6 ms·

It would be a remarkable bit of luck that Elon stumbled into both Tesla and SpaceX, took on the role of lead rocket designer at spaceX, built both companies int

It would be a remarkable bit of luck that Elon stumbled into both Tesla and SpaceX, took on the role of lead rocket designer at spaceX, built both companies into unlikely leaders in their industry with powerful people trying to crush them all the way, while being a total idiot. A similar but more charitable theory is that Elon is very good at leading a company to build actual hardware that has to solve hard physics problems. At twitter the primary challenge is managing people, and he is autistic and has no idea how to do this. He has no idea how normal people experience or use twitter, no idea how his tweets are felt by people, no idea how his employees feel about him etc. all of these are things that don't matter when building a rocket or a car, while understanding people and politics is the ONLY thing that matters at twitter.

gw98 4y ago
This is true. The answer is actually that he's a liar / marketer. Colonise Mars? It's never going to happen. But you'll win defence and commercial contracts on the way as a side effect. Saving the future with electric cars? It's never going to happen. But you'll sell a lot of luxury cars as a side effect. Saving free speech with Twitter? It's never going to happen. But you'll pacify the SEC dogs snarling at your door after you fucked up. His pitch is changing the world. His reality is not really improving it measurably.
- kristianc 4y ago
  > This is true. The answer is actually that he's a liar / marketer. People who have a hard time understanding and empathising with other people tend to make extraordinarily bad marketers, actually.
  - gw98 4y ago
    He's learning that right now.
joshstrange 4y ago
> It would be a remarkable bit of luck that Elon stumbled into both Tesla and SpaceX, took on the role of lead rocket designer at spaceX If Elon can understand even half of how "his" rockets work I'd eat my hat. I'm not talking about in layman's terms, I'm talking about the actual science that goes into it. Same deal with car design. I'll give Elon props for having a vision and pushing it forward but let's not say ridiculous things like "lead rocket designer at spaceX". That's like thinking Tim Cook could write a line of Swift if his life depended on it or that Zuck knows more than a surface level of how FB's tech works. I don't exactly begrudge them for that (I won't get into profit sharing, or the lack there of at most companies) but let's not pretend that Elon is himself coming up with revolutionary ideas. Putting his money behind this is laudable, at some level, but he didn't invent these things any more than Steve Jobs "invented" the iPhone. We here on HN should know better than most how "worthless" an idea is on it's own. It's about execution. And Elon gets props for his execution (in this case hiring people who did the real work) but he shouldn't get all the credit for the work of the actual engineers.
- theonething 4y ago
  > If Elon can understand even half of how "his" rockets work I'd eat my hat. Bon appétit! > 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 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...
crmd 4y ago
Elon Musk is a lead rocket designer like Donald Trump is a real estate magnate.
- panick21_ 4y ago
  Who was lead engineer on Falcon 1?

gw98 4y ago

This is true. The answer is actually that he's a liar / marketer. Colonise Mars? It's never going to happen. But you'll win defence and commercial contracts on the way as a side effect. Saving the future with electric cars? It's never going to happen. But you'll sell a lot of luxury cars as a side effect. Saving free speech with Twitter? It's never going to happen. But you'll pacify the SEC dogs snarling at your door after you fucked up. His pitch is changing the world. His reality is not really improving it measurably.

kristianc 4y ago
> This is true. The answer is actually that he's a liar / marketer. People who have a hard time understanding and empathising with other people tend to make extraordinarily bad marketers, actually.
- gw98 4y ago
  He's learning that right now.

joshstrange 4y ago

> It would be a remarkable bit of luck that Elon stumbled into both Tesla and SpaceX, took on the role of lead rocket designer at spaceX If Elon can understand even half of how "his" rockets work I'd eat my hat. I'm not talking about in layman's terms, I'm talking about the actual science that goes into it. Same deal with car design. I'll give Elon props for having a vision and pushing it forward but let's not say ridiculous things like "lead rocket designer at spaceX". That's like thinking Tim Cook could write a line of Swift if his life depended on it or that Zuck knows more than a surface level of how FB's tech works. I don't exactly begrudge them for that (I won't get into profit sharing, or the lack there of at most companies) but let's not pretend that Elon is himself coming up with revolutionary ideas. Putting his money behind this is laudable, at some level, but he didn't invent these things any more than Steve Jobs "invented" the iPhone. We here on HN should know better than most how "worthless" an idea is on it's own. It's about execution. And Elon gets props for his execution (in this case hiring people who did the real work) but he shouldn't get all the credit for the work of the actual engineers.

theonething 4y ago
> If Elon can understand even half of how "his" rockets work I'd eat my hat. Bon appétit! > 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 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...

crmd 4y ago

Elon Musk is a lead rocket designer like Donald Trump is a real estate magnate.

panick21_ 4y ago
Who was lead engineer on Falcon 1?