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After seeing Elon mixing up all async services that happen in backend with Android client making as many requests, I wonder if I thought this guy is smart becau

by kumarm 4y ago

After seeing Elon mixing up all async services that happen in backend with Android client making as many requests, I wonder if I thought this guy is smart because I know nothing about building cars or launching space rockets. Edit: "guy is smart" probably should be "guy is technically competent". I am sure Elon is smart, I think he is being Phony while acting technically competent in every area.

tuyguntn 4y ago
he doesn't need to be smart, if you are building something yourself, then you should be smart about that stuff, but if you are managing people to build, then it is enough if you can manage the execution well (including hiring, funding and everything else)
- UncleMeat 4y ago
  Of course. A CEO can just be an excellent manager and be successful. But Elon is taking big action based on his two-week understanding of technical infrastructure within Twitter. If you are going to decide "wait, the architecture is all wrong" after a brief glance, you better also have technical chops.
- indolering 4y ago
  Being a good manager doesn't give you license to be an asshole, at least not to this raging degree. He fired half of Twitters employees and is trashing their work with technically incorrect hot-takes that he posts in public. Then he fires anyone who dares to correct his bullshit? That's someone who has been rich for WAY too long.
phphphphp 4y ago
The obligatory Gell-Mann Amnesia reference: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton#GellMannAmnesiaEffect https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton#GellMannAmn...
voramok 4y ago
I still believe that his insistence on only using computer vision for Tesla’s self driving was profoundly wrong. I got my ivy-league graduate degree in a related field right around the time when he probably was making the decision (2015) and it was obvious to everyone around me that we are not even close to having the kind of generic, reliable CV you would need for a car. Obviously, in grant proposals and papers we painted a much rosier picture, but on the inside everyone knew it’s just exaggerated, best-case scenarios that have little bearing on reality.
- superchroma 4y ago
  Considering I have been in situations with zero optical visibility, I am frankly baffled he thought that removing sensors including ultrasonics which are cheap as chips, was a good idea
  - indolering 4y ago
    It makes sense if you are someone who sold cars with a $10K "autopilot" add-on claiming that they would eventually be capable of "full self driving" for a decade only to realize that it's not feasible from a technological standpoint (at least not before most of those cars arrive at a junkyard [1]) AND the global supply chain suddenly shits the bed - jacking up the price of parts (especially electronics). At that point, you can either (A) stop selling models that you actually make a profit from and risk your top spot on Forbe's billionaires list or (B) claim that "full self driving" really meant "driver assistance" this whole time [2] and cut whatever hardware isn't absolutely necessary to meet your lowered standard. Elon chose option B - I suspect through some mix of self-delusion about the capabilities of automated statistics and knowing that he can continue to push the deadline for "full self driving" back another decade and pivot after his competitors have pushed the cost of radar/LIDAR down far enough. [1]: https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna12040753 https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna12040753 [2]: https://www.insidehook.com/article/vehicles/controversy-tesla-autopilot-explained https://www.insidehook.com/article/vehicles/controversy-tesl...
- indolering 4y ago
  Also in a related field (cognitive and neural linguistics) and I 100% agree. Elon read too much science fiction and doesn't understand the full stack. The results from automated statistics (I hate calling it machine learning) is amazing - but it amounts to really good pattern matching. Which is why Tesla Autopilot struggles with left turns and has been stuck at SAE level two after a decade of work. Hell, Tesla Inc failed to automate their factories much beyond what other automakers already accomplished and that is for single-purpose robots in fixed operating environments. Yet Elon is busy selling shareholders on humanoid Tesla Bots that will be capable of running to the grocery store and getting items off the shelf ... someday. People with a background in the hard sciences just don't do well when grappling with the soft sciences .
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kaba0 4y ago
I don’t know, throwing a hissy-fit whenever something doesn’t work out as he intended (pedo-guy, everyday twitter posts that are later altered/removed, etc), coming up with “a tunnel, but with cars” that is a fire hazard and has the capacity of horse-pulled metros from the 19th century, having only a single contribution to teslas in the form of a.. door handle (did you honestly think he knows anything about cars and rockets?), and having a tendency of overhyping and underdelivering with all of his stocks being grossly huge bubbles, meanwhile those companies have considerable government funding, and literally forcing himself into buying a company way overpriced that has never turner a profit and driving it into the ground —- I’ve never gotten the impression that he would be what I consider smart. He definitely wants to sell that image, but he is just a narcissist manchild.

by kumarm 4y ago

tuyguntn 4y ago

he doesn't need to be smart, if you are building something yourself, then you should be smart about that stuff, but if you are managing people to build, then it is enough if you can manage the execution well (including hiring, funding and everything else)

UncleMeat 4y ago
Of course. A CEO can just be an excellent manager and be successful. But Elon is taking big action based on his two-week understanding of technical infrastructure within Twitter. If you are going to decide "wait, the architecture is all wrong" after a brief glance, you better also have technical chops.
indolering 4y ago
Being a good manager doesn't give you license to be an asshole, at least not to this raging degree. He fired half of Twitters employees and is trashing their work with technically incorrect hot-takes that he posts in public. Then he fires anyone who dares to correct his bullshit? That's someone who has been rich for WAY too long.

phphphphp 4y ago

The obligatory Gell-Mann Amnesia reference: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton#GellMannAmnesiaEffect https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton#GellMannAmn...

voramok 4y ago

I still believe that his insistence on only using computer vision for Tesla’s self driving was profoundly wrong. I got my ivy-league graduate degree in a related field right around the time when he probably was making the decision (2015) and it was obvious to everyone around me that we are not even close to having the kind of generic, reliable CV you would need for a car. Obviously, in grant proposals and papers we painted a much rosier picture, but on the inside everyone knew it’s just exaggerated, best-case scenarios that have little bearing on reality.

superchroma 4y ago
Considering I have been in situations with zero optical visibility, I am frankly baffled he thought that removing sensors including ultrasonics which are cheap as chips, was a good idea
- indolering 4y ago
  It makes sense if you are someone who sold cars with a $10K "autopilot" add-on claiming that they would eventually be capable of "full self driving" for a decade only to realize that it's not feasible from a technological standpoint (at least not before most of those cars arrive at a junkyard [1]) AND the global supply chain suddenly shits the bed - jacking up the price of parts (especially electronics). At that point, you can either (A) stop selling models that you actually make a profit from and risk your top spot on Forbe's billionaires list or (B) claim that "full self driving" really meant "driver assistance" this whole time [2] and cut whatever hardware isn't absolutely necessary to meet your lowered standard. Elon chose option B - I suspect through some mix of self-delusion about the capabilities of automated statistics and knowing that he can continue to push the deadline for "full self driving" back another decade and pivot after his competitors have pushed the cost of radar/LIDAR down far enough. [1]: https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna12040753 https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna12040753 [2]: https://www.insidehook.com/article/vehicles/controversy-tesla-autopilot-explained https://www.insidehook.com/article/vehicles/controversy-tesl...
indolering 4y ago
Also in a related field (cognitive and neural linguistics) and I 100% agree. Elon read too much science fiction and doesn't understand the full stack. The results from automated statistics (I hate calling it machine learning) is amazing - but it amounts to really good pattern matching. Which is why Tesla Autopilot struggles with left turns and has been stuck at SAE level two after a decade of work. Hell, Tesla Inc failed to automate their factories much beyond what other automakers already accomplished and that is for single-purpose robots in fixed operating environments. Yet Elon is busy selling shareholders on humanoid Tesla Bots that will be capable of running to the grocery store and getting items off the shelf ... someday. People with a background in the hard sciences just don't do well when grappling with the soft sciences .

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kaba0 4y ago

I don’t know, throwing a hissy-fit whenever something doesn’t work out as he intended (pedo-guy, everyday twitter posts that are later altered/removed, etc), coming up with “a tunnel, but with cars” that is a fire hazard and has the capacity of horse-pulled metros from the 19th century, having only a single contribution to teslas in the form of a.. door handle (did you honestly think he knows anything about cars and rockets?), and having a tendency of overhyping and underdelivering with all of his stocks being grossly huge bubbles, meanwhile those companies have considerable government funding, and literally forcing himself into buying a company way overpriced that has never turner a profit and driving it into the ground —- I’ve never gotten the impression that he would be what I consider smart. He definitely wants to sell that image, but he is just a narcissist manchild.