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Ask HN: What Is going on with Elon?
I can't tell if I'm watching him meltdown in real-time or if there is a long arc here that is going provide any real-tangible benefits.
It's disheartening to watch someone who has built up some impressive companies pursuing physical engineering problems turn into, at least imho, someone aggrieved and using that to guide his decision making.
I'd love to hear some other peoples take - particularly something that can see this going in a positive direction.
- sidibe 4y agoI think it's a constant need for dopamine hit from his biggest fans' affirmations + mental health deteriorating. Not sure he's sleeping based on his tweet times
- boringg 4y agoThat's what I was thinking - its almost like he's gone from long term to immediate short term. Which resonates with that dopamine feed from Twitter taking control of his impulses. I also have a sneaking suspicion that dopamine feedback loop is more powerful for older people especially those who are isolated. You think it's fixable?
- sidibe 4y agoI don't know. Steve Jobs had some kind of issues in his first stint at Apple and made a spectacular comeback so it's possible but someone has to get through to him to take it easy
- boringg 4y agoFair and I don't have access to his thinking but was Steve Jobs so aggrieved with the world during that time? I always got the impression he had a positive worldview and a building mentality (granted thats public facing comments and his book does paint some challenging times). Elon seems to be veering off building/positive worldview in his public comments and more about aggrieved and picking fights.
- PaulHoule 4y agoI find the fan reactions to his tweets impossible to read. He's at about the right age for a midlife crisis which can cause somebody to act pretty bent even if otherwise their mental health is pretty good. He's also fading out of the news cycle. Sam Bankman-Fried is an "evil CEO" on an entirely different level than Musk. I think Musk is going to notice that he hasn't been on the cover of Bloomberg Businessweek for a few weeks and try to do something to get attention but he might find it hard. Those "Twitter Files" might have been exciting to subscribers to the Bari Weiss Substack but are boring to most people.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- gizmo 4y agoThis is just who Elon Musk is. Erratic, impulsive, and prone to lash out. He also sends rockets into space and lands them, so I get why people want to believe he's a nice guy. But he's not.
- boringg 4y agoAgree - I am under no allusions that he is a nice person. There does feel to be a tangible change in what he talks about and his presence in the world recently.
- logicalmonster 4y agoLet's start with examining OP's premise. What evidence is there of a meltdown other than him saying some stuff that is extremely contrary to the worldview of some people? Is it because he's posting a bit more than usual? Why not label that more akin to "persuasion technique" rather than calling it a meltdown? PS: I admire some things and detest some things about Musk, but probably different things than the Zeitgeist on HN.
- 082349872349872 4y ago> What evidence is there of a meltdown I don't typically follow Musk, but agreeing to buy a company for a price that was based on a sophomoric weed joke instead of listening to his accountants, and then attempting to welsh (sorry, Cymru!) instead of listening to his lawyers, finally to consummate the transaction just before the court would've ordered it? That's not exactly unmolten, and took place months ago.
- williamstein 4y agoThe price was a reference to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, not marijuana. (source: interviews with Musk himself)
- boringg 4y agoPoint taken though I'm not sure on alternatives to describe his erratic behavior. I don't think "persuasion technique" works - that sounds akin to spinning bullying and I don't believe that accurately represents whats going on. The reason I went with meltdown is that it does feel that there is a tangible change in his presence being more aggrieved than in the past.
- logicalmonster 4y ago> spinning bullying Who is he bullying? If you're talking about his Fauci comments, well, I'd have 2 responses. 1) We usually say that "punching down" is the wrong thing to do and a characteristic of bullying. And despite Musk being among the world's richest and most influential men, isn't it still reasonably debatable if he's been more powerful than Fauci? Musk just makes some products and does some weird humor online. Fauci had basically had many peoples' life/death, the global economy, the world health apparatus, the media, and peoples' livelihoods wrapped around his fingers. Who is punching down here? I'm not sure it's clearcut. 2) Regardless if you like/dislike Fauci, isn't disparaging the conduct of government officials by citizens always fair game?
- monsecchris 4y agoThe vast majority of people when listening to the bbc or cnn or reading a nyt article see complete insanity and severe disconnections from reality. What you are witnessing Elon saying and doing look completely normal to those people.
- sanderjd 4y ago> The vast majority of people [citation needed] I know it's surprising from within our bubble of contrarianism, but no, actually the vast majority of people are very conventional and find the outlets you listed pretty conventional and ho hum, even if they disagree with some portion of the content. But not at all "complete insanity and severe disconnections from reality". Here's the current top headline at NYT: "Inflation Forecasts Were Wrong Last Year. Should We Believe Them Now?"[0] Whatever you think about the answer to that question about inflation forecasts, that's just a boring newsy article. And that is what > 95% of the articles there are like. If you think most people find this sort of thing to be "complete insanity and severe disconnections from reality" ... well you might need to look in a mirror. 0: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/12/business/economy/inflation-forecasts-historical-outlook.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/12/business/economy/inflatio...
- monsecchris 4y agoNone of them have anything about the biggest story of our time with these Twitter leaks on their front pages.
- sanderjd 4y agoIt is a story but not a big story. A private company did some very stupid things and made some bad and arbitrary moderation decisions years ago. Hilariously, the backdrop of the story is the same private company under new ownership also doing different very stupid things and making different bad and arbitrary moderation decisions. It's just not very surprising at this point that Twitter both was and is a very poorly run company.
- 4y ago
- timonoko 4y agoElon is just testing the depth and strength of the @clownworld. If he loses this fight, he can move elsewhere. He has things to do and planets to go, and if China is more welcoming, so be it.
- 082349872349872 4y ago"In German oder English I know how to count down, Und I'm learning Chinese!" says Wernher von Braun.
- boringg 4y agoFlag my thread sure but i believe it to be relevant to this community as he has had an outsized fanbase here due to his can do attitude and sheer force of will against long odds working on incredibly challenging engineering problems.
- boringg 4y agoThat and per HN guidelines I don’t think you will get a reasonable response/discussion on any other medium which, imho, makes it a valuable discussion here.
- cholantesh 4y agoOr his successfully cultivating the perception that he has those qualities.
- boringg 4y agoTrue that is a possibility though I cant imagine pulling off some of these feats without real ability.
- drcongo 4y agoHe's an idiot who has fallen upwards his whole life because money.
- boringg 4y agoStrong disagree with that characterization - please provide evidence on falling up.