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Ask HN: Why is Elon Musk such hero to the tech community?

Yes, he's done some outstanding things but I feel people would make him a saint if they could. Why is the worship so strong?

PaulHoule 8y ago
Both Tesla and SpaceX are completely awesome. Having developed one of those businesses would be a huge accomplishment, having developed both is something beyond. Musk has shown some paranoia, and some bad behavior on Twitter.
- chadcmulligan 8y ago
  reusable spaceships - every techies childhood dream. All those black and white movies where the rocket ship landed by being a rocket, everyone thought that was just the stuff of movies. The dude built it! For that alone he is legend. He's also made money from it. Having said that - not sure I'd like to work for him, but no ones perfect.
  - greenyoda 8y ago
    > All those black and white movies where the rocket ship landed by being a rocket, everyone thought that was just the stuff of movies. That's how a spacecraft landed on the moon way back in 1969. SpaceX was just the first to do it on Earth.
__d 8y ago
I think worship is overstating the attitude. Things I admire: his scale of vision (replace fossil fuels, expand beyond earth, augment human intelligence); his willingness to go for clean-sheet designs; his persistence, iterating and learning from failures; his personal commitment, both in working on and financing his ideas; his obvious enjoyment of his work. Thing I dislike: over-hyping things; driving employees too hard; being too thin-skinned; the personal attacks, especially in public; his general appearance of being gleefully unaware of his own privilege. If he went home to his family and workshop in the relatively modest Musk compound instead of hanging out with stars, private-jetting around the world, and being a jerk on Twitter, I'd be more impressed. But I think a part of the attraction is that he seems like "one of us": an engineer who (like us, in our dreams) has taken the napkin projects from a long session at the pub, and made them real.
RyanAF7 8y ago
My favorite part about this question is that it allows for an SAT like comparison that tickles me to no end when people realize how true it is. Trump is to Boomers as Elon Musk is to Millennials. They are almost the exact same personality wrapped in only slightly different generational belief systems. Where Trump made waves in the 80s by being the "winner" type, Musk made waves by being the "visionary" type. Both are voracious exaggerators bordering on pathological liars. Both are media whores who appear in movie cameos as themselves. Both are completely despised by former business partners. Both use Twitter as a personal echo chamber. Only reason Musk hasn't gone bankrupt is because the US government kept all of his businesses afloat with major capital infusions. At least Trump's bankruptcies didn't cost tax dollars. Musk is worshiped because a lot of people don't want to face the fact he's a bullshit artist so they have to take comfort in the illusion of his persona.
- WheelsAtLarge 8y ago
  I must say that's a very good comparison. Musk has mastered the use of the media for his purposes. Just like Trump has done over the past 40+ years. It's a Very fair comparison. We might be seeing president MusK in 20 years.
  - greenyoda 8y ago
    He can't be president of the U.S. because he doesn't meet the Constitutional requirement of being a native born citizen - he was born in South Africa. He only became a U.S. citizen in 2002. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk
- sixQuarks 8y ago
  Not a good comparison at all. Trump is a hollow showman who sucks value from people. Musk is actually an engineer who gives value.
  - RyanAF7 8y ago
    They both have degrees in economics. Musk has an additional undergrad in physics, but Trump graduated from Wharton so... oh wait - they both went to the same school lol. Oh and they both dodged military service. Wake up, homie. Musk is as much an engineer as Bill Nye is a scientist.
tony-allan 8y ago
Elon Musk is not and never will be a saint, especially in his personal life however he is a brilliant visionary who can execute when it comes to space and electric cars. There have been many problems along the way and so far he has overcome them. If he doesn't implode or run out on money he will succeed. I would love to see humans on Mars in my lifetime and I think he will be a big part of that.
Tepix 8y ago
The idea to take it upon yourself to make humanity a multi-planetary society is just awesome. Succeeding at it is just mind-blowing. If indeed we manage to establish a self-sustaining colony elsewhere this is a bigger step in our evolution than moving from water to land.
api 8y ago
I don't worship him. I do admire his determination and abilities and wish there were more people with them who also had the means to actually get stuff to happen. Hmm... actually... the fact that people like Musk are so rare is discouraging. There are quite a few people with say $100M+ net worth and it seems like most of them don't do much. If wealth were a true meritocracy I feel like Elon would not be remarkable.

Yes, he's done some outstanding things but I feel people would make him a saint if they could. Why is the worship so strong?

PaulHoule 8y ago

Both Tesla and SpaceX are completely awesome. Having developed one of those businesses would be a huge accomplishment, having developed both is something beyond. Musk has shown some paranoia, and some bad behavior on Twitter.

chadcmulligan 8y ago
reusable spaceships - every techies childhood dream. All those black and white movies where the rocket ship landed by being a rocket, everyone thought that was just the stuff of movies. The dude built it! For that alone he is legend. He's also made money from it. Having said that - not sure I'd like to work for him, but no ones perfect.
- greenyoda 8y ago
  > All those black and white movies where the rocket ship landed by being a rocket, everyone thought that was just the stuff of movies. That's how a spacecraft landed on the moon way back in 1969. SpaceX was just the first to do it on Earth.

__d 8y ago

I think worship is overstating the attitude. Things I admire: his scale of vision (replace fossil fuels, expand beyond earth, augment human intelligence); his willingness to go for clean-sheet designs; his persistence, iterating and learning from failures; his personal commitment, both in working on and financing his ideas; his obvious enjoyment of his work. Thing I dislike: over-hyping things; driving employees too hard; being too thin-skinned; the personal attacks, especially in public; his general appearance of being gleefully unaware of his own privilege. If he went home to his family and workshop in the relatively modest Musk compound instead of hanging out with stars, private-jetting around the world, and being a jerk on Twitter, I'd be more impressed. But I think a part of the attraction is that he seems like "one of us": an engineer who (like us, in our dreams) has taken the napkin projects from a long session at the pub, and made them real.

RyanAF7 8y ago

My favorite part about this question is that it allows for an SAT like comparison that tickles me to no end when people realize how true it is. Trump is to Boomers as Elon Musk is to Millennials. They are almost the exact same personality wrapped in only slightly different generational belief systems. Where Trump made waves in the 80s by being the "winner" type, Musk made waves by being the "visionary" type. Both are voracious exaggerators bordering on pathological liars. Both are media whores who appear in movie cameos as themselves. Both are completely despised by former business partners. Both use Twitter as a personal echo chamber. Only reason Musk hasn't gone bankrupt is because the US government kept all of his businesses afloat with major capital infusions. At least Trump's bankruptcies didn't cost tax dollars. Musk is worshiped because a lot of people don't want to face the fact he's a bullshit artist so they have to take comfort in the illusion of his persona.

WheelsAtLarge 8y ago
I must say that's a very good comparison. Musk has mastered the use of the media for his purposes. Just like Trump has done over the past 40+ years. It's a Very fair comparison. We might be seeing president MusK in 20 years.
- greenyoda 8y ago
  He can't be president of the U.S. because he doesn't meet the Constitutional requirement of being a native born citizen - he was born in South Africa. He only became a U.S. citizen in 2002. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk
sixQuarks 8y ago
Not a good comparison at all. Trump is a hollow showman who sucks value from people. Musk is actually an engineer who gives value.
- RyanAF7 8y ago
  They both have degrees in economics. Musk has an additional undergrad in physics, but Trump graduated from Wharton so... oh wait - they both went to the same school lol. Oh and they both dodged military service. Wake up, homie. Musk is as much an engineer as Bill Nye is a scientist.

tony-allan 8y ago

Elon Musk is not and never will be a saint, especially in his personal life however he is a brilliant visionary who can execute when it comes to space and electric cars. There have been many problems along the way and so far he has overcome them. If he doesn't implode or run out on money he will succeed. I would love to see humans on Mars in my lifetime and I think he will be a big part of that.

Tepix 8y ago

The idea to take it upon yourself to make humanity a multi-planetary society is just awesome. Succeeding at it is just mind-blowing. If indeed we manage to establish a self-sustaining colony elsewhere this is a bigger step in our evolution than moving from water to land.

api 8y ago

I don't worship him. I do admire his determination and abilities and wish there were more people with them who also had the means to actually get stuff to happen. Hmm... actually... the fact that people like Musk are so rare is discouraging. There are quite a few people with say $100M+ net worth and it seems like most of them don't do much. If wealth were a true meritocracy I feel like Elon would not be remarkable.