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Well, it doesn't have to be either or. It's possible to think he's built impressive companies while also thinking he's an unsavory character. As far as I can t

by mehphp 4y ago

Well, it doesn't have to be either or. It's possible to think he's built impressive companies while also thinking he's an unsavory character. As far as I can tell, the people who "smear" Musk don't do so because of his companies, it's because they oppose his ideas and how much influence he has to implement them. Whatever you think of Musk, it's a little scary that someone can just buy the megaphone that is Twitter and disseminate whatever information you wish.

robertlagrant 4y ago
I have somewhat similar feelings, but when I think about it, it's a megaphone some people choose to listen to. You can not use Twitter or not follow him on Twitter or block him on Twitter. I choose the former.
- TremendousJudge 4y ago
  You really need to live under a metaphorical rock in order to not find out what Musk is up to. He's constantly talked about on this forum, and all other internet forums related to technology. Just watching regular news will get you some info on what he's currently doing. His megaphone is too loud even for dedicated people who wear earplugs.
  - robertlagrant 4y ago
    That's not relevant to buying Twitter, though. "Other people freely choosing to talk about him" is not a megaphone. And also, no. Many people I know are barely aware of him. Tesla is more famous than Elon Musk, who is more famous than SpaceX.
    - TremendousJudge 4y ago
      In my opinion, they are "freely choosing to talk about him" the same way people freely choose to buy a product after being exposed to advertisments for it.
      - robertlagrant 4y ago
        Well, the opposite. They're talking about him because that makes them money.
apendleton 4y ago
This, 100%. He has become very successful by showing up as an outsider to a couple of different industries and successfully challenging entrenched conventional wisdom, in ways other people had failed to do previously. It sort of seems like this has led him to (mistakenly, in my view) decide that all conventional wisdom in all domains is wrong, and that he is uniquely qualified to challenge it, which seems to have then led to him saying lots of demonstrably false things and generally looking like an idiot. But it doesn't seem like there's any fundamental tension in assessing that in some domains he has done good/useful work and in other domains he's acting like an idiot. It needn't be the case that he's either an all-around genius or an all-around fraud/charlatan/megalomaniac/whatever.
- mensetmanusman 4y ago
  It’s reasonable to think that all conventional wisdom is wrong, because the likelihood that something complex is optimized is close to zero. Now, by how much you can change the delta on value creation with some specialized knowledge is part of the risk/unknown that Elon seems to understand.

by mehphp 4y ago

robertlagrant 4y ago

I have somewhat similar feelings, but when I think about it, it's a megaphone some people choose to listen to. You can not use Twitter or not follow him on Twitter or block him on Twitter. I choose the former.

TremendousJudge 4y ago
You really need to live under a metaphorical rock in order to not find out what Musk is up to. He's constantly talked about on this forum, and all other internet forums related to technology. Just watching regular news will get you some info on what he's currently doing. His megaphone is too loud even for dedicated people who wear earplugs.
- robertlagrant 4y ago
  That's not relevant to buying Twitter, though. "Other people freely choosing to talk about him" is not a megaphone. And also, no. Many people I know are barely aware of him. Tesla is more famous than Elon Musk, who is more famous than SpaceX.
  - TremendousJudge 4y ago
    In my opinion, they are "freely choosing to talk about him" the same way people freely choose to buy a product after being exposed to advertisments for it.
    - robertlagrant 4y ago
      Well, the opposite. They're talking about him because that makes them money.

apendleton 4y ago

This, 100%. He has become very successful by showing up as an outsider to a couple of different industries and successfully challenging entrenched conventional wisdom, in ways other people had failed to do previously. It sort of seems like this has led him to (mistakenly, in my view) decide that all conventional wisdom in all domains is wrong, and that he is uniquely qualified to challenge it, which seems to have then led to him saying lots of demonstrably false things and generally looking like an idiot. But it doesn't seem like there's any fundamental tension in assessing that in some domains he has done good/useful work and in other domains he's acting like an idiot. It needn't be the case that he's either an all-around genius or an all-around fraud/charlatan/megalomaniac/whatever.

mensetmanusman 4y ago
It’s reasonable to think that all conventional wisdom is wrong, because the likelihood that something complex is optimized is close to zero. Now, by how much you can change the delta on value creation with some specialized knowledge is part of the risk/unknown that Elon seems to understand.