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What does Elon Musk have to do with this? He is just someone who takes existing working things and tries to produce them in some slavery sweat shop conditions f

What does Elon Musk have to do with this? He is just someone who takes existing working things and tries to produce them in some slavery sweat shop conditions for cheap. There is essentially zero innovation involved here, even less so any "sci-fi".

slfnflctd 7y ago
> essentially zero innovation The innovation is in bringing these products to market and keeping multiple companies viable while doing so. NO ONE else has done the things he has. Put up or shut up. Edit: I'm not a fanboy and there are a lot of things about him I dislike, but the casual dismissals just irk me. If he's so unoriginal, you go do what he did.
- earenndil 7y ago
  > If he's so unoriginal, you go do what he did That's nonsense. Most people weren't lucky enough to sell a company for several hundreds of millions of dollars in the dot-com boom.
  - WalterBright 7y ago
    There are lots of centa-millionaires. None have done what Musk did. Musk got his start with Zip2, programming it himself. Any competent programmer could have done that (but didn't). Each success he used to launch a much more ambitious enterprise. When someone does that multiple times, it isn't luck. It's being good at it.
  - danielg6 7y ago
    Or to have parents to seed said company. Not sure why you got downvoted. It’s easier to say “Go do what JK Rowling did” than to say “Go do what Elon did” lmao. I can write a fantasy series with $0. The same can’t be said necessarily for building companies.
    - WalterBright 7y ago
      Musk's first company he founded with his brother got $28,000 investment from his father. It's not an outlandish amount - less than the cost of a car.
      - danielg6 7y ago
        It’s still more than most people have and during a specific time in history. What you said doesn’t negate my point. There’s more involved to starting a company than money. Such as your network. Your support system. Even your race and geographic location could play a factor. Luck, etc. “You go be a 7-ft basketball player if you think it’s so easy!!!”
        WalterBright 7y ago
        > It’s still more than most people have and during a specific time in history. The freeways around here are gridlocked with cars costing more than $28,000. > Such as your network. Your support system. Even your race and geographic location could play a factor. Luck, etc. Oh phooey. I started my company with nothing more than an IBM PC. Nobody knew my race or location - it was mail order. Want to network? Use the internet. The D development community is all over the world. On HN I regularly see extreme negativity and often outright hostility to all the opportunities all around us. What I enjoy about Musk is he likes to do things everyone else says can't be done.
        gnaritas 7y ago
        > The freeways around here are gridlocked with cars costing more than $28,000. Yea, financed with debt over what is now typically 7-10 years. 28k of capital to invest is out of the reach of the majority of Americans. Please don't pretend that's a small amount of money anyone can come up with.
        WalterBright 7y ago
        > anyone Somehow "most" morphed into "anyone". BTW, if you can finance $28,000 over 7-10 years, you can buy a perfectly fine $3,000 car, save up what your payment would have been, and have those funds to invest. My daily driver, for example, is 31 years old now, and is worth maybe $500. I invest the money I save (taxes, insurance, and repairs are pretty cheap for the thing, too). My not-so-humble opinion is that if you have to finance a car, you should buy a cheaper used one you can pay cash for. Financing an expensive car is a great way to never have any spare funds available.
samplatt 7y ago
While Musk should be rightly criticised for the ethically-questionable practices, we can at least be thankful that SOMEONE has both the drive (okay, sure, the ego) and passion for technological progress that results in the societal change we've seen so far. Are there ANY other players at his level of household-name and wealth that are pushing as hard as he is, in as many directions? Gates has done fantastic work for decades but only using conventional methods, and basically everyone else is only doing R&D for their own purposes. He's not some Tony-Stark/Tom-Swift type, but neither is he just another capitalist dick.
- scottlocklin 7y ago
  He's simply a Howard Hughes type: every generation since Hughes has had one, and they're all backed by the military industrial complex and spooks. He'd have gone broke by now otherwise. None of his companies make money.

slfnflctd 7y ago

> essentially zero innovation The innovation is in bringing these products to market and keeping multiple companies viable while doing so. NO ONE else has done the things he has. Put up or shut up. Edit: I'm not a fanboy and there are a lot of things about him I dislike, but the casual dismissals just irk me. If he's so unoriginal, you go do what he did.

earenndil 7y ago
> If he's so unoriginal, you go do what he did That's nonsense. Most people weren't lucky enough to sell a company for several hundreds of millions of dollars in the dot-com boom.
- WalterBright 7y ago
  There are lots of centa-millionaires. None have done what Musk did. Musk got his start with Zip2, programming it himself. Any competent programmer could have done that (but didn't). Each success he used to launch a much more ambitious enterprise. When someone does that multiple times, it isn't luck. It's being good at it.
- danielg6 7y ago
  Or to have parents to seed said company. Not sure why you got downvoted. It’s easier to say “Go do what JK Rowling did” than to say “Go do what Elon did” lmao. I can write a fantasy series with $0. The same can’t be said necessarily for building companies.
  - WalterBright 7y ago
    Musk's first company he founded with his brother got $28,000 investment from his father. It's not an outlandish amount - less than the cost of a car.
    - danielg6 7y ago
      It’s still more than most people have and during a specific time in history. What you said doesn’t negate my point. There’s more involved to starting a company than money. Such as your network. Your support system. Even your race and geographic location could play a factor. Luck, etc. “You go be a 7-ft basketball player if you think it’s so easy!!!”
      - WalterBright 7y ago
        > It’s still more than most people have and during a specific time in history. The freeways around here are gridlocked with cars costing more than $28,000. > Such as your network. Your support system. Even your race and geographic location could play a factor. Luck, etc. Oh phooey. I started my company with nothing more than an IBM PC. Nobody knew my race or location - it was mail order. Want to network? Use the internet. The D development community is all over the world. On HN I regularly see extreme negativity and often outright hostility to all the opportunities all around us. What I enjoy about Musk is he likes to do things everyone else says can't be done.
        gnaritas 7y ago
        > The freeways around here are gridlocked with cars costing more than $28,000. Yea, financed with debt over what is now typically 7-10 years. 28k of capital to invest is out of the reach of the majority of Americans. Please don't pretend that's a small amount of money anyone can come up with.
        WalterBright 7y ago
        > anyone Somehow "most" morphed into "anyone". BTW, if you can finance $28,000 over 7-10 years, you can buy a perfectly fine $3,000 car, save up what your payment would have been, and have those funds to invest. My daily driver, for example, is 31 years old now, and is worth maybe $500. I invest the money I save (taxes, insurance, and repairs are pretty cheap for the thing, too). My not-so-humble opinion is that if you have to finance a car, you should buy a cheaper used one you can pay cash for. Financing an expensive car is a great way to never have any spare funds available.

samplatt 7y ago

While Musk should be rightly criticised for the ethically-questionable practices, we can at least be thankful that SOMEONE has both the drive (okay, sure, the ego) and passion for technological progress that results in the societal change we've seen so far. Are there ANY other players at his level of household-name and wealth that are pushing as hard as he is, in as many directions? Gates has done fantastic work for decades but only using conventional methods, and basically everyone else is only doing R&D for their own purposes. He's not some Tony-Stark/Tom-Swift type, but neither is he just another capitalist dick.

scottlocklin 7y ago
He's simply a Howard Hughes type: every generation since Hughes has had one, and they're all backed by the military industrial complex and spooks. He'd have gone broke by now otherwise. None of his companies make money.