With every passing day Elon Musk and his hundreds of employees are inventing the future. If his work with Space X was the sum of all he could do he would still be an amazing figure; but that’s not even close to being the case. Not only is he pioneering the space race but with Tesla, Hyperloop and SolarCity, he is on the cutting edge of ensuring humanity has longevity beyond the next century. His work ethic is unrivalled and he refuses to conform to just another boring corporate figure. His social media exchanges are always entertaining and he’s a man that cannot be second guessed. Which is why his next venture should be both a surprise, and not, at the same time.
Elon Musk has announced that he is creating a media company know as Thud! (he does say the exclamation mark is optional but I rather like it with one). After initially sparking rumours with a trademark cryptic tweet, he followed it up with the following:
Already aiming for an intergalactic readership, he may have made an enemy or two here on Terra Firma. He’s already signed up The Onion’s former editor-in-chief Cole Bolton and executive editor Ben Berkley for the project and The Onion are not overly happy about that. They launched an article entitled ‘Elon Musk Embarrassed After Realizing He Proposing Idea For Thing That Already Exists’. If you’re unfamiliar with The Onion, they are a news organisation that specialises in satirising current events. If Elon Musk has taken on both Bolton and Berkley it stands to reason he’s looking to build something similar. Will it just be another website filled with ironic social commentary on the world we live in? Elon Musk would never just stop there.
The Daily Beast have reported that Elon Musk was looking to buy The Onion several years ago and failing that has tempted away their talent including three writers and an editor. When asked about the project he said ‘It’s pretty obvious that comedy is the next frontier after electric vehicles, space exploration, and brain-computer interfaces, don’t know how anyone’s not seeing this.’ [IGN] It’s hard to tell when the entrepreneur is pulling the world’s leg, but if we’ve learned anything from his history it’s that he doesn’t even half-ass his jokes. Just look at The Boring Company flamethrower story for one.
For someone so invested in the future of the human race it would make sense for him to head a centralised media empire, but will it just be comedic in nature? I doubt it, Elon would never do something so pedestrian without putting his own slant on it. What do you think about this news? Do you have any ideas of what we can expect from Thud? Tweet us your thoughts @celebritycutout.
