4 ms·

He seems to be a member of the everything must be done in person school of thought. He also likely has to have meetings with even more "non-digital-native" peop

by api 4y ago

He seems to be a member of the everything must be done in person school of thought. He also likely has to have meetings with even more "non-digital-native" people that are even more of that mentality.

cogman10 4y ago
> He also likely has to have meetings with even more "non-digital-native" people that are even more of that mentality. Maybe? A lot of his flights appear to be to places where he owns the factory or company. (Like the giga factory in nevada, or twitter in san fran).
jrm4 4y ago
Given recent events, I personally find this strong proof of his mediocrity (and perhaps many people misunderstanding his motives?) Which is to say -- all this says to me is "I'm bad at management" at best and "I'm an over-engineerer, to the point that if I'd done nothing at all, you'd probably get better outcomes" at worst? I'm not exactly sure what his endgame(s) is/are, or what skills he may actually have to get there -- but it's becoming increasingly clear that the real Elon Musk is not anything remotely close to the image we had of him during the rise of e.g. SpaceX and Tesla et al.
- mrguyorama 4y ago
  Smart people have been saying this from the very beginning but everyone wanted to drink the koolaid and believe. My friend first started singing Elon's praise while watching the automated battery replacement "demonstration" vaporware, while at the same time getting suckered in by an MLM.
  - Fatnino 4y ago
    Hey, the idea of a replaceable battery is a good one. Too bad it was generally uninvented across the board some 10-15 years ago.
    - cogman10 4y ago
      I think for it to work, you pretty much need federal regulation to step in and standardize. I have this video in mind [1] If we can have EV packs sizes, structural capabilities, voltages, and max currents defined then we can start having swapping services and maybe even better recycling. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=c2J91UG6Fn8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=c2J91UG6Fn8
      - midoridensha 4y ago
        >I think for it to work, you pretty much need federal regulation to step in and standardize. Which is why it'll never happen.
        cogman10 4y ago
        I mean, never say never, but definitely not likely today.
    - rsynnott 4y ago
      It's a fairly big deal in China: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nio_Inc.#Battery_swapping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nio_Inc.#Battery_swapping Largely non-existent elsewhere, at least for now, tho.
  - api 4y ago
    The thing that made me admire him a lot was always SpaceX. I saw Tesla as good for helping push EVs over the hump but beyond that kind of over-hyped. The other Elon companies seem like hobby projects for a billionaire. The question I have now is: how much has he actually been involved in engineering at SpaceX? How much of a role did he really have there other than as an investor? I've heard from many that Gwynne Shotwell and Tom Mueller had a highly non-trivial role. In any case even if he was a mega-super-genius he's clearly losing his mind. It worries me that he has a controlling share of SpaceX. The work they are doing is super important. Maybe Twitter and all this stupid political drama will keep him distracted.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - derekp7 4y ago
      I think his major contribution at SpaceX was a the vision. And that the engineers could work on things knowing that the rocket may blow up in testing, and that was not only OK but also promoted as an example of success by the company CEO. Compare that to the DC-X which, while a 1/4 scale demonstrator, had the project canceled due to a fiery explosion due to a failed landing leg. Also, I recall reading at the time that he took credit for coming up with the idea to use stainless steel on Starship. Stainless steel would normally not be considered for a rocket due to expense, but with re-usability that argument goes away. And it gets tougher at cryogenic temperatures. Now if he was actually the one that sprung that idea on the engineers and no one else thought of it, that is a question I'd like to see answered. Or did he just approve of the plan when it was brought up among a list of possibilities?
    - jacquesm 4y ago
      He's on track for self destruction if he doesn't clean up his act. This won't end well, and that's a shame.
  - jrm4 4y ago
    I'm not particularly science-minded; but when he talked about how his Boring tunnel deal fixed flooding, this Floridian lost it right then and there.

by api 4y ago

cogman10 4y ago

> He also likely has to have meetings with even more "non-digital-native" people that are even more of that mentality. Maybe? A lot of his flights appear to be to places where he owns the factory or company. (Like the giga factory in nevada, or twitter in san fran).

jrm4 4y ago

Given recent events, I personally find this strong proof of his mediocrity (and perhaps many people misunderstanding his motives?) Which is to say -- all this says to me is "I'm bad at management" at best and "I'm an over-engineerer, to the point that if I'd done nothing at all, you'd probably get better outcomes" at worst? I'm not exactly sure what his endgame(s) is/are, or what skills he may actually have to get there -- but it's becoming increasingly clear that the real Elon Musk is not anything remotely close to the image we had of him during the rise of e.g. SpaceX and Tesla et al.

mrguyorama 4y ago
Smart people have been saying this from the very beginning but everyone wanted to drink the koolaid and believe. My friend first started singing Elon's praise while watching the automated battery replacement "demonstration" vaporware, while at the same time getting suckered in by an MLM.
- Fatnino 4y ago
  Hey, the idea of a replaceable battery is a good one. Too bad it was generally uninvented across the board some 10-15 years ago.
  - cogman10 4y ago
    I think for it to work, you pretty much need federal regulation to step in and standardize. I have this video in mind [1] If we can have EV packs sizes, structural capabilities, voltages, and max currents defined then we can start having swapping services and maybe even better recycling. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=c2J91UG6Fn8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=c2J91UG6Fn8
    - midoridensha 4y ago
      >I think for it to work, you pretty much need federal regulation to step in and standardize. Which is why it'll never happen.
      - cogman10 4y ago
        I mean, never say never, but definitely not likely today.
  - rsynnott 4y ago
    It's a fairly big deal in China: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nio_Inc.#Battery_swapping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nio_Inc.#Battery_swapping Largely non-existent elsewhere, at least for now, tho.
- api 4y ago
  The thing that made me admire him a lot was always SpaceX. I saw Tesla as good for helping push EVs over the hump but beyond that kind of over-hyped. The other Elon companies seem like hobby projects for a billionaire. The question I have now is: how much has he actually been involved in engineering at SpaceX? How much of a role did he really have there other than as an investor? I've heard from many that Gwynne Shotwell and Tom Mueller had a highly non-trivial role. In any case even if he was a mega-super-genius he's clearly losing his mind. It worries me that he has a controlling share of SpaceX. The work they are doing is super important. Maybe Twitter and all this stupid political drama will keep him distracted.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - derekp7 4y ago
    I think his major contribution at SpaceX was a the vision. And that the engineers could work on things knowing that the rocket may blow up in testing, and that was not only OK but also promoted as an example of success by the company CEO. Compare that to the DC-X which, while a 1/4 scale demonstrator, had the project canceled due to a fiery explosion due to a failed landing leg. Also, I recall reading at the time that he took credit for coming up with the idea to use stainless steel on Starship. Stainless steel would normally not be considered for a rocket due to expense, but with re-usability that argument goes away. And it gets tougher at cryogenic temperatures. Now if he was actually the one that sprung that idea on the engineers and no one else thought of it, that is a question I'd like to see answered. Or did he just approve of the plan when it was brought up among a list of possibilities?
  - jacquesm 4y ago
    He's on track for self destruction if he doesn't clean up his act. This won't end well, and that's a shame.
- jrm4 4y ago
  I'm not particularly science-minded; but when he talked about how his Boring tunnel deal fixed flooding, this Floridian lost it right then and there.