6 ms·

Musk isn't an idiot, he's overseen some great things at the companies he runs, and I hope the companies he's running continue pushing technology forward. But M

Musk isn't an idiot, he's overseen some great things at the companies he runs, and I hope the companies he's running continue pushing technology forward. But Musk as a human isn't so great. He'd do better to keep his mouth shut sometimes, and lay off Twitter every now and again. Between falsely accusing people of being pedophiles, claiming to take Tesla private in a tweet, and various other "incidents", he's kind of an idiot when it comes to PR.

drcross 6y ago
>But Musk as a human isn't so great. I would be very hesitant to criticise someone who has arguably done/will do more for the continuation for humanity than anyone else who has ever lived. Maybe it's your definition of "isn't great" that needs re-calibration.
- rsynnott 6y ago
  Impressive case of Poe’s Law here.
- itsoktocry 6y ago
  >who has arguably done/will do more for the continuation for humanity than anyone else who has ever lived. Because he's building some electric cars? How low is your bar?
  - cjhopman 6y ago
    But you don't understand. Car analysts since the early 90s have been saying that electric cars would become profitable and become a serious chunk of the market by 2020 because they all knew that musk was going to come along and show us how great electric cars are and save the world.
  - catalogia 6y ago
    Presumably they mean "populate Mars and thus avert human extinction" but that's definitely counting chickens before they hatch.
    - asddubs 6y ago
      maybe the billionaires could actually do something about climate change instead of trying to flee to mars. i doubt musk is saving space for me in his escape pod
brabel 6y ago
He's an idiot in the sense that Trump is an idiot. Made billions (sure, not started from scratch, but they still made billions more than you and me), says stupid things all the time but they still can get away with it and win (the presidency, the most valued car company in the word, whatever it is they want).
- jacquesm 6y ago
  Trump started out with 100's of millions. Musk started off significantly lower on the ladder.
  - Alupis 6y ago
    I thought the narrative was a $1 million dollar loan from his father? Do you have a source for "100's of millions"? Sure, a $1 million dollar loan from family is pretty generous, and an amazing starting place - certainly not a "from nothing" tale. However, it's not outlandish money for a business loan to a top-rated business school graduate with extensive industry experience either. I'd also wager if you gave most people $1 million dollars, they would not turn it into billions within their lifetime.
    - FireBeyond 6y ago
      > I thought the narrative was a $1 million dollar loan from his father? A few thoughts: there are other sources that say there were significant other inputs, up to and including someone going to a Trump casino and buying $3.5M in chips and not playing. And there's the inflation value - a $1M loan in the 1960s is a lot more than $1M now. > business loan to a top-rated business school graduate Numerous people (including the faculty at said business school) have said that Trump was the worst student they'd ever seen, and at least one has made the claim that if it weren't for significant donations, Trump would never have graduated. > I'd also wager if you gave most people $1 million dollars, they would not turn it into billions within their lifetime. Quite possibly true. But in Trump's case he could have done absolutely nothing with the money he inherited and relied on earned interest and be richer than he is now.
seanmcdirmid 6y ago
Musk is technically great, he has OK business sense, he has really bad social interaction skills and really needs to work on developing a better filter.

drcross 6y ago

>But Musk as a human isn't so great. I would be very hesitant to criticise someone who has arguably done/will do more for the continuation for humanity than anyone else who has ever lived. Maybe it's your definition of "isn't great" that needs re-calibration.

rsynnott 6y ago
Impressive case of Poe’s Law here.
itsoktocry 6y ago
>who has arguably done/will do more for the continuation for humanity than anyone else who has ever lived. Because he's building some electric cars? How low is your bar?
- cjhopman 6y ago
  But you don't understand. Car analysts since the early 90s have been saying that electric cars would become profitable and become a serious chunk of the market by 2020 because they all knew that musk was going to come along and show us how great electric cars are and save the world.
- catalogia 6y ago
  Presumably they mean "populate Mars and thus avert human extinction" but that's definitely counting chickens before they hatch.
  - asddubs 6y ago
    maybe the billionaires could actually do something about climate change instead of trying to flee to mars. i doubt musk is saving space for me in his escape pod

brabel 6y ago

He's an idiot in the sense that Trump is an idiot. Made billions (sure, not started from scratch, but they still made billions more than you and me), says stupid things all the time but they still can get away with it and win (the presidency, the most valued car company in the word, whatever it is they want).

jacquesm 6y ago
Trump started out with 100's of millions. Musk started off significantly lower on the ladder.
- Alupis 6y ago
  I thought the narrative was a $1 million dollar loan from his father? Do you have a source for "100's of millions"? Sure, a $1 million dollar loan from family is pretty generous, and an amazing starting place - certainly not a "from nothing" tale. However, it's not outlandish money for a business loan to a top-rated business school graduate with extensive industry experience either. I'd also wager if you gave most people $1 million dollars, they would not turn it into billions within their lifetime.
  - FireBeyond 6y ago
    > I thought the narrative was a $1 million dollar loan from his father? A few thoughts: there are other sources that say there were significant other inputs, up to and including someone going to a Trump casino and buying $3.5M in chips and not playing. And there's the inflation value - a $1M loan in the 1960s is a lot more than $1M now. > business loan to a top-rated business school graduate Numerous people (including the faculty at said business school) have said that Trump was the worst student they'd ever seen, and at least one has made the claim that if it weren't for significant donations, Trump would never have graduated. > I'd also wager if you gave most people $1 million dollars, they would not turn it into billions within their lifetime. Quite possibly true. But in Trump's case he could have done absolutely nothing with the money he inherited and relied on earned interest and be richer than he is now.

seanmcdirmid 6y ago

Musk is technically great, he has OK business sense, he has really bad social interaction skills and really needs to work on developing a better filter.