Elon Musk’s Hyperloop sketches look like something out of the future, not the present.
Nerds everywhere (myself included) can finally rejoice. Our fearless leader Elon Musk — whose “Nerd Hall of Fame” resume includes founding PayPal, SpaceX, and my personal favorite, Tesla Motors — has just released his highly anticipated proposal for his next great idea: the Hyperloop transportation system.
Folks, allow me to be the first to tell you that the hype is real. This thing looks awesome. Don’t just take my word for it, take a look at the Hyperloop Alpha for yourself.
I’ve read most of the document (at least the parts a simpleton like me can understand), and I was immediately drawn to the juxtaposition between such a complex and detailed vision and the seemingly simple reason for creating such a plan: the desire to make things better. That’s when it hit me. That’s what those of us in IT all strive to do.
As I dove deeper into the 57 page plan, I couldn’t help but think about one thing.
Why can’t we Hyperloop everything in our lives?
What if I could mow the yard in one minute instead of one hour? Wouldn’t that be great? Or how satisfying would it be to have my food seconds after placing my order with the waitress at a restaurant? Pretty awesome I bet.
Finally, what if I could Hyperloop how I worked? Imagine all the other projects I could get to! That’s some radical thinking that people like Elon Musk only dare to dream up. At least that’s what we’re meant to believe. In reality there’s nothing stopping you or me from turning conventional wisdom on it’s head and finding new refreshing ways to do our job better, faster, and easier than ever before.
The notion of “making things better” a la Hyperlooping, is (or should be) at the core of any IT team’s charter. The desire to make things faster, more efficient, and easier through the use of technology is most likely one of the largest factors in your choice to pursue a career in IT right?
I know some of you are probably saying, “I just put out fires, or do silly repetitive and mundane tasks all day. Rarely do I ever get to do something groundbreaking with deploying technology in my role.” Even if that’s true, don’t you want to be the person responsible for completing those tasks faster, more efficient, and easier than anyone’s ever done before?
Of course you do.
That would bring you all the fame, wealth, and the utmost respect from your teammates, end users and boss one person can handle. Well, I guess shooting for one out of three isn’t that bad right?
So I’ll leave you with my plea. Someone, anyone, everyone, find ways to Hyperloop the rest of the world.
Especially the world we live in. The IT world.
Life would be so much better with everything Hyperlooped. Our days would become so much easier. We would have so much more time on our hands to live out our dreams like driving around in our electric sports car or jet setting to Mars like it’s Malibu.
Then again maybe I’ll just leave those to Elon and get some dreams of my own.
