Elon realizes his ventures depend heavily on him, and is reaching the age where one becomes keenly aware of mortality. Whatever his long-term goals, he knows speed is essential - especially as other businesses start catching on and leverage his progress to catch up. I'm surprised Terafactory Austin wasn't already on a 24/7 schedule.
When I turned 49, I became keenly aware of how short a century is - and how short human life is. Elon knows he has about 10 years to play out his remaining plans.
Doubtful as he is very playful and happy when not under extreme pressure. I do think however that when this factory is fully operational, the true power of the force...err, I mean electric vehicle architecture will be shown to the world. And I do truly believe it will one day be a Terafactory. It is going to be amazing when that happens!
In 11 years Elon will be 60. Life expectancy starts dropping fast past that point (recall: he just had (?) Covid19). He may have more years/decades past that age, but only the next 10 are pretty sure to have - longevity & health decline thereafter. Maybe he'll be really vigorous for another 40 from now, but don't bet on it. Mars has gotta happen (as in: established colony) by 2030 to satisfy his goal.
I don’t know about life expectancy in the US, but in Canada, life expectancy is more favourable than your comments would suggest. At age 49, life expectancy is another 34.9 years, or age 84. At age 60, life expectancy is 24.9 years, so age 85 years. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3910000701 And that is average life expectancy. Life expectancy is lower for poorer people, and I think that Musk has little,risk of being in that demographic.
I'm trying to make a general point without being pedantic. Considering the flat-out concentrated intensity Musk is operating at, realize a person cannot maintain that indefinitely.
It's statistics. If you know you're in good shape now, planning for high-intensity work for 4 years makes sense. If your cognitive decline was discernible 12 years ago, and is prominent & rapidly advancing now, planning for high-intensity work for 4 years is a poor choice. If you're in great shape now, and have enormous plans, be sure to get them done before odds of decline become substantial; if you're 50 now, get the bulk of 'em done in the next decade, then re-evaluate.
His money will buy him eternal youth Scientists reverse age-related vision loss, eye damage from glaucoma in mice Summary: Researchers at Harvard Medical School have successfully reversed age-related vision loss in animals as well as eye damage stemming from with a condition mimicking human glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness around the world.
Good point. I am about 46 or 47 now (memory issues), and I am not sure I will make it to 60 as a coherent organism. Musk looks as s^$t, frankly, and I am concerned how much of Tesla and SpaceX progress is dependent on Musk. What happens when he's gone?
I think it may be wiser to make plans around the highest attainable human lifespan. That would be 120. True, one does have to slow down. Being 65, I do know that! (As a side note even saying I'm 65 is astonishing, I thought I just turned 25!. And, for your information, I still have many big plans! Now, if only I had Musk's money to carry them out.)
"first dry in - Dec 30, 2020" I'm not sure the full definition of first dry in, but I assume protected from the elements, i.e. roof and walls up. Recent drone footage doesn't show any walls up yet. They are at three weeks and counting behind construction. Will Tesla ramp up more construction to make up time or just let the schedule slip out?
I believe they know that and estimated those dates for the City, but, they are working 24/7 schedule.
FWIW, the Tegtmeyer drone video from last weekend addressed the schedule. IIRC he was guessing first dry in would be end of Feb and substantial complete by end of June. He further estimated MY in Q3 and CT in Q3. AFAIK those were just educated guesses based on the progress he's tracked with his daily drone flights.
It is interesting they are installing GigaPresses now in Austin, so Austin is ahead of Berlin on equipment installation I guess. If Tesla can control weather they don't need no friking buildings at all.