Chris

The robots are coming

[Chris @technooptomist]

@grok Thinking about Optimus. How much would it cost for the UK government to buy one Optimus robot for each house (excluding apartments) in the UK?
Also, summarise the benefits if the working hours of each robot were divided by three: 8 hours for the house owner, 8 hours working a job for the house owner’s financial recompense, and 8 hours for the government to replace the work of government workers.

[SightBringer @_The_Prophet__]

⚡️The handset is the mask. Endpoint control is the prize.

Musk is trying to break platform dependency.

Right now, xAI can build the model, X can own attention, Starlink can own connectivity, Tesla can own sensors and robotics, SpaceX can own orbital infrastructure but Apple and Google still sit between him and the human hand. That is intolerable for someone trying to build a full-stack civilization company.

Apple owns the pocket.

Google owns the default search layer.

Carriers own parts of connectivity.

App stores own permission.

Payment rails own transaction flow.

Musk wants the whole loop.

A SpaceX/xAI device would be a direct attempt to fuse identity, AI, connectivity, payments, media, messaging, and automation into one sovereign endpoint. Native Grok. Native Starlink. Native X. Native X Money. Native satellite fallback. Native agentic OS. No Apple gatekeeper. No Google default layer. No app-store veto.

That is the actual play.

A normal phone competitor gets slaughtered. Apple’s moat is too deep: status, cameras, iMessage, ecosystem, chips, app trust, muscle memory, retail support, services. A “Tesla phone” clone would become a meme and die.

A Starlink-native AI terminal has a real wedge.

The wedge is not better selfies. The wedge is resilient connectivity plus AI-native interaction plus payment/social identity outside the Apple-Google chokepoint. That matters for remote areas, creators, dissidents, travelers, contractors, military-adjacent users, crypto users, X power users, and people who want a device built around an agent rather than an app grid.

The proprietary OS is the most important part. Hardware alone means nothing. Android with Grok pasted on top would be weak. A real AI-first OS means the agent becomes the center of the device. Apps become subordinate. Search becomes dialogue. Commands replace taps. Workflows become automated. The phone turns into a personal command layer.

That is where Apple is vulnerable.

Apple is world-class at polished consumer hardware, but structurally slow around AI agency. Its whole model is curated, controlled, safe, app-centric, services-heavy, and privacy-branded. Musk’s model is messier, faster, more integrated, more aggressive, more infra-native, and more willing to collapse categories.

The IPO angle is obvious too. SpaceX wants investors to see more than rockets and launch cadence. The story becomes global communications infrastructure, satellite internet, AI endpoint, consumer device, operating system, and possibly the post-smartphone interface layer.

That expands the myth.

The first version will probably be rough. The ecosystem problem is brutal. Developers, apps, battery, cameras, security, supply chain, support, carrier behavior, and consumer trust are all vicious. The device will not walk in and dethrone iPhone.

The serious threat is category creation.

A phone is an app machine.

This wants to be an AI command terminal connected to space.

If Musk gets even part of that right, the device becomes more than hardware. It becomes the physical access point to his entire stack: sky, model, money, media, identity, and machine agency.

The clean read: this is Musk trying to own the interface between human intention and artificial intelligence.

That is one of the most valuable surfaces left.

[Chris @technooptomist]

@TeslaBoomerMama Etoro UK. I was allocated 23 Shares pre IPO of the 36 I requested. 👍

[Cern Basher @CernBasher]

Blockbuster & Tesla -- The Success Trap

Blockbuster shareholders, circa 2000:

“We want our CEO to stay focused on executing the plan we already approved.

The goal is simple: a video rental store on every street corner. That is what shareholders voted for. That is what management must deliver.

We do not want our CEO getting distracted by this unproven DVD-by-mail nonsense. And we certainly do not want him wasting time on some reckless fantasy called ‘streaming video.’ Streaming? Over the internet? Please.

We are a VHS rental company. Our shelves are full. Our blue-and-yellow signs are iconic. We need more late fee revenue. The model works.

Before we even discuss these speculative new ideas, management needs to prove it can hit the targets already laid out in the compensation plan.

We have waited too long for a return on our investment. The CEO must focus. Just execute on the model!”

Tesla shareholders, circa 2026:

“We want our CEO to stay focused on executing the plan we just approved.

The goals are simple: 20 million cars, 10 million FSD subscriptions, 1 million Robotaxis, and 1 million humanoid robots. That is what shareholders voted for. That is what management must deliver.

We do not want our CEO getting distracted by this unproven Terafab concept. And we certainly do not want him wasting time on some reckless fantasy about 100 terawatts of compute, orbital data centers, or building civilization-scale AI infrastructure.

We are an electric car company. Yes, and hopefully soon, a robotaxi company. Perhaps someday a humanoid robot company. But let’s not get carried away.

Before we even discuss these speculative new ideas, management needs to prove it can hit the targets already laid out in the 2025 compensation plan.

We have waited too long for a return on our investment. The CEO must focus.”

Note 1: Blockbuster peaked in 2004 with over 9,000 stores globally and 84,000 employees. The company made roughly $800 million annually in late fees alone. In 2010 they filed for bankruptcy.

Note 2: Tesla is not Blockbuster, but it faces the same "Success Trap": the moment a disruptor’s shareholders value the safety of a proven roadmap over the volatility of the next frontier, they inadvertently begin voting for the company's eventual irrelevance.

[Amy @Amy787]

BYD has far less automation and factory employees for the same output as Tesla. Ford can go right ahead and copy their manufacturing. It won’t go well.

Farley is such a disappointment - I had such high hopes he would save Ford. But Farley seems to view his primary job function to be sh*t talking Tesla - and misdirection, like hey look over here at BYD and ignore that Tesla just added fully autonomous self-driving RoboTaxis in Dallas and Houston.

Car manufacturers need to produce cars drive themselves - or find themselves relegated to footnotes in history. Tesla is the only option for a scalable FSD solution that works world wide, and FSD can’t be easily copied - it must be licensed.

[Chris @technooptomist]

@amy787 "(The goal to become Multi-planetary, or even interstellar, was SO 2025). " ... Love this.

[Chris @technooptomist]

@stevenmarkryan Sooo...you selling this toad venom or what?

[Chris @technooptomist]

@parmita If you can stop children dying of cancer you will be celebrated as the best mother they could ever have.

[Chris @technooptomist]

@msipes @WR4NYGov

[Chris @technooptomist]

I agree. At some point FSD will be mandatory in all cars for safety reasons. When this happens Tesla won't be allowed to charge a monthly fee for it though they can add the cost to the initial price of the car. The subscription fee will be transferred to the Robotaxi network as a cut of revenue. Free for private use and paid for service provision.

[Chris @technooptomist]

@thejefflutz Ironically Greenland would be one of the best places to survive a thermonuclear war.

[Chris @technooptomist]

@haider1 Get the humanoid robots to put up solar and batteries at nearly zero cost labour and it will bring down the cost of energy.

Energy is an input into the cost of the robots labour therefore this will further reduce the cost of putting up the next lot of solar.

This is solved.

[Chris @technooptomist]

@JaneidyEve

[Chris @technooptomist]

@j_grieshaber @iliketeslas You can only solve for people by replacing them with robots!

[Chris @technooptomist]

@wholemars Tesla will be the manufacturing arm of Macrohard.

[Chris @technooptomist]

@TeslaBoomerMama In the UK Halifax Bank deal with the share accounts for for Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, and iWeb.

They are all part of the Lloyds Banking Group.

[Chris @technooptomist]

@esherifftv Congratulations 🎉

[Chris @technooptomist]

@TeslaBoomerMama Voted through Etoro UK. Received the email yesterday.

[Chris @technooptomist]

@peterrhague @shivmalik I support this. We need 10 or more. Use crown land they have more than enough. Bulldoze a few of the older cities to the ground also.

[Chris @technooptomist]

@GWTJAL @WR4NYGov This is the way!