6 ms·

Let's be honest – Musk doesn't know what the hell he is doing here.

lijogdfljk 4y ago
I'm starting to question how much he has ever. Has something changed with him? Or has he always been like this? If it's always been this rash, hasty and questionable then i can only imagine the real heroes are the people around him who managed to refine what he says and wants into tangible, achievable and coherent goals. Regardless of whether or not you agree with his actions these days, it does at least seem a significant departure from how the public perceived his actions in the past. Over the past few years his actions have steadily grown more.. loud, at the very least. .. It's.. interesting.
- martythemaniak 4y ago
  I think what's changed is that Twitter is 1) an established thing, rather than something Musk built up and 2) not really tech. Tesla, SpaceX, Boring Co have ambitious objectives with clear right/wrong answers. You put something in orbit or don't. Your car goes 500km with 70kWh of energy or it doesn't etc. You can inspire smart engineers to work hard to meet ambitious goals that require creative thinking. Twitter has none of that, it is more like a club. Having the loudest speakers or brightest lights isn't going to make your club the best club. There is a certain baseline of technical competence required, yes, but mostly its about attracting the right crowd (being extra nice to some people, kicking others out) and making sure everybody has a good time. Musk might have actually succeeded with this using his previous person, but his new culture warrior schtick isn't gonna work.
- aorloff 4y ago
  He completely underestimated the difference between a corporate takeover of an established company and growing a startup. In addition, he appears to be getting terrible advice, which is not uncommon for powerful people who attract sycophants.
- danans 4y ago
  > I'm starting to question how much he has ever. Has something changed with him? Or has he always been like this? His growing group of admirers started treating his like a messiah, and he fully embraced that role, along with the behaviors that it engenders upon someone. He's not special in that way. It's a position a lot of ambitious people would like to be in.
- querulous 4y ago
  he had very capable partners/lieutenants at spacex and tesla (shotwell and straubel, respectively). elon's undeniably great at cheerleading and fundraising but it's unclear how much credit he deserves for the technical accomplishments of spacex and tesla. at paypal he was run out almost immediately upon becoming ceo and at twitter he's surrounded himself with non entities like jason calcanis and alex spiro
  - dragonwriter 4y ago
    > at paypal he was run out almost immediately upon becoming ceo Technically, he was never CEO “at Paypal”. He was forced out as CEO of X.com the second time just before it took the name of the main product (which it had acquired with the company that developed it, with Elon returning as CEO with the acquisition) and became PayPal.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- prawn 4y ago
  Not sure if this will be shareable/readable, but I thought this piece was interesting: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/elon-musk-and-the-narcissism-radicalization-maelstrom/sharetoken/ZiK353PYOIUV https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/elon-musk-and-the-narci...
imperialdrive 4y ago
Honest question - Maybe he will very quickly? I have no skin in the game, but the occasional Twitter links sent my way in group chats still load just fine, pretty fast actually, and the related page content appears to be less 'spammy'. Seems like a little progress if anything.
- mikeyouse 4y ago
  There have never been more spam bots in the replies and the site and apps are getting stuck in weird cache loops for the first time that I can remember. It's obviously a very robustly built platform but to me, it seems like it's coasting and hoping that nothing too big breaks.
- runevault 4y ago
  I can say that, at least for me, the timeline and lists load far slower than they used to, to the point I see spinners for each individual item in the trending topics list for a second or more before they finally load in. I don't remember the last time that happened to me pre-buyout.
memish 4y ago
Just because you don't know what he's doing doesn't mean he doesn't know what he's doing. That's a common error in logic. You'll also have to ignore that he's built companies that land rockets back on Earth and produce millions of EVs. He's objectively demonstrated ability.
- pschuegr 4y ago
  Another common error in logic is assuming that building rockets and building communities require the same kinds of skills.
  - namkt 4y ago
    He also built the company, not the rockets. In a different thread here on HN, some of the SpaceX guys were commenting how he actually had very little understanding of rockets, understandably. But the credit goes to him regardless.
qwertox 4y ago
The worst thing is that he's getting angry over it and walking into the open arms of the Republicans instead of staying neutral.
crftr 4y ago
It's a reminder that even some of our brightest minds are susceptible to the Dunning-Kruger Effect. It continues to look as if Musk believes a Twitter turn-around is largely a technical project--rather than tending to a community of users.
NaturalPhallacy 4y ago
Let's be honest - baseless speculation because HN clearly shares all the same biases of the rest of big tech: https://i.imgur.com/Si183zE.jpg https://i.imgur.com/Si183zE.jpg
- p0pcult 4y ago
  A bias towards the party that isn't actively trying to dismantle Amercian democracy? Ooh, scary.
  - NaturalPhallacy 4y ago
    The party that says you're "dismantling American democracy" if you don't vote the way they want you to is the ridiculous one, in my opinion. Especially ironic, given their name + authoritarian attitude.

I'm starting to question how much he has ever. Has something changed with him? Or has he always been like this? If it's always been this rash, hasty and questionable then i can only imagine the real heroes are the people around him who managed to refine what he says and wants into tangible, achievable and coherent goals. Regardless of whether or not you agree with his actions these days, it does at least seem a significant departure from how the public perceived his actions in the past. Over the past few years his actions have steadily grown more.. loud, at the very least. .. It's.. interesting.

martythemaniak 4y ago
I think what's changed is that Twitter is 1) an established thing, rather than something Musk built up and 2) not really tech. Tesla, SpaceX, Boring Co have ambitious objectives with clear right/wrong answers. You put something in orbit or don't. Your car goes 500km with 70kWh of energy or it doesn't etc. You can inspire smart engineers to work hard to meet ambitious goals that require creative thinking. Twitter has none of that, it is more like a club. Having the loudest speakers or brightest lights isn't going to make your club the best club. There is a certain baseline of technical competence required, yes, but mostly its about attracting the right crowd (being extra nice to some people, kicking others out) and making sure everybody has a good time. Musk might have actually succeeded with this using his previous person, but his new culture warrior schtick isn't gonna work.
aorloff 4y ago
He completely underestimated the difference between a corporate takeover of an established company and growing a startup. In addition, he appears to be getting terrible advice, which is not uncommon for powerful people who attract sycophants.
danans 4y ago
> I'm starting to question how much he has ever. Has something changed with him? Or has he always been like this? His growing group of admirers started treating his like a messiah, and he fully embraced that role, along with the behaviors that it engenders upon someone. He's not special in that way. It's a position a lot of ambitious people would like to be in.
querulous 4y ago
he had very capable partners/lieutenants at spacex and tesla (shotwell and straubel, respectively). elon's undeniably great at cheerleading and fundraising but it's unclear how much credit he deserves for the technical accomplishments of spacex and tesla. at paypal he was run out almost immediately upon becoming ceo and at twitter he's surrounded himself with non entities like jason calcanis and alex spiro
- dragonwriter 4y ago
  > at paypal he was run out almost immediately upon becoming ceo Technically, he was never CEO “at Paypal”. He was forced out as CEO of X.com the second time just before it took the name of the main product (which it had acquired with the company that developed it, with Elon returning as CEO with the acquisition) and became PayPal.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
prawn 4y ago
Not sure if this will be shareable/readable, but I thought this piece was interesting: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/elon-musk-and-the-narcissism-radicalization-maelstrom/sharetoken/ZiK353PYOIUV https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/elon-musk-and-the-narci...

imperialdrive 4y ago

Honest question - Maybe he will very quickly? I have no skin in the game, but the occasional Twitter links sent my way in group chats still load just fine, pretty fast actually, and the related page content appears to be less 'spammy'. Seems like a little progress if anything.

mikeyouse 4y ago
There have never been more spam bots in the replies and the site and apps are getting stuck in weird cache loops for the first time that I can remember. It's obviously a very robustly built platform but to me, it seems like it's coasting and hoping that nothing too big breaks.
runevault 4y ago
I can say that, at least for me, the timeline and lists load far slower than they used to, to the point I see spinners for each individual item in the trending topics list for a second or more before they finally load in. I don't remember the last time that happened to me pre-buyout.

memish 4y ago

Just because you don't know what he's doing doesn't mean he doesn't know what he's doing. That's a common error in logic. You'll also have to ignore that he's built companies that land rockets back on Earth and produce millions of EVs. He's objectively demonstrated ability.

pschuegr 4y ago
Another common error in logic is assuming that building rockets and building communities require the same kinds of skills.
- namkt 4y ago
  He also built the company, not the rockets. In a different thread here on HN, some of the SpaceX guys were commenting how he actually had very little understanding of rockets, understandably. But the credit goes to him regardless.

qwertox 4y ago

The worst thing is that he's getting angry over it and walking into the open arms of the Republicans instead of staying neutral.

crftr 4y ago

It's a reminder that even some of our brightest minds are susceptible to the Dunning-Kruger Effect. It continues to look as if Musk believes a Twitter turn-around is largely a technical project--rather than tending to a community of users.

NaturalPhallacy 4y ago

Let's be honest - baseless speculation because HN clearly shares all the same biases of the rest of big tech: https://i.imgur.com/Si183zE.jpg https://i.imgur.com/Si183zE.jpg

p0pcult 4y ago
A bias towards the party that isn't actively trying to dismantle Amercian democracy? Ooh, scary.
- NaturalPhallacy 4y ago
  The party that says you're "dismantling American democracy" if you don't vote the way they want you to is the ridiculous one, in my opinion. Especially ironic, given their name + authoritarian attitude.