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> Elon Musk is kind of obnoxious. He lies (or "exaggerates"). But what Tesla has done is insane. It's happened so quickly, and that's leaving aside the rockets.
by jfk13 5y ago
> Elon Musk is kind of obnoxious. He lies (or "exaggerates"). But what Tesla has done is insane. It's happened so quickly, and that's leaving aside the rockets. The hard evidence that we can build new things, that we can progress and build a future that's better than the present is so important. If it takes a flawed man to show us that, I'll take it.
Or in other words, the end justifies the means?
Not all of us share that philosphy.
- slibhb 5y agoNowhere in my post did I make that argument. If Elon used slave labor to run his factories, I wouldn't defend it. However, "being a troll, exaggerating, and sometimes lying" are not mortal sins.
- Loughla 5y agoAgain, not sins to you. Your values dictate that being a troll, exaggerating, and lying are okay. To others, those things are in fact enough to say that Elon Musk is a shithead. It's as if there are gradients of human behavior, and not everyone is always a cartoony villain or Dudley Do-right all the time.
- slibhb 5y agoThey are sins to me, they aren't mortal sins. Read slowly and take your time please.
- Jcowell 5y agoReading it slower or faster wouldn’t fix this since colloquial English would allow it to be read either way.
- slibhb 5y agoBullshit. I wrote: > However, "being a troll, exaggerating, and sometimes lying" are not mortal sins. Mortal sins are serious sins, venial sins are less serious sins. "Colloquial" doesn't mean you get to delete words you find inconvenient or don't understand.
- rowanG077 5y agoSome ends justify some means. He lies to some investors. Not good. Because of the this the chance we get into serious trouble due to climate change is significantly reduced. We also gain the technology to go to Mars economically. So Yeah I would say this end justifies lying to some investors.
- unmole 5y ago> Because of the this the chance we get into serious trouble due to climate change is significantly reduced. In which alternate reality?
- rowanG077 5y agoYou can say what you want about Tesla, but they single handedly moved electric vehicles to the mainstream.
- unmole 5y ago1. Electric vehicles are not mainstream. 2. Tesla accounts for ~14% of EVs sold. 3. Passenger vehicles account for less than 7% of total CO2 emissions globally.
- ashtonkem 5y ago4. Tesla was able to make EVs profitably thanks to government policy designed to incentivize exactly that outcome. If Tesla didn’t exist, some other company would’ve filled that role.
- rowanG077 5y ago7% is HUGE. Like country level huge. Besides Teslas impact is not only the EV they have sold. They made EVs popular and desirable. Electric vehicles are definitely mainstream. In my country(Netherlands) 20% of all vehicles sold are electric. In Norway it's more then 50%. You really can't get more mainstream then that.
- 5y ago