Praveen Kumar

Working towards enabling a spacefaring civilization.
Navigated and can help with Long COVID, psychiatric harm.
Lurking around AI, Neuroscience and space folks ☢

[Praveen Kumar @praveenkumaryo]

@Bannerzz1 @ClintavoCreates 🫡

[Praveen Kumar @praveenkumaryo]

Only 1/3rd of the team was present in this pic cause we used to stay till midnight.

[AgniKul Cosmos @AgnikulCosmos]

Dinner after hot fire testing is way too satisfying, even if it is at midnight. Our 57th🔥hot fire🔥 attempt as a company. Hard work by the testing crew.

[Praveen Kumar @praveenkumaryo]

@shrelock13 The first few months when lockdown started, we had deaths of Irrfan Khan, Sushant and many popular people which made me sad. The clean air was something that I have never seen since childhood as I was able to see stars and planets with ease. That period was something to behold ❤️‍🩹

[Spunky @stratospunky]

I used to miss the old SpaceX intro music, but I never realized how fucking hype the current intro is.

[Defiant Ghost @TheDefiantGhost]

Graham Hancock warns that our civilization is repeating the exact pattern of the last lost one.

“I see a civilization that ticks all the mythological boxes for the next lost civilization.”

He envisions a future 10-15,000 years from now where our achievements sound like fantasy:

“Our ancestors could speak to one another on opposite sides of the planet… they could fly to the moon… they could go to the depths of the ocean. Archaeologists of that time will call it “complete fantasy… never happened. But it did.”

And according to Hancock, we don’t need a comet this time.

“We’ll probably end up doing it to ourselves.”

He points to nuclear weapons as “mass species suicide,” hatred as a psychic force, and “low consciousness” leaders who think only in material terms.

“We’re not a mature species. We’re a childish species. And leading our species are leaders who have the mentality of deranged teenagers… We elected them.”

Hancock says nationalism is just tribalism we need to grow out of, and that elections reward the best communicator, not the best person.

[Praveen Kumar @praveenkumaryo]

@binarybits @danpolovina Pixels are the best AI phone right now.
Standouts: Gemini Live + Magic Cue (proactive help from your emails/chats), real-time call translation with your voice cloned, Call Screen (kills spam), smart Recorder with summaries, Pixel Screenshots, and 7 years of clean updates.

[Praveen Kumar @praveenkumaryo]

@binarybits For a phone that runs local AI easily you should look for more RAM. Honor magic 8 easily wins with 24 GB RAM and looks like an iPhone with pill notch.
https://t.co/Lc5FeQmrOS
If you want an overall AI experience you should look into S26 ultra or Pixel (comes with free Gemini pro)

[Praveen Kumar @praveenkumaryo]

Thinking back to my teen years around 2010, we had Google Glass, Project Ara, Mozilla Seabird and the Asus Padfone. It's sad those amazing ideas got scrapped, but it feels like the tech world is only catching up now. Should I pause space tech to work on these? Open to opinions ⚡

[Visa is doing marketing consults (see pinned!) @visakanv]

dinner conversation:

your teen self was right about some shit, but was emotionally overwhelmed by it

in your 20s you set that drama aside to build capacity. it leaks, but you deal.

in your now-capable mid-30s, you look back and see that your teen self holds the key to it all

[Praveen Kumar @praveenkumaryo]

@SpyHards Get Smart...

[Praveen Kumar @praveenkumaryo]

@googleearth It'll be great if we can play kml files from ADSB recordings as flights

[Praveen Kumar @praveenkumaryo]

@Saganismm Protect your peace by stepping away from those whose negativity seeks to drain your light, for you cannot help a sinking ship if it threatens to pull you under with it.

[Praveen Kumar @praveenkumaryo]

@arkvsea Thanks for this.

[Praveen Kumar @praveenkumaryo]

@asifoncue 😂

[Vivi @vivilinsv]

果然，成功的男人背后都有一个出色的女人！

当然这和性别关系也不大。

但是不可否认，女性特有的坚韧，耐心，脚踏实地与超强沟通能力，发挥了极大作用。

这样的得力partner， 犹如千年知音，可遇不可求！

你找到你的Gwynne了吗？😇

[Vivi @vivilinsv]

带大家认识一下 @SpaceX 背后的女人 - Gwynne Shotwell！

如果说 Elon Musk 代表了 SpaceX 最疯狂、最外放、最具有戏剧性的愿景，那么 Gwynne Shotwell 就是那个把愿景一点点变成现实的人。

她是 SpaceX 长期的总裁兼 COO，也是这家公司最关键、却相对低调的灵魂人物之一。

她加入 SpaceX 的故事，本身就很有戏剧性。

2002 年，Shotwell 还在一家小型航天公司 Microcosm 工作。经同事介绍，她见到了刚刚创办 SpaceX 的 Elon Musk。

当时的 SpaceX 还非常早期，商务拓展工作甚至是由外部承包商在做。Shotwell 见到 Musk 后很直接地说：你需要一个全职负责 business development 的人。

马斯克听完，觉得有道理，就把这份工作给了她。

但 Shotwell 反而犹豫了。她想了好几个星期，没有马上答应。

直到某天下午，她堵在洛杉矶的车流里，突然想通了。她打电话给 马斯克的助理，说自己决定加入 SpaceX，并且为自己拖了这么久感到抱歉 - 她甚至开玩笑说，自己之前真是个 “f---ing idiot”。

Musk 听了大笑，也非常高兴她终于答应。

2002 年 9 月，Gwynne Shotwell 正式加入 SpaceX，成为公司最早期的核心成员之一，担任商务拓展副总裁。

后来证明，这个决定改变了她的一生，也改变了 SpaceX 的命运。

（真的就是应了我之前引用的Sheryl Sandberg的硅谷名言 - 当你被邀请上一艘飞船时，赶紧上，不要问位置在哪里！）

SpaceX 早年并不光鲜。Falcon 1 接连失败，公司资金紧张，几乎走到悬崖边。

真正拯救 SpaceX 的关键转折点之一，是 2008 年 NASA 那份价值 16 亿美元的国际空间站补给合同。

Shotwell 在其中扮演了核心角色。

这份合同不仅给 SpaceX 带来了现金流，更重要的是带来了信誉。一个曾经被很多传统航天人看不起的创业公司，终于拿到了 NASA 的正式认可。

不久之后，Musk 提拔她为 SpaceX 总裁。后来，她成为总裁兼 COO，长期掌管公司的商业、运营和执行。

很多人说，她是 SpaceX 的 “glue” - 把公司粘合在一起的人。

Shotwell 最有名的一句话，是她谈到如何和 Musk 共事：

“When Elon says something, you have to pause and not immediately blurt out, ‘Well, that’s impossible.’”

当 Elon 提出一个看似疯狂的想法时，你需要冷静停一下，不要第一反应就说：“这不可能。”

这就是她异于常人的地方。她会思考：如果这件事真的要做成，路径是什么？难点在哪里？资源怎么调？时间怎么压缩？团队怎么组织？

她既不是盲目崇拜 Musk 的执行者，也不是习惯性说“不可能”的传统管理者。她更像是 Musk 和现实世界之间的桥梁：一边理解疯狂愿景的价值，一边把它拆解成可执行的工程、商业和组织系统。

而且，Shotwell 并不是那种只坐在办公室看报表的高管。

据和她共事过的人说，她经常会走进工厂、任务控制中心和工程现场，问非常具体、甚至让人有点紧张的问题。

例如： 制造流程哪里卡住了？
宇航员训练模拟出了什么问题？
某个系统为什么这样设计？
某个环节为什么不能更快？

她不是只问战略方向，而是真的深入细节。

这也是为什么她能在 SpaceX 从一家小公司成长为全球最重要的航天公司之一的过程中，始终保持强大的运营掌控力。

有意思的是，Shotwell 还曾经提到，她很欣赏 Musk 的一个细节：他不仅关心火箭能不能飞，也关心工厂和工作空间是否足够美。

Musk 认为，工厂不应该只是冷冰冰的生产线，也应该是能激发人的空间。

Shotwell 说，在加入 SpaceX 之前，她从来没有认真想过物理环境对人的影响。但和 Musk 共事后，她开始意识到，美感、空间和人的创造力之间，其实有很深的关系。

她也曾形容 Musk 是一个很有幽默感的人。

这听起来很反差。

外界看到的 Musk，常常是低情商，极端、强势、争议不断、难以预测的。而 Shotwell 看到的，则是另一个更复杂的版本：有疯狂要求，也有极高标准；有不可思议的想象力，也有对细节近乎偏执的关注。

过去 20 多年里，Musk 身边来来去去无数高管。很多人在他的高压节奏下离开。但 Gwynne Shotwell 留了下来。

她从 SpaceX 最早期一路走到今天，见证了 Falcon 1 的失败，Falcon 9 的成功，NASA 合同的突破，Dragon 飞船，Starlink，以及 SpaceX 成为全球商业航天领域最重要的公司。

最近几年，她也越来越多站到台前。

她为 Starlink 公开发声，在国际会议上演讲，与各国政策制定者沟通，也开始谈到 AI 数据中心带来的能源需求等更宏观的话题。

但即便如此，她的公众形象依然远比 Musk 低调。

她不是那个在社交媒体上制造风暴的人，但她可能是 SpaceX 最不可替代的人之一。

如果说 Musk 负责把目标定到火星，那么 Shotwell 负责让团队相信：好，我们先把下一枚火箭发上去。

这类女性领导者特别值得被看见。

她们不一定最喜欢站在聚光灯中心，但她们能把混乱变成秩序，把愿景变成路径，把天才的疯狂转化为组织的执行力。

Gwynne Shotwell 的故事提醒我们：真正伟大的公司，往往不只是靠一个 visionary 建起来的，还需要一个能把愿景落地的人。

而 SpaceX 背后的这个女人，正是这样的人。

[Phil Trubey @PTrubey]

This was the most intelligent interview I have seen in quite a while. She actually listened to Gwynne and asked quick follow up questions. And frankly, I like hearing from Gwynne better than Elon about SpaceX anyway. Crisp answers about the 1-2 years future rather than getting caught up in far future stuff.

Some nuggets:

SpaceX is going to not only be building its own natural gas pipelines, but also extracting it itself.

Gwynne called out AI companies as potential companies for SpaceX to acquire with their newly minted public stock. WRT Tesla, “I’m not focused on that part of the future” 😉

[Christina Melas-Kyriazi @ChristinaPhili5]

Gwynne Shotwell has got to be the most impressive woman of our generation. Mad respect.

[Shruti @heyshrutimishra]

Elon just created 4,400 millionaires in a single day.

400 of them are now worth over $100 million.

These aren't VCs. They're SpaceX employees, and the list includes welders, technicians, and cafeteria staff, because for two decades the company paid every level of the workforce in stock instead of higher salaries.

Juan Hernandez immigrated from Mexico and took a $28 an hour contractor welding job in 2015. He says he didn't even know what SpaceX was. The company gave him a $10,000 equity grant and let him buy more shares through payroll deductions. That stake is now worth $880,000.

Trevor Hise's parents wanted him to take a stable job at General Electric. He picked SpaceX instead, stayed 12 years, and accumulated over 100,000 shares. At the $135 listing price that's $13.5 million. He's 37 and semiretired. His words: "The magnitude of this has been ridiculous."

The most telling detail came before the listing. Over 100 employees quietly banded together and negotiated a group wealth management deal covering up to $5 billion, because none of them had ever needed a wealth manager before.

Software IPOs have minted millionaires for 30 years. This is the first one where the money went to the factory floor.

[Nic Cruz Patane @niccruzpatane]

Very inspiring words from Elon Musk today:

"I always think about this. There are always problems on earth. There’s always things that we wish to be better, that we want to solve on Earth, and we should solve them. But there there also has to be things that get you excited about the future — that make you glad to wake up in the morning, because you can’t wait to see what happens next.

That’s the future @SpaceX wants to bring to you."

Let’s goooooo🚀

[Peter H. Diamandis, MD @PeterDiamandis]

ELON MUSK:
“We’re going to have universal high income.
We’ll basically just issue money to people."

"AI and robots are going to make so much stuff and provide so many services that they’ll run out of things to do for humans."

"Money will stop being relevant at some point in the future."

"AI won’t use human currency. It will care about power and mass: wattage and tonnage.”

ME:
“So just as you’re becoming a multi-trillionaire, money starts to have less value?”

ELON:
“Yeah, pretty much.”