Shield AI co-founder: Tesla shows us the risks when dominant incumbents fail to be bold
By Brandon Tseng
Monday, Dec 6
America has no preordained right to victory on the battlefield.
— Jim Mattis, former U.S. defense secretary
China’s military is Netflix; the U.S. military is Blockbuster.
China is Amazon; the U.S. is Barnes & Noble.
China is Tesla; the U.S. is General Motors.
People thought the automotive industry could not be disrupted and that Ford, GM and Toyota had preordained rights to be the leaders for the next thousand years. Automotive executives mocked and balked at the idea an outsider could do what they do. They spent billions on research and development; they allocated billions in resources and thousands of people to their products and capabilities. Yet here we are today, after less than a decade: Tesla is a $1 trillion company; it has dethroned the incumbents.
Militarily, China is Tesla: moving at blazingly fast speeds with a sense of purpose and urgency, ruthlessly prioritizing what matters, cutting things that don’t and very much understanding what is at stake. China’s recent hypersonic missile tests serve as perfect examples of a country pushing harder than ever in preparation to win the next war.
https://www.defensenews.com/outlook/2021/12/06/shield-ai-co-founder-tesla-shows-us-the-risks-when-dominant-incumbents-fail-to-be-bold/
