Hyperloops and Indonesia’s Awakening

KOMPAS/MEGANDIKA WICAKSONO

A drone begins its flight to spray fertilizer onto a paddy field in Limbasari village, Bobotsari district, Purbalingga, Central Java, on Monday.The Commander Soedirman Foundation in cooperation with theLockheed UAV Research Institute develops drones to spray liquid fertilizer onto farmland. Using the drones, fertilization can take only 16 minutes per hectare. (22/5).

The Hyperloop is a concept initiated by Elon Musk, an American technopreneur and the founder of Tesla Motors and SpaceX.

The new Hyperloop transportation system can move people between cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, a distance of 560 kilometers, within about 30 minutes.

The story of the Hyperloop was raised by President Joko Widodo at the National Coordinating Conference of Internal Government Supervision 2017 on May 18.

At that time, before discussing the budget, the President said that the world is changing very fast: every week, every day, even every second. Now there are still many people who are learning the internet. However, at the same time, there has been the development of a mobile internet. Even before that is finished (indeed, for many years now), there have been discussions about artificial intelligence.It is like before one thing is finished, another appears, like the Hyperloop.

The President did not forget to mention Musk’s other company, namely SpaceX, which is the maker of the Falcon rocket and Dragon spacecraft, which is now ready to bring humans to view the Moon.

Amid such progress, lazy people, people who work in a linear fashion and work in regular, routine ways, will be left behind. On the other hand, some Indonesian people are still preoccupied with demonstrations, defamation, blasphemy, thinking bad things about people and spreading bad news.

The President asked whether this kind of thing will continue? If we do not want to be left behind by civilization, or become a loser nation, the answer should certainly be "No!"

We attested to this with a headline in this daily on Monday: "It is Time to Answer the Challenges," which was still in the spirit of National Awakening Day. We are deeply concerned that the problem to be addressed is not to prepare technology or capital to pursue progress, but to ensure social cohesion binds the diversity of the nation.

The President wants to end the stalemate that is setting back his nation. Indonesia will be left behind in two ways. First, because it is not only stagnant, but going backwards, and second because other nations work more productively, innovatively and progressively.

The President, by mentioning what is being done by Musk,is simply giving an example. TheIndonesian nation must make a hard effort, starting from rebuilding social cohesion, narrowing the gap, accelerating the pace of the economy, to attempting to master technology.

It would be foolish if the President\'s story about the Hyperloop and other technological advances does not inspire anything. Or do we have no power to rise up?