If it's meant to happen it will. At the right time. At the right place. For the right reasons.

The history of technological progress shows us the power of innovation to transform society and improve human lives. From the invention of the printing press to the development of the internet, technological advancements have enabled new forms of communication, education, and social organization, transforming the way we live and interact with each other. But the hype around innovation often leads to unrealistic expectations, causing people to overlook the challenges and limitations of technological progress.

The tale of human technological progression teaches us that innovation tends to be a?slow and often unpredictable process. The development and implementation of new inventions were more complex than commonly believed. Breakthroughs and truly disruptive advancements can take years or even decades to develop. In reality, we mostly make small incremental improvements and adjustments to existing technologies over time.

Even when I think back to the day I graduated from high school more than two decades ago (and never in my life could have imagined how we live and work today), progress crept into my life almost unnoticed. There was never the big bang where everything changed overnight. Except maybe for the fall of the Berlin Wall. And the day I fell in love with my wife. And when my kids were born. This was honestly like something I have never felt before. OK, now I sound like a copy of ?What have the Romans ever done for us??

But in a world where the latest gadgets and technological advancements are constantly uberhyped, one often comes across ideas or beliefs uttered by Elon Musk, sometimes sooner, sometimes later. Some of the people who know me are aware that I am an ardent critic of the incredibly stupid personality cult surrounding the billionaire and his vision for the future. You can grasp some of his tidbits?here and yes, these are all things Elon Musk really claimed.

Elon Musk's grand visions for space travel, humans should be 'multi-planet species',?self-driving cars, hyperloop transportation, and other futuristic technologies are most of the time overly optimistic and fail to account for the significant challenges and obstacles that would need to be overcome to make them a reality. Colonization?of other planets, for example, is not a viable way of solving environmental problems on Earth.

There is no Planet B. Even Mount Everest is a far more hospitable place than any other celestial body within reach that we know of. You could breathe the air on the summit with only the need for an oxygen mask. In the Martian tropics in contrast a night is colder than the coldest night on Everest in the middle of winter.

It is so cold that the air often starts to freeze out as dry ice at night. By comparison, the New World was warm, easily habitable; it was almost a paradise for humans. It had plants, trees, fruits, animals, soil you could just dig and grow things in.

Mars is also much smaller. Earth has a magnetic field generated by the flow of electricity in the planet's molten outer core, while Mars' smaller iron core cooled faster, so it could not maintain a magnetic field. In addition, Mars had much less iron available from the beginning, as indicated by the planet's total density, which is about three-fifths that of Earth.

Therefore, it probably never had as strong a magnetic field as Earth, and a crewed mission to Mars would expose the astronauts to radiation that would be lethal even with metal shielding, simulations have revealed.

I strongly believe that the first problem to solve in building a sustainable presence beyond Earth is not to build the most powerful rocket system ever built, as Elon Musk with his Spaceship does. Humans would have to answer tricky questions about basic biology first, because no one really knows if humans can successfully reproduce in space, whether that’s during spaceflight or on another planet.

A host of unknowns swirl around how space environments affect the actual biological sequences of events that must unfold with precision for a new human to grow, from fertilization to weaning. Evolution has endured for billions of years, and our reproductive process may be tied precisely to gravity conditions on Earth. What would be the point of making humans multiplanetary if we would simply become extinct outside planet Earth?

A critical perspective on the true nature of innovation is refreshing in the light off flashy, futuristic tech whose supposed potential often overshadows its practicality or even its actual existence in the real world. Uber did a whole?summit on how it was going to build flying cars , self-driving technology was assumed to be right around the corner , and editors commissioned endless stories about??biohacking ? and??transhumanism ?.

?We were promised flying cars. Instead we got 140 characters,? Peter Thiel famously once said. The irony is that few people were better positioned over the last decades to make useful, world-changing technology. Instead, Thiel expanded the surveillance state at? Palantir Technologies , and Elon Musk's Tesla and The Boring Company just kind of slide in every way to distract from efforts to improve public transit.

Paris Marx writes the?Disconnect ?newsletter and hosts?Tech Won’t Save Us , an award-winning critical technology podcast. In their book,?Road to Nowhere:?What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation ,?Marx took a look back at all the ways that self-driving cars, micromobility scooters, electric vehicles, and ridesharing services were supposed to make the world a better place but utterly failed to do so.

Unfortunately, it seems our tech overlords have actually made a lot of things worse and their own faith in tech’s ability to solve any problem has left many of them in an untenable situation of moving the goal posts while hoping shareholders get distracted by shiny objects. One of the most hyped, and most wildly impractical technologies from this era was the hyperloop.

In an interview with Rhett Jones , Marx mentioned the distraction that Elon Musk really effectively has achieved. ?To try to distract from real solutions to the problems that the automobile has created and things that would require less car dependence and to actually offer people alternatives to the car and to instead kind of intervene and say, no, actually, I have these ideas that are going to be even better than that, and we should pursue those instead to try to sap energy from alternatives.?

?Elon Musk admitted to his biographer that the reason the Hyperloop was announced - even though he had no intention of pursuing it - was to try to disrupt the California high-speed rail project and to get in the way of that actually succeeding. Instead of, say, building subway systems he could say, look we’re going to build these really cheap tunnels, you’ll be able to take your car into it. And later he said, why also make it so people who don’t have cars can use it, too. And that promise doesn’t exist any longer either. And that’s really good for him as an automaker.?

The benefits of innovation are often accompanied by unintended consequences, such as environmental degradation or social inequality. It is not just about the feasibility of innovations. The economic and social implications of technological advancements, including the challenges of adapting to new technologies and the importance of considering the environmental impact of innovation are frequently ignored, as can be seen in the construction of the new Tesla factory near Berlin.

Plans for space exploration and colonization, as well as self-driving cars and energy storage projects, may have unintended negative consequences. For example, some have questioned the environmental impact of the massive amount of energy required to launch rockets into space, while others have raised concerns about the potential environmental impacts of large-scale battery manufacturing and disposal.

His projects often require significant resources and investment that may not be accessible to all, which could exacerbate existing inequalities. Others have criticized his approach to labor relations, arguing that his companies have engaged in union-busting and exploited workers to cut costs and boost profits. In 2018, a report by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that Musk had violated US labor laws by preventing Tesla employees from organizing a union and retaliating against employees who did. The report stated that Musk had unlawfully threatened employees with the loss of stock options and other benefits if they supported a union.

Despite these criticisms, many young professionals admire Elon Musk and consider?his ideas as bold and visionary, pushing the boundaries of what is possible and inspiring innovation and entrepreneurship. ?He lands rockets on barges, single-handedly revolutionized the automotive industry. What have you achieved or even attempted for the betterment of mankind or advance of human civilisation?? are typical responses with which his fan base tries to silence any critic.

Many of the greatest inventions in human history have been the result of collaborations between scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and other specialists who bring different skills and knowledge to the table. But when Elon Musk enters into their field of expertise, be it computer programming, compilers, artificial intelligence, tunneling, robotics, or neuroscience, often spouting garbage techno mumbo jumbo, it is remarkable to see "The Realization??" happening to people at the same time.

As with any major technological visionary, the true impact of Musk's ideas remains to be seen, and their ultimate success or failure will likely be determined by a complex interplay of economic, social, and technological factors. As Vaclav Smil wrote in his latest book, Invention and Innovation: A Brief History of Hype and Failure , progress is not a linear process and the hype around innovation can often lead to disappointment and failure. It is a sobering reminder of the limitations of human development and the importance of taking a measured approach to technological progress in a world where innovation is often seen as the solution to all our problems.

But the willingness to learn from past mistakes and the wariness of experience seem to find less and less acceptance in our modern society. Masses of scientifically illiterate and often astonishingly uneducated citizens are exposed daily not only to exuberant reports of possible breakthroughs, but often to completely exaggerated claims about new inventions. There is no silver bullet. There are no easy fixes. Every progress comes with a cost. We must approach technological innovation with a more realistic understanding of its limitations, taking into account the potential consequences of our actions.

In a world where the latest gadgets and technological advancements are constantly hyped up, we need this critical perspective on the true nature of innovation. Timing is everything. If it's meant to happen it will. At the right time. At the right place. For the right reasons.