Thoughts on the Mini Musk Sub

So, the local media here (can’t comment for other parts of the world) have been quite busy reporting on the fate of The Wild Boars soccer team and their coach, stuck in a flooded cave in Thailand.  With the great work of many, the group is now free of the cave, and getting the medical attention they need.

Pats on the back all around.  It could have very well been a dozen funerals that needed to be organised instead of servings of various meals.

Overshadowing this somewhat, has been the somewhat childish spat between Vern Unsworth and Elon Musk over the miniature submarine that was proposed as a vehicle for transporting the children through the cave system.

Now, I’ll admit right up front, what I know is what I’ve heard from the media here.  In amongst the reports, it was commented that the gaps though which people had to squeeze through, were as small as 38cm in places.

That does not leave you much room.  That’s bloody confined in the extreme.  A submarine that could fit a child and squeeze thorough such a gap?  It’d be positively claustrophobic!

Now, Mr Unsworth did label this as a PR stunt.  Maybe it was … maybe the design was just naïve.  I think the goal was a noble one, and Elon Musk’s team did a great job in giving it a go, even if they did overlook a few critical details.

However, I think I’ll take Mr Unsworth’s advice over Mr Musk’s regarding whether the device was practical, as he was actually there.  If the device got stuck, the results could have been fatal.  The team was already in a dangerous situation and had lost one member of their team already, they really weren’t in a position to experiment.  I think responding with “stick it where it hurts” is being overly harsh, but otherwise I think the criticism was entirely valid.

You do not, however, call someone a “pedo”, without very good grounds for doing so.  That is slanderous.  And what exactly is “sus” about living in Thailand?  Tesla’s been suffering some quite bad press lately, I really do not think this juvenile behaviour helps anyone.

One is free to believe that ego is not a dirty word, but that does not mean one’s humility should be locked under the stairs!


Update 2018-07-17: Hmm, I was saying…? Tesla sheds almost $US2b after Elon Musk’s ‘pedo’ attack on British diver.