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I’m consistently surprised when people don’t evaluate Elon musks companies (sans Twitter which IMO was a bipolar mania induced fiasco) in the only lens that mat

I’m consistently surprised when people don’t evaluate Elon musks companies (sans Twitter which IMO was a bipolar mania induced fiasco) in the only lens that matters - the creation of the end to end infrastructure for building a persistent colony on mars. The boring companies only purpose is to provide the tools for living on a planet with no magnetosphere. The rest of this is just how to secure funding and apply R&D in preparation. It’s not like he’s not been transparent about this. Sadly he’ll be too busy conducting code reviews on check mark images to succeed in his vision.

popilewiz 4y ago
You're consistently surprised that people don't evaluate Musk's companies based on his unrealistic pipedream of a Martian colony instead of their real worth (or damage) to the public? That is surprising, indeed.
- midoridensha 4y ago
  No, he's surprised that people don't look at Musk's actions with those companies based on his unrealistic pipedream. There is nothing illogical about assuming someone may be somewhat crazy and then looking at their actions stemming from their crazy motivation.
giraffe_lady 4y ago
Saying that's "the only lens that matters" is a specific value judgement. Other people can value other things like the viability of that vision, competence to achieve it, impact of the means used along the way, financial return of the intermediate steps, entertainment value of incidental shitposting, etc etc. Other people aren't required to use your values to evaluate whether they consider a venture successful and you aren't required to use theirs. FWIW I don't know why that would be a surprise to you. Further musk doesn't strike me as particularly honest in his self-representation. Saying things isn't quite the same as transparency; it can nearly be in cases where the speaker is especially trustworthy but I don't see that to be the case here.
- fnordpiglet 4y ago
  When you’re judging his motivations I posit your value system matters not at all. His motivations are his motivations regardless of your values.
  - giraffe_lady 4y ago
    Yes and his motivations per se are not available to us to scrutinize. His explanation of his motivations are one piece of information we have about them among many others. Choosing to dismiss all the others in favor of that single piece of information is a choice you can make, yes. But it's not the only choice, not the most "pure" or neutral or correct. You could weigh the man's word so highly, value it such that, you personally need no other information. But then we're back where we started.
gamblor956 4y ago
We already have the technology to make tunnels. Boring Co's tunneling machines are all machines they purchased from other companies and mildly customized. News flash: all boring machines are customized on site to the specific needs of each project. Boring Co wasn't even the first company to modify their boring machine to use electric power. They were just the only ones to brag about doing something that many others have already done. Boring Co hasn't even managed to learn how to use the machines it has. Its tunnels are still the roughest in the industry; they're considered so rough that a number of industry-standard processes and add-on equipment (such as retaining-wall rigs) won't even work in Boring Co's tunnels because they're so poorly bored. And Musk's BS about wanting to go to Mars is just that. Marketing BS that makes nerds think that he has a plan and a vision and it's really just smoke-and-mirrors to get you to ignore all the details that show he doesn't actually give a rat's ass or know what he's doing.
- ckdarby 4y ago
  What was used in the four Vegas tunnels for the retaining walls?
- fnordpiglet 4y ago
  For someone that doesn’t know what he’s doing he’s successfully built a pretty successful rocket company that’s developing the heavy lift capabilities for going to mars, an EV company - important on a planet without plentiful hydrocarbons, planetary communication systems, and a bunch of other companies that are components for that vision. It’s hard to point to where the BS lies - with every rocket launch he gets one step closer to that BS I guess? I’m no Elon fan boy, I think he’s frankly dangerous, but I don’t doubt for a second how serious he is and how methodically he is executing his idea of colonizing mars. Whether he will be successful or not, it’s hard to dispute he’s advanced that cause more than any one person has. I’d note the success of boring company has nothing to do with the motivation for creating the company.
- diebeforei485 4y ago
  > Boring Co's tunneling machines are all machines they purchased from other companies and mildly customized. What company did they purchase Prufrock from?
JohnFen 4y ago
That's not the only thing that matters. And it is probably a thing that doesn't matter at all to the customers of those companies.
- fnordpiglet 4y ago
  Sorry maybe my phrasing wasn’t clear. Matters to him and why he makes the companies he does.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]

popilewiz 4y ago

You're consistently surprised that people don't evaluate Musk's companies based on his unrealistic pipedream of a Martian colony instead of their real worth (or damage) to the public? That is surprising, indeed.

midoridensha 4y ago
No, he's surprised that people don't look at Musk's actions with those companies based on his unrealistic pipedream. There is nothing illogical about assuming someone may be somewhat crazy and then looking at their actions stemming from their crazy motivation.

giraffe_lady 4y ago

Saying that's "the only lens that matters" is a specific value judgement. Other people can value other things like the viability of that vision, competence to achieve it, impact of the means used along the way, financial return of the intermediate steps, entertainment value of incidental shitposting, etc etc. Other people aren't required to use your values to evaluate whether they consider a venture successful and you aren't required to use theirs. FWIW I don't know why that would be a surprise to you. Further musk doesn't strike me as particularly honest in his self-representation. Saying things isn't quite the same as transparency; it can nearly be in cases where the speaker is especially trustworthy but I don't see that to be the case here.

fnordpiglet 4y ago
When you’re judging his motivations I posit your value system matters not at all. His motivations are his motivations regardless of your values.
- giraffe_lady 4y ago
  Yes and his motivations per se are not available to us to scrutinize. His explanation of his motivations are one piece of information we have about them among many others. Choosing to dismiss all the others in favor of that single piece of information is a choice you can make, yes. But it's not the only choice, not the most "pure" or neutral or correct. You could weigh the man's word so highly, value it such that, you personally need no other information. But then we're back where we started.

gamblor956 4y ago

We already have the technology to make tunnels. Boring Co's tunneling machines are all machines they purchased from other companies and mildly customized. News flash: all boring machines are customized on site to the specific needs of each project. Boring Co wasn't even the first company to modify their boring machine to use electric power. They were just the only ones to brag about doing something that many others have already done. Boring Co hasn't even managed to learn how to use the machines it has. Its tunnels are still the roughest in the industry; they're considered so rough that a number of industry-standard processes and add-on equipment (such as retaining-wall rigs) won't even work in Boring Co's tunnels because they're so poorly bored. And Musk's BS about wanting to go to Mars is just that. Marketing BS that makes nerds think that he has a plan and a vision and it's really just smoke-and-mirrors to get you to ignore all the details that show he doesn't actually give a rat's ass or know what he's doing.

ckdarby 4y ago
What was used in the four Vegas tunnels for the retaining walls?
fnordpiglet 4y ago
For someone that doesn’t know what he’s doing he’s successfully built a pretty successful rocket company that’s developing the heavy lift capabilities for going to mars, an EV company - important on a planet without plentiful hydrocarbons, planetary communication systems, and a bunch of other companies that are components for that vision. It’s hard to point to where the BS lies - with every rocket launch he gets one step closer to that BS I guess? I’m no Elon fan boy, I think he’s frankly dangerous, but I don’t doubt for a second how serious he is and how methodically he is executing his idea of colonizing mars. Whether he will be successful or not, it’s hard to dispute he’s advanced that cause more than any one person has. I’d note the success of boring company has nothing to do with the motivation for creating the company.
diebeforei485 4y ago
> Boring Co's tunneling machines are all machines they purchased from other companies and mildly customized. What company did they purchase Prufrock from?

JohnFen 4y ago

That's not the only thing that matters. And it is probably a thing that doesn't matter at all to the customers of those companies.

fnordpiglet 4y ago
Sorry maybe my phrasing wasn’t clear. Matters to him and why he makes the companies he does.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]