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a) Twitter is not a terrible investment. Their fundamentals are strong i.e. growing revenue/profit and any competition has failed to materialise. And we have ye

a) Twitter is not a terrible investment. Their fundamentals are strong i.e. growing revenue/profit and any competition has failed to materialise. And we have yet to see the financial impact of their premium offerings e.g. Twitter Blue. b) We can be pessimistic about Musk's intention because of his past behaviour. At Tesla/SpaceX he has routinely suppressed any free speech and unionism. With Jack Sweeney he tried to buy his silence and he has on a number of occasions filed defamation lawsuits over things people have said. He is not altruistic but instead uses his power to shift the world to his benefit.

fleddr 5y ago
Even if you're right about the financials (which I doubt), then still it doesn't make any sense for Musk to grow his wealth via Twitter. Surely there's better ways to do that and one can wonder what the point of growing wealth is at this stage. The way I see it, his plays are "larger than life" plays. It's attaching his name and legacy to solutions to giant, seemingly unsolvable problems. Which so far seem to be problems that actually help humanity forward. Most of them anyway. If so, one can wonder if it matters whether it's driven by a sense of ego or truly and selflessly wanting to help humanity forward, or a bit of both? One type of criticism I fully agree with, or at least acknowledge. His methods. The goal may be altruistic, but his methods surely are not. He's ruthless in achieving these goals and has no mercy towards anybody standing in his way. It's hard to say whether the end justify the means, and it may not even be fully purposeful. He's autistic and had a difficult upbringing. Which doesn't have to be an excuse for everything, but it's something to take into account to paint a full picture. Which is a complex one, and not a simplistic Disney villain stereotype. I ultimately do agree that he shifts the world to benefit him, but perhaps not in the way you mean it. To benefit him to enable him to achieve the goals, no matter what.

fleddr 5y ago

Even if you're right about the financials (which I doubt), then still it doesn't make any sense for Musk to grow his wealth via Twitter. Surely there's better ways to do that and one can wonder what the point of growing wealth is at this stage. The way I see it, his plays are "larger than life" plays. It's attaching his name and legacy to solutions to giant, seemingly unsolvable problems. Which so far seem to be problems that actually help humanity forward. Most of them anyway. If so, one can wonder if it matters whether it's driven by a sense of ego or truly and selflessly wanting to help humanity forward, or a bit of both? One type of criticism I fully agree with, or at least acknowledge. His methods. The goal may be altruistic, but his methods surely are not. He's ruthless in achieving these goals and has no mercy towards anybody standing in his way. It's hard to say whether the end justify the means, and it may not even be fully purposeful. He's autistic and had a difficult upbringing. Which doesn't have to be an excuse for everything, but it's something to take into account to paint a full picture. Which is a complex one, and not a simplistic Disney villain stereotype. I ultimately do agree that he shifts the world to benefit him, but perhaps not in the way you mean it. To benefit him to enable him to achieve the goals, no matter what.