Mr. Elon Musk, You Have No Idea How Far Ahead of You We Are!

Flying cars and political somersaults

Your cars fly, spin, and perform somersaults in the air. Our politicians have been performing these tricks for decades. They soar high on election promises, feudal lords know the art of keeping ordinary people beneath their feet, and in many parts of our country, power and influence still matter more than the freedom and dignity of the common citizen.

Our people walk along broken streets and crumbling roads as if they were exploring the surfaces of the Moon or Mars. They have been practising this extraordinary form of walking for years. Compared with this, your flying car is hardly a marvel.

While the world is preparing to build settlements on the Moon and Mars, we have reserved our footpaths for roadside tea stalls. Our hospitals receive medicines worth millions, only for them to mysteriously disappear while sitting in storage.

The world and our country

The world is inventing new technologies to transform the future. In our country, water arrives once every two or three days. To save diesel, sewage water is diverted onto a stretch of land that government records proudly identify as a road. The world is running cars on electricity, while here, the arrival of electricity is celebrated as if a space mission has just succeeded. The world is searching for water on the Moon; our people spend their mornings searching for gas to prepare breakfast.

The world is using artificial intelligence to create new realities. Meanwhile, our children wait in schools for basic facilities, quality education and, in many places, even their teachers. The children of the privileged, of course, study in the country’s finest institutions.

Driverless cars are operating around the world. Here, traffic continues to move along quite smoothly without the inconvenience of traffic laws. While the world conducts research to cure diseases, patients in our government hospitals often have to arrange their own medicines, tests and sometimes even beds. And if a patient dies, arranging an ambulance becomes yet another responsibility the family must somehow manage on its own.

The world is researching the economy of the future. Here, all the economic research an ordinary person can afford ends with one fundamental question: Will the salary run out first, or will the month end first?

The world is using digital systems to improve transparency. Our files, however, travel with such remarkable sophistication that they visit several desks before any work gets done. The world is teaching robots how to work, while our university graduates wander from door to door in search of employment.

Nine years of engineering, decades of waiting

Mr. Elon Musk, you have spent nine years, since 2017, working with hundreds of engineers to develop a car equipped with high-pressure gas thrusters that can leap into the air and spin around.

We, along with generations before us, have spent decades watching a system operate without delivering results. We, too, have been jumping with frustration and going around in circles in bewilderment. Yet the system remains completely unaffected by the misery of the people.

Mars and our basic necessities

You are searching for life on Mars. We are searching for the basic necessities of life in our own cities.

You have outer space ahead of you. We have empty water taps, empty treasuries and empty promises.

You are building the cars of the future. We cannot even maintain the roads of the present.

You are advancing artificial intelligence. We have mastered the art of intelligently shifting our most basic responsibilities onto someone else.

You believe your technological progress will change the future. But to compete with the kind of progress we have achieved, you will have to take your thinking far beyond its current limits. Frankly, Mr. Musk, that may be beyond you.

For decades, the vehicle carrying our people has remained trapped beneath the weight of mounting problems. It spends more time standing still than moving forward. Yet whoever occupies the driver’s seat of the vehicle of power seems to have no concern about fuel, the road ahead or the final destination. The only objective is to move ahead while leaving the people behind.

A piece of advice

So here is a piece of advice, Mr. Musk.

After developing your flying car, instead of chasing another futuristic dream, why not learn from us the technology of keeping a system running without the necessary resources?

Master that technology, and even you might finally make it across the finish line!