Elon Musk would make the best tech president, says survey
This article, Elon Musk would make the best tech president, says survey, originally appeared on CNET.com.
Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.
Your president, ladies and gentlemen. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
It's time to dream, people of Nerdland.
You are finally getting your wish. No more politicians can run for president. They have all been cast out to where they belong: a wind farm.
Instead, you have to choose from among yourselves. You have to take a top tech figure and put him or her in charge of the United States. Whom will you choose?
This was the amusing scenario imagined by imaginatively named survey company Survata. It asked 1,503 sentient, human Americans of voting age which tech CEO would bring the White House to best order.
The people voted with their minds, and, who knows, whatever heart they have left for politics. There was no known subterfuge or hacking of the voting machines. And the winner was Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
You might immediately feel the same excitement as when you plug your Tesla in to a socket outside your favorite supermarket. You, too, would love to be ruled by a man who wants to send rocket ships into space. Just imagine how much science would be advanced.
Some might wonder whether his slightly South African accent would go down well in Peoria. They might even wonder whether he was born in Kenya. But, no. He was born in South Africa. His mom was born in Canada, his dad in South Africa. Currently, he couldn't be president because neither of his parents is an American. (Though Musk himself became a US citizen in 2002.)
But when the Tech Rapture comes (in about five years time), no one will care about such oldy-worldy details. We will just want the best person for the job who won't necessarily send government cameras into our underpants.
More Technically Incorrect
In this survey, 26 percent of respondents said that the Tesla CEO is the best tech person for the job. He was closely followed by Google CEO Larry Page, at 23 percent.
A Tim Cook administration was favored by only 16 percent, while the concept of a President Bezos was supported by a mere 12 percent (that's Jeff Bezos, as in the Amazon CEO), as was the idea of a Zuckerbergian reign (he being Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook). Bringing up the rear were Microsoft chief Satya Nadella and Yahoo's head, Marissa Mayer.
You might fear that a President Musk would accelerate the extermination of the concept we currently know as "humans driving cars."
You might conclude that the choice of Musk offers great hope. He is, after all, extremely skeptical about the nastiness that robots might impose upon us if they were left to their own devices.
I am more excited about something else. If these were the candidates of the Tech Party in our inevitable new one-party state, the presidential debates would surely be the dullest ever seen by humankind.
That, in itself, would be feat worth observing.
This is the future. Enjoy. Survata