5 ms·

Is he any more erratic and outlandish then anyone else? Or is it simply his life is under a microscope, and every mistake gets amplified by a media hungry for c

Is he any more erratic and outlandish then anyone else? Or is it simply his life is under a microscope, and every mistake gets amplified by a media hungry for clicks and willing to exaggerate or embellish itself?

imwillofficial 5y ago
Yes, more erratic and outlandish than most. Owning a company that produces starships ticks the outlandish box all on its own. Inexplicable tweets that draw draw the ire of the SEC and the flip flop on Bitcoin tick the erratic box.
jeffreyrogers 5y ago
Yes, he is, at least as he publicly presents himself. There are so many examples to choose from it is hard to pick one. I'm sure some of it is deliberate to cultivate a certain image, but it's not like Satya Nadella is going on Joe Rogan's podcast and smoking weed or tweeting while on acid and the media just chooses to ignore it.
- beebeepka 5y ago
  Smoking weed and having a conversation while being a billionaire is "erratic and outlandish" why?
  - lambdaba 5y ago
    I was going to point that out. I feel this is way exaggerated.
  - jeffreyrogers 5y ago
    Because billionaires don't do that publicly? I don't care what Elon Musk does or how he acts. It doesn't affect me at all, but it's obvious that his behavior is unlike nearly any other high profile CEO. As a thought experiment: find another CEO who has done an interview while high. It is extremely uncommon. Again, I have nothing against it personally, but there are norms that most CEOs follow and that Elon disregards.
    - mschuster91 5y ago
      >Again, I have nothing against it personally, but there are norms that most CEOs follow and that Elon disregards. Most CEOs are effectively as easy to replace as the cleaning stuff wiping their desk is. Elon Musk however? He made a cult out of himself, even more so than Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates ever did. This level of cult building can be dangerous (e.g. the Bitcoin price hike/crash or his multiple incidents with the SEC), but also highly effective to raise money and to keep the mechanisms of the stock market at bay - Amazon for example is famous for not paying dividends, no matter the pressure.
      - mullingitover 5y ago
        > Most CEOs are effectively as easy to replace as the cleaning stuff wiping their desk is. I feel like if this were true, boards of directors would be paying them the same as regular employees and not 320x as much, as is the current standard[1]. [1] https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-compensation-surged-14-in-2019-to-21-3-million-ceos-now-earn-320-times-as-much-as-a-typical-worker/ https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-compensation-surged-14-i...
        mschuster91 5y ago
        CEO pay is a racket anyway, especially given that even colossal fuck-ups usually end up in a nice golden parachute.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - mhb 5y ago
        Competent Elites https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/CKpByWmsZ8WmpHtYa/competent-elites https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/CKpByWmsZ8WmpHtYa/competent-...
  - pchristensen 5y ago
    Name a second one who did it in front of 10M people.
  - kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
    It's a federal crime and grounds for stripping ones security clearance... unless you're a VIP who can get special treatment.
  - adolph 5y ago
    Possibly related: Marc Andreessen is referred to as "the world's most successful individual who has not done LSD with both Grimes and Azealia Banks." https://niccolo.substack.com/p/the-dubrovnik-interviews-marc-andreessen https://niccolo.substack.com/p/the-dubrovnik-interviews-marc...
- lambdaba 5y ago
  Could you link to some of those "on acid" tweets?
  - nolok 5y ago
    Well there is the one where he decided to call a guy saving kids lives a pedophile just because he said they weren't going to use the submarine Musk had his team build, back during thailand's crisis. That's not a very sane reaction to have.
- wp381640 5y ago
  Most execs are PR/investor relations manufactured corporate clones. They all have their own flaws, Elon just doesn’t give a shit about wearing his on his sleeve
tolbish 5y ago
Is that a joke? He named his son X Æ A-12

imwillofficial 5y ago

Yes, more erratic and outlandish than most. Owning a company that produces starships ticks the outlandish box all on its own. Inexplicable tweets that draw draw the ire of the SEC and the flip flop on Bitcoin tick the erratic box.

jeffreyrogers 5y ago

Yes, he is, at least as he publicly presents himself. There are so many examples to choose from it is hard to pick one. I'm sure some of it is deliberate to cultivate a certain image, but it's not like Satya Nadella is going on Joe Rogan's podcast and smoking weed or tweeting while on acid and the media just chooses to ignore it.

beebeepka 5y ago
Smoking weed and having a conversation while being a billionaire is "erratic and outlandish" why?
- lambdaba 5y ago
  I was going to point that out. I feel this is way exaggerated.
- jeffreyrogers 5y ago
  Because billionaires don't do that publicly? I don't care what Elon Musk does or how he acts. It doesn't affect me at all, but it's obvious that his behavior is unlike nearly any other high profile CEO. As a thought experiment: find another CEO who has done an interview while high. It is extremely uncommon. Again, I have nothing against it personally, but there are norms that most CEOs follow and that Elon disregards.
  - mschuster91 5y ago
    >Again, I have nothing against it personally, but there are norms that most CEOs follow and that Elon disregards. Most CEOs are effectively as easy to replace as the cleaning stuff wiping their desk is. Elon Musk however? He made a cult out of himself, even more so than Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates ever did. This level of cult building can be dangerous (e.g. the Bitcoin price hike/crash or his multiple incidents with the SEC), but also highly effective to raise money and to keep the mechanisms of the stock market at bay - Amazon for example is famous for not paying dividends, no matter the pressure.
    - mullingitover 5y ago
      > Most CEOs are effectively as easy to replace as the cleaning stuff wiping their desk is. I feel like if this were true, boards of directors would be paying them the same as regular employees and not 320x as much, as is the current standard[1]. [1] https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-compensation-surged-14-in-2019-to-21-3-million-ceos-now-earn-320-times-as-much-as-a-typical-worker/ https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-compensation-surged-14-i...
      - mschuster91 5y ago
        CEO pay is a racket anyway, especially given that even colossal fuck-ups usually end up in a nice golden parachute.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
    - mhb 5y ago
      Competent Elites https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/CKpByWmsZ8WmpHtYa/competent-elites https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/CKpByWmsZ8WmpHtYa/competent-...
- pchristensen 5y ago
  Name a second one who did it in front of 10M people.
- kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
  It's a federal crime and grounds for stripping ones security clearance... unless you're a VIP who can get special treatment.
- adolph 5y ago
  Possibly related: Marc Andreessen is referred to as "the world's most successful individual who has not done LSD with both Grimes and Azealia Banks." https://niccolo.substack.com/p/the-dubrovnik-interviews-marc-andreessen https://niccolo.substack.com/p/the-dubrovnik-interviews-marc...
lambdaba 5y ago
Could you link to some of those "on acid" tweets?
- nolok 5y ago
  Well there is the one where he decided to call a guy saving kids lives a pedophile just because he said they weren't going to use the submarine Musk had his team build, back during thailand's crisis. That's not a very sane reaction to have.
wp381640 5y ago
Most execs are PR/investor relations manufactured corporate clones. They all have their own flaws, Elon just doesn’t give a shit about wearing his on his sleeve

tolbish 5y ago

Is that a joke? He named his son X Æ A-12