In 1848, a young immigrant to the United States began working in a textile mill. Almost 150 years later, in 1989, a young immigrant to Canada began working on his cousin’s farm. Both young men would go on to change the course of history as we know it, and both would amass tremendous wealth in the process.
A tale of two tycoons
Andrew Carnegie would rise from his humble beginnings in a textile mill to become a steel magnate. His steel mills would help expand the railroad industry, connecting people through transportation. Yet his tenure as the world’s most eminent steel tycoon was not without controversy — it was beset with allegations of poor labour conditions, leading to a violent strike known as the Battle of Homestead, in 1882. Despite this, Carnegie became the richest man in the world in 1901, etching his name into the history books.
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The young farmer in Canada followed a similar trajectory. His days on a wheat farm in rural Canada were succeeded by time at an Ivy League university and ultimately as CEO of multiple transportation companies, most notably one connecting people to another through sustainable vehicles and one connecting humanity with outer space. His name is Elon Musk and in 2021 he became the richest man in the world. Yet, similarly to Carnegie, his endeavours have also been plagued with disputes, including accusations of controversial labour practices during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Technology and responsibility
Carnegie and Musk, tycoons of the transportation industry, have two distinct attributes in common. Firstly, they harnessed new and evolving technology to assist with their entrepreneurial activities. Carnegie would make the method of producing steel more inexpensive and efficient by introducing the Bessemer process into his manufacturing plan. Similarly, Musk would employ novel technologies such as autonomous driving and electric batteries to create sustainable and futuristic vehicles.
Secondly, Carnegie and Musk bore a great responsibility to the world — a responsibility they acknowledged. In 1889, Carnegie released The Gospel of Wealth, a short essay in which he wrote about the importance of philanthropy. In his words: “The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.” Similarly, Musk may be applauded for pushing the needle forward in the electric vehicle industry, working to protect our planet and, in his own words, “accelerating the advent of sustainable energy”.
Neither man is infallible, but both have contributed to diverse fields and nurtured innovation, using technology to take us further than we have been before. In their quests to develop and enhance the transportation industry, they have gone even further than connecting us together and have connected us with the future.
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