5 ms·

He's like an embodiment of the know-it-all engineer meme, who thinks that domain expertise in one field makes him a genius everywhere else. It's dangerous how

He's like an embodiment of the know-it-all engineer meme, who thinks that domain expertise in one field makes him a genius everywhere else. It's dangerous how prone he is to fashioning himself to be an authority on things he knows nothing about.

dopylitty 6y ago
With one caveat that he's not an engineer. At best he has some experience as a web developer but is largely a money guy having gotten his start from his family's emerald mine in apartheid South Africa.
- tim333 6y ago
  He claims otherwise. His rockets seem to work quite well. https://youtu.be/cIQ36Kt7UVg?t=175 https://youtu.be/cIQ36Kt7UVg?t=175
- thu2111 6y ago
  That's a pretty absurd slur. If you're going to claim Musk isn't an engineer then you're defining the term so narrowly it stops being interesting. Biographies of him are quite clear that when he decided to make SpaceX he spent a very long period of time indeed doing nothing but reading rocket science textbooks; it was the knowledge of rocketry he gained by doing that which allowed him to realise which problems needed to be solved, that they could be solved, who could do the work to solve them and most importantly to gain the confidence of other rocket engine designers and convince them to join him. He pretty routinely engages in technical discussion about rockets, what happened, what went wrong etc. That's on top of his experience as a software developer. So if you're going to claim Musk isn't an engineer then really neither was Bill Gates, Larry Page, or other people who did some initial work and had some expertise in what their company did but rapidly became a professional executive.
  - starkd 6y ago
    The criticism that Elon Musk is "not an engineer" is an example of loserthink if ever there was one.
- tim333 6y ago
  Wikipedia has >Elon Reeve Musk FRS (/ˈiːlɒn/; born June 28, 1971) is an engineer, industrial designer, technology entrepreneur, scientist and philanthropist Still haters gonna hate.
  - tfehring 6y ago
    The fact that his Wikipedia byline is the strongest evidence of any engineering expertise is telling.
    - tim333 6y ago
      Well, the easiest to cut and paste more than the strongest.
wuunderbar 6y ago
> who thinks that domain expertise in one field makes him a genius everywhere else. To be fair and pedantic, he's proven expertise in broad areas. Regardless, I agree with your last point.
- rawland 6y ago
  Where? As far as I know it's mostly VC and some product design leadership.
  - wuunderbar 6y ago
    He's fairly involved in the day-to-day engineering at SpaceX historically: https://www.quora.com/Does-Elon-Musk-do-some-very-technical-work-code-design-etc-at-SpaceX https://www.quora.com/Does-Elon-Musk-do-some-very-technical-... There's more examples from interviews with people at SpaceX on YouTube I can't find right now. Web development and rocket science are two very different domains.

dopylitty 6y ago

With one caveat that he's not an engineer. At best he has some experience as a web developer but is largely a money guy having gotten his start from his family's emerald mine in apartheid South Africa.

tim333 6y ago
He claims otherwise. His rockets seem to work quite well. https://youtu.be/cIQ36Kt7UVg?t=175 https://youtu.be/cIQ36Kt7UVg?t=175
thu2111 6y ago
That's a pretty absurd slur. If you're going to claim Musk isn't an engineer then you're defining the term so narrowly it stops being interesting. Biographies of him are quite clear that when he decided to make SpaceX he spent a very long period of time indeed doing nothing but reading rocket science textbooks; it was the knowledge of rocketry he gained by doing that which allowed him to realise which problems needed to be solved, that they could be solved, who could do the work to solve them and most importantly to gain the confidence of other rocket engine designers and convince them to join him. He pretty routinely engages in technical discussion about rockets, what happened, what went wrong etc. That's on top of his experience as a software developer. So if you're going to claim Musk isn't an engineer then really neither was Bill Gates, Larry Page, or other people who did some initial work and had some expertise in what their company did but rapidly became a professional executive.
- starkd 6y ago
  The criticism that Elon Musk is "not an engineer" is an example of loserthink if ever there was one.
tim333 6y ago
Wikipedia has >Elon Reeve Musk FRS (/ˈiːlɒn/; born June 28, 1971) is an engineer, industrial designer, technology entrepreneur, scientist and philanthropist Still haters gonna hate.
- tfehring 6y ago
  The fact that his Wikipedia byline is the strongest evidence of any engineering expertise is telling.
  - tim333 6y ago
    Well, the easiest to cut and paste more than the strongest.

wuunderbar 6y ago

> who thinks that domain expertise in one field makes him a genius everywhere else. To be fair and pedantic, he's proven expertise in broad areas. Regardless, I agree with your last point.

rawland 6y ago
Where? As far as I know it's mostly VC and some product design leadership.
- wuunderbar 6y ago
  He's fairly involved in the day-to-day engineering at SpaceX historically: https://www.quora.com/Does-Elon-Musk-do-some-very-technical-work-code-design-etc-at-SpaceX https://www.quora.com/Does-Elon-Musk-do-some-very-technical-... There's more examples from interviews with people at SpaceX on YouTube I can't find right now. Web development and rocket science are two very different domains.