5 ms·

An owner is not a always the CEO. If anything he will make sure that the CEO that will actually focus on twitter. Also, If they didn't feel bad about creating

An owner is not a always the CEO. If anything he will make sure that the CEO that will actually focus on twitter. Also, If they didn't feel bad about creating value for Saudi royalty shareholders they probably won't feel bad about doing random stuff for the lulz

JaimeThompson 5y ago
Should they feel bad for creating value for Saudi royalty?
- onychomys 5y ago
  Yes, in general you should feel bad if your job makes it easier for murderous despots to murder and be despotic.
  - JaimeThompson 5y ago
    It didn't seem to bother Musk when they invested in Tesla. https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/saudi-arabia-invests-2b-in-tesla-report https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/saudi-arabia-invests-2b-...
    - onychomys 5y ago
      He should feel bad too. He doesn't, because even the cool billionaires are somewhat sociopathic, but he should.
  - robbedpeter 5y ago
    Living in America entails your daily expenses and significant portions of your tax money go to China and other dystopian dictatorships around the world. It's implausible to live ethically - like the meme of personal recycling, the problem is corporations and regulatory capture. Citizens don't make a dent.
    - onychomys 5y ago
      True, but just because I'm typing this on a machine made in Chinese sweatshops doesn't mean that I have to spend my days actively making their government more money. We can solve problems a little bit at a time even if bigger problems exist elsewhere, after all.
      - robbedpeter 5y ago
        Right, but at some point it's like trying to keep back the tide with a pushbroom. If you're Elon, maybe you can get a big enough broom, or build a sea wall, but a million individuals with brooms are just going to be wasting their energy. The effort has to go towards corporate regulations and culture change. Ending slavery within the US took a civil war and we're still decades away (at least) from fixing the legislative echoes and civil rights issues. Influencing China to end their own slavery and civil rights abuses isn't feasible at an individual level, except through correcting the allowed business behaviors and relationships by imposing laws and changing the culture. America is incentivizing human rights abuses under its current system. We have an obligation to correct our behavior at the nation state level. Voting with wallets is no better than brooms on a beach. We need to vote for representatives that will fix the issue through international trade regulation.
- SXX 5y ago
  Yeah certainly why should they? After all Saudi's regime only does mass executions on it's own territory and only rarely kill opposition inside it's own embassy.
  - JaimeThompson 5y ago
    Because it didn't bother Musk when they invested in Tesla, it's only now he calls them out.
notsureaboutpg 5y ago
[dead]
Laremere 5y ago
I wouldn't be surprised if he gave himself the CEO title, but actually had a president take on almost all normal CEO duties. Eg, as far as I can tell with SpaceX from interviews and such, Gwynne Shotwell really runs SpaceX. Elon jumps between whatever he thinks needs his attention most at the moment, rooting out problems. As for what he'll do with Twitter.... I don't think anyone really knows how it will turn out. He's proven to be pretty self obsessed (canceling critic's Tesla orders), so maybe he'll use his power to knock down stuff he personally doesn't like (his private jet tracker). Or maybe his talk about free speech is real and he has good ideas on how to actually make social media a benefit to society. I think in his companies' software has been his weakest area (still thinking cameras are enough to do full self driving, which I think out of any project has most failed to materialize his promises?), so maybe he won't understand how to mold a fully software based company. However, maybe he'll just want Twitter to work the way he thinks Twitter should work as a user, knock down a bunch of unnecessary BS (eg the insistent push towards algorithm timeline) and force his hand on features people really want (eg, the ability to edit Tweets.)

JaimeThompson 5y ago

Should they feel bad for creating value for Saudi royalty?

onychomys 5y ago
Yes, in general you should feel bad if your job makes it easier for murderous despots to murder and be despotic.
- JaimeThompson 5y ago
  It didn't seem to bother Musk when they invested in Tesla. https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/saudi-arabia-invests-2b-in-tesla-report https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/saudi-arabia-invests-2b-...
  - onychomys 5y ago
    He should feel bad too. He doesn't, because even the cool billionaires are somewhat sociopathic, but he should.
- robbedpeter 5y ago
  Living in America entails your daily expenses and significant portions of your tax money go to China and other dystopian dictatorships around the world. It's implausible to live ethically - like the meme of personal recycling, the problem is corporations and regulatory capture. Citizens don't make a dent.
  - onychomys 5y ago
    True, but just because I'm typing this on a machine made in Chinese sweatshops doesn't mean that I have to spend my days actively making their government more money. We can solve problems a little bit at a time even if bigger problems exist elsewhere, after all.
    - robbedpeter 5y ago
      Right, but at some point it's like trying to keep back the tide with a pushbroom. If you're Elon, maybe you can get a big enough broom, or build a sea wall, but a million individuals with brooms are just going to be wasting their energy. The effort has to go towards corporate regulations and culture change. Ending slavery within the US took a civil war and we're still decades away (at least) from fixing the legislative echoes and civil rights issues. Influencing China to end their own slavery and civil rights abuses isn't feasible at an individual level, except through correcting the allowed business behaviors and relationships by imposing laws and changing the culture. America is incentivizing human rights abuses under its current system. We have an obligation to correct our behavior at the nation state level. Voting with wallets is no better than brooms on a beach. We need to vote for representatives that will fix the issue through international trade regulation.
SXX 5y ago
Yeah certainly why should they? After all Saudi's regime only does mass executions on it's own territory and only rarely kill opposition inside it's own embassy.
- JaimeThompson 5y ago
  Because it didn't bother Musk when they invested in Tesla, it's only now he calls them out.

notsureaboutpg 5y ago

[dead]

Laremere 5y ago

I wouldn't be surprised if he gave himself the CEO title, but actually had a president take on almost all normal CEO duties. Eg, as far as I can tell with SpaceX from interviews and such, Gwynne Shotwell really runs SpaceX. Elon jumps between whatever he thinks needs his attention most at the moment, rooting out problems. As for what he'll do with Twitter.... I don't think anyone really knows how it will turn out. He's proven to be pretty self obsessed (canceling critic's Tesla orders), so maybe he'll use his power to knock down stuff he personally doesn't like (his private jet tracker). Or maybe his talk about free speech is real and he has good ideas on how to actually make social media a benefit to society. I think in his companies' software has been his weakest area (still thinking cameras are enough to do full self driving, which I think out of any project has most failed to materialize his promises?), so maybe he won't understand how to mold a fully software based company. However, maybe he'll just want Twitter to work the way he thinks Twitter should work as a user, knock down a bunch of unnecessary BS (eg the insistent push towards algorithm timeline) and force his hand on features people really want (eg, the ability to edit Tweets.)