7 ms·

Well yeah, Bezos has been on a Musk-envy mid-life crisis the last few years.

Ericson2314 5y ago
I should make clear that I don't think Musk is good or anything, just that Bezos was jealous of the constant press and fan club. Once narcissist infects spreads it to another, if anything.
- WalterBright 5y ago
  > I should make clear that I don't think Musk is good or anything Why are you concerned others might think you think Musk is good? I think Musk is good.
  - JasonFruit 5y ago
    I don't care if Musk is good; I think he does worthwhile, cool stuff. His moral standing is no more interesting to me than yours.
  - Ericson2314 5y ago
    I'm not concerned what other people think I think in this case, I just want to remind other non-worshipers that they are not alone.
WalterBright 5y ago
Envy has driven much of mankind's progress. Evolution provides us with these emotions because they work.
- snowwindwaves 5y ago
  what else have envy and greed driven? What would the world look like without those inate human emotions? It might be a simpler place but potentially the worst of history could have been avoided.
  - WalterBright 5y ago
    > What would the world look like without those inate human emotions? We'd be living nasty, brutish and short lives in caves.
- GDC7 5y ago
  That's right. For the competitive people out there, you must know that when you are suppressing envy and being happy for other people's success you might be losing the competition against those other people. They might have the fastest car or the biggest house and that might sting, but you are showing the middle finger to Nature and/or God which is a much bigger achievement.
wonderwonder 5y ago
yeah, I came out of that viewing with a reduced opinion of Bezos and it may not be fair to judge him based on just a moment. Musk seems to approach space as a serious thing with deep existential consequences to failing. This is not to excuse Musk who has a litany of personality flaws but it just seems that one is a serious person and the other is not.
- CapitalistCartr 5y ago
  Space IS musk's business; Bezos is playing. His business is Amazon, and always will be.
  - ulfw 5y ago
    and Tesla is just a toy or what. Come on.
    - ASalazarMX 5y ago
      Elon has said from the start that his end game is Mars colonization. All of his other enterprises are means to achieve that. He sounded like a loon back then, but not now.
      - Ericson2314 5y ago
        Still feel like Venus is the more serious option Mars is easier to "practice on", and get some toy colonies going, but once scale starts to matter, Venus is better. At some point, you rather have too much energy and good self-sufficiency at geological scales, than too little energy and bad self-sufficiency. Of course this stuff has been debated endlessly, but I do not recall reading the "Mars is the stepping stone, Venus is the real deal" needle thread. If Musk was serious, I think he would admit this, rather than hype-beasting the stepping stone and the real deal.
        wonderwonder 5y ago
        Musk is ~50. His goal is to get a colony on mars. Mars is probably a lot easier to start with. Venus is a target probably 50 years after all of us have died. Its going to be the goal of someone that has likely not even been born yet. He is serious that's why he is aiming for an achievable goal. Venus is not an achievable goal with our technology level.
khazhoux 5y ago
I don't understand this narrative. Does Musk now own the private pursuit of space travel? Was he the one who kickstarted X Prize or SpaceshipOne 20 years ago? Somehow Musk is a hero for SpaceX but Bezos is a wannabe for Blue Origin? Makes no sense.
- mehphp 5y ago
  My take is that both Musk and Bezos are megalomaniacs. However, Musk at least _appears_ to genuinely care about space travel and it's implications for the future of humanity. For Bezos, it's just a dick measuring contest (and apparently influences his phallic rocket ship designs).
- PeterisP 5y ago
  One aspect is that SpaceX actually succeeded in getting to space (orbit is what counts for the purposes of doing something useful in space or going any further in space, suborbital hops for tourists might technically check the box but is a dead-end) and Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin did not, despite starting earlier, making them at least in part actual "wannabe's" who have the desire to do what SpaceX does, but are not able to (at least for now).
- dev_tty01 5y ago
  Bezos and Blue Origin have been trying longer than Musk and Spacex but BO still hasn't even gotten to orbit. Of course they are wannabe's. What else would you call them? They wannabe as successful as SpaceX but they are nowhere close on any useful metric. SpaceX doesn't own space, of course not. But BO isn't even a serious player yet despite 21 years of effort. SpaceX got to orbit on the fourth flight attempt, after 7 years of effort. Despite Bezos' protests to the contrary, it isn't even a contest. Plenty to not like about Musk, but SpaceX is enormously successful.
  - snowwindwaves 5y ago
    Wannabe's is pretty harsh for a group of people that started first and achieved their goals second. Wannabe's never do the thing. They don't seriously try to do it. I have no reason to defend bezos but people made a serious effort there and they would not be wannabes even if they failed I'm a wannabe for launching weather balloons and model rockets with my kids from the comfort and security of my well paying public sector job

I should make clear that I don't think Musk is good or anything, just that Bezos was jealous of the constant press and fan club. Once narcissist infects spreads it to another, if anything.

WalterBright 5y ago
> I should make clear that I don't think Musk is good or anything Why are you concerned others might think you think Musk is good? I think Musk is good.
- JasonFruit 5y ago
  I don't care if Musk is good; I think he does worthwhile, cool stuff. His moral standing is no more interesting to me than yours.
- Ericson2314 5y ago
  I'm not concerned what other people think I think in this case, I just want to remind other non-worshipers that they are not alone.

WalterBright 5y ago

Envy has driven much of mankind's progress. Evolution provides us with these emotions because they work.

snowwindwaves 5y ago
what else have envy and greed driven? What would the world look like without those inate human emotions? It might be a simpler place but potentially the worst of history could have been avoided.
- WalterBright 5y ago
  > What would the world look like without those inate human emotions? We'd be living nasty, brutish and short lives in caves.
GDC7 5y ago
That's right. For the competitive people out there, you must know that when you are suppressing envy and being happy for other people's success you might be losing the competition against those other people. They might have the fastest car or the biggest house and that might sting, but you are showing the middle finger to Nature and/or God which is a much bigger achievement.

wonderwonder 5y ago

yeah, I came out of that viewing with a reduced opinion of Bezos and it may not be fair to judge him based on just a moment. Musk seems to approach space as a serious thing with deep existential consequences to failing. This is not to excuse Musk who has a litany of personality flaws but it just seems that one is a serious person and the other is not.

CapitalistCartr 5y ago
Space IS musk's business; Bezos is playing. His business is Amazon, and always will be.
- ulfw 5y ago
  and Tesla is just a toy or what. Come on.
  - ASalazarMX 5y ago
    Elon has said from the start that his end game is Mars colonization. All of his other enterprises are means to achieve that. He sounded like a loon back then, but not now.
    - Ericson2314 5y ago
      Still feel like Venus is the more serious option Mars is easier to "practice on", and get some toy colonies going, but once scale starts to matter, Venus is better. At some point, you rather have too much energy and good self-sufficiency at geological scales, than too little energy and bad self-sufficiency. Of course this stuff has been debated endlessly, but I do not recall reading the "Mars is the stepping stone, Venus is the real deal" needle thread. If Musk was serious, I think he would admit this, rather than hype-beasting the stepping stone and the real deal.
      - wonderwonder 5y ago
        Musk is ~50. His goal is to get a colony on mars. Mars is probably a lot easier to start with. Venus is a target probably 50 years after all of us have died. Its going to be the goal of someone that has likely not even been born yet. He is serious that's why he is aiming for an achievable goal. Venus is not an achievable goal with our technology level.

khazhoux 5y ago

I don't understand this narrative. Does Musk now own the private pursuit of space travel? Was he the one who kickstarted X Prize or SpaceshipOne 20 years ago? Somehow Musk is a hero for SpaceX but Bezos is a wannabe for Blue Origin? Makes no sense.

mehphp 5y ago
My take is that both Musk and Bezos are megalomaniacs. However, Musk at least _appears_ to genuinely care about space travel and it's implications for the future of humanity. For Bezos, it's just a dick measuring contest (and apparently influences his phallic rocket ship designs).
PeterisP 5y ago
One aspect is that SpaceX actually succeeded in getting to space (orbit is what counts for the purposes of doing something useful in space or going any further in space, suborbital hops for tourists might technically check the box but is a dead-end) and Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin did not, despite starting earlier, making them at least in part actual "wannabe's" who have the desire to do what SpaceX does, but are not able to (at least for now).
dev_tty01 5y ago
Bezos and Blue Origin have been trying longer than Musk and Spacex but BO still hasn't even gotten to orbit. Of course they are wannabe's. What else would you call them? They wannabe as successful as SpaceX but they are nowhere close on any useful metric. SpaceX doesn't own space, of course not. But BO isn't even a serious player yet despite 21 years of effort. SpaceX got to orbit on the fourth flight attempt, after 7 years of effort. Despite Bezos' protests to the contrary, it isn't even a contest. Plenty to not like about Musk, but SpaceX is enormously successful.
- snowwindwaves 5y ago
  Wannabe's is pretty harsh for a group of people that started first and achieved their goals second. Wannabe's never do the thing. They don't seriously try to do it. I have no reason to defend bezos but people made a serious effort there and they would not be wannabes even if they failed I'm a wannabe for launching weather balloons and model rockets with my kids from the comfort and security of my well paying public sector job