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Oh have a look at Twitter. There is a circle of Tesla Zealots that don't drive their Tesla . . . they go outside to "train the neural net". You see, it's not

Oh have a look at Twitter. There is a circle of Tesla Zealots that don't drive their Tesla . . . they go outside to "train the neural net". You see, it's not driving for a purpose or for fun. They're driving because they want their car's data to be uploaded to Tesla and used to train the neural net. These are the same people who volunteer their time to help a multi-billion dollar company deliver cars. The same people who devote every waking hour to viciously attacking anyone who is merely neutral about Tesla or Elon Musk, instead of excitingly approving and encouraging of Tesla and Musk. It's an absolute cult and I honestly think this is worst than the Glasshole scenario from a decade ago.

fossuser 7y ago
I paid $3k for the FSD, but not really because I expect it to work - FSD does include some features that are not included in regular autopilot (like navigate on autopilot, and automatic lane change). I think Elon is underestimating the complexity of actually shipping FSD and I don't think the Tesla robo-taxi idea is likely to work anytime soon, but in a world where FSD did work I think the robo-taxi idea makes sense as an extension of what's possible in that world. I suspect part of the reason Elon remains optimistic about this is because pretty much everything he's done has been done while a choir of people around him and in the press go on about how it can't work and will fail. The automation at the factory, the gigafactory for batteries, EVs in general, the model 3 etc. If I was in his position I'd discount what all of these people think too. When you say everything will fail all the time people just ignore you. Eventually you may end up right about something, but it's not because of any ability to predict outcomes. I'm happy to pay the $3k though even if it's an interest free loan because Elon and Tesla pulled EVs from an uncertain future to the modern day while building up supercharging infrastructure. In addition to that the software/UI of driving the Tesla is leagues ahead of anyone else in the industry. We need more of this kind of 'failure', not less.
markdown 7y ago
There will always be products and companies with crazy fanboys. This just reminds me of Apple with followers like John Gruber and others.
- ghaff 7y ago
  Gruber is a crazy fanboy? I mean, he's generally positive on Apple and likes them more than not but he's thoughtfully critical of them at times as well. I agree with your broader point. I just don't think that's a great example.
  - FireBeyond 7y ago
    Gruber has mellowed out a lot. Early Gruber was definitely _not_ "thoughtfully critical", but slavishly defensive, "Apple is playing 4D chess", etc.

fossuser 7y ago

I paid $3k for the FSD, but not really because I expect it to work - FSD does include some features that are not included in regular autopilot (like navigate on autopilot, and automatic lane change). I think Elon is underestimating the complexity of actually shipping FSD and I don't think the Tesla robo-taxi idea is likely to work anytime soon, but in a world where FSD did work I think the robo-taxi idea makes sense as an extension of what's possible in that world. I suspect part of the reason Elon remains optimistic about this is because pretty much everything he's done has been done while a choir of people around him and in the press go on about how it can't work and will fail. The automation at the factory, the gigafactory for batteries, EVs in general, the model 3 etc. If I was in his position I'd discount what all of these people think too. When you say everything will fail all the time people just ignore you. Eventually you may end up right about something, but it's not because of any ability to predict outcomes. I'm happy to pay the $3k though even if it's an interest free loan because Elon and Tesla pulled EVs from an uncertain future to the modern day while building up supercharging infrastructure. In addition to that the software/UI of driving the Tesla is leagues ahead of anyone else in the industry. We need more of this kind of 'failure', not less.

markdown 7y ago

There will always be products and companies with crazy fanboys. This just reminds me of Apple with followers like John Gruber and others.

ghaff 7y ago
Gruber is a crazy fanboy? I mean, he's generally positive on Apple and likes them more than not but he's thoughtfully critical of them at times as well. I agree with your broader point. I just don't think that's a great example.
- FireBeyond 7y ago
  Gruber has mellowed out a lot. Early Gruber was definitely _not_ "thoughtfully critical", but slavishly defensive, "Apple is playing 4D chess", etc.