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That’s the thing though, you don’t have to seek attention or power. That’s not an Asperger trait. That’s the thing which really makes it inexcusable. You can a

That’s the thing though, you don’t have to seek attention or power. That’s not an Asperger trait. That’s the thing which really makes it inexcusable. You can also be rich and relatively unknown, most rich people are. He chooses to be super public.

zozbot234 4y ago
He uses that attention and focus in ways that benefit the world at large. Like helping build more ethical AI's, or getting people to Mars. There's nothing wrong with that IMHO.
- martyvis 4y ago
  My concern is he losing his focus. I know I get distracted from the work I am supposed to be doing (sometimes my paid job but even more so at home). I really should be finishing some home renovation work but there is that mail box I need to finish, and the 3D printed lid for a mouse trap, and the synthesizer I am thinking of building, oh wait there is an nice branch from the plum tree we trimmed that I could turn into a flute on the lathe... Elon really needs to focus on the energy and transportation thing that he really is good at.
- foxhill 4y ago
  sorry to pick you up on this, and i’m unable to phrase this in such a way as to not sound inflammatory (again, apologies): * which ethical AI would that be? * how many people has elon sent to mars now? elon has marketed an image to people, one of a tony stark-like figure, that might do or say the wrong thing at the time, but who truly wants to make everything better. the reality is that, whilst perhaps not a conman (although i find my opinion of him leaning to that end more each day), he’s definitely just another profit-driven business man, with little to no regard of the people around him. and probably a sociopath. bill gates has done (a lot) more for humanity. and i’m not particularly fond of him, either.
  - hammyhavoc 4y ago
    Can you elaborate on Musk being a conman? I don't follow the news these days.
    - Cthulhu_ 4y ago
      Well there was that incident where he committed securities fraud by saying he's taking Tesla private at a certain amount.
- yehBut0 4y ago
  There is something wrong instigating further extreme resource exhaustion to serve boyish Star Trek pipe dreams. There’s absolutely no guarantee he’s on the right track. Humans expanding away from Earth is as likely as us being able to rewrite the speed of light. There’s no rewriting the fundamentals of reality. One really bad day and Mars colony is wiped out. How much damage we do here before getting there is a real concern.
  - g_sch 4y ago
    It never ceases to amaze me how many people consider some problems here on earth to be hopelessly intractable, but simultaneously consider a livable human colony on Mars to be not only achievable, but also not subject to the same supposedly intractable problems of today.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - MockObject 4y ago
      A Mars colony is merely an engineering problem. The intractable problems on Earth are stuck because millions of dollars don't want them solved.
      - g_sch 4y ago
        What is it about Mars that would cause those same problems to collapse into mere engineering problems over there?
        MockObject 4y ago
        There really isn't a comparison between engineers figuring out how to build a sustainable biosphere on Mars, and the problems that we're presumably discussing on Earth, like climate change and pollution, which are political problems inasmuch as billion dollar business models are benefiting from them, and actively fighting your efforts to interfere.
wongarsu 4y ago
I don't think being rich is his end goal. His goal is to do great things, to advance humanity (in very specific ways), maybe having a great legacy. Being rich helps him achieve these goals, but so does building hype and being present in the media. Being rich and unknown isn't a great strategy to achieve his goals.
- lapcat 4y ago
  > Being rich helps him achieve these goals, but so does building hype and being present in the media. Does it? I know literally nothing about the personality of the Wright brothers. Or Henry Ford. Or Thomas Edison. Their legacy is their inventions. Hype and media coverage are temporary at best. And unfortunately, Musk's hype and media presence tends to show him at his worst. I'm not sure whether Musk fans realize how many non-fans actually despise the guy. If anything, he's wrecking his legacy. Shut up and build stuff.
  - phil21 4y ago
    I mean, Thomas Edison may as well be a 200 year old Elon Musk. Practically all he did was be a hype man. Ford was pretty similar from my reading. Both men had early career success and worked harder than most at achieving their goals. But their ongoing successes were very much political and public perception. Ford especially was incredibly politically active and noisy about it. I imagine Elon's legacy (should he be remembered) will not be his twitter shitposting, but electric cars and rocketry.
    - lapcat 4y ago
      > But their ongoing successes were very much political and public perception. Ford especially was incredibly politically active and noisy about it. Nobody remembers Ford's political activism. Apparently he ran for US Senate once and lost. Is there any reason to think that Ford's political activism had anything to do with the success of the Ford Motor Company? Ford hyping cars is fine and expected. Ford hyping politics doesn't really seem to add anything. In fact, it appears that there were some antisemitic writings associated with Ford, there was a lawsuit and a consumer boycott, and he was forced to apologize. A common fallacy is to assume that everything a successful person does in life contributes to their success. OJ Simpson was one of the greatest football running backs ever, and he was also a murderer. You might say, "if he wasn't a violent person, then he wouldn't have been a great running back", but somehow Barry Sanders managed not to murder anyone.
weego 4y ago
As with all outputs from any neurodiversity or personality disorder, it's a reason not an excuse

zozbot234 4y ago

He uses that attention and focus in ways that benefit the world at large. Like helping build more ethical AI's, or getting people to Mars. There's nothing wrong with that IMHO.

martyvis 4y ago
My concern is he losing his focus. I know I get distracted from the work I am supposed to be doing (sometimes my paid job but even more so at home). I really should be finishing some home renovation work but there is that mail box I need to finish, and the 3D printed lid for a mouse trap, and the synthesizer I am thinking of building, oh wait there is an nice branch from the plum tree we trimmed that I could turn into a flute on the lathe... Elon really needs to focus on the energy and transportation thing that he really is good at.
foxhill 4y ago
sorry to pick you up on this, and i’m unable to phrase this in such a way as to not sound inflammatory (again, apologies): * which ethical AI would that be? * how many people has elon sent to mars now? elon has marketed an image to people, one of a tony stark-like figure, that might do or say the wrong thing at the time, but who truly wants to make everything better. the reality is that, whilst perhaps not a conman (although i find my opinion of him leaning to that end more each day), he’s definitely just another profit-driven business man, with little to no regard of the people around him. and probably a sociopath. bill gates has done (a lot) more for humanity. and i’m not particularly fond of him, either.
- hammyhavoc 4y ago
  Can you elaborate on Musk being a conman? I don't follow the news these days.
  - Cthulhu_ 4y ago
    Well there was that incident where he committed securities fraud by saying he's taking Tesla private at a certain amount.
yehBut0 4y ago
There is something wrong instigating further extreme resource exhaustion to serve boyish Star Trek pipe dreams. There’s absolutely no guarantee he’s on the right track. Humans expanding away from Earth is as likely as us being able to rewrite the speed of light. There’s no rewriting the fundamentals of reality. One really bad day and Mars colony is wiped out. How much damage we do here before getting there is a real concern.
- g_sch 4y ago
  It never ceases to amaze me how many people consider some problems here on earth to be hopelessly intractable, but simultaneously consider a livable human colony on Mars to be not only achievable, but also not subject to the same supposedly intractable problems of today.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - MockObject 4y ago
    A Mars colony is merely an engineering problem. The intractable problems on Earth are stuck because millions of dollars don't want them solved.
    - g_sch 4y ago
      What is it about Mars that would cause those same problems to collapse into mere engineering problems over there?
      - MockObject 4y ago
        There really isn't a comparison between engineers figuring out how to build a sustainable biosphere on Mars, and the problems that we're presumably discussing on Earth, like climate change and pollution, which are political problems inasmuch as billion dollar business models are benefiting from them, and actively fighting your efforts to interfere.

wongarsu 4y ago

I don't think being rich is his end goal. His goal is to do great things, to advance humanity (in very specific ways), maybe having a great legacy. Being rich helps him achieve these goals, but so does building hype and being present in the media. Being rich and unknown isn't a great strategy to achieve his goals.

lapcat 4y ago
> Being rich helps him achieve these goals, but so does building hype and being present in the media. Does it? I know literally nothing about the personality of the Wright brothers. Or Henry Ford. Or Thomas Edison. Their legacy is their inventions. Hype and media coverage are temporary at best. And unfortunately, Musk's hype and media presence tends to show him at his worst. I'm not sure whether Musk fans realize how many non-fans actually despise the guy. If anything, he's wrecking his legacy. Shut up and build stuff.
- phil21 4y ago
  I mean, Thomas Edison may as well be a 200 year old Elon Musk. Practically all he did was be a hype man. Ford was pretty similar from my reading. Both men had early career success and worked harder than most at achieving their goals. But their ongoing successes were very much political and public perception. Ford especially was incredibly politically active and noisy about it. I imagine Elon's legacy (should he be remembered) will not be his twitter shitposting, but electric cars and rocketry.
  - lapcat 4y ago
    > But their ongoing successes were very much political and public perception. Ford especially was incredibly politically active and noisy about it. Nobody remembers Ford's political activism. Apparently he ran for US Senate once and lost. Is there any reason to think that Ford's political activism had anything to do with the success of the Ford Motor Company? Ford hyping cars is fine and expected. Ford hyping politics doesn't really seem to add anything. In fact, it appears that there were some antisemitic writings associated with Ford, there was a lawsuit and a consumer boycott, and he was forced to apologize. A common fallacy is to assume that everything a successful person does in life contributes to their success. OJ Simpson was one of the greatest football running backs ever, and he was also a murderer. You might say, "if he wasn't a violent person, then he wouldn't have been a great running back", but somehow Barry Sanders managed not to murder anyone.

weego 4y ago

As with all outputs from any neurodiversity or personality disorder, it's a reason not an excuse