Think of it as Yoga for the brain, we are going to stretch a bit.
THE TRUE POWER OF ELON MUSK
The American Dream Is Still Alive. Stop Complaining and Start Building. -- YNOT!
Yesterday, October 15, 2026, I watched something that I honestly thought I would never see in my lifetime. A car drove straight up a wall.
Not a little incline. Not some fancy ramp. I’m talking about a car climbing a nearly vertical surface, continuing upside down, and then launching itself into the air.
And just when you thought it was going to come crashing down, it used rocket-inspired thrusters to rotate itself, level out, and land safely on its wheels.
Then, as if that wasn’t enough, it jumped over a lineup of Tesla vehicles, performing an aerial flip before landing.
It looked like something generated by artificial intelligence. Except it wasn’t.
It was Elon Musk’s new Tesla Roadster, developed through a collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX.
The demonstration took place at SpaceX’s testing facility in McGregor, Texas. The vehicle used powerful fans to create suction against the driving surface and compressed-gas thrusters to maneuver through the air. Tesla also demonstrated acceleration from zero to 60 mph in a claimed 0.81 seconds. Production is currently targeted for 2028.
Think about that for a moment. A car that can drive upside down.
A car that can jump over other cars. A car that can briefly leave the ground, rotate itself, and land. And it wasn’t a Hollywood movie.
It was an engineering demonstration in front of people
Now, before someone starts writing me an angry response explaining that this isn’t really a flying car, let me save you some time.
You’re right. It isn’t a flying car in the conventional sense. It doesn’t fly from New York to Miami. It doesn’t hover indefinitely. And it certainly isn’t ready for your daily commute.
It’s an experimental prototype. There are enormous questions involving safety, practicality, cost, and regulation.
But you’re missing the point.
The most important thing about this car isn’t what it can do. It’s what it represents.
And that brings me to something I have believed for a very long time.
THE GREATEST POWER HUMANITY POSSESSES IS IMAGINATION
Think about everything we take for granted today.
A little over a century ago, human beings were still trying to figure out how to get a machine into the air.
The Wright brothers weren’t building jumbo jets. They were trying to answer a basic question: Can we make something heavier than air fly?
People had been dreaming about flying for thousands of years. Then somebody actually built it. And once they did, everything changed.
One minute, humanity is flying a few hundred feet over a sand dune at Kitty Hawk. A few decades later, we’re crossing oceans. Then we’re flying faster than sound. Then we’re walking on the Moon.
And today, we’re discussing permanent settlements on Mars.
None of that happened because somebody assembled a committee to discuss all the reasons it couldn’t be done.
It happened because somebody imagined something that didn’t exist and decided to build it.
There is actually a remarkable passage in the Bible about this very concept.
In Genesis 11:6, during the story of the Tower of Babel, God says: "Nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do." — Genesis 11:6, King James Version.
Now, the interesting thing about that passage is its context.
God is observing humanity working together toward an enormous undertaking. The larger story is also a warning about human pride and ambition.
But the observation itself is extraordinary.
When human beings share a vision, organize themselves, and work together, their potential is astonishing. Imagination is where everything begins.
Not every dream is achievable. Physics still matters. Economics still matters. And having the ability to build something doesn’t automatically mean we should.
But almost everything humanity has accomplished started with somebody imagining something that didn’t exist.
And that, to me, is the true power of Elon Musk.
AMERICA NEEDS MORE DREAMERS
I’m going to say something that will probably upset a few people.
I love Elon Musk. Not because I agree with everything he says.
I don’t. Not because I think he’s perfect. He certainly isn’t.
And not because every idea he has is brilliant or every promise he makes comes true.
They aren’t, and they don’t. But because he’s a builder.
He’s a creator. He’s a dreamer.
To me, Elon Musk represents a combination of Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Howard Hughes.
Think about those four men.
Tesla imagined electrical technologies that helped transform civilization.
Edison helped turn inventions into commercial systems that could serve millions.
Ford revolutionized manufacturing and made automobiles affordable to ordinary Americans.
Howard Hughes was fascinated by aviation, engineering, speed, and pushing technological boundaries.
They were complicated men.
Some were brilliant businessmen. Some made terrible decisions. Some had enormous personal flaws.
But they shared something important. They were not satisfied with the world as it existed. They wanted to change it.
And Elon Musk belongs in that tradition.
Here’s a guy involved in building electric cars, reusable rockets, satellite communications, artificial intelligence systems, humanoid robots, and enormous manufacturing operations.
Now he looks at his car company and his rocket company and essentially asks: What happens if we put these technologies together?
Most corporate executives would respond with a hundred reasons why it couldn’t be done.
The liability. The insurance. The engineering challenges. The regulations. The shareholders. The lawyers.
And Musk’s response seems to be: Why not? Let’s try it.
That is an attitude America desperately needs to rediscover.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DREAMERS AND BUREAUCRATS
I sometimes wonder whether America is losing the very characteristic that made it extraordinary.
We have become remarkably good at explaining why things cannot be done.
We have committees. We have consultants. We have consultants advising the committees. We have regulations explaining what the committees are allowed to discuss.
And somewhere along the way, we forget to actually build something.
Now, don’t misunderstand me.
Regulations have a purpose. Safety matters. Workers matter. The environment matters.
And nobody should be allowed to endanger innocent people simply because they have a billion dollars and an interesting idea.
But there is a difference between managing risk and eliminating the willingness to take risks.
A society that refuses to take risks eventually becomes a society that refuses to innovate.
This is one of the things I admire about Musk.
He’s willing to challenge assumptions that everyone else accepts.
Rockets are supposed to be disposable? Why?
Why can’t we land them and reuse them?
Electric cars are supposed to be slow, boring vehicles for environmentally conscious consumers? Why?
Why can’t they outperform gasoline-powered sports cars?
Cars are supposed to stay on the ground? Why?
We already know how to control rockets in flight.
Let’s see what happens when we apply some of that technology to a car.
And suddenly, you’re watching a Tesla drive upside down. That’s incredible.
THIS IS WHY CAPITALISM WORKS
There is a fundamental economic principle involved here.
Risk-taking and innovation are among the most powerful engines of economic progress.
Capitalism, at its best, creates incentives for people to take enormous risks in pursuit of ideas that might change the world.
Some succeed. Many fail. Some lose everything.
But when someone succeeds, society can benefit in ways nobody originally anticipated.
Consider the reusable rocket.
The immediate objective was to reduce the cost of launching things into space.
But what happens when you dramatically improve the economics of space access?
You create opportunities for satellite communications, scientific research, new businesses, and industries that previously couldn’t exist.
The same principle applies to computers, automobiles, aviation, and artificial intelligence.
The economic benefits often extend far beyond the original invention.
Of course, capitalism doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Public research, universities, government contracts, infrastructure, investors, and skilled workers all contribute to innovation.
The American system has been most successful when entrepreneurial ambition and scientific capability reinforce each other.
But somebody still has to take the idea and turn it into reality.
And that requires people willing to risk enormous amounts of time, money, reputation, and effort.
People love to criticize billionaires for spending money on what they consider toys.
Why spend money building a car that can jump over another car when there are people who can’t afford groceries?
I understand the question. Poverty is real. Hunger is real.
And helping people who are struggling is an important responsibility of a civilized society.
But I reject the idea that the only legitimate purpose of wealth is addressing our immediate problems.
If humanity had adopted that philosophy throughout history, would we have developed aviation?
Would we have built space programs?
Would we have invested in computers when they occupied entire rooms and served only a handful of researchers?
Would we have developed the internet?
A society needs compassion for the people suffering today and imagination for the people who will live tomorrow.
Those are not mutually exclusive objectives.
And sometimes, the technologies that appear completely useless today become the foundation of entire industries tomorrow.
THE ROADSTER ISN’T THE INVENTION. THE THINKING IS.
This is where the critics really miss the point.
I’ve already seen people dismissing the Roadster demonstration as a marketing stunt.
They say the technology isn’t new. They’re partially correct.
Compressed-gas thrusters aren’t new. Suction systems aren’t new.
Computerized flight control isn’t new. Engineers have been working with variations of these technologies for decades.
But innovation doesn’t always mean inventing an entirely new scientific principle.
Sometimes innovation means taking existing technologies and combining them in ways nobody has successfully demonstrated before.
That’s what makes this fascinating.
Somebody looked at technologies developed for rockets and other machines and asked what would happen if we installed them in a sports car.
And then engineers had to figure out how to make it work.
Think about the problems involved. The forces acting on the vehicle.
The weight distribution. The pressure systems. The timing of the thrusters.
The orientation of the vehicle in midair.
The control systems required to rotate the car and bring it down on four wheels instead of its roof. This isn’t simply bolting a rocket onto a bumper.
It requires the integration of mechanical engineering, aerodynamics, software, electronics, and sophisticated control systems.
And it requires a team of extraordinarily talented engineers.
Musk certainly didn’t design every component or write every line of code.
Nobody accomplishes something like this alone.
But leadership matters. Vision matters.
The willingness to fund unconventional experiments matters.
Sometimes the most important contribution a leader makes is giving talented people permission to attempt something everyone else thinks is ridiculous.
THE REAL REVOLUTION IS AUTOMATION
There’s another aspect of this demonstration that deserves attention.
The car was unmanned. And thank goodness for that.
Musk acknowledged that success was not guaranteed and explained that the demonstration was conducted without a driver to avoid risking a human life. People.com
Watching the maneuver in real time, I cannot imagine a person manually controlling every aspect of it.
There are too many variables. Everything happens too quickly.
You need computers monitoring the vehicle’s orientation, motion, and control inputs and making rapid adjustments.
Now, advanced computerized control doesn’t necessarily mean artificial intelligence. Engineers have been developing automated control systems for many decades.
But AI is becoming another enormously powerful tool that can be combined with automation, simulation, engineering, and robotics.
And this is where things become really interesting.
We are entering a world where machines can increasingly perform tasks that would be extremely difficult, dangerous, or impossible for human beings to control directly.
Think about autonomous vehicles. Robotic factories. Automated aircraft systems.
And AI systems assisting engineers in developing new technologies.
The future isn’t just about making machines more powerful.
It’s about creating machines intelligent and responsive enough to do things human beings cannot do themselves.
And that brings me to another point.
WE ARE FINALLY LIVING IN THE JETSONS
When I was growing up, we watched The Jetsons.
George Jetson had a flying car. Rosie was a household robot.
Everything was automated. George basically went to work, pressed a few buttons, and complained about how exhausting his job was.
Well, look around. We’re getting pretty close.
We have cars that drive themselves under certain conditions.
We have robots capable of increasingly sophisticated movements.
We have artificial intelligence that can write computer programs, analyze documents, assist with engineering, and perform work that once required entire teams of people.
And now we have a prototype sports car that jumps into the air, flips, and lands.
Where’s my Rosie? I want a robot. I want the flying car.
And I want the rest of the future we were promised.
The funny thing is that I sometimes feel like George Jetson already. I spend an increasing amount of my day working with artificial intelligence, reviewing its output, and approving what it proposes to do next.
Press a button. Approve a prompt. Review the results. Press another button.
George Jetson would feel right at home. And the best part?
We’re only getting started.
THE NEXT WRIGHT BROTHERS ARE WATCHING
This brings me back to the Roadster. The car itself may never become a commercially successful product. It might be too expensive. It might be too dangerous.
It might never receive the necessary approvals.
And even if Tesla begins production in 2028, the spectacular capabilities shown in the demonstration may remain limited to specialized versions.
None of that changes what I consider its greatest value.
Somewhere in America today, a 12-year-old is watching that video.
Maybe that kid has never been particularly interested in engineering.
Maybe school is boring. Maybe nobody has ever encouraged that child to build anything.
And suddenly, there’s a car driving upside down.
A car jumping over trucks. A car flying through the air. And that kid asks: “How did they do that?”
That question is where innovation begins. Maybe the next question is:
“Could I build something better?”
And then: “Could I make it fly farther?”
“Could I make it safer? Could I build something that actually flies people to work?”
And before you know it, that child is studying physics, mathematics, software, robotics, or mechanical engineering.
Maybe that child starts a business. Maybe that business fails. Maybe the next one fails too.
But eventually, somebody figures something out.
And an entirely new industry is born. That’s how progress happens.
Not because every idea works. Not because every entrepreneur is a genius.
But because someone was inspired to try.
The real technological marvel isn’t necessarily the flying Roadster.
It’s the possibility that watching it will inspire the next Wright brothers.
That is worth more than the car itself.
MUSK’S GREATEST ASSET ISN’T HIS MONEY
People ask whether companies associated with Musk are overvalued.
That’s a legitimate financial question.
Tesla has shareholders, earnings, competition, expenses, and obligations.
SpaceX has its own investors, financial commitments, and engineering challenges.
Neither company is simply Musk’s personal property.
And while I admire his vision, that doesn’t mean either company’s stock is automatically a good investment at any price.
But there is something about Musk that traditional financial analysis struggles to quantify.
The power of a person who consistently challenges what an entire industry believes is possible.
You can value a factory. You can value intellectual property.
You can value equipment, revenues, earnings, and cash flow.
But how do you value the ability to imagine something that doesn’t exist, recruit thousands of people around that vision, and persuade investors to finance its development?
That’s more difficult. And it introduces an enormous risk.
What happens to a company when so much of its identity is tied to one person?
What happens when that person is no longer there?
We saw something similar with Walt Disney.
Disney was a man with an extraordinary imagination. After his death, the company had to figure out how to continue developing ideas without the person who had defined its creative direction.
You cannot run a company forever by asking what its founder would have done.
Eventually, the institution has to develop the ability to innovate independently.
Tesla and SpaceX will face that challenge too.
But for now, Musk’s willingness to attempt the extraordinary remains one of their most distinctive characteristics.
And that is something I find fascinating.
WE NEED TO STOP CELEBRATING THE PEOPLE WHO SAY NO
I have a confession.
When it comes to physical danger, I’m a bit of a wuss.
I don’t particularly enjoy putting my life at risk.
You aren’t going to see me volunteering to ride in an experimental rocket or jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.
But when it comes to technology, ideas, businesses, and disruption?
That’s an entirely different story.
I love it. I love challenging established methods.
I love experimenting with technologies that barely existed a few years ago.
I love building things that might fail.
I love seeing what happens when you combine technologies that weren’t originally intended to work together.
And I especially love the moment when something you’ve imagined actually works.
There’s something profoundly satisfying about creating something that didn’t exist yesterday.
I suspect that feeling is what drives people like Musk. It’s not simply money.
Once you reach a certain level of wealth, another billion dollars doesn’t fundamentally change your lifestyle.
But building something that nobody has built before?
That’s different. That’s a challenge. That’s an adventure.
And sometimes, that’s how history gets made.
We need more people willing to pursue those challenges.
Not just billionaires. Entrepreneurs. Engineers. Inventors. Scientists. Students.
Ordinary people with extraordinary ideas.
And we need to stop treating every ambitious idea as something that must first be justified by its immediate profitability.
Some things are worth attempting because they expand our understanding of what might be possible.
THE AMERICAN DREAM IS ABOUT BUILDING SOMETHING THAT DOESN’T EXIST
America doesn’t have a monopoly on imagination.
Brilliant inventors, scientists, and entrepreneurs exist all over the world.
And that competition is a good thing.
But America has a remarkable history of attracting people who want to attempt the extraordinary.
People who aren’t satisfied with the way things are.
People who don’t want someone else telling them what their limits should be.
People willing to leave behind what they know, take risks, and build something new.
That’s the America I admire.
Not the America that spends all its time arguing about why something can’t be done.
Not the America that measures every accomplishment by whether everyone agrees with the person who achieved it.
But the America that looks at an impossible problem and asks:
“Why not?”
Why can’t we reuse rockets?
Why can’t we make electric cars outperform gasoline-powered sports cars?
Why can’t we build robots that help people?
Why can’t we use artificial intelligence to accelerate scientific discovery?
Why can’t we make a car jump over another car?
And why can’t we eventually make one that really flies?
The answers won’t always be easy.
Some attempts will fail.
Some will waste money.
Some will produce nothing but lessons about what not to do.
But that’s part of progress.
Failure is not the opposite of innovation. It’s often the price of admission.
STOP COMPLAINING. START BUILDING.
So yes, I know the Roadster demonstration was partly a marketing event.
Of course it was.
Elon Musk understands publicity better than almost anybody.
I know the technology has limitations.
I know it isn’t a practical flying car.
I know some people think the entire thing is ridiculous.
But that’s precisely why I love it.
It reminds us that technology doesn’t have to be boring.
Engineering doesn’t have to be boring.
The future doesn’t have to be a depressing discussion about everything we’re going to lose.
The future can be exciting.
It can be inspiring.
It can be something we actually look forward to.
And it can be something we build rather than simply wait for.
One hundred and twenty-three years ago, the Wright brothers demonstrated powered flight at Kitty Hawk.
Sixty-six years later, human beings walked on the Moon.
And in 2026, we’re watching a car drive upside down and jump through the air.
What will we be doing in another fifty years?
I don’t know.
And that’s what makes it exciting.
Maybe we’ll have practical flying cars.
Maybe robots will handle most of the chores nobody wants to do.
Maybe artificial intelligence will help us solve problems we currently consider impossible.
Maybe we’ll have permanent settlements on the Moon and Mars.
Or maybe the most important inventions of the next fifty years are things nobody has even imagined yet.
That’s the point.
We don’t know what the limits are until we try to reach them.
Elon Musk didn’t invent imagination.
He didn’t invent ambition.
And he certainly didn’t invent risk-taking.
But he is reminding an entire generation that the future isn’t something that simply happens to us.
It’s something people create.
And sometimes that creation starts with a seemingly ridiculous question:
What if we put rocket technology on a sports car?
Well, apparently, now we know.
And I have only two questions left for Elon Musk.
When can I buy one? And when am I getting my robot? Because I’m ready for the Jetsons.
And one more thing.
I’d absolutely love to hear Bernie Sanders look at that Roadster, watch it drive upside down, launch itself into the air, flip, and land—and then tell Elon Musk: “You didn’t build that!”
Of course, thousands of engineers, technicians, designers, and workers helped make it possible. That’s how great things get built.
