Change is coming and it doesn’t cost $70B
I’ve decided I’m a Futurist. That’s short hand for a creative guy who is comfortable working in front of his headlights. For example, 13 years ago, I got two hybrid electric cars, and my traditional friends went ape-#@n. “What are you thinking?” they said. “Those batteries are no good.”
Of course, they were wrong. Just like people have been wrong about genomics, pharmacogenomics, nutrigenomics, Integrative Medicine, and other things I couldn’t pronounce but embraced decades ago.
The good news about being a Futurist is that you have your ear to the ground and are sensitive to changing trends. The bad news is by the time the rest of the world catches up to you, you might as well have cut off that ear like Vincent van Gogh because you’re usually too far ahead of the crowd to benefit financially from your knowledge. It’s a blessing and a curse.
Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand while imagination embraces the entire world and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
Of course, another theoretical physicists, Max Planck said, “Science progresses one funeral at a time.” (Because it takes so long for change to be embraced.)
Wanna talk about a real Futurist? It’s South African-born entrepreneur, Elon Musk. All he needs to take his Tesla Motor Company private is $70 billion. That’s no big deal for him. Think about it. If he can launch a convertible automobile into space and retrieve his rockets for relaunch, what’s another $70B?
Recently, car companies have been projecting that within the next five years, the majority of their vehicles will be running on electric batteries. So, as a veteran electric car guy, it seemed like a good time to tell you about them.
First, let me give you the good news. When you hit the accelerator in an electric car, you get full power — instantly. In fact, when I first started driving electric cars, it was a pretty heady experience.
The speed thing wasn’t clear to me at first, but on my way to a meeting in Cumberland, Maryland, I looked down at my speedometer and realized I was going over 100 miles an hour. I’ve never driven over 100 miles per hour in my entire life, but there it was. Jeff Gordon had nothing over me. He could have been a speck in my rear view mirror.
Why didn’t I notice it right away? Yes, the cows were whizzing by at a pretty high speed, but it was unnoticeable because there’s almost no sound. Those electric engines are really quiet. For that reason alone, electric cars would be great for coming home late, robbing banks, or gently bumper tapping people in the butt who are driving you crazy. Heck, they’d never hear you coming. It wouldn’t hurt, but it would get their attention.
What else is good about electric cars? The mileage is awesome. It’s a well-known fact there are small gas-powered cars that get good mileage too, but some electric cars get more than 50 miles to the gallon.
I know some of you are worried about having to plug in an all-electric car, but when I owned a Volkswagen diesel Rabbit, I remember driving along the back roads of West Virginia where there were no diesel stations anywhere, and I could hear banjo music through my window. Don’t worry, there will be plug-ins everywhere.
Bottom line? Electric cars are coming. Oh, yes, and genomic testing and Integrative Medicine are here and growing. There’s not much you can do about that either.
My dad was a fireman on the railroad when diesel engines took over. For all I know, I also had a relative who was a blacksmith that specialized in horse shoes.
The only thing we can count on in life is change.
Nick Jacobs of Pittsburgh is a Principal with SunStone Management Resources and author of the blog healinghosptials.com