301 “minting” in, 217 speculation, 128, 220, 231 as useless, 220 nonprofit organizations, 227, 231 Nouns DAO, 229 Nuance Communication, 212 Nvidia, xii, 66, 97–98, 282 Android and, 213 GeForce Now, 131, 282, 286 market capitalization of, 166 NVM software development kit, 175 Omniverse, 136–37, 282 see also graphics processing units (GPUs); Huang, Jensen Nye, David, 242 “Oasis, The,” 22, 289 OBJ file format, 299 occlusion, 97 Oculus VR, xi, 21, 57, 143, 153, 160, 274, 276 Horizon Worlds, 115, 204, 277 Oculus Quest 2, 143, 145–47, 161–62 Population: One, 146–47, 268 Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), ix–x OKCupid, 19, 261 Omniverse from Nvidia, 136–37, 282 OnLive!

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See also PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG); Samsung Spaces, 144 SpaceX, xi, 4, 87 Spinal Fusion Laboratory, 268 Spotify, 96, 184–85, 196–98, 244, 255, 308 Square, 172, 187, 210, 299 Square Enix, 106, 303 standards and protocols file formats, 39, 41, 121–24, 123, 136, 299 OBJ file format, 299 open standards, 14, 17, 38 OpenGL, 175, 176 open-source, 15, 136, 175, 212–13, 231–33, 287 OpenXR, 193, 287–88 proprietary, 15, 35 “Protocol Wars,” 42, 62, 129 3D standards and exchanges, 135–40, 248 Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) standard, 240 see also Border Gateway Protocol (BGP); Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) Starlink satellite internet, 87 start-ups, 14, 17 acquisitions of, xiii, 141, 144 decentralization and, 214, 283 investments in, 190, 201 regionalization of the internet and, 302 see also CTRL-labs Star Wars, 8, 119, 139, 257–59 Steam, 67, 107–8, 177–82 ban on blockchain games, 234 “most favored nations” (MFN) clauses, 180–81, 183 real-time gaming chat in, 67 Steamworks, 108, 178, 180–81 Stephenson, Neal Cryptonomicon, 101n Diamond Age, The, 255n Snow Crash, 3–5, 8, 21–22, 43, 46–47, 66, 68, 305 Stimson, Henry L., x Stoll, Clifford, 308 Strategic Development Partners, 266 streaming, 77, 192, 132, 187n, 280.

Vassal State
by Angus Hanton
Published 25 Mar 2024

The Apollo space missions and the myriad inventions which NASA conceived and supported were not funded by private enterprise, even though many of these have been developed further by private capital. This backing includes funding the launch of 4,000 satellites by SpaceX, where even now state support continues: SpaceX has received $15 billion in US government contracts since 2003, and through Starlink has enabled worldwide internet access.5 3. Invest in people Thirdly, the British should protect their people and invest in them. By contrast, the US invests heavily in its citizens, including new arrivals. US immigrants are more likely to gain degrees than those in other OECD countries, and the US is a world leader in adult education.

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The Financial Times has been a close follower of the exploits of US private equity in Britain, with implicit warnings contained in articles by Daniel Thomas, Peggy Hollinger, Harriet Agnew and Kaye Wiggins. And Stephen Glover (the Daily Mail) has asked the essential question about what happens when critical authority over strategic assets is placed into the hands of billionaire tech titans – as is the case with Elon Musk’s Starlink internet provision in Ukraine. What’s striking is that the concerns about US economic power over the UK and the world cut right across many domestic political differences. The rest of us can see the outlines of the problem: our high streets and small businesses are under pressure, crushed by slick, US-dominated online competition and a tax regime which makes far greater claims on domestic businesses than on US corporations.

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Ronald Steel (New York: Atheneum, 1968). 2 Joanna Partridge, ‘UK arm of EDF returns to profit as household electricity prices soar’, Guardian (17 February 2023), https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/feb/17/uk-arm-of-edf-returns-to-profit-as-household-electricity-prices-soar. 3 Quoted in Leila Abboud, ‘France’s state-backed BPI raises “lake of cash” for stakes in domestic companies’, Financial Times (26 May 2020), https://www.ft.com/content/e66fb49d-1ab9-4442-8677-3d283bb5de60. 4 ‘Gross domestic spending on R&D’, OECD [website], https://data.oecd.org/rd/gross-domestic-spending-on-r-d.htm. 5 Noor Al-Sibai, ‘It turns out SpaceX and Tesla get way more government money than NPR’, Futurism [website] (15 April 2023), https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-tesla-government-money-npr. 6 John B. Horrigan, ‘Lifelong learning and technology’, Pew Research Center [website] (22 March 2016), https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2016/03/22/lifelong-learning-and-technology/. 7 Omri Wallach, ‘The top 100 companies of the world: the U.S. vs everyone else’, Visual Capitalist [website] (19 July 2021), https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-top-100-companies-of-the-world-the-u-s-vs-everyone-else/. 8 ‘Ownership of UK quoted shares: 2020’, Office for National Statistics [website] (3 March 2022), https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/investmentspensionsandtrusts/bulletins/ownershipofukquotedshares/2020. 9 See especially Figure 3 in Mike Brewer and Tom Wernham, ‘Income and wealth inequality explained in 5 charts’, Institute for Fiscal Studies [website] (9 November 2022), https://ifs.org.uk/articles/income-and-wealth-inequality-explained-5-charts. 10 18.6 per cent of people in Britain and 15.4 per cent of people in Poland are below the poverty line, according to CIA statistics.

Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT, and the Race That Will Change the World
by Parmy Olson

They suspected that as much as Musk said he cared about creating safer AI, he also wanted to be the person who built the most capable AI. He was already the wealthiest man on Earth and gaining unprecedented sway over American infrastructure: NASA was putting astronauts into space with SpaceX; Tesla was leading the charge on electric vehicle standards; and Musk’s satellite internet company, Starlink, was on course to try to shape the outcome of the Ukraine war. It was clear that Musk was also chronically unreliable. He had promised to donate $1 billion to OpenAI over several years, but instead had put in somewhere between $50 and $100 million— a rounding error for the world’s richest worrier about AI.

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Quora Radford, Alec Ramaswamy, Sridhar Reddit reinforcement learning by human feedback (RLHF) religion, Hassabis and Replika Republic: The Revolution Rethink Priorities Retro Biosciences Rohingya Romney, Mitt Roose, Kevin Rubin, Andy Rutkowski, Greg Schiffmann, Avi Schmidt, Eric Scott, Kevin Scribd Shadows of the Mind (Penrose) Shazeer, Noam Shear, Emmet short-term memory Silicon Valley Altman on Big Tech’s ability to buy competitors corporate bloat and looming concerns about tech giants and savior culture and years off and Singer, Peter singularity concept Singularity Summit (2010) Sivo, Nick Skype Snapchat social media Somasegar, Soma SpaceX Spinoza, Baruch Spotify Sprint Srinivas, Aravind Stable Diffusion Stanford University Starlink Stiegler, Marc Stiglitz, Joseph Stripe Suleyman, Mustafa AGI and Altman and charisma of conflict of visions with Hassabis and culture of DeepMind and ethics and safety oversight board and Facebook offer and formation of DeepMind and GIC plan and harassment claims and Hassabis and Hoffman and ideas about artificial intelligence and Inflection and large language models and real-world data and Summers, Larry Sunak, Rishi Sun Valley conference (2018) Superintelligence (Bostrom) Sutskever, Ilya AGI and Altman and on ChatGPT ChatGPT concerns and DeepMind and firing of Altman and large language models OpenAI board and role at OpenAI and salary at OpenAI and Superalignment Team and transformers and Sweeney, Latanya Tab (wearable AI) Tallinn, Jaan Tao, Terence Tay chatbot Taylor, Bret TechCrunch Tencent TensorFlow Tesla Theme Park game Thiel, Peter Thiel Fellowship Thrun, Sebastian Time magazine Tinder Toner, Helen transformers transhumanism Trump, Donald Tuna, Cari Turing, Alan Turing machines Twitch Twitter University College London US Department of Defense Uszkoreit, Jakob Vance, Ashlee Vaswani, Ashish Verily Life Sciences Verizon Vesteger, Margreth video games artificial intelligence and Dota Dota 2 Evil Genius Evil Genius 2 Fable Grand Theft Auto Hassabis and Minecraft Republic: The Revolution Theme Park Visual Studio wage effects Walker, Kent Wall Street Journal Washington Post WebText dataset Weinberg, Steven WhatsApp Whittaker, Meredith Wikipedia Winter Intelligence conference Wired word embedding Worldcoin World Economic Forum Xiaoice Y Combinator YouTube Yudkowsky, Eliezer Zaremba, Wojciech Zero to One (Thiel) Zuckerberg, Mark ZX Spectrum 48 ALSO BY PARMY OLSON We Are Anonymous: Inside the Hacker World of LulzSec, Anonymous, and the Global Cyber Insurgency ABOUT THE AUTHOR Parmy Olson is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist who has been covering the technology industry for more than thirteen years.

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“We hit it off straight away,” Hassabis says. The British entrepreneur knew that this could be an opportunity to raise more money to expand DeepMind’s research—and he also really wanted to see Musk’s rocket factory. Musk was establishing himself as a maverick tycoon who wanted to send humans to Mars with his company SpaceX. Hassabis arranged to meet Musk at the company’s headquarters in Los Angeles. Later the two men were sitting across from each other at the company’s canteen, amid rocket parts, and found themselves having a debate over who worked on the most historically important project: interplanetary colonization or developing super AI.

More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity
by Adam Becker
Published 14 Jun 2025

Going to Mars “enables us to backup the biosphere, protecting all life as we know it from a calamity on Earth,” he says, like asteroids, nuclear war, or rogue AI.60 Or, as he put it on Twitter, “We must preserve the light of consciousness by becoming a spacefaring civilization & extending life to other planets.”61 His preferred plan for doing so involves getting people to Mars—at first a few, and then a lot, with the ultimate plan of sending a million people there by 2050.62 As of this writing, he says he plans to land a SpaceX rocket on Mars by 2029.63 While taking Musk seriously is increasingly difficult—it seems likely that he’ll say and do many bizarre or hurtful things in the months between the writing and publishing of this book—he still has enormous power and influence, and SpaceX is certainly a serious company, at least for now. It is the sole provider of crewed launches on US soil for NASA (as of 2024), its Starlink system is one of the few options for cell service in many truly remote areas, and future versions of SpaceX’s existing Starship launch vehicles could, theoretically, go to Mars.

…

Those rocks, falling down from the Moon’s orbit to the surface of the Earth, would hit the atmosphere traveling at about ten kilometers per second (six miles per second), half as fast as the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs—easily powerful enough to cause death and destruction on a scale comparable to nuclear weapons.86 Nor is an arms race the only kind of international crisis that could be precipitated by an attempt to colonize space. In 2020, Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, made headlines with a clause buried in their user agreement that stated, in part, that “the parties recognize Mars as a free planet and that no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities. Accordingly, Disputes will be settled through self-governing principles, established in good faith, at the time of Martian settlement.”

…

Musk has done precisely that, quite explicitly: he has said that longtermism “is a close match for my philosophy” and claims that he is simply taking the actions he must take to preserve humanity.50 “Elon’s concept that SpaceX is on this mission to go to Mars as fast as possible and save humanity permeates every part of the company,” says Tom Moline, a former SpaceX engineer. “The company justifies casting aside anything that could stand in the way of accomplishing that goal, including worker safety.” Moline was fired after making complaints about the workplace at SpaceX. A 2023 Reuters report uncovered over six hundred workplace injuries, including amputations, head wounds, and one death. Most were never reported to OSHA. According to Reuters, SpaceX’s “lax safety culture, more than a dozen current and former employees said, stems in part from Musk’s disdain for perceived bureaucracy and a belief inside SpaceX that it’s leading an urgent quest to create a refuge in space from a dying Earth.”51 Such monomania makes things simple.

Battle for the Bird: Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, and the $44 Billion Fight for Twitter's Soul
by Kurt Wagner
Published 20 Feb 2024

A ABC, 199 Adeshola, TJ, 87, 103 advertising, 277 civil rights groups and, 238, 240 direct response, 119–20, 152 on Facebook, 120, 152, 234, 238 advertising on Twitter, 2, 5, 10–11, 33, 47–50, 53, 59, 72, 86–87, 108, 111, 119–20, 147, 152–53, 157, 164, 187, 188, 199, 218, 228, 258, 272, 276, 279, 289 Musk and, 232–36, 238–40, 243, 245–46, 248–52, 254, 264, 267, 284–85 Affleck, Ben, 57 Africa, 86–89, 91, 97, 103, 107–8, 139, 140 Agrawal, Parag, 5–6, 87, 88, 126, 143–44 executives fired by, 193, 199, 201 Mudge and, 207 Musk and, 148, 158, 159, 161–65, 180–81, 190, 191, 195, 199, 200, 202, 210, 220 Musk’s firing of, 221 as Twitter CEO, 143–48, 151–53, 157, 159, 161, 165, 180–84, 187, 190–93 and Twitter’s lawsuit against Musk, 202 Ahrendts, Angela, 24 Airbnb, 101 Ai Weiwei, 20 Al Adham, Mo, 82–83, 119 Alexander, Ali, 73, 284 Alibaba, 102 Allen & Company, 37 annual retreat of, 198–200 All-In, 190–91, 282 Al-Mahmoud, Mansoor Bin Ebrahim, 277 Alphabet, 4, 148 Amazon, 3, 24, 33, 37, 50, 62, 106 Alexa, 81 Web Services, 24 Amnesty International, 59 Andreessen, Marc, 205–6 Andreessen Horowitz, 186–87, 205–6, 217 Anti-Defamation League, 232, 238 antisemitism, 56, 232, 268, 284–85 AOL, 14, 24 Apple, 3, 24, 37, 50, 91, 233, 254, 285 App Store, 32–33 iPhone, 21, 152 iTunes, 16 Apprentice, The, 44 Arab Spring, 4, 10, 38 Ardern, Jacinda, 85 Argentina, 99 Armstrong, Tim, 24 artificial intelligence, 287 AT&T, 99 Athenahealth, 99 Atlantic, 209 Axel Springer SE, 160 B Babylon Bee, 153–54, 179, 271 Bain, Adam, 23, 25, 37, 40, 48 Baker, Jim, 124 Bankman-Fried, Sam, 174, 185 Baron Cohen, Sacha, 171 Barstool Sports, 138 Barton, Joe, 76–77 Bates, Tony, 24 Benioff, Marc, 35–36, 38, 158–59 Benson, Guy, 71, 72 Berland, Leslie, 65–67, 73, 195, 205, 213–14, 218, 236, 239, 280 Berlin, Erik, 240–42 Beykpour, Kayvon, 34, 81–83, 87, 119–21, 141, 152, 205, 224 firing of, 193, 199, 201, 224 Bezos, Jeff, 24, 50, 81, 199 Biden, Hunter, 123–25, 180–82, 220, 270 Biden, Joe, 123–24, 126–27, 206, 248, 270, 286 Bieber, Justin, 163 Biles, Simone, 92, 153 Bilton, Nick, 20 Birchall, Jared, 159, 161, 189, 217, 260 Bitcoin, 5, 88, 137–43, 147, 206, 209 Blackburn, Jeff, 37 Blackburn, Marsha, 72 Black Lives Matter, 4, 34, 46 Blair, Tony, 253 blockchain, 88, 139, 144, 176, 185 Blogger, 15, 19 Bloomberg, 33, 100, 206 Bluesky, 88, 136–37, 141, 142, 144, 288–89 Boko Haram, 92 Boring Company, 171, 176, 186, 217, 231, 281 Borrman, Brandon, 125 Box, 277 Brady, Tom, 95 Brand, Dalana, 103 Bravo, Orland, 185 Brazil, 223 Bridgewater Associates, 85 Brown, Michael, 46, 85 Buffett, Warren, 198 Burisma, 123, 270 Burke, Steve, 37 Bush, George W., 99, 253 Bush, Jeb, 45 Bush, Jonathan, 99 Business Insider, 193 ByteDance, 80 C Café Milano, 71–73 Calacanis, Jason, 174, 186, 190, 209, 217, 234, 282 Cape Coast Castle, 87 Carell, Steve, 9 Carlson, Tucker, 284 Carter, Flora, 138 CBS, 33, 162 CDC, 112, 113 celebrities, 10, 25, 57–59, 74, 92, 138, 141, 229, 250 Chancery Daily, 202–3 Chappelle, Dave, 273–74 Charlottesville white supremacist rally, 51, 59, 75 Charter Communications, 202 Chastain, Jessica, 57, 58 Chen, Jon, 225, 259 China, 196, 220 Christchurch mosque shootings, 85 Christie, Ron, 73 Cisco, 24 Citadel, 160 civil rights groups, 238, 240 Clinton, Hillary, 20, 34, 41, 42, 47–48, 50, 72, 86, 124 Clubhouse, 119 CNBC, 100, 224 CNN, 51, 72, 275 Coby, Gary, 48–49 Coca-Cola, 47 Code Conference, 47 Cohn, Jesse, 95, 99–101, 104–9, 143, 147, 156 Color of Change, 238 Comcast, 37, 198–99 Compaq Computer, 168 Compton, Kyle Wagner, 202 Congress, U.S., 83, 127, 134 Dorsey’s testimony before, 76–78, 125, 137–38, 140 conservatives, Republicans, 71–77, 84, 114, 125, 181, 196, 248, 269, 270, 284 conspiracy theories, 75, 233, 248 Consumer Price Index, 186 Conway, Kellyanne, 116, 272 Cook, Tim, 50 Cooper, Bradley, 25 Cornet, Manu, 215, 227–28 Costolo, Dick, 9–12, 20, 21, 53, 105, 181 Covid-19 pandemic, 106–8, 110–13, 115, 117–20, 124, 141, 142, 146, 147, 152, 153, 193, 196, 230, 232, 245, 267, 284 Cramer, Jim, 100 Crawford, Esther, 230–31, 242, 288 Crowell, Colin, 52, 84 Cruz, Ted, 45, 125 cryptocurrencies, 144, 172, 174, 176, 185 Bitcoin, 5, 88, 137–43, 147, 206, 209 Dogecoin, 176 Cue, Eddy, 37 Culbertson, Lauren, 84 Currie, Peter, 23, 25 Curtis, Jamie Lee, 57 D Daily Mail, 224 Dalio, Ray, 85 Daly, Carson, 31 DARPA, 206 Davis, Dantley, 119 Davis, Steve, 176, 217, 231, 237–38, 281 Deadmau5, 138 Defense Department, 206 Delaware Court of Chancery, 200–210 Dell, 101 Democrats, 73, 77, 83, 84, 92, 114, 127, 196, 248 DeSantis, Ron, 173 Dictator, The, 171 Dillon, Seth, 154 Diplo, 142 Disney, 36–38, 96, 177, 199, 285 Dispatch Management Services, 13–14 DNet, 14 Dogecoin, 176 Döpfner, Mathias, 160 Dorsey, Jack, 21–25, 223, 288–89 Africa trip and plans of, 86–89, 91, 97, 103, 107–8, 139, 140 Analyst Day and, 118–22 Bitcoin as interest of, 5, 88, 137–43, 147, 209 Bluesky service of, 88, 136–37, 141, 142, 144, 288–89 at Café Milano dinner, 71–73 celebrities and, 25, 74, 138, 141 childhood of, 12–13, 66, 110 as coder, 13, 16, 139 as college student, 13 in congressional hearings, 76–78, 125, 137–38, 140 conservative outreach of, 71–74 Covid-19 pandemic and, 110, 112 early internet use of, 13 Elliott Management and, 96, 99–109, 118, 121, 143, 145–47, 156, 157, 228, 273, 289 first tech job of, 13 forty-second birthday of, 79 Gadde and, 53, 54, 84, 129–30, 172–73, 180–82 as introvert, 12, 15, 26, 66, 101 Kidd and, 13–15 lifestyle of, 26, 64–65, 79–80 Loomer and, 77, 140 management style of, 19, 31–32, 85–86, 109, 142, 182 meditation practice of, 26, 64, 66, 79, 86, 90 Miami trip of, 138–41 move to New York, 13–14 move to San Francisco, 14 Mudge and, 206–7 Musk and, 1–3, 68, 92–94, 103–4, 109, 142, 148, 155–57, 159, 161, 165, 172–73, 176, 179, 80–81, 186, 194, 209–10, 244–45, 263, 288–89 and Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, 1–3, 5, 176, 179, 180–82, 186, 210, 244–45, 288, 289 at Odeo, 15–17 political views of, 73 Rogen and, 58–59 as Square CEO, 12, 21–23, 25, 26–27, 74, 86–88, 96, 97, 100, 101, 105, 139, 141, 145, 147 STAT.US idea of, 14 Storytime and, 110, 182 on Today show, 31, 32 travels and meetings in 2019, 85 Trump and, 46–47, 49–50, 54, 73, 84 “Trust” email of, 40–41 Twitter acquisition bids and, 35–41 Twitter Blue and, 228 Twitter board’s relationship with, 3, 101, 109, 145, 176, 182, 194 as Twitter CEO, 4, 9–12, 18–25, 26–29, 31–32, 35, 37–38, 40, 45, 54, 76, 79, 80, 96, 97, 100–109, 110, 118, 126, 135, 141, 143–45, 147–48, 153, 169, 182, 261 as Twitter chairman, 19, 20, 147 Twitter content moderation policies and, 54, 56, 58–61, 71–72, 112, 125, 129, 130, 135–37, 140, 155–57, 181–82, 268, 272–73, 288 Twitter Files and, 272 and Twitter lawsuit against Musk, 205 Twitter resignation of, 141–48, 151, 155, 156, 161, 273 at Twitter retreats, 28–30, 64–68, 85–86, 90–94 and Twitter’s banning of Trump, 130, 132, 133, 135–37, 147 Twitter’s transition from idea to company as viewed by, 1–2 Twitter three-year business plan and, 119–21 Dorsey, Marcia, 27, 64, 66, 73, 76, 90, 135 Dorsey, Tim, 66, 73, 90, 135 Dot Collector, 85 Dotcom, Kim, 267, 277 Duke, David, 51 Duncan, Jeff, 77 Durban, Egon, 101–6, 108, 157, 158 Duysak, Bahtiyar, 61–62 Dweck, Carol, 28 E eBay, 99–100, 169 Edgett, Sean, 117, 221 Ehrenpreis, Ira, 162 elections2016 presidential, 34, 41, 42–52, 61–63, 77, 86, 114, 124, 125 2020 presidential, 73, 87, 111, 113–16, 118, 123–29, 131, 152, 270, 284 2022 midterm, 238, 243, 248, 254 Eli Lilly, 253–54 Elliott Management, 95–109, 118, 121, 126, 143, 145–47, 156, 157, 158, 228, 273, 289 Ellison, Larry, 163, 175, 177, 185, 186, 205, 209 ElonJet, 266, 275 email, 136 engineers, 217–18, 224–26, 243, 247, 261–65 Erdogan, Recep Tayyip, 277 ESPN, 38 Ethiopia, 87–88 Ezekwesili, Obiageli “Oby,” 92 F Facebook, 23, 28, 29, 32, 33, 36, 50, 57, 75, 77, 78, 80, 81, 85, 91, 106, 112, 119, 137, 158, 177, 277 advertising on, 120, 152, 234, 238 revenues of, 4, 98, 148 size of, 10 stock of, 98 Trump and, 49, 51–52, 134, 135 Falck, Bruce, 67, 90, 119–21, 152–53, 205 firing of, 193, 199, 201 FBI, 270 Federal Trade Commission, 177, 207, 208, 258–60, 281 Ferguson protests, 45–46, 85 Fidelity, 279 Fiorina, Carly, 45 Flores, Mayra, 196, 197 Floyd, George, 117 Fogarty, Marianne, 259 Ford Motor Company, 238, 239 Fortune, 35 Fox, Martha Lane, 98, 158, 161 Fox & Friends, 116 Fox News, 71, 73, 116, 271, 284 free speech, 2, 5, 46, 47, 53–54, 59, 60, 154–57, 173, 196, 238–40, 246, 268, 269, 271, 275, 278, 284, 288 Fridman, Lex, 277, 279 Friedberg, David, 282 FriendFeed, 158 Frohnhoefer, Eric, 261–62 FTC, 177, 207, 208, 258–60, 281 FTX, 174, 185 Fuentes, Nick, 284 G Gadde, Vijaya, 37, 46, 53, 54, 60, 84, 117, 128–29, 132, 172–73, 192, 199 Biden laptop story and, 124, 125, 180–82, 220 Musk and, 180–81, 220–21 Musk’s firing of, 221–23 Trump ban and, 129–30, 135, 220 Gates, Bill, 95 Gates, Melinda, 153 G-Eazy, 138 General Electric, 198–99, 239 Ghana, 87, 99 Ginsburg, Ruth Bader, 201 Giuliani, Rudy, 123, 124 Gizmodo, 74–75 Glass, Noah, 17–18 Goldman, Jason, 5, 289 Goldman Sachs, 30, 37, 99, 104, 105, 178 Goodell, Roger, 33, 235, 240 Google, 3, 4, 9, 15, 24, 25, 37, 50, 99, 106, 120, 136, 137, 148, 158, 177, 234 GoPro, 24 Gracias, Antonio, 217, 226, 237, 260 Graham, Donald, 199 Graham, Lindsey, 125, 134 Graham, Paul, 277 Greene, Marjorie Taylor, 232–33 Greenfield, Ben, 79–80 Griffin, Ken, 160 Grimes (musician), 274–75 Grimes, Michael, 185, 188, 209 Gross, Andy, 257 Grutman, David, 138, 139 H hackers, 13, 206, 207, 258, 267 Hamas, 286 Hannity, Sean, 73 Harris, Kamala, 153 Harvey, Del, 52–54, 60, 67, 112, 117, 129, 132, 133 Hatching Twitter (Bilton), 20 hate speech, 38, 71, 114, 232, 233, 238, 245 Hawkins, Tracy, 231 Hayes, Julianna, 225, 259 Health and Human Services Department, 153 Ho, Ed, 60 Hoffman, Reid, 185 Horizon Media, 234 House Energy and Commerce Committee, 137 Huffington, Arianna, 45 Hulu, 24, 36 Hurricane Harvey, 92 I IBM, 285 Iger, Bob, 36, 38–39 Instagram, 29, 33, 39, 57, 80, 82, 98, 141, 275, 277, 278, 286, 287 International Space Station, 10, 91, 142 IPG, 238 iPhone, 21, 152 Iraq, 20 Isaacson, Walter, 151, 159, 214, 227, 281 ISIS, 11 Israel, 286 iTunes, 16 J James, LeBron, 34 Jamil, Jameela, 92 January 6 United States Capitol attack, 127–29, 131–33, 134–35, 197, 284 Jassy, Andy, 24, 25 Jay-Z, 1, 74, 204 Jeremy’s, 16 Jobs, Laurene Powell, 103 Jobs, Steve, 16, 103 Johnson, Peggy, 37 Jolly, David, 61 Jones, Alex, 75–77 JP Morgan, 178 Justice Department, 177, 206 K Kaiden, Robert, 237 Kardashian, Kim, 184 Kennedy, John F., 184 Kennedy, Trenton, 125 Kessler, Jason, 75 Kidd, Greg, 13–15 Kieran, Damien, 259, 281 Kilar, Jason, 24 Killian, Joseph, 280–81 Kim Jong-un, 54–55, 63 King, Gayle, 162, 173–74, 209 King, Stephen, 229 Kirk, Charlie, 73 Kissner, Lea, 259, 281 KKR, 201 Koenigsberg, Bill, 234–35 Kordestani, Omid, 24, 25, 37, 39, 74, 95, 97–99, 104, 108 Kraft, Robert, 204 Krishnan, Sriram, 217 Ku Klux Klan, 51 Kushner, Jared, 277 Kutcher, Ashton, 10 L Labor Department, 244 Lady Gaga, 91 Lamar, Kendrick, 210 Lauer, Matt, 31 Lawdragon, 202 Legend, John, 92 Leib, Ben, 261, 262 Lemkau, Gregg, 99, 101–2, 104, 105 Levchin, Max, 169 Levie, Aaron, 277 Levine, Rachel, 153–54 LinkedIn, 35, 37, 185 Lively, Blake, 184 Lonsdale, Joe, 160, 173 Loomer, Laura, 77, 140 López Obrador, Andrés Manuel, 134 Lord, Sierra, 87 Lucasfilm, 38 M Macron, Emmanuel, 85, 134–35, 266, 267 Mad Money, 100 Maheu, JP, 67, 235, 236, 239 Mars, 169–71, 183, 196, 200, 256, 271, 274 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 14 Mastodon, 248, 275, 277 Maxwell, Ghislaine, 253 Mayer, Kevin, 36 Mayweather, Floyd, 138 Mbappé, Kylian, 277 McCain, John, 42 McConnell, Mitch, 116 McCormick, Kathaleen, 203, 204, 207–9 McGowan, Rose, 56–59, 71 McKelvey, Jim, 21 Mckesson, DeRay, 46 Merkel, Angela, 134 Merrill, Marc, 174 Messi, Lionel, 277 Messinger, Adam, 34 Meta, 3, 91 Met Gala, 184–86, 191 MeToo movement, 4 Miami, FL, 138–41, 190 Microsoft, 24, 35, 37, 136, 233 Middle East, 4, 10, 38 midterm elections of 2022, 238, 243, 248, 254 Milano, Alyssa, 57 Mindset (Dweck), 28 Minneapolis protests, 117–18 Monroe, Marilyn, 184 Montano, Mike, 87 Morgan Stanley, 107, 174, 185 Mudge, 206–9, 222 Mujica, Maryam, 43 Murdoch, Rupert, 198 Musk, Andrew, 217, 226, 262 Musk, Elon, 50, 67–68, 103–4, 142, 166–71, 206 advisors of, 216–17, 224, 226, 282 Agrawal and, 148, 158, 159, 161–65, 180–81, 190, 191, 195, 199, 200, 202, 210, 220 Agrawal fired by, 221 at Allen & Company retreat, 198–200 Boring Company of, 171, 176, 186, 217, 231, 281 Calacanis and, 174, 186, 190, 209, 217, 234, 282 at Chappelle’s show, 273–74 childhood of, 166–68 children of, 171, 214, 216, 222, 234, 274, 283 college years of, 168 Dorsey and, 1–3, 68, 92–94, 103–4, 109, 142, 148, 155–57, 159, 161, 165, 172–73, 176, 179, 180–82, 186, 194, 209–10, 244–45, 263, 288–89 Dorsey and Twitter acquisition of, 1–3, 5, 176, 179, 180–82, 186, 210, 244–45, 288, 289 Ellison and, 175, 177, 185, 186, 205, 209 engineers and, 217–18, 247, 261–65 Gadde and, 180–81, 220–21 Gadde fired by, 221–23 journalists suspended by, 275, 276, 278 at Met Gala, 184–86, 191 move to Canada, 168 net worth of, 151, 171, 186, 189, 191, 192 Neuralink company of, 171 “pedo guy” tweet of, 93, 162, 172, 204 political views of, 196, 197, 217, 248 private plane of, 266–67, 275–76 Riley and, 154, 157, 179 Roth and, 222–23, 271–72, 287 sense of humor of, 162, 171–72, 182, 194, 213, 247–48 sexual harassment allegations against, 193–95 sink stunt of, 213, 218, 220, 251, 280, 282, 283 SpaceX company of, 2, 142, 151, 169–72, 186, 193, 200, 217, 226, 257, 260, 264, 266, 278, 281–82, 288 stalker and, 274–75 Taylor and, 158–59, 164–65 Tesla company of, see Tesla text messages of, 208–10 Trump reinstatement and, 234–35, 238, 239, 267–69, 278 Twitter acquired by, 1–6, 171–79, 180–97, 210, 213–15, 217, 221, 222, 224, 241, 244–45, 269, 271, 275, 277, 279, 287–89 Twitter acquisition as idea for, 154, 157, 164, 165 Twitter acquisition termination attempt, 5, 189–91, 195, 199–210, 213 Twitter advertising and, 232–36, 238–40, 243, 245–46, 248–52, 254, 264, 267, 284–85 Twitter all-hands meeting held by, 255–56, 259, 260, 262 Twitter Blue and, 218–19, 228–30, 249–55, 260, 285 Twitter board of directors and, 103–4, 109, 156–65, 173, 175, 177–79, 186, 200, 210, 221, 281 Twitter content moderation and, 154–57, 160, 196, 222–23, 225, 233, 238–40, 243–46, 249, 266–72, 275–78, 284, 288 Twitter criticized by, 5, 164, 172–73, 175, 181, 190, 192, 195, 244 in Twitter due diligence meeting, 187–88 Twitter employees fired by, 262–63 Twitter employees’ view of, 162–63, 183, 193–97, 219, 241, 244–45, 264 Twitter Files and, 269–72 Twitter investment of, 151, 155, 157–61, 168, 173, 174, 179, 195, 199 Twitter lawsuit against, 200–210, 213, 221, 222, 269, 280 Twitter layoffs under, 196, 197, 216, 224–27, 231, 236–37, 240–45, 247, 254, 258–60, 264 Twitter office spaces turned into hotel rooms by, 280–81 Twitter #OneTeam appearance of, 92–94 Twitter plans and vision of, 174–75, 194–97, 217–18, 256–57, 269, 283–84, 287 in Twitter Q&A session, 194–97 Twitter remote workers and, 196, 197, 216, 226, 252, 255, 257, 260, 264 Twitter rent payments not paid by, 280 Twitter resignation poll conducted by, 278–79 Twitter senior leaders ousted by, 221 Twitter servers cut by, 280 Twitter under ownership of, 213–31, 232–46, 247–65, 266–82, 283–89 as Twitter user, 93–94, 103–4, 148, 151, 154–55, 159, 162–64, 171, 172, 181, 188–91, 194, 195, 215, 219, 220, 223, 225, 233–36, 240, 244, 245, 247–49, 255, 261–62, 267–68, 271–72, 274, 277, 278, 281, 284–87 work habits and expectations of, 227, 230, 257, 258, 260, 263, 265 at World Cup, 276–78 X.com company of, 169, 186, 283 Zip2 company of, 168–69, 227 Zuckerberg and, 287 Musk, Errol, 167 Musk, James, 217, 226, 262 Musk, Justine, 168, 169 Musk, Kimbal, 163, 168, 281 Musk, Maye, 166–68, 184, 185, 234 Musk, X, 214, 216, 222, 234, 274, 283 Myanmar, 78–79 N NAACP, 238 Nadella, Satya, 37 NASA, 10, 90–91 Navaroli, Anika, 131 Nawfal, Mario, 267 NBA, 33, 34, 235 NBC, 33, 53, 239 NBCUniversal, 37, 198–99 Netflix, 36 Neuralink, 171 Nevo, Vivi, 25 New England Patriots, 204 Newman, Omarosa Manigault, 59 Newsom, Gavin, 111, 114 Newsweek, 261 Newton, Casey, 81 New Yorker, 56, 99 New York Post, 123–24, 126, 183, 270 New York Stock Exchange, 1, 10, 27, 178 New York Times, 20, 51, 56, 75, 79, 83, 85, 100, 202, 203, 275, 286 NFL, 30, 33–35, 40, 62, 63, 80, 204, 235 Nigeria, 87, 92 Norquist, Grover, 71 North Korea, 54–55, 63 Noto, Anthony, 30, 33, 34, 37, 39, 40, 80 Novak, Kim, 45 NPR, 100 O Obama, Barack, 10, 43 Observer, 203 Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria, 185 Odeo, 15–18 Okonjo-Iweala, Ngozi, 87 Olbermann, Keith, 275 Omnicom Group, 254 Oracle, 175 Owens, Candace, 73 Owens, Rick, 85 P Pacini, Kathleen, 226 Page, Larry, 50 Palantir, 160 Paltrow, Gwyneth, 79 Paris Fashion Week, 85, 142, 210 Paul, Logan, 138 PayPal, 169, 186, 206, 216, 257 Pelosi, Nancy, 233 Pelosi, Paul, 233 Pence, Mike, 84, 128 Perica, Adrian, 37 Periscope, 34, 59 Perry, Katy, 163 Personette, Sarah, 236 Perverted Justice, 53 Philadelphia Eagles, 286 Pichai, Sundar, 137 Pichette, Patrick, 99, 101, 104, 108, 146 Pixar, 38 podcasts, 15–17 Podesta, John, 124 Politico, 286 Portnoy, Dave, 138–39 presidential election of 2016, 34, 41, 42–52, 61–63, 77, 86, 114, 124, 125 presidential election of 2020, 73, 87, 111, 113–16, 118, 123–29, 131, 152, 270, 284 Principles (Dalio), 85 Pringle, Lauren, 202–3 Project Veritas, 205 Putin, Vladimir, 188 Pyin Oo Lwin, 78 Q QAnon, 197 Qatar, 276–77 Qatar Investment Authority, 277 Quip, 158 R racism, 38, 46, 54, 56, 71, 80, 136, 232, 233, 245, 284–85 Raiyah bint Al-Hussein, Princess, 154 Read, Mark, 233–35, 238, 240 Reddit, 134 Republicans, conservatives, 71–77, 84, 114, 125, 181, 196, 248, 269, 270, 284 Rezaei, Behnam, 247, 260 Rice, Kathleen, 137–38 Riley, Talulah, 154, 157, 179 Riot Games, 174 Roberts, Brian, 37 Rock, Jay, 65 Roetter, Alex, 28 Rogan, Joe, 160, 172, 181, 209 Rogen, Seth, 58–59 Rohingya people, 78 Roth, Yoel, 113–17, 124, 129, 132, 239, 244, 246, 247, 249, 251, 254, 259 Musk and, 222–23, 271–72, 287 resignation of, 258, 260 sexual consent tweet of, 271–72, 287 Rubin, Rick, 25, 142 Rubio, Marco, 45 Ruffalo, Mark, 57 Russia, 51–52, 124, 186, 188 S Sabet, Bijan, 19 Sacks, David, 186, 190, 206, 216–17, 224, 237, 282 Salesforce, 35–39, 98, 145, 158, 177 Salon, 271 Salt Bae, 277 Sandberg, Sheryl, 23, 50, 77–78 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, 75 SAP, 99 Saturday Night Live, 9 Savitt, Bill, 201–2 Scarborough, Joe, 83 Scavino, Dan, 84 Schlapp, Mercedes, 71–73 Second City, 9 Securities and Exchange Commission, 93, 155, 160, 172, 173, 177, 186, 195, 199 Segal, Ned, 67, 96, 97, 102, 108, 121, 187, 200, 221 Sequoia Capital, 186 Shevat, Amir, 197, 227, 242 Silver Lake, 101–6, 108, 109, 118, 157 Singer, Paul, 99 Snapchat, 80, 82, 98, 134, 141 Snowdon, Edward, 277 social networking protocol, 136–37 SoFi, 80 Solomon, Sasha, 262 Sotheby’s, 201 South Africa, 86, 87 South by Southwest, 18 Space Balls, 171 SpaceX, 2, 142, 151, 169–72, 186, 193, 200, 217, 226, 257, 260, 264, 266, 278, 281–82, 288 Spark Capital, 19 Spencer Stuart, 23–24 Spicer, Sean, 48–49, 51 Spiegel, Evan, 80 Spiro, Alex, 172–73, 189, 204, 207–8, 217, 235, 259–60 Squad, 230 Square, 21–22 Bitcoin and, 139, 141, 147 Dorsey as CEO of, 12, 21–23, 25, 26–27, 74, 86–88, 96, 97, 100, 101, 105, 139, 141, 145, 147 Stalin, Joseph, 148 Stanton, Katie, 28 Starbucks, 47 Starlink, 220 State Department, 20 STAT.US, 14 Steinberg, Marc, 99 stocks, 98 Tesla, 185, 186, 206, 257, 279 Twitter, 27, 28, 30, 35, 37, 39, 86, 87, 96, 98, 102, 109, 122, 143, 151, 55, 157–62, 173, 178, 199–200, 237 Stone, Biz, 17, 20 Stone, Roger, 72 Stop the Steal rally, 73, 284 Sullivan, Jay, 184 Sun Valley, ID, 198–200 Super Bowl, 286 Sweeney, Jack, 275 Swift, Taylor, 10, 163 Systrom, Kevin, 29 T Taibbi, Matt, 269 Taylor, Bret, 98, 145, 146, 157–59, 164–65, 200, 205, 221 Teigen, Chrissy, 57, 58, 92 Terrell, Alphonzo, 242 Tesla, 2, 50, 67, 93–94, 158, 163, 169–75, 177, 182, 217, 219, 220, 224, 226, 227, 234, 239, 256, 257, 264, 266, 278, 281–82, 288 imposter account and, 253 stock of, 185, 186, 206, 257, 279 Thiel, Peter, 169 Threads, 286–87 Tidal, 1, 74 TikTok, 39–40, 80–81, 256 Timberlake, Justin, 95 Time Warner, 202 Today, 31, 32 Toff, Jason, 28 transgender people, 153–54, 162 Trump, Donald, 65, 71–73, 75, 92, 217, 277 Biden laptop story and, 123–24 Covid-19 pandemic and, 110, 111 Dorsey and, 46–47, 49–50, 54, 73, 84 Facebook and, 49, 51–52, 134, 135 Minneapolis protests and, 117–18 in presidential election of 2016, 34, 41, 42–52, 61–63 in presidential election of 2020, 73, 111, 114–16, 118, 123–29, 131, 152, 284 tweets of, 4, 41, 42–49, 51, 52, 54–55, 57, 59, 62–63, 75–77, 80, 83–87, 92, 111, 113–18, 123–24, 127–33, 219, 235, 248, 284 Twitter account deactivated by employee, 61–62, 223 Twitter offices visited by, 42–43, 46 Twitter’s banning of, 5, 129–33, 134–37, 147, 180, 192, 200, 220, 225, 270, 272–73 Twitter’s reinstatement of, 234–35, 238, 239, 267–69, 278 Trump Tower, 43, 50 Truth Social, 277 Turner, Sylvester, 92 Turning Point USA, 73 Twitteradvertising on, 2, 5, 10–11, 33, 47–50, 53, 59, 72, 86–87, 108, 111, 119–20, 147, 152–53, 157, 164, 187, 188, 199, 218, 228, 258, 272, 276, 279, 289 advertising on, and Musk, 232–36, 238–40, 243, 245–46, 248–52, 254, 264, 267, 284–85 Agrawal as CEO of, 143–48, 151–53, 157, 159, 161, 165, 180–84, 187, 190–93 algorithms of, 28, 32, 63, 78, 80, 144, 218 alternatives to, 286–87, 289 Babylon Bee and, 154, 179, 271 Biden laptop story and, 124–25, 180–82, 220, 270 Big Sur event of, 85–86, 143 blue check verification on, 58, 162, 219, 229–30, 249–51, 253–55, 285–86 Bluesky offshoot of, 88, 136–37, 141, 142, 144, 288–89 Blue subscription service of, 152, 218–19, 228–30, 249–55, 260, 285 board of directors of, 3–5, 11–12, 19–21, 23–25, 27, 37–40, 74, 89, 96–98, 100–104, 106, 108, 109, 110, 120, 126, 143–47, 156–65, 173, 175–79, 182, 183, 186, 194, 200, 210, 221, 281, 288 bot and spam accounts and, 38, 71, 84, 93–94, 103, 114, 172–73, 187–91, 199–201, 204, 205, 207–8, 223, 229, 250, 252, 254, 267, 278 celebrity users of, 57–59, 229, 250 character limit imposed by, 1, 17, 28, 31 conservatives’ accusation of bias from, 71–77, 125, 181, 269, 270, 284 content moderation policies of, 2, 38, 46, 52–55, 56–63, 71–72, 75, 77, 112–13, 128–32, 135–37, 140, 144, 180–82, 191–92, 220, 273, 288 content moderation policies of, and Musk, 154–57, 160, 196, 222–23, 225, 233, 238–40, 243–46, 249, 266–72, 275–78, 284, 288 corporate culture of, 5, 45–46, 72, 162, 182, 194, 230–31, 252, 262, 283 cost-cutting at, 39, 96, 175, 187, 192–93, 204, 216, 231, 237–38, 257, 260, 280–81, 288 Costolo as CEO of, 9–12, 20, 21, 105 Covid-19 and, 106–8, 110–13, 115, 118–20, 141, 142, 146, 147, 152, 153, 193, 196, 230, 245, 267, 284 disappearing post features on (Scribbles; Fleets), 82–83, 119, 141–42 Dorsey as CEO of, 4, 9–12, 18–25, 26–29, 31–32, 35, 37–38, 40, 45, 54, 76, 79, 80, 96, 97, 100–109, 110, 118, 126, 135, 141, 143–45, 147–48, 153, 169, 182, 261 Dorsey as chairman of, 19, 20, 147 Dorsey’s Africa plans and, 86–89, 91, 97, 107–8 Dorsey’s management style and, 19, 31–32, 85–86, 109, 142, 182 Dorsey’s resignation from, 141–48, 151, 155, 156, 161, 273 Dorsey’s “Trust” email on, 40–41 doxing and, 57, 275 Elliott Management and, 95–109, 118, 121, 126, 143, 145–47, 156, 157, 158, 228, 273, 289 emoji hashtag feature on, 47–49 engineers at, 217–18, 224–26, 243, 247, 261–65 founding and launch of, 1, 17–18 growth of, 1, 17–19, 62–63, 66, 80, 147 hacking of, 206, 207, 258 hiring at, 120–21, 153, 193, 201, 205 impersonator accounts and, 253–55, 260 important accounts at, 223, 229 influence of, 3–4, 10, 50, 147 Influence Council of, 239, 240, 248 investor Analyst Days of, 118–22, 137, 152 investors in, 1, 2, 10–11, 19, 28, 95–109, 118–22, 160, 162, 179, 183, 188, 199 layoffs at, 27, 28, 35, 37, 39, 40, 65, 96, 153, 175, 187, 192, 196, 197, 216, 224–27, 231, 236–37, 240–45, 247, 254, 258–60, 264 links to other social media sites on, 277–78 live content on, 32–36, 62, 80, 119 “lonely birds” problem of, 219 misinformation flagging by, 112–18, 127, 222, 232, 238, 243, 267, 284 Mudge’s whistleblower complaint against, 206–9, 222 Musk as user of, 93–94, 103–4, 148, 151, 154–55, 159, 162–64, 171, 172, 181, 188–91, 194, 195, 215, 219, 220, 223, 225, 233–36, 240, 244, 245, 247–49, 255, 261–62, 267–68, 271–72, 274, 277, 278, 281, 284–87 Musk as viewed by employees at, 162–63, 183, 193–97, 219, 241, 244–45, 264 Musk’s acquisition of, 1–6, 171–79, 180–97, 210, 213–15, 217, 221, 222, 224, 241, 244–45, 269, 271, 275, 277, 279, 287–89 Musk’s acquisition as possibility, 154, 157, 164, 165 Musk’s acquisition termination attempt, 5, 189–91, 195, 199–210, 213 Musk’s all-hands meeting at, 255–56, 259, 260, 262 Musk’s conversion of office spaces into hotel rooms at, 280–81 Musk’s criticisms of, 5, 164, 172–73, 175, 181, 190, 192, 195, 244 Musk’s due diligence meeting at, 187–88 Musk’s firing of employees at, 262–63 Musk’s investment in, 151, 155, 157–61, 168, 173, 174, 179, 195, 199 Musk’s nonpayment of bills of, 280 Musk’s ownership of, 213–31, 232–46, 247–65, 266–82, 283–89 Musk’s plans and vision for, 174–75, 194–97, 217–18, 256–57, 269, 283–84, 287 Musk’s Q&A session at, 194–97 Musk’s removal of servers at, 280 Musk’s resignation poll on, 278–79 Musk’s sink entrance at, 213, 218, 220, 251, 280, 282, 283 Musk’s suspensions of journalists on, 275, 276, 278 Musk sued by, 200–210, 213, 221, 222, 269, 280 Musk’s work expectations and, 227, 230, 257, 258, 260, 263, 265 as news source, 3, 4, 32–34, 41, 62, 283, 285–87 office space reductions at, 231 #OneTeam events of, 64–68, 74, 90–94, 96, 106, 143, 144 Periscope app of, 34, 59 presidential election of 2016 and, 34, 46–50, 77, 86, 114, 124, 125 privacy programs of, 207, 258–60, 281 as private company, 2, 3, 5, 161–62, 164–65, 173, 179, 237 product organization of, 80–83, 105 Project Saturn at, 191–92, 220 as public company, 1, 10, 109, 121, 161–62, 164–65, 176, 179, 289 rebranded as X, 283–88 remote work and, 107, 121, 128, 174, 196, 197, 216, 226, 252, 255, 257, 260, 264 resignations of leaders at, 28–30, 258–61, 263 retreats for executives of, 28–30, 64–68, 74, 85–86, 90–94, 96, 106, 143, 144, 182 revenues of, 10, 23, 39, 86, 96–98, 108, 109, 111, 118–21, 147, 152–53, 162, 178, 204, 208, 228, 251, 279, 285 sale possibility and offers, 30, 35–41, 65, 177 shadow-banning by, 75–77, 220, 225, 270 Silver Lake and, 101–6, 108, 109, 118 size of, 4, 10, 50 Spaces feature of, 119, 242, 249, 251, 267 spike in offensive tweets and, 232–33, 238, 245 stock of, 27, 28, 30, 35, 37, 39, 86, 87, 96, 98, 102, 109, 122, 143, 151, 155, 157–62, 173, 178, 199–200, 237 succession plan at, 108, 126 Tea Time meetings of, 29, 30, 40 three-year plan of, 119–21, 147, 152, 192, 193 topic following as feature on, 83, 119 Trump banned by, 5, 129–33, 134–37, 147, 180, 192, 200, 220, 225, 270, 272–73 Trump reinstated by, 234–35, 238, 239, 267–69, 278 Trump’s account deactivated by employee at, 61–62, 223 Trump’s use of, 4, 41, 42–49, 51, 52, 54–55, 57, 59, 62–63, 75–77, 80, 83–87, 92, 111, 113–18, 123–24, 127–33, 219, 235, 248, 284 Trump’s visit to offices of, 42–43, 46 Trust and Safety team of, 52, 60, 61, 67, 112–15, 117, 124, 128, 131, 132, 192, 217, 222, 223, 239, 243–44, 246, 247, 254, 271 tweet view counts on, 219–20 Twitter Files dump and, 269–72 user base of, 1, 3, 10, 17, 18, 23, 28, 31, 53, 65, 82, 96, 98, 108, 109, 111, 118–21, 147, 152, 165, 178, 179, 187, 190, 191, 195, 196, 199–201, 204, 207, 208, 248, 276 Vine app of, 28, 35, 39–40, 81, 218, 256 World Cup and, 47, 48, 276–77, 279 Twitter, Inc. v.

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A joke from another comedy, The Dictator, featuring Sacha Baron Cohen, was inspiration for Musk’s decision to make SpaceX’s Starship rocket “more pointy.” He loved making sex jokes (69!) and weed jokes (420!) and spent a decent amount of time each day posting memes on Twitter considering he was also running several businesses at once. Sometimes Musk’s antics got him into trouble. After he smoked weed with the podcaster Joe Rogan during a taping in 2018, Musk and most of his SpaceX employees were rewarded with a year of random drug tests by the U.S. government since SpaceX had federal contracts. The situation was both hilarious and terrible. “The consequences for me and for SpaceX were actually not good,” Musk later admitted, though he still laughed about it.

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“My hope is that it creates world peace”: ARK Invest, “The Word,” YouTube, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwx_7XAJ3p0&t=518s. Dorsey visited Musk at Starbase: Jack Dorsey (@jack), “Grateful for @elonmusk & @SpaceX.” Twitter, August 29, 2021, 5:24 p.m., https://twitter.com/jack/status/1432137059666378755. SpaceX had launched a rocket from Florida on a resupply mission to the International Space Station: Stephen Clark, “SpaceX Launches Resupply Mission to International Space Station,” Spaceflight Now, August 29, 2021, https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/08/29/spacex-launches-resupply-mission-to-international-space-station/. attending a party where Diplo deejayed and the club ran out of tequila: Evan Real, “Amelia Hamlin ‘Looked Ready to Date Again’ at Paris Fashion Week Party,” Page Six, October 4, 2021, https://pagesix.com/2021/10/04/amelia-hamlin-spotted-flirting-at-paris-fashion-week-party/.

Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire
by Brad Stone
Published 10 May 2021

Just as he had nurtured the projects that became Alexa and the Amazon Go stores, he helped to develop Project Kuiper, an ambitious plan to launch satellites that would provide high-speed internet connectivity to people around the world. Amazon’s $10 billion project directly challenged the Starlink satellite system already deployed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The two companies battled before regulators over portions of the radio spectrum and lower Earth altitudes where signals are strongest; once again, it pitted two of the wealthiest people in the world against each other in another high-profile competition. Similarly, Bezos continued to oversee Amazon’s play in the roughly $4 trillion U.S. healthcare market.

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Heyman Spirit of Service Award, 343 Samsung, 38, 77 Sanchez, Eleanor, 325–27, 346–47 Sanchez, Lauren, 136, 310, 325–28, 382, 383, 403, 405 Bezos’s meeting of, 326 Bezos’s relationship with, 17, 283, 318–19, 321–22, 324, 326–28, 344–47 marriage to Whitesell, 136, 325–28 National Enquirer story on Bezos’s relationship with, 17, 319, 328–42, 344 Sanchez, Michael, 325–30, 332–36, 338, 340, 342, 345–58 Sanchez, Paul, 325–26 Sanchez, Ray, 325 Sandberg, Sheryl, 251 Sanders, Bernie, 355, 356 SAP America, 360 satellites, 404 Saudi Arabia, 17, 321, 340, 342–45, 347 Saunders, Paul, 372–73, 376 Sawant, Kshama, 291–92, 303 Schmidt, Eric, 88, 193 Schoettler, John, 290, 299, 303, 304, 312 Schultz, Howard, 6 Schwarzenegger, Arnold, 328 Scott, MacKenzie (formerly Bezos), 5, 12, 15–17, 22, 41, 124, 136, 143, 144, 154, 180, 244, 245, 269, 322–25 Bystander Revolution and, 323–24, 346 divorce of, 16–17, 318–21, 334, 345, 346, 349 divorce settlement of, 346 Giving Pledge and, 346 name change of, 346 philanthropy of, 323–24, 346, 402–3 Traps, 64 remarriage of, 403 Seattle, Wash., 289–95, 303–5 Amazon headquarters in, see Amazon headquarters in Seattle Bellevue, 304, 305 Employee Hours Tax in, 303–5 Seattle Times, 290 SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), 7 September 11 terrorist attacks, 117 Sequoia, 192 Service Merchandise, 214 Seymour, Greg, 276 Shanghai Snow, 153 Shark Tank, 170, 374 Shimmer, 22–23 Shopify, 378 Shotwell, Gwynne, 265, 282 Showtime, 140 Shriver, Maria, 136 Silicon Valley, 6, 22, 48, 96, 98, 111, 129, 187, 234, 252, 253, 290, 295 see also big tech companies Simons, Joseph, 366 Simpson, Andrea, 329–30, 332, 338 Singer, Marty, 334, 337–39 Siri, 26, 27, 30, 32, 34 Sirosh, Joseph, 54 60 Minutes, 233, 397 SKDK, 311, 314 Skyfall, 252 Slifka, Janet, 42 Smalls, Chris, 394–95, 397 Smart, Bradford, 111 Smart & Final, 192 smartphones, 38–41, 77, 92 Fire Phone, 2, 13, 15, 22, 33, 38–42, 45, 46, 58, 70, 95, 189, 382 iPhone, see iPhone smart speakers, 50 Echo, see Amazon Echo Google Home, 50 Smith, Bob, 265–66, 280, 281 Smith, Fred, 227, 235, 242 Smith, Ryan, 296 Smithsonian Institution, 1–3, 382 Smugmug, 96 Snapchat, 103 Soderstrom, Tom, 96 Solidaires Unitaires Démocratiques, 392 Soloway, Joey, 143, 144 Son, Masayoshi (“Masa”), 90 Sony Pictures, 252 Souq.com, 343–44 Sowers, George, 279 So You Think You Can Dance, 326 Space Flight Award, 277 SpaceNews, 272 Space Symposium, 278, 279 SpaceX, 264–65, 268–69, 270–74, 277, 278, 280, 282–83, 404 Falcon rockets of, 264–65, 278 Spacey, Kevin, 153 Spain, 71, 80, 81 speakers, 50 Echo, see Amazon Echo Google Home, 50 speech, computer-synthesized, 28–29 speech recognition, 28, 36, 55 in Alexa, 28, 33, 36, 37 Spheres, 150–51, 288, 289, 327, 381 Spiker, 28 Sprouts Farmers Market, 197 stack ranking, 110–12, 114, 219 Stahl, Lesley, 397 Starbucks, 6, 305 Starlink, 404 Star Trek, 23, 30–31, 35, 274 Stephenson, Dave, 246–48 Stephenson, Neal, 267 Stone, Roger, 336 Stonesifer, Patty, 403–4 “Stop BEZOS” bill, 355 Stracher, Cameron, 332, 339 Streisand, Barbra, 325 Streitfeld, David, 109–10 Stringer, Tom, 311 Sullivan, Holly, 235, 298–300, 308, 311–13, 316 SummitLA conference, 322 Sunrise Telecom, 92 Super Bowl, 48, 131, 283, 347 supermarkets, see grocery business Susi, Steve, 252 Sutton, Nate, 202, 368–69 Szulczewski, Peter, 171, 172 Tal Yguado, Sharon, 149 Tambor, Jeffrey, 143, 144, 153 Taobao, 72 Target, 158, 192, 216, 231–32, 242, 363, 373, 378 taxes Amazon and, 117–18, 291, 301, 303, 335, 351, 354–57, 364 Employee Hours Tax, 303–5 income, 291–92, 303 sales, 11, 213, 250 Taylor, Mitchell, 310 Taylor, Tom, 51, 166, 167 Teamsters, 216–17, 242 techlash, 290, 305, 349–53, 364, 380 see also big tech companies Telesat, 279 Tencent, 88 Tesco, 190 Tesla, 235–36, 264, 282, 283, 294 Gigafactories, 73, 236, 293, 299, 315 text to speech (TTS), 28 Thiel, Peter, 360 Thimsen, John, 26, 35 Thompson, Ben, 103–4 Thompson, Bernie, 176–77, 375–76 Thomson, James, 377 Thornton, Billy Bob, 149–50 Thunberg, Greta, 381 Time, 6, 331, 345 Time Warner Cable, 140 Tmall, 72, 379 T-Mobile, 252 Tolkien, J.

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“Not the outcome any of us wanted”: Jeff Bezos, “Successful Short Hop, Setback, and Next Vehicle,” Blue Origin, September 2, 2011, https://www.blueorigin.com/news/successful-short-hop-setback-and-next-vehicle (January 24, 2021). SpaceX won the contract: Jeff Fouse, “NASA Selects Boeing and SpaceX for Commercial Crew Contracts,” SpaceNews, September 16, 2014, https://spacenews.com/41891nasa-selects-boeing-and-spacex-for-commercial-crew-contracts/ (January 24, 2021). $7.7 billion for the project: Nasa Office of Inspector General, “Audit of Commercial Resupply Services to the International Space Station,” Report No. IG-18-016, April 26, 2018, pg. 4, https://oig.nasa.gov/docs/IG-18-016.pdf (January 24, 2021). sending unmanned spacecraft: Jonathan Amos, “SpaceX Lifts Off with ISS cargo,” BBC, October 8, 2012, https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-19867358 (January 24, 2021).

The Wires of War: Technology and the Global Struggle for Power
by Jacob Helberg
Published 11 Oct 2021

Internet Infrastructure,” Smithsonian Magazine, September 23, 2015, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/first-detailed-public-map-us-internet-infrastructure-180956701/. 79 Winston Qiu, “China-Myanmar International (CMI) Terrestrial Cable Launches for Service,” Submarine Cable Networks, November 15, 2014, https://www.submarinenetworks.com/news/china-myanmar-international-cmi-terrestrial-cable-launches-for-service. 80 “Terrestrial Cable Resource,” China Mobile International, https://www.cmi.chinamobile.com/en/terrestrial-cable. 81 Ibid. 82 Kitson and Liew, “China Doubles Down on Its Digital Silk Road.” 83 Tom Stroup, “Comments of the Satellite Industry Association,” Federal Communications Commission, December 6, 2019, https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/12062609405024/SIA%20Regulatory%20Fees%20FNPRM%20Comments%20with%20attachment%206%20Dec%202019%20(002).pdf. 84 Mariella Moon, “SpaceX is requesting permission to launch 30,000 more Starlink satellites,” Yahoo! Money, October 16, 2019, https://money.yahoo.com/2019-10-16-spacex-30-000-starlink-satellites.html. 85 Jose Del Rosario, “NSR Reports China’s Ambitious Constellation of 300 Small Satellites in LEO,” Satnews, March 8, 2018, http://www.satnews.com/story.php?number=257303683. 86 Ben Westcott, “China’s GPS rival Beidou is now fully operational after final satellite launched,” CNN, June 24, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/24/tech/china-beidou-satellite-gps-intl-hnk/index.html. 87 Trefor Moss, “China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ Takes to Space,” Wall Street Journal, December 28, 2016, https://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2016/12/28/chinas-one-belt-one-road-takes-to-space/. 88 Westcott, “China’s GPS rival Beidou is now fully operational after final satellite launched.” 89 Jiang Jie, “Nation considers space-based ‘Silk Road of satellites’ to provide data services,” Global Times, May 31, 2015, http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/924600.shtml. 90 “AIMS Data Centre,” Data Center Map, February 2, 2009, https://www.datacentermap.com/malaysia/kuala-lumpur/aims-data-centre_connectivity.html. 91 Prachi Bhardwaj, “Fiber optic wires, servers, and more than 550,000 miles of underwater cables: Here’s what the internet actually looks like,” Business Insider, June 23, 2018, https://www.businessinsider.com/how-internet-works-infrastructure-photos-2018-5#as-it-travels-any-information-transferred-over-the-web-arrives-at-internet-data-servers-which-live-in-data-centers-around-the-world-in-2008-an-estimated-95-trillion-gigabytes-passed-in-and-out-of-the-worlds-servers-but-more-on-those-later-2. 92 Brady Gavin, “How Big Are Gigabytes, Terabytes, and Petabytes?

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Because signals must travel about 22,000 miles into low-earth orbit and back again, the “latency”—the time it takes to transmit data—can be up to twelve times slower than fiber-optic connections. Signals can even be impacted by bad weather, a phenomenon known as “rain fade.” Satellites carry just a fraction—only 0.37 percent—of online communications,83 though that may be changing. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is in the process of launching as many as 42,000 new satellites, seeking to create a “Starlink” system of high-speed satellite Internet.84 For now, satellites prove especially useful for reaching landlocked or remote areas. Antarctica, for instance, relies entirely on satellite-based communications. Peripheral though they may be to the broader infrastructure of the Internet, Beijing is hardly ignoring these satellite systems.

A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds
by Scott Weidensaul
Published 29 Mar 2021

But the fact is that sometimes conservationists feel as though they’re playing whack-a-mole, as new challenges arise just as they begin to grapple with old ones. During the course of our conversation, Farnsworth mentioned the launch, a few weeks earlier, of the first of what is expected to be 12,000 small, internet-servicing satellites from Elon Musk’s company SpaceX, a project called Starlink with the promise—or threat, depending on your perspective—of creating an artificial galaxy blanketing the sky. Astronomers went ballistic when the first of these small, brilliant objects were lofted into low-earth orbit in 2019, concerned that the eventual “mega-constellation” (as it’s been described) would interfere with their ability to study the stars, and alter the character of the natural sky to everyone, everywhere on the planet’s surface—and that was before Musk said he was seeking permission to add a further 30,000 satellites to the total.

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Astronomers went ballistic when the first of these small, brilliant objects were lofted into low-earth orbit in 2019, concerned that the eventual “mega-constellation” (as it’s been described) would interfere with their ability to study the stars, and alter the character of the natural sky to everyone, everywhere on the planet’s surface—and that was before Musk said he was seeking permission to add a further 30,000 satellites to the total. The Federal Communications Commission, which approved Starlink, assured the public that SpaceX would “take all practical steps” to protect astronomy. But no one, so far as Farnsworth and I could tell, stopped to wonder what effect a “mega-constellation” would have on billions of migratory birds, already trying—with ever-diminishing success—to find their way through a night sky bleached of its darkness.

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See also ambelopoulia on British bases, 283–84, 299–301 with lime sticks, 280, 283, 287–91, 302, 307–9 with mist nets, 279, 280, 283, 287, 288, 290, 302, 303–5, 306, 308–9 South Georgia Island, 275–76 South Korea, loss of wetlands in, 41–42 SpaceX, 146 sparrows Baird’s, 194 white-throated, 72 spatial awareness, and hippocampus, 82–83 species complexes, 267–69 spoon-billed sandpipers, 31–35 conservation actions, 50–51, 57–58, 61 hunting of, 33, 293 map of breeding and wintering ranges, 56 Tiaozini mudflats and, 55, 56–58 squirrels, ground lead poisoning from scavenging of, 238n as prey for raptors, 238, 239, 241 Sreenivasan, Ramki, 324 staging sites, 27n Starlink, 146 Stenhouse, Iain, 2, 6, 7, 10–11, 341, 344–45 stints, red-necked, 26–27, 31, 37, 39, 52, 54 St.

Breaking Twitter: Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover in History
by Ben Mezrich
Published 6 Nov 2023

Enough Raptor 2 engines in parallel could lift a rocket with an immense payload into orbit, hurl it 33.9 million miles across the darkness of space, and then back again, to be reused over and over. That was why SpaceX was already pumping out Raptor 2s at a breakneck pace: one a day, seven days a week. Elon would have passed through the shadows of a pair of huge satellite dishes. These were components of the Starlink system, an offshoot of SpaceX’s mission to colonize the solar system: a network of low-orbit satellites that could provide seamless internet to anyone on Earth. He approached a low-slung building with the word STARGATE running up the side in bright red lettering, another kitschy nod toward Hollywood science fiction, but to Elon a fitting label for the central building that housed engineering labs, teaching facilities, and his Command Center’s mission control.

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In fact, the world’s media would have a very different reaction, as evidenced by the screaming headlines that would soon dominate mass media. AP News would breathlessly report: “SpaceX giant rocket explodes minutes after launch from Texas.” CNBC would shout: “Starship rocket launches in historic test but explodes mid-flight.” The New York Times would tweet: “SpaceX’s Starship rocket launched but fell short of its most ambitious goals when it exploded minutes into its flight.” The Washington Post would exclaim: “Four minutes till failure: Watch SpaceX’s Starship come apart in flight.” And the BBC would report: “Musk’s SpaceX big rocket explodes on test flight.” All the headlines would be factually correct, but there were facts, and then there was the Truth.

…

In Elon’s point of view, because of this, humanity had but one choice to ensure survival: become interplanetary. SpaceX existed because Elon believed that for the first time in human history, humanity had achieved a level of economic security and technological advancement that made interplanetary life possible. A window was open, but there was no way of knowing how long that window would remain open. Already, what Elon and his engineers at SpaceX had achieved in pushing humankind toward the stars was nothing short of incredible. SpaceX was the first company to privately develop a liquid-propellant rocket that could reach orbit; the first to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station; the first to land a booster vertically, then reuse that booster in a later spaceflight; and SpaceX was the first private company to send astronauts into orbit, then to the ISS.

The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-First Century's Greatest Dilemma
by Mustafa Suleyman
Published 4 Sep 2023

A ragtag volunteer band of drone hobbyists, software engineers, management consultants, and soldiers, they were amateurs, designing, building, and modifying their own drones in real time, much like a start-up. A lot of their equipment was crowdsourced and crowdfunded. The Ukrainian resistance made good use of coming-wave technologies and demonstrated how they can undermine a conventional military calculus. Cutting-edge satellite internet from SpaceX’s Starlink was integral to maintaining connectivity. A thousand-strong group of nonmilitary elite programmers and computer scientists banded together in an organization called Delta to bring advanced AI and robotics capabilities to the army, using machine learning to identify targets, monitor Russian tactics, and even suggest strategies.

…

Robert, 140 optimization problems, 98 organizational limitations, 148–50, 228 Orwell, George, 196 Otto, Nicolaus August, 23 Ottoman Empire, 38, 40 P Pakistan, 45 PaLM, 66, 68 pandemics, 205, 209, 243, 273–74 See also COVID-19 pandemic Pan Jianwei, 122–23 Paris Agreement, 45, 46, 263 Partial Test Ban Treaty (1963), 42–43 Partnership on AI, 246 patent system, 127 pathogens containment and, 273–74 gain-of-function (GOF) research, 175–77 lab leaks, 173–75, 176 PayPal, 188–89 peer review, 128 Pelosi, Nancy, 170 Perez, Carlota, 29, 132 pessimism aversion, viii, 13–14, 102, 236, 253 petrochemical industry, 87 Phantom camera quadcopter, 106 phishing, 171 phonograph, 35 physical self-modifications, 86, 200 Pi, 243 Plague of Justinian, 205 Plato, 5 PlayStation 2, 110–11 polio vaccine, 263 political polarization, 155 popular movements, 271–72 population size crisis of, 219–20 technology waves and, 27–28 populism, 153 post-sovereign world authoritarianism and, 185, 191–92 contradictions and, 202–4 corporations and, 186–89 decentralization and, 198–99, 200–202 dematerialization and, 189 democracies and, 185 ethnic cleansing and, 195 hybrid entities and, 196–97 power and, 184–85 surveillance and, 193–96, 206 power, 102 contradictions and, 202 nation-state fragility amplifiers and, 163–64 omni-use technology and, 182 post-sovereign world and, 184–85 power loom, 282–83 printing, 30, 35, 38–39, 40, 157 profit motive, 131–36 containment and, 254–58 proliferation, 30–31, 32–34 AI and, 68–69 inevitability of, 40–41, 47 protein folds, 88–90 Proteus, 94 Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons (1995), 263 public benefit corporations, 258 Putin, Vladimir, 125 Q quantum computing, 97–99, 109, 114, 122 R R&D spending, 129, 134, 259 racism, 69, 239–40 radio, 157 railways, 23, 131–32 ransomware, 160–62 Reagan, Ronald, 201 Rebellion Defense, 166 red teaming, 246 Reformation, 35 regenerative technologies, 85 regulation as method for containment, 225–26 challenges of, 226–27, 229–30 legislation and, 260 licensing and, 261 nation-states and, 230–31 necessity of, 277 self-critical culture and, 269 reinforcement learning, 95, 117, 166–67, 240 See also machine learning Remotec Andros Mark 5A-1 robot, 97–98 Renaissance, 201 renewable energy, 100–101 Restrepo, Pascual, 179 revenge effects, 36, 176, 177 Ring, 227 RNA editing, 82 Robinson, James, 276, 278 robotics, 93–97 Chinese development of, 122 military applications, 165–66 profit motive and, 134–35 synthetic biology and, 109 Rogers, Everett, 56–57 Rotblat, Joseph, 270 Russell, Stuart, 115, 244 Russian flu epidemic, 173–74 Russian invasion of Ukraine, 44, 103–4 Rutherford, Ernest, 41 S Samsung Group, 188 Sanofi, 110 SARS, 174–75 scaling hypothesis, 67–68, 75 Schneier, Bruce, 167 Schumpeter, Joseph, 29 Scientific Revolution, 35, 127 SecureDNA, 247, 265 self-driving vehicles, 113 semiconductors, 32, 84, 249–50 SenseTime, 194 Shield AI, 166 silk, 41 Singer, Isaac, 133 Singularity, 74 See also superintelligence smartphones, 33, 60, 112, 187 Smil, Vaclav, 138 Snowden, Edward, 122 social media contradictions and, 202 disinformation and, 172 nation-states and, 155, 156 openness imperative and, 128 organizational efficiency and, 150 solar energy, 100, 198 Solugen, 86 South Korea, 188 Soviet Union, 171–72, 192 space debris, 36 space travel, 122 SpaceX, 104 Sparrow, 95 speed. See hyper-evolution Sputnik, 119–20, 126 Stability AI, 199 Stable Diffusion, 69 stagnation, 217–21 Starlink, 104 start-up myth, 141 steam engine, 23, 131 Stephenson, George, 131 stirrup, 183–84 stone tools, 26 superintelligence, 74–75, 77, 115 surveillance audits and, 248 dystopia and, 215–17 post-sovereign world and, 193–96, 206 regulation and, 228 resistance to, 277–78 Sutskever, Ilya, 59 swarming robots, 95–96 Switch Transformer, 68 Sycamore, 122 synthetic biology AI and, 89–90, 109 audits and, 247–48 catastrophe scenarios and, 208–9 computers and, 87–88 current applications, 84–85 decentralization and, 200 deep learning and, 90–91 defined, viii dematerialization and, 190 development of, 55 international cooperation and, 265–66 omni-use technology and, 112 potential of, 85–87 power of, 56 profit motive and, 134 research unpredictability and, 129–30 See also coming wave; gene editing synthetic media, 169–71, 172–73 Synthia, 84 systems biology, 85 Szilard, Leo, 41 T taxation, 261–62 technological unemployment, 177–81, 261, 262, 282 technology defined, viii, 26 failures of, 18 interrelated nature of, 56–57 societal dependence on, 218–19 as symbiotic with nation-states, 156–58 ubiquity of, 235–36 unintended consequences of, 35–36 See also coming wave technology characteristics; specific technologies technology cost decreases AI and, 64, 68 computing, 108 containment and, 39, 43, 233–34 genetic engineering, 80, 81, 83, 84 genome sequencing, 81 power and, 102 proliferation and, 31 robotics, 95, 96 technology waves, 6, 16, 25–26 acceleration of, 28–29, 92 diffusion and, 30–31 evolution and, 26–27 inevitability of, 29, 47 invisibility of, 27, 73 material and, 54–55 proliferation and, 32–34 resignation to, 47 unpredictability of, 29 urbanization and, 27–28 telephone, 31 television, 157 terrorism, 44–45, 160–62, 207, 212–13 Thiel, Peter, 201 3-D printing (additive manufacturing), 96, 109, 166, 190 Tilly, Charles, 157 Tiwari, Manoj, 169–70 Toffler, Alvin, 29 tokens, 63 totalitarianism.

How to Spend a Trillion Dollars
by Rowan Hooper
Published 15 Jan 2020

As we’ve seen, telescopes off-planet are better, because they are free of interference from Earth’s atmosphere. There is the atmosphere itself, then there are the radio waves that fill it from all our transmissions and TV shows and mobile phones, but then there are the soon-to-be-thousands of new satellites going into orbit. SpaceX is building the Starlink satellite constellation, a network of tens of thousands of small satellites launched into low orbit to provide internet access from space. (Some scientists are worried that they could ruin astronomy from Earth.) For all these reasons, we need to get into space, and we’ll sign off on optical and radio telescopes for the Moon.

…

Musk had that first flight carry a payload containing a red Tesla roadster with the roof down, a ‘Starman’ mannequin behind the driving wheel and the David Bowie song playing on the car stereo. The mannequin was positioned with one hand on the wheel, the other arm resting on the door. Some people were angry with what they saw as macho and patriarchal imagery and the same old middle-aged, rich, white, male-dominated agenda. The CEO of SpaceX is a woman, Gwynne Shotwell, but it didn’t help that the crowds cheering in the SpaceX launch control centre were almost entirely white men. Nor does it help that Musk likes to talk about establishing colonies on Mars, and ‘conquering’ the Moon. The language is inflammatory to some because it recalls the evils of imperial colonisation and slavery.

…

Police departments in the US, for example, are starting to use Teslas because they are more efficient and cheaper to run than petrol/diesel models (and have better acceleration). Electric cars get a lot of publicity, especially when they get launched into orbit round the Sun as part of a tie-in with a sibling company (as happened when SpaceX launched Tesla), but currently make up only a tiny proportion of the 1.2 billion personal vehicles in use. While we start to get petrol-based cars off the road, we need to improve their efficiency; we also need to increasingly switch to electric vehicles for personal use and especially buses and trucks.

Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service
by Michael Lewis
Published 18 Mar 2025

The Number John Lanchester Labor Department employees at work on charts of the consumer price index, calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Mount Yasur, a volcano on Tanna Island in Vanuatu, has been erupting continuously at least since it was first observed by Captain James Cook in 1774. The U.S. Army’s preferred font is Arial with a point size of 12. One of the main ways the Russian military identifies Ukrainian command posts is by locating Starlink terminals through drone surveillance. The Ukrainians try to trick the enemy by simulating command posts. Techniques they use to do this include faking the presence of a Starlink terminal with oval objects such as flower pots. Other tricks include faking normal living conditions at a command post by leaving pants hanging on a rope, or a coat on the back of a chair, and strewing detritus such as shoes, cigarette butts and candy wrappers.

…

Mark’s models showed how adjustments in design made by the builders—the slight differences from one bay to the next—were probably responses to problems they had observed along the way. A crack in an early pillar led to a different approach for a subsequent pillar. This is how people unable to multiply or divide had erected these miraculous structures: by trial and error. This enterprise was the SpaceX of its day. By the time Chris was aware of what his father did for a living, his father had become a tiny bit famous. He’d been featured in Life magazine and Scientific American and was soon to be the subject of a PBS documentary. Chris was the eldest of three sons and the one whose mind most resembled his father’s: Their thoughts rhymed in all sorts of interesting ways.

Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI
by Karen Hao
Published 19 May 2025

He also placed Dowling in charge of government relations, emphasizing the importance of educating policymakers about AI and making them aware of the coming capabilities. After Jack Clark’s departure, Dowling would bring on Anna Makanju, a highly respected former adviser in the Obama administration who had also worked on policy at Facebook and Musk’s Starlink, to take over policy and global affairs. Eager to ride GPT-3’s momentum, the Applied division brainstormed ways to develop and expand its commercialization strategy. But seemingly at every turn, the Safety clan continued to put up resistance. For Safety, still contending with the rushing out of GPT-3, the best way to salvage the premature release was not to propagate it even further but to first resolve the model’s shortcomings as quickly as possible.

…

See also data centers cooling, 274–75, 277–78, 288–90, 294 Microsoft, 149 OpenAI, 257, 260–61, 267 sex bots, 179 sexism, 162, 344–45 Shear, Emmett, 9–10, 34, 367, 369–70 Shopify, 46 Sidor, Szymon, 6, 8, 145, 148–49, 244–45, 318–19, 366 Sierra, 375 sign-up incentive, 267 Silicon Valley Bank crisis of 2023, 41–42 Silverman, Carolyn, 18 Simo, Fidji, 376 Sky, 391 Slack, 3, 9, 81, 156, 240, 263–64, 319, 358, 374, 389, 402–3 slavery, 89, 208, 400 Slowe, Chris, 34 Solon, Olivia, 103 Song, Dawn, 108, 114 Sora, 375 source code, 57–58 South Africa, 104–5, 115 South Korea, 59 SpaceX, 23–24, 25, 28, 50, 368 Spanish conquest of Chile, 271, 272 sparse models, 177–78 specism, 24 speech recognition, 78, 92, 100, 102, 118, 244, 309, 411 Whisper, 244, 247, 267, 413 Stable Diffusion, 114, 137, 236, 242, 284 Stack Overflow, 183 standardized tests, 91–92, 245–46 Stanford University, 52, 74, 102, 137, 173, 235, 418 AI Index, 105 AI Salon, 24 Altman at, 31–32, 39, 142 StarCraft II, 66 Starlink, 154 Steyerl, Hito, 137–38 Strawberry, 374, 375, 404 stress testing, 179–80 Stripe, 41, 46, 55, 58, 73, 82 Strubell, Emma, 159–60, 171–73, 309 Suleyman, Mustafa, 320, 384–85 SummerSafe, 68 Summers, Lawrence “Larry,” 11, 375 Superalignment, 316–17, 353, 387–88 Superassistant, 247–49, 258–59, 381 superintelligence, 19, 24, 27, 55 Superintelligence (Bostrom), 26–27, 55, 122–23 Suri, Siddharth, 193–94 surveillance capitalism, 101–2, 103–4, 111, 133, 138 surveillance drones, 52 Sutskever, Ilya Alignment Manhattan Project, 315–18 Altman and, 347–48, 349, 386–87, 397, 401, 406–7 firing and reinstatement, 1–6, 7, 9–12, 365–66, 368, 373–74 leadership behavior, 340, 353–59, 363–64 author’s interview, 78–81, 159–60 background of, 47 board of directors and oversight, 322–23 code generation, 152 culture of OpenAI, 53–54 deep learning and neural networks, 100–101, 109, 110 departure of, 386–87, 398, 401 DNNresearch, 47, 50, 98, 100 “Feel the AGI,” 120, 254–55 founding of OpenAI, 28, 46, 47–51 at Google, 50, 100–101 governance structure of OpenAI, 61–63 Hinton and, 47, 100–101, 109, 117–18, 121, 254 ImageNet, 47, 59–60, 100–101, 101, 117–18, 259 leadership of, 53–54, 58–59, 61–62, 63–65, 69 Murati and, 343, 344, 347–48, 349 Omnicrisis and, 396–98, 401 paranoia of, 148, 149, 441n personality of, 3–4, 119–20 Q* (Strawberry), 373–74, 404 research road map, 59–61 Safe Superintelligence, 405 scaling, 117–20, 133, 159–60, 373–74 Superalignment, 316–17, 353, 387 Toner and, 325, 343, 351–52, 353–55, 359–60 Transformers, 121–22 Swift, Taylor, 2 symbolists (symbolism), 94–95, 97, 99–100, 109–10, 116, 217 Syrian refugees, 137–38 T Tay, 153 Taylor, Bret, 11, 375 technological revolutions, 16, 88–89, 93 empires of AI, 16–19, 197, 222–23, 270, 414, 418, 420 technological unemployment, 78–81 techno-nationalism, 308–11 Techworker Community Africa (TCA), 416–17 Te Hiku Media, 411–14 Telemachus, 279 Tenaya Lodge, 255 “10x engineer,” 82, 83, 142–43, 175, 177–78, 242 te reo Māori, 409–13 Tesla, 63, 64, 86, 194 Autopilot, 64, 107–8, 109 Model X, 69, 344 Murati at, 69, 344 Test of Time Award, 259, 374 text generation, 112, 113, 121, 124 text-to-image, 176–77, 234–38.

…

After the older entrepreneur had shown him around the sprawling SpaceX factory in Hawthorne, California, that admiration had only deepened. “The thing that sticks in memory was the look of absolute certainty on his face when he talked about sending large rockets to Mars,” Altman wrote later of the experience. “I left thinking ‘huh, so that’s the benchmark for what conviction looks like.’ ” Musk had been deeply concerned about AI for some time. In 2012, he’d met Demis Hassabis, the professorial CEO of the London-based AI lab DeepMind Technologies. Shortly thereafter, Hassabis had also paid Musk a visit at his SpaceX factory. As the two men sat in the canteen, surrounded by the sounds of massive rocket parts being transported and assembled, Hassabis raised the possibility that more advanced AI, of the kind that might one day exceed human intelligence, could pose a threat to humanity.

The Quiet Coup: Neoliberalism and the Looting of America
by Mehrsa Baradaran
Published 7 May 2024

Musk is a pure Randian hero: a builder and a visionary whose only pursuit is more—more attention, money, and power. Musk decries federal taxation and regulation even while his businesses rely on subsidies. By 2015, Tesla had received around $4.9 billion in federal subsidies, all before his company turned a profit, a milestone he reached in 2020. SpaceX received an added $2.89 billion contract from NASA in 2021. Beginning in 2019, Musk’s SpaceX began launching Starlink satellites into space every week—he controlled more than 4,500 by July 2023, according to The New York Times, making up the majority of all satellites currently in space and giving Musk control over internet access around the world.4 Even robber barons like John D.

…

See also desegregation segregation academies, 186 Seid, Barre, 140, 187 self-interest, 35, 172, 184, 193, 222, 224, 228, 234, 351 self-sufficiency, 227 Senate, U.S., 140, 358, 360 Senate Ethics Committee, 300 “separate but equal,” 102, 144, 155 separation of church and state, 102, 188 separation of powers, 207 serfdom, 32, 60, 235, 342, 350 set asides, 73 seven sisters, 47–48 sexual behavior, 176–77 Shad, John, 258 shadow banks, 267 Shaftesbury, First Earl of, xxx Shah of Iran, 48, 61, 355, 356 shame shift, 217 shareholder activism, 78 shareholder maximization, 231, 269 shareholders, 77–78, 80, 84, 191, 239 shareholder supremacy, 85, 239–40 Shariati, Ali, 41 Sharpeville uprising, 39 Shenfield, Arthur, 50–51 Shiller, Robert, 234 “shock treatment,” 55 Shultz, George, 62, 73, 74, 236 Signal (app), 328 Signal Advance, Inc., 328 Silberman, Laurence, 153 “silent majority, the,” 18, 187 Silent Scream, The (documentary), 187 Silk Road, 39, 196 Simon, William, 90–91, 138 Singer, Paul, 279–80, 306, 344 “Efficient Markets Need Guys Like Me,” 280 single mothers, 177, 202 Situation with Tucker Carlson, The, 141 Six-Day War, 39 Sixth Amendment, 102 60 Minutes, 291 Skype, 322 Slack, 324 slavery, xxix, 21, 35, 46, 125, 126, 132–33, 165, 224–25, 244, 274, 281 Slobodian, Quinn Globalists, 52 Slouching Toward Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline (Bork), 139 slumlords, 13–14, 173, 202 smart contracts, 335–37 smart money, 361 Smith, Adam, 108, 173, 192–94, 197–99, 353, 364 Defence of Usury, 199 The Theory of Moral Sentiments, 192 Wealth of Nations, 192–93, 353, 364 Smith, Loren A., 145 Snow, John, 23 social contract, 29, 200, 246, 258, 300, 313 social Darwinism, 35, 235, 362 socialism, 9, 18–19, 32, 46, 67, 81, 83, 84, 231, 306, 352 social justice, 38, 70, 223, 235, 328 social life, commodification of, 322 social media, xxiv, 320–21 social problems, using markets to solve, 165 social programs, 238, 270, 316 “Social Psychology of the World’s Religions, The” (Weber), 219 Social Responsibilities of Business, Company, and Community, 1900–1960 (Heald), 83 Social Responsibilities of the Businessman, The (Bowen), 83 social responsibility, 82–84 social security, 15, 19, 57, 184, 200, 228, 299 social welfare programs, 59, 65 society, 219–20, 246–47, 280 sociology, 101, 102, 126, 166 SoftBank, 325, 326 soft money, 115 Solaren, xiv Somalia, 39 Son, Masayoshi, 325 Sorbonne, 43 Soros, George, xxiii, 343 Sotomayor, Sonia, 151 Souter, David, 148 South Africa, 39, 49, 50, 53–54, 56, 90 South Dakota, 207–8 Southeast Asia, 39 southerners and the South, xxxi, 19, 22, 25, 27, 30, 100, 101, 104, 132, 224, 225 “southern strategy,” 17–18, 75, 228 South Korea, 39 sovereignty, xxxi, xxxvi, 46–50, 52 Soviet Union, 32, 49 Sowell, Thomas, 89, 94, 216–17 Basic Economics, 216 space exploration, 327–28 SpaceX, 324, 327 Spain, xxix, 34 special interests, 149, 220, 230, 232–33, 239 special purpose vehicles (SPVs), 290 spirit of the law, xxii, xxxiv, 116, 144 spirituality, 185 Square, 324 Srinivas, Balaji, 327 stagflation, 24 Standard Oil, 79 Standard & Poor’s, 292 stare decisis, 150, 151, 155, 156 Starlink, 327–28 Starr, Kenneth W., 118, 137 Starr Report, 118 start-ups, 323–24 state, the, xvi, xxii, xxxix, 52, 106, 193, 223, 231–32, 246–48, 334 state laws (state legislatures), xxi, xxii, 112, 206–8, 213, 214 states’ rights (U.S. states), 112, 220 State Street, 348 steel, 197, 198, 271 sterilizations, mandatory, 133–34 Stevens, John Paul, 113, 124, 147, 148, 151 Stewart, James “Eight Days,” 293 Stewart, Potter, 109, 113, 124 Stigler, George, 22–23, 26, 45, 73, 139, 157, 166–68, 220, 226, 232–33, 235, 238, 239, 256 “The Problem of the Negro,” 22–23 “Theories of Economic Regulation,” 168 “The Theory of Economic Regulation,” 232–33 Stigler Center (University of Chicago), 232 stimulus checks, 329 stockbrokers, 245, 342 stockholders, 84–85 stock market crash (1929), 80, 252 stocks and stock market, xx, 80, 255, 273, 290, 307, 329, 363.

…

However, once a start-up becomes venture-backed, its future growth is often more or less assured, thanks to the self-reinforcing magic of an insular market. What separates unicorns from the pack is that they promise not just profits but total market domination. Unicorn companies with billion-dollar valuations—Uber, Airbnb, Alibaba, Square, Slack, SpaceX, and ByteDance—set out to make markets where none existed previously, beyond the existing internet into Web 3.0, into novel forms of assets, and beyond earth altogether. Tech’s manifest destiny is led not just by innovative tech, but by charismatic leaders of unicorn companies with a plan for the future.

The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future
by Keach Hagey
Published 19 May 2025

Thiel’s Founders Fund, which had invested in Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, invited Hassabis to speak at a conference in 2012, and Musk was in attendance. Hassabis laid out his ten-year plan for DeepMind, touting it as a “Manhattan Project” for AI years before Altman would use the phrase. Thiel recalled one of his investors joking on the way out that the speech was impressive, but he felt the need to shoot Hassabis to save the human race. The next year, Luke Nosek, a co-founder of both PayPal and Founders Fund who is friends with Musk and sits on the SpaceX board, introduced Hassabis to Musk. Musk took Hassabis on a tour of SpaceX’s headquarters in Los Angeles.

…

We’ve planned out there are only two safe places, Big Sur and New Zealand. I’ve got a place here. He’s got a place there. And we’re going to build out, and duplicate, and we’re realizing that this AI thing is real. It could be really bad, but really big and important, and we’ve got to be sure that we’re safe, and we’ve got to do something good about it.” (While Musk’s Starlink has a presence in New Zealand, it was likely Musk’s fellow PayPal Mafia member Thiel, who has a place in New Zealand, whom Altman was talking about.) The same month that Altman posted his essay calling for the regulation of AI, he reached out to Musk to help him draft an open letter to the government calling for the same.

…

“We’d like for Y Combinator to fund more breakthrough technology companies—companies that solve an important problem, have a very long time horizon, and are based on an underlying technological or scientific breakthrough,” he wrote in a blog post two months after taking over, pointing to two of Elon Musk’s companies, SpaceX and Tesla, as examples of what is possible. “It used to be the case that government funded a lot of development of breakthrough technologies. The bad news is that they have mostly stopped: the good news is that the leverage of technology is such that now small startups can do what used to take the resources of nations.”

12 Bytes: How We Got Here. Where We Might Go Next
by Jeanette Winterson
Published 15 Mar 2021

Others are for mutual co-operation, such as telecoms, and the global GPS system that tells you (and others) where you are. TV and phone signals depend on our satellite network; signals are sent upwards to a satellite, and instantly relocated back down to earth again. This avoids annoying signal-blockers, like mountains, and saves thousands of miles of land-routed cable network. * * * Elon Musk’s SpaceX programme, Starlink, controls more than 25% of all satellites in space, and he is seeking permission to get 12,000 up there by 2025, and eventually 42,000. There are risks to all this, including light pollution and energy guzzling. As with so much of tech, most of us just don’t know what is going on, and by the time we find out it will be too late to regulate.

The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World
by Atossa Araxia Abrahamian
Published 7 Oct 2024

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos believes that not too long from now, a “fourth industrial revolution” will relocate all heavy industry outside the Earth’s orbit. In 2000, Bezos started Blue Origin, which manufactures rockets and other devices to explore space. He has personally launched himself into the Earth’s orbit; so has Richard Branson, who started the Virgin record label, now a lifestyle brand. Elon Musk’s space company, SpaceX, launched Starlink, a private constellation of internet satellites serving the whole planet, and has multimillion-dollar contracts with NASA (the agency has made a conscious effort to expand its private-sector partnerships). This surge of interest is turning theoretical questions that were once the domain of sci-fi novels and dorm-room thought experiments into pressing legal, regulatory, and commercial concerns.