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I guess there are some true facts in this book but I am overall very skeptic of the picture the author is trying to paint or the conclusions he is drawing from
by iamcreasy 5y ago
I guess there are some true facts in this book but I am overall very skeptic of the picture the author is trying to paint or the conclusions he is drawing from those facts.
For example, the book says Elon wanted to be Apple's CEO post Tesla acquisition on a phone call. But Elon said it many times over the years that he rather spend his time on engineering and design over management.
Edit: Also Tim Cook mentioned in an interview that he never spoke with Elon Musk.
- ngokevin 5y agoWould what Elon says in public be enough to refute? He does say many things (https://elonmusk.today https://elonmusk.today)
- practice9 5y agoThe waterfall of misinformation: 1) Author fabricates "facts" for his book 2) Tabloids copy those "facts" and add filler to fabricate outrage 3) Twitter outrage specialists pick these "facts" up and retweet 4) Other people form their opinion based on 1), 2), 3)
- WA 5y agoYou don’t need to read fabricated facts if you simply can follow Elon on Twitter. If you put down the rose-tinted glasses, you see that he puts out a lot of dumb stuff and many lies.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- postmeta 5y agoif you think missing self-imposed deadlines is "many lies"
- practice9 5y agoI read his tweets. He posts memes and technical stuff (Tesla, SpaceX news). Most of his tweets about crypto are uninformed. You've got to cherry-pick to find actual lies
- bostonsre 5y agoYes, but he is also building a massive friggin reusable rocket and has built rocket boosters that land. He is emotional because he cares about changing the world for the better. He is a weird dude that has a weird sense of humor. Jumping down his throat for bad jokes seems like it actively hinders human kind's progress.
- ngokevin 5y agoIt's sensible to both not put anyone on a pedestal nor completely villify someone. He's polarizing, for sure. For me, he puts rockets in space, but also spreads a lot of misinformation or lies for self gain. I also don't think just because he's influential that his missteps should be labeled as eccentric versus selfish
- int_19h 5y agoHe isn't building anything, the actual engineers (whom he likely also routinely abuses) do.
- vardump 5y agoAny source for that? He sure seems to know very fine detail of almost anything related to the product. See for example: Everyday Astronaut recent Musk interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t705r8ICkRw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t705r8ICkRw Munro interview with Musk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAtLTLiqNwg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAtLTLiqNwg There are also other examples where Musk talks about things it's hard to imagine of him even being aware of if he's not building anything.
- int_19h 5y agoYou're right, I should be fair: Musk the engineer is building something, but alongside many other people, and his contribution there is not dominant. Musk the entrepreneur isn't building anything, though, and that's what the man mostly is.
- me_me_me 5y ago
- ngokevin 5y agoAn alternative, more direct route for spreading misinformation: 1) Be infamous 2) Have a Twitter account 3) Lie
- belltaco 5y ago>Other people form their opinion based on 1), 2), 3) Not just opinion but mental disease diagnoses.
- stcredzero 5y ago4) Other people form their opinion based on 1), 2), 3) Predictable. I've known for the better part of a year, that certain groupthink crowds would start to go after Elon Musk. The groupthink crowds eventually go after anyone who thinks for themselves and refuses to bend the knee. Instead of facts, they use circular references and guilt by association. Also: The phenomenon I just described is independent of point on the political spectrum.
- weeblewobble 5y agowhat role do you play in this?
- HWR_14 5y ago> Elon said it many times over the years that he rather spend his time on engineering and design over management. I'm always thrown when public figures who have an obvious incentive to lie are taken at their word in public statements. It happens all the time with politicians and CEOs. If you look at where Musk seems to add value, it's 100% in the management zone. Well, that and the other CEO duties of representing the company to the public.
- iamcreasy 5y agoIn recent interviews - Sandy Munro and Andrej Karpathy vouched his technical capability. But it appears you have made up your mind as it seems to be the simplest answer.
- shadowfox 5y agoNot that OP, but in keeping with his concern about incentives, it is not like Karpathy (at least) has no incentive in keeping Elon Musk's public image intact.
- threeseed 5y agoNot sure if you're an Engineer or not. But it's very common to have people involved in the engineering process e.g. Business Analysts, Project Managers, Testers who have a deep understanding of how things work. And by all accounts have excellent technical capability. That doesn't mean they have the ability to design or build the thing though.
- mdbug 5y agoSandy Munro, by now, is a Tesla shill who can't be taken seriously. Andrej works at Tesla and understandably says nothing bad about his boss. If I thought my boss was technically clueless and needed to say something nice about him, I would probably phrase it the same way: "He's obviously a pretty incredible person in many ways. I'm still trying to really map out his superpowers. He has incredibly well developed intuition in many aspects where he makes the right judgement calls in what I perceive to be a lack of information. Because he's not in detail about all the things but his judgement is extremely good. I still haven't fully understood how that happens."
- threeseed 5y ago> But Elon said it many times over the years that he rather spend his time on engineering and design over management But yet he is still the CEO of Tesla. Just because someone says they want to do something doesn't mean they will.
- matz1 5y agoThose are not contradiction. He is the CEO of tesla because he feel like he has to otherwise tesla will die.
- Pyramus 5y agoAfter everything Elon has said about funding secured, robotaxis, cave divers, journalists, whistleblowers, specs, FSD, Covid, ... I find it puzzling people take everything he says at face value. Yes, he is an incredibly smart and visionary guy, who also has a track record of saying things he doesn't mean.
- anonAndOn 5y agoHe's OCD. If he could find somebody else willing to consistently put in 100 hour weeks and drive the ship the way Elon wants, I think he'd let go of the reigns.
- threeseed 5y agoThere is no evidence that putting in long hours translates to increased productivity or success. But plenty of evidence that it has a lot of negative consequences.
- anonAndOn 5y agoElon's MO is that his supervision and continual input is vital to the success of his companies as they try to execute on his vision. His companies may only exist because of his sheer force of will and his willingness to sacrifice health, wealth and relationships to succeed.
- new_realist 5y agoExtremely busy CEOs speak to other busy CEOs through assistants; otherwise it’s weeks before they can find a common time slot. I doubt the person Cook hung up on was Elon himself.