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From one POV, Musk really has nothing to lose. Even if all his companies crash and burn, he has taken a lot of resources and spent them on things that matter:

From one POV, Musk really has nothing to lose. Even if all his companies crash and burn, he has taken a lot of resources and spent them on things that matter: space exploration, combating global warming, etc No matter what happens, all that engineering talent will continue to exist. All that experience gained still exists. And some of the giant infrastructure that he’s built will inevitably be reused if his companies don’t work out. I feel like he’s exploiting the capitalist system to get stuff done, and I think he is prepared for everything to collapse because much of what he has created will survive no matter what. Who cares about the numbers on some balance sheet now that we can reuse spacecraft and build great electric cars? Those numbers are a drop in the ocean anyhows.

balabaster 8y ago
And that matters. In the grand scheme of things. That may be all that matters. For that, I take my hat off to him.
jklinger410 8y ago
Agreeing with both of you but want to chime in with some conspiracy theory stuff. The only way you beat Musk is by going somewhere that his idealism won't allow him to go, while still maintaining positive public opinion of yourself as his competitor. I am looking directly at the Oil and Big Auto companies when I say people have incentivized bloggers (aka "journalists") and paid online trolls to make him look like the bad guy, and that they will likely then go a "step too far" in order to beat him. His Twitter tirades have either been a poor attempt at refuting this, or a game of chicken on that front as well. Oil and Big Auto do have something to lose. Musk's bet is also on human goodness, that greater society will allow him to win because he is genuine. That whole "the truth will come out" or "good always wins in the end" trope. One could easily see him in an orange jumpsuit one day just for daring to upset industries that have created so much evil.
- balabaster 8y ago
  The issue with that trope is that while Musk's bet on good always winning in the end, that may not be for many generations. We're still fighting for an equality that's been fought for thousands of years. Fanatical Muslims fighting against Fanatical Christians as a facade covering a war for resources. Who is good? Who is bad? Are either one really any worse than the other? I'm hoping that his bet moves us towards a more utopian society. Sadly, while I'm an optimist, my cynicism prevents me from believing that humanity will allow us to get there. The winners are the ones that write the history books, while the losers are painted to be evil, if they're even included in the history books at all. Some are even written out of the history books and not taught in schools in the hope that in a generation or two they're forgotten. Humanity doesn't exactly have a very inspiring track record when it comes to good always winning... in fact, its track record is pretty abysmal.
- Angostura 8y ago
  > I am looking directly at the Oil and Big Auto companies when I say people have incentivized bloggers (aka "journalists") and paid online trolls to make him look like the bad guy They made him spout off about the Thailand-based diver being a paedophile? He bought this stuff on himself, you don't need a conspiracy to explain why the shine came off.
  - jklinger410 8y ago
    No, they obviously didn't do that. The undercurrent of negative opinion about him goes well beyond that, though. See: Pissbaby richboy who doesn't help the world and is just a jet-setting Tony Stark wannabe. ^ Has nothing to do with Thailand.
  - ericd 8y ago
    Who gives a shit, really? It’s the same sort of navel-gazing as caring about who is feuding with who in the celebrity world, amplified by a press that’s starving for new sources of clickbait. Yeah, he shouldn’t have done that, but in the final calculus, it’s incredibly insignificant compared to what he’s done and what he’s trying to do. If you try to run two companies and sleep for 4-5 hours a night for years and take too much ambien, I can guarantee you that you’re going to have a bad stretch too. I think we can cut him some slack.
    - Angostura 8y ago
      > Who gives a shit, really? People who may be concerned that a CEO is trying to run two companies and sleep for 4-5 hours a night for years and take too much ambien and may have impaired judgement.

balabaster 8y ago

And that matters. In the grand scheme of things. That may be all that matters. For that, I take my hat off to him.

jklinger410 8y ago

Agreeing with both of you but want to chime in with some conspiracy theory stuff. The only way you beat Musk is by going somewhere that his idealism won't allow him to go, while still maintaining positive public opinion of yourself as his competitor. I am looking directly at the Oil and Big Auto companies when I say people have incentivized bloggers (aka "journalists") and paid online trolls to make him look like the bad guy, and that they will likely then go a "step too far" in order to beat him. His Twitter tirades have either been a poor attempt at refuting this, or a game of chicken on that front as well. Oil and Big Auto do have something to lose. Musk's bet is also on human goodness, that greater society will allow him to win because he is genuine. That whole "the truth will come out" or "good always wins in the end" trope. One could easily see him in an orange jumpsuit one day just for daring to upset industries that have created so much evil.

balabaster 8y ago
The issue with that trope is that while Musk's bet on good always winning in the end, that may not be for many generations. We're still fighting for an equality that's been fought for thousands of years. Fanatical Muslims fighting against Fanatical Christians as a facade covering a war for resources. Who is good? Who is bad? Are either one really any worse than the other? I'm hoping that his bet moves us towards a more utopian society. Sadly, while I'm an optimist, my cynicism prevents me from believing that humanity will allow us to get there. The winners are the ones that write the history books, while the losers are painted to be evil, if they're even included in the history books at all. Some are even written out of the history books and not taught in schools in the hope that in a generation or two they're forgotten. Humanity doesn't exactly have a very inspiring track record when it comes to good always winning... in fact, its track record is pretty abysmal.
Angostura 8y ago
> I am looking directly at the Oil and Big Auto companies when I say people have incentivized bloggers (aka "journalists") and paid online trolls to make him look like the bad guy They made him spout off about the Thailand-based diver being a paedophile? He bought this stuff on himself, you don't need a conspiracy to explain why the shine came off.
- jklinger410 8y ago
  No, they obviously didn't do that. The undercurrent of negative opinion about him goes well beyond that, though. See: Pissbaby richboy who doesn't help the world and is just a jet-setting Tony Stark wannabe. ^ Has nothing to do with Thailand.
- ericd 8y ago
  Who gives a shit, really? It’s the same sort of navel-gazing as caring about who is feuding with who in the celebrity world, amplified by a press that’s starving for new sources of clickbait. Yeah, he shouldn’t have done that, but in the final calculus, it’s incredibly insignificant compared to what he’s done and what he’s trying to do. If you try to run two companies and sleep for 4-5 hours a night for years and take too much ambien, I can guarantee you that you’re going to have a bad stretch too. I think we can cut him some slack.
  - Angostura 8y ago
    > Who gives a shit, really? People who may be concerned that a CEO is trying to run two companies and sleep for 4-5 hours a night for years and take too much ambien and may have impaired judgement.