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From the guy who managed to launch Starlink and currently runs the most successful/effective space launch provider, it's so bizarre seeing him fumble Twitter so

by Sakos 4y ago

From the guy who managed to launch Starlink and currently runs the most successful/effective space launch provider, it's so bizarre seeing him fumble Twitter so badly. Has something changed about him or has he always been this way and the space industry was just less conducive to drawing out his batshit crazy?

dbt00 4y ago
He's always been bad at dealing with people. Twitter isn't a technology company, it's a people company.
TheOtherHobbes 4y ago
It's a fundamentally different kind of company. You can bang the desk and yell at engineers when you're building rockets, because ultimately customers only care about the tech. And there will always be engineers who don't care about abuse as long as they get to Build Cool Stuff. With something like Twitter the tech is more or less invisible. Users care about trust and relationships, and so do many of the engineers. Musk isn't just utterly clueless about those, he's hostile to the culture that values them. This is not going to end well. Odds are excellent it's going to turn into another of those legendary loss-making acquisitions like AOL and MySpace.
pg314 4y ago
>From the guy who managed to launch Starlink and currently runs the most successful/effective space launch provider, He is not running SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell is. He’s just the part-time CEO, very adept at self-promoting.
- Sakos 4y ago
  Shotwell must be a fucking wizard to be running SpaceX so well despite Elon then.
kibwen 4y ago
Why are we giving Musk credit for these things? We don't give Jobs credit for the original technical success of Apple; that goes to Woz. Somewhere behind the scenes at SpaceX there's one or more people analogous to Woz who get all the actual work done. Musk's entire contribution is just to shitpost and posture for the techbros. He's not a technologist, he's not a programmer, he's not an engineer, he's not a physicist, he's not a rocket scientist, he's just a blowhard with a cult following.
- theonething 4y ago
  > He's not a technologist, he's not a programmer, he's not an engineer, he's not a physicist, he's not a rocket scientist, he's just a blowhard with a cult following. These people and quite a few other experts in this field disagree with you. > When I met Elon it was apparent to me that although he had a scientific mind and he understood scientific principles, he did not know anything about rockets. Nothing. That was in 2001. By 2007 he knew everything about rockets - he really knew everything, in detail. You have to put some serious study in to know as much about rockets as he knows now. This doesn't come just from hanging out with people. Robert Zubrin - aerospace engineer > Elon is brilliant. He’s involved in just about everything. He understands everything. If he asks you a question, you learn very quickly not to go give him a gut reaction. He wants answers that get down to the fundamental laws of physics. One thing he understands really well is the physics of the rockets. He understands that like nobody else. The stuff I have seen him do in his head is crazy. He can get in discussions about flying a satellite and whether we can make the right orbit and deliver Dragon at the same time and solve all these equations in real time. It’s amazing to watch the amount of knowledge he has accumulated over the years. Kevin Watson - Head of Avionics, Launcher Elon is definitely an engineer. He is deeply involved with technical decisions at spacex and Tesla. He doesn’t write code or do CAD today, but he is perfectly capable of doing so. - John Carmack https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/k1e0ta/evidence_that_musk_is_the_chief_engineer_of_spacex/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/k1e0ta/eviden...
  - RavingGoat 4y ago
    How much did he pay them to get them to say those things? He's clearly overmatched currently.
    - theonething 4y ago
      > How much did he pay them to get them to say those things? If you have evidence to support your insinuation, I'll be glad to see it.
    - Melting_Harps 4y ago
input_sh 4y ago
He was always insane, it just wasn't as public. I'd back that up with this 2018 Wired piece: https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-tesla-life-inside-gigafactory https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-tesla-life-inside-giga... Ignoring everything else, if a manager at your company has coined a term like "Elon’s rage firings", I don't need to know anything else about the work environment. I'd say Tesla/SpaceX achieve cool things not because of him, but despite of him.
dncornholio 4y ago
"Hyperloop", "Boring company", "Self driving cars by the end of this year", "Tesla truck beat rail", "Sells flamethrowers". I'll rest my case.
Melting_Harps 4y ago
> runs the most successful/effective space launch provider, Gwynne Shotwell is COO, and in my view is the best in the business, and she handles the day to day SpaceX not Elon.

by Sakos 4y ago

dbt00 4y ago

He's always been bad at dealing with people. Twitter isn't a technology company, it's a people company.

TheOtherHobbes 4y ago

It's a fundamentally different kind of company. You can bang the desk and yell at engineers when you're building rockets, because ultimately customers only care about the tech. And there will always be engineers who don't care about abuse as long as they get to Build Cool Stuff. With something like Twitter the tech is more or less invisible. Users care about trust and relationships, and so do many of the engineers. Musk isn't just utterly clueless about those, he's hostile to the culture that values them. This is not going to end well. Odds are excellent it's going to turn into another of those legendary loss-making acquisitions like AOL and MySpace.

pg314 4y ago

>From the guy who managed to launch Starlink and currently runs the most successful/effective space launch provider, He is not running SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell is. He’s just the part-time CEO, very adept at self-promoting.

Sakos 4y ago
Shotwell must be a fucking wizard to be running SpaceX so well despite Elon then.

kibwen 4y ago

Why are we giving Musk credit for these things? We don't give Jobs credit for the original technical success of Apple; that goes to Woz. Somewhere behind the scenes at SpaceX there's one or more people analogous to Woz who get all the actual work done. Musk's entire contribution is just to shitpost and posture for the techbros. He's not a technologist, he's not a programmer, he's not an engineer, he's not a physicist, he's not a rocket scientist, he's just a blowhard with a cult following.

theonething 4y ago
> He's not a technologist, he's not a programmer, he's not an engineer, he's not a physicist, he's not a rocket scientist, he's just a blowhard with a cult following. These people and quite a few other experts in this field disagree with you. > When I met Elon it was apparent to me that although he had a scientific mind and he understood scientific principles, he did not know anything about rockets. Nothing. That was in 2001. By 2007 he knew everything about rockets - he really knew everything, in detail. You have to put some serious study in to know as much about rockets as he knows now. This doesn't come just from hanging out with people. Robert Zubrin - aerospace engineer > Elon is brilliant. He’s involved in just about everything. He understands everything. If he asks you a question, you learn very quickly not to go give him a gut reaction. He wants answers that get down to the fundamental laws of physics. One thing he understands really well is the physics of the rockets. He understands that like nobody else. The stuff I have seen him do in his head is crazy. He can get in discussions about flying a satellite and whether we can make the right orbit and deliver Dragon at the same time and solve all these equations in real time. It’s amazing to watch the amount of knowledge he has accumulated over the years. Kevin Watson - Head of Avionics, Launcher Elon is definitely an engineer. He is deeply involved with technical decisions at spacex and Tesla. He doesn’t write code or do CAD today, but he is perfectly capable of doing so. - John Carmack https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/k1e0ta/evidence_that_musk_is_the_chief_engineer_of_spacex/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/k1e0ta/eviden...
- RavingGoat 4y ago
  How much did he pay them to get them to say those things? He's clearly overmatched currently.
  - theonething 4y ago
    > How much did he pay them to get them to say those things? If you have evidence to support your insinuation, I'll be glad to see it.
  - Melting_Harps 4y ago

input_sh 4y ago

He was always insane, it just wasn't as public. I'd back that up with this 2018 Wired piece: https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-tesla-life-inside-gigafactory https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-tesla-life-inside-giga... Ignoring everything else, if a manager at your company has coined a term like "Elon’s rage firings", I don't need to know anything else about the work environment. I'd say Tesla/SpaceX achieve cool things not because of him, but despite of him.

dncornholio 4y ago

"Hyperloop", "Boring company", "Self driving cars by the end of this year", "Tesla truck beat rail", "Sells flamethrowers". I'll rest my case.

Melting_Harps 4y ago

> runs the most successful/effective space launch provider, Gwynne Shotwell is COO, and in my view is the best in the business, and she handles the day to day SpaceX not Elon.