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The difference in media coverage and the reaction that follows when folks in the West (say, Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates) dream up ambitious future, an

The difference in media coverage and the reaction that follows when folks in the West (say, Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates) dream up ambitious future, and when folks in the East do so, is quite telling.

bambax 4y ago
Untrue. Most of Musk's "dreams" are ridiculed everywhere, and rightly so. Dystopia is dystopia, no matter where it comes from. (Although, to make matters worse, MBS is a criminal and a despot.)
- jjeaff 4y ago
  Ya, I think ideas coming from someone who calls himself "his royal highness" deserve some extra scrutiny. It's so strange seeing these futuristic dystopian ideas coming from a ruling monarch that was born into the position. It's like they are preserving the worst of humanity's past and preparing to carry it directly into a dystopian future.
concordDance 4y ago
Have you been living under a rock? The sheer amount of vitriol Elon gets rivals that Trump gets!
- rbanffy 4y ago
  We must measure the amount of unearned or undeserved vitriol. Trump’s is 110% deserved. Musk is at about 83%.
  - concordDance 4y ago
    The amount at least is very disproportionate. He seems to get a more vitriol than Xi Jinping, the Koch brothers, Rupert Murdoch, Andrew Wilson, Bill Gates, the Sacklers, Hillary Clinton and Larry Elison combined. Despite far lesser crimes (by the standards of those who dump on Musk).
  - eastbound 4y ago
    Only because he didn’t declare himself candidate. Actually the vitriol seems very much oriented, in French newspapers, it’s unnatural. He doesn’t do a tenth of Jeff Bezos’ evils and journalists are not talking about Jeff Bezos’ actions on national TV.
    - rbanffy 4y ago
      He's much louder than Bezos. The upside (EV's going mainstream, reusable rockets, full-globe high-speed low-latency internet connectivity) of Musk also seems bigger.
Bayart 4y ago
You think nobody takes the piss out of them ? Bezos was the joke of the day he launched a dick rocket.
coffeeblack 4y ago
What do you think it tells you?
simonh 4y ago
The difference between those people is not east and west. It's that the first three built their own companies using their own skills and experience in the face of an awful lot of people saying No, while the last one was born a prince to a Trillion-air royal family and grew up surrounded by people terrified to say anything but Yes. But that's really beside the point. The real issue is this project is a monumental waste of resources. Innovating on advanced technology takes a huge amount of investment, but it doesn't follow that a huge amount of investment, by itself, will result in useful advanced technology.
- idlehand 4y ago
  It's probably not a very efficient use of capital, but it's better than the Saudis spending it on their military.

bambax 4y ago

Untrue. Most of Musk's "dreams" are ridiculed everywhere, and rightly so. Dystopia is dystopia, no matter where it comes from. (Although, to make matters worse, MBS is a criminal and a despot.)

jjeaff 4y ago
Ya, I think ideas coming from someone who calls himself "his royal highness" deserve some extra scrutiny. It's so strange seeing these futuristic dystopian ideas coming from a ruling monarch that was born into the position. It's like they are preserving the worst of humanity's past and preparing to carry it directly into a dystopian future.

concordDance 4y ago

Have you been living under a rock? The sheer amount of vitriol Elon gets rivals that Trump gets!

rbanffy 4y ago
We must measure the amount of unearned or undeserved vitriol. Trump’s is 110% deserved. Musk is at about 83%.
- concordDance 4y ago
  The amount at least is very disproportionate. He seems to get a more vitriol than Xi Jinping, the Koch brothers, Rupert Murdoch, Andrew Wilson, Bill Gates, the Sacklers, Hillary Clinton and Larry Elison combined. Despite far lesser crimes (by the standards of those who dump on Musk).
- eastbound 4y ago
  Only because he didn’t declare himself candidate. Actually the vitriol seems very much oriented, in French newspapers, it’s unnatural. He doesn’t do a tenth of Jeff Bezos’ evils and journalists are not talking about Jeff Bezos’ actions on national TV.
  - rbanffy 4y ago
    He's much louder than Bezos. The upside (EV's going mainstream, reusable rockets, full-globe high-speed low-latency internet connectivity) of Musk also seems bigger.

Bayart 4y ago

You think nobody takes the piss out of them ? Bezos was the joke of the day he launched a dick rocket.

coffeeblack 4y ago

What do you think it tells you?

simonh 4y ago

The difference between those people is not east and west. It's that the first three built their own companies using their own skills and experience in the face of an awful lot of people saying No, while the last one was born a prince to a Trillion-air royal family and grew up surrounded by people terrified to say anything but Yes. But that's really beside the point. The real issue is this project is a monumental waste of resources. Innovating on advanced technology takes a huge amount of investment, but it doesn't follow that a huge amount of investment, by itself, will result in useful advanced technology.

idlehand 4y ago
It's probably not a very efficient use of capital, but it's better than the Saudis spending it on their military.