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I have all the respect in the world for what Mr. Musk has accomplished, but it has come at an amazing cost to the people around him. He is worshiped from afar
by djcooley 10y ago
I have all the respect in the world for what Mr. Musk has accomplished, but it has come at an amazing cost to the people around him.
He is worshiped from afar but reviled by many the closer you get to his inner circle. Go read "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future."
The question I always ask myself with the people who move mountains is what cost did that progress come at? What would someone's spouse, kids, friends, etc. say about the person?
- pj_mukh 10y agoFor the record, that book and its stories need to be taken with a grain of salt. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/597982078374817794 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/597982078374817794 Not saying Musk's accounts of the events are perfectly truthful either. Great book though!
- _RPM 10y agoPeople that worship another person generally aren't well informed. For example, people look at Elon Musk like he's a pop culture icon -- I see people talking about him on my news feed all the time, yet these people aren't even technical. It's just a way for someone to identify to some type of group. Oh look what Elon's doing, he's so great. My reaction is, why are you sharing press articles about this person? Does it make you feel better about yourself?
- justinpombrio 10y agoWould you prefer that our celebrities were less accomplished, or just that we didn't have celebrities at all?
- _RPM 10y agoI have no preference, and frankly, I'm in no position to know what's best for anyone else besides myself.
- ceejayoz 10y agoDoes it make you feel better about yourself to shit on someone who's excited about electric cars and space travel even if they're not particularly technical?
- MPSimmons 10y agoAre you accusing Elon Musk of being the thinking man's Kim Kardashian?
- guftagu 10y agoComment gold! I'm going to steal that one
- AstralStorm 10y agoThere were a few like him before, but none as successful or as rich. Previously, we had: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, that president of GM. And more. Compared to them, Musk is taking a much harder, potentially more important cause.
- jimbokun 10y agoPeople talk about Elon because he has interesting ideas, does interesting things, and inspires a lot of other people. If many young people (or even old people), watch this interview, it seriously has the potential to make the world a slightly better place, if at least some of them try to put his ideas into practice.
- luckydata 10y agoPeople share in an effort to communicate to the world something about themselves. The feel better part will come from their friends and family knowing about what makes them tick and strangers the might be able to recognize a kindred spirit and in turn extend their network of people they enjoy hanging out with. let me know if you need me to break down other basic human instincts for you :-)
- andrewclunn 10y agoThat's for their spouse, kids, friends, etc to say. I'll judge business people by their businesses, musicians by their music, and so on and so forth. If I meet them personally, then I might make personal judgments, but I've no interest in the tabloid side of tech news.
- grecy 10y agoWhile I understand and agree with the point you're making, I think it's also important to acknowledge we're all different, we're all good at different things and we all eventually fulfill some purpose. Some of us are great at spending time with our wives and taking the kids to soccer practice. We fill our lives with family and friends, and get immense joy from that. We're so busy, likely, we'll never do anything "noteworthy" or wind up in the Guinness Book of Records. (Note: I'm not in any way implying that's a bad thing, I'm simply stating it as likely true) Others in this world maybe are not so good socially, or maybe do spend "too much" time at work, and do burn out those around them. They do, however, achieve greatness that genuinely moves the entire human race forward. It just so happens that second kind of person is around one in a few hundred million, so there really aren't so many around.
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- unusximmortalis 10y agoI believe the humanity moves on its way naturally anyway, those trying desperately to move mountains are simply wasting their lives here on Earth. A balanced way is a key to everything.
- uganda 10y agoIf a balanced way is the key to everything those not trying at all to move humanity on its way are wasting their lives too.
- thevardanian 10y agoWhy is it unnatural to desperately move mountains? If humanity moves on its way naturally then surely desperation of humans comes into the fold as well.
- Allvitende 10y agoHumanity moves on its way naturally because it is made up of individuals. If none of those individuals did anything useful or never "moved mountains", humanity would never move forward or progress.
- mikepk 10y ago"I admit that mathematical science is a good thing. But excessive devotion to it is a bad thing. If we evolved a race of Isaac Newtons, that would not be progress. For the price Newton had to pay for being a supreme intellect was that he was incapable of friendship, love, fatherhood, and many other desirable things. As a man he was a failure; as a monster he was superb." -- Aldus Huxley
- jsmthrowaway 10y agoIn Mark Manson's new book[0] he talks about how humans can excel at very few things, often barely one, and that "being a good person" for lack of a better phrase counts as one. It seems obvious in hindsight, but struck me because I hadn't thought of it that way before. (The book is incredible, by the way. I've already read it twice, just like Derek Sivers. Recommend it highly.) [0]: https://markmanson.net/books/subtle-art https://markmanson.net/books/subtle-art
- biofox 10y agoI haven't read the book, but this doesn't seem to fit with what's known about general intelligence, nor the examples of polymaths from the renaissance period. I suspect the causes are societal, from the constraints placed on our time and freedom to explore and become well rounded.
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- thr0waway1239 10y agoCounterpoint from the philosopher George Bernard Shaw: "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
- imh 10y agoI don't like the implication that you have to choose between excellence/"supreme intellect" and niceness. It excuses all sorts of assholes who believe that about themselves. What's wrong with being someone like Terry Tao?
- PieterH 10y agoSince the book is not free to read online, would you provide a tl;dr?
- dredmorbius 10y agoMany libraries worldwide have a copy: https://www.worldcat.org/title/elon-musk-tesla-spacex-and-the-quest-for-a-fantastic-future/oclc/881436803&referer=brief_results https://www.worldcat.org/title/elon-musk-tesla-spacex-and-th... If you're willing to risk possible long-term legal consequences, there are ... sources online: http://book4you.org/book/2544878/9841ce http://book4you.org/book/2544878/9841ce (Though your call for a TL;DR is valid.)
- Calist0 10y agoYou want a tldr on a biography book?
- guftagu 10y agoCheck out Blinkist. They have a summary of that book.
- nichochar 10y agoThis is true throughout history. Publicly selfless heroes (Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Elon Musk) often have to "sacrifice" (is it conscious?) their private selves, to be able to be the incarnation of what their work is. It bothers a lot of people, personally I am fine with it and would make the same decision. I think it's a personality thing.
- kareemsabri 10y agoElon Musk is worth $12B. He's a businessman. He lives in a giant mansion. Ghandi owned like 5 things. I'm not knocking Musk, but this is a strange interpretation of a very successful capitalist.
- unexistance 10y agoI'd say impactful, since apparently success only means rich to some people :D
- Calist0 10y agoMore like he lives at work. I'm sure his giant mansion means very little to him.
- aspir 10y agoMake no mistake, the lifelong servitude of Mandela and Gandhi is so far beyond the work of a businessman, however groundbreaking and amazing Musk is, that it's a societal disgrace to humanity to reference them as equals. I write this as someone who respects and admires Musk as much as anyone in this forum, if not more.
- ellyagg 10y agoWhy is that question so important to you? A lot of people are drains on everyone around them and they don't move mountains. If the quest is valuable enough to society, it far outweighs the costs to a single man's relationships. As a rationalization for why you yourself would not want to live that way, that's fair enough. Neither would I.
- noobermin 10y agoPrecisely, I won't name names but there are a few "drains" on family that I know that didn't start spaceX or tesla, yet they are not utilitarian positive contributors, I'd say.
- Disruptive_Dave 10y agoIn theory - and in the greater scheme - that's a small sacrifice to pay if the end result is impactful enough.
- vecter 10y agoYet those people chose to be around him? No one has ever forced anyone to work for Elon Musk.
- rwallace 10y agoThere are any number of people who are far more toxic to those around them without having accomplished any significant progress in the process, so Elon Musk is a poor choice of target for that criticism.
- projektir 10y agoI don't know about that, Musk has that effect on some of the best people, and his effect, due to his status, is very strong. I'm actually highly concerned about Musk's overall effect on society, specifically due to the kind of people he'll have that effect on.
- sheer_horror 10y agoI don't understand why you would be concerned and not elated by his effect on society. Tech has been stuck for 40 years in most major industries, and in a time when it seems impossible to overcome the entrenched incumbents of those industries, here comes a person who shows us that it is in fact possible. Now people have hope that our future will be decided not by frail, unmoving conglomerates, but instead by nimble and innovative start ups. There are going to be more science ventures thanks to that.
- icelancer 10y agoBecause Musk is not perfect. What makes him great is also what makes him terrible. And people seem to want to ignore the first part and focus on the second part around here.
- projektir 10y agoBecause the message of "only superhumans who work 80 hour weeks can accomplish great things" is not the kind of effect I want on society. We have enough of that as it is. We need less of it, not more. Does it not concern you that tech has been stuck for 40 years? That space has been stuck for however many years? Despite all this hard work everywhere? I'd rather resolve those problems at the core than address the symptoms or possibly worsen them by betting everything on one person and hope they will bring us salvation.
- prawn 10y agoDo you ask the same question of people who don't move mountains?