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lish a Global Health Drug Discovery Institute. An intrepid journalist already given SpaceX the green light to launch
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later pointed out that the board membership of Tsinghua University twelve thousand low-orbit satellites (about four
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reads like a “who’s who” of U.S. bankers and Silicon Valley leaders. . . hundred have gone up thus far), and Musk has
including Elon Musk. applied for another thirty thousand—or a total
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This little tidbit about a Chinese university’s foreign advisors raises of forty-two thousand. Disturbingly, these
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interesting questions about Musk and his orientation toward the current 5G satellites will “irradiate all areas of Earth,
Covid-19 social engineering experiment. On the one hand, the former including areas not reached by other transmit-
PayPal executive (founder or co-founder of companies such as SpaceX, ters, leaving no place untouched by harmful
Neuralink, OpenAI, The Boring Company, Tesla and SolarCity) seems manmade radiation.” In addition, “the on-the-
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to be enjoying positioning himself as a critic of Covid-19 restrictions, ground transmitters that 5G satellites require to
provocatively informing his thirty-one million Twitter followers in early connect satellites with end-users. . . will result
March that “The coronavirus panic is dumb.” Following up with a “Free in massively increased intensities of RF/micro-
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America now” tweet on April 29, Musk also earned plaudits in early wave radiation.” 50
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May for criticizing “fascist” stay-at-home orders that are “forcibly im- Musk has said little about his Neuralink
prisoning people in their homes against all their constitutional rights.” brain-machine implants since the Covid-19
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(Despite the complaints about his California Tesla factory’s forced closure, outbreak began, but in July 2019, he vowed with
however, the lockdowns do not appear to have had any major impact on great fanfare that human trials of the iPhone
Tesla’s or Musk’s bottom line—the company “beat expectations” for app-enabled devices—“a tiny chip connected to
the first quarter of 2020, remaining profitable “for the longest stretch in 1,000 wires measuring one-tenth the width of a
company history.” ) human hair”—would begin by the end of 2020.
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On the other hand, Musk’s May comments also included stern, predic- Will people line up to get one of the devices—to
tive-programming-style warnings about future pandemics. Specifically, be installed by a doctor-supervised robot that
Musk suggested that Covid-19 could be a “practice run for something will drill two-millimeter holes in the recipient’s
that. . . in the future might have a really high mortality rate,” including skull—at the same time as their Covid-19 vac-
“killing a lot of twenty-year-olds.” He also praised hand washing and cine, which Gates, Fauci and President Trump
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mask usage as “silver linings” of Covid-19—around the same time that are also promising for the end of the year?
SpaceX started making (and, for the time being, donating) hand sanitizer
and face shields. 46,48 Although not perseverating about Covid-19 vaccines WHY DO THEY DO WHAT THEY DO?
in the same way as Gates, Fauci or Tedros, Musk has given an approving The casual comparison to the Gang of
nod to the potential for vaccines to be generated “as the understanding Four at the beginning of this article is not so
of these viruses improves.” (The plug for vaccines is interesting given far-fetched. Some of the traits that China’s
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that Musk’s first son, born in the early 2000s, died at ten weeks of age of original gang had in common were, according
sudden infant death syndrome [SIDS]—a diagnosis that many parents to the Encyclopedia Britannica, an “ability to
consider an adverse reaction to vaccination.) manipulate the mass media” and a dislike of and
Whether or not Musk’s asides about constitutional rights are heartfelt desire to overthrow “moderate” government.
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scarcely matters in light of the profoundly negative impact that his many Although the Covid-19 foursome examined here
business ventures are likely to have on ordinary citizens around the world. displays superficial differences in tactics and
In March, for example, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) pronouncements, their skilled use of the media
granted Musk permission to install one million on-the-ground antennas and their shared interest in a form of rule called
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that will use “advanced beamforming and steerable antenna technology” technocracy certainly seem to match up.
to connect SpaceX’s 5G satellites with ground users. The FCC had Technocrats promote a highly centralized,
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MUSK: DREAMS AND DISTRACTION?
Is one of Elon Musk’s jobs during Covid-19 to distract the public from what is really going on? One wonders. On
May 30, the blast-off of a SpaceX rocket with two astronauts aboard offered a convenient PR diversion “amid the gloom
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of the coronavirus outbreak,” representing the first-ever manned launch by a private company. NASA’s Administrator
delightedly stated, “Maybe there’s an opportunity here for America to maybe pause and look up and see a bright, shin-
ing moment of hope at what the future looks like, that the United States of America can do extraordinary things even
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in difficult times.” SpaceX operations have continued throughout the Covid-19 crisis, deemed “mission essential” by
the Department of Defense. Meanwhile, Musk’s wealth grew at a rate of 48 percent between mid-March and mid-May,
2020.
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54 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2020