Tony Seba of RethinkX in his 8 technologies that create 3 disruptions (full explanation here) has made the comment that a butterfly is not a caterpillar with wings as he talks about Electric Vehicles (EV) versus internal combustion engine vehicles. He says that simply changing the ICE motor and gearbox with an electric motor is the same as saying a butterfly is a caterpillar with wings.
Tesla’s first vehicle wasn’t a ground-up electric car. In fact, the original Tesla Roadster was essentially a gas car converted to electric. This isn’t the best way to do it. Industry experts at InsideEVS have seen many OEMs try and fail. Tesla quickly realized and moved to a platform designed specifically for EVs.
Bankrupt by 2030 for Conventional Vehicle Makers?
Furthermore, Seba says that most existing manufacturers have missed the boat. In 2012, he forecast that companies needed to be on version 2 of their software by 2020, or else they would be bankrupt by 2030.
EVs are Computer on Wheels
Biologically, why is a Butterfly not a Caterpillar with Wings?
A butterfly is not simply a caterpillar with wings because it undergoes a complex metamorphosis process in which it completely transforms its physical appearance and behaviour.
The life cycle of a butterfly begins with an egg, which hatches into a larva called a caterpillar. The caterpillar then undergoes several stages of growth, shedding its skin each time and growing larger. During this time, the caterpillar eats voraciously to build up energy for the next stage of its life cycle.
After the caterpillar has grown to its full size, it undergoes a transformation called pupation. During this process, the caterpillar wraps itself in a cocoon or chrysalis and undergoes a remarkable transformation. Its body undergoes extensive reorganization, with the development of wings, legs, eyes, and other adult structures. Eventually, the pupa splits open, and a fully-formed adult butterfly emerges.
So, while a butterfly and a caterpillar may look very different, they are actually the same organism at different stages of its life cycle. The caterpillar is the larval stage, while the butterfly is the adult stage.