3 ms·

Two years ago you published an essay that seemed to argue that criticism against Elon Musk was simply from “Haters,” jealous of his success. http://paulgraham.

Two years ago you published an essay that seemed to argue that criticism against Elon Musk was simply from “Haters,” jealous of his success. http://paulgraham.com/fh.html http://paulgraham.com/fh.html In light of recent events, have you considered updating the essay?

concordDance 4y ago
That's definitely not what he argues there. It's quite possible for 95% of hate to be mostly unfounded while that person is still worthy of hate. It's just that the existence of haters does not necessarily mean that person is hate-worthy. The different rates and ways that various types of information travels through media (both social and not) and gets distorted by it are fascinating and there's probably been some good books written on them...
- sandofsky 4y ago
  If my memory serves, Graham would sometimes link to his essay when people criticized Musk. It’s hard for me to check at the moment, as Graham’s Twitter account has been suspended.
  - concordDance 4y ago
    As I said, 95% of criticism might by illegitimate while the 5% isn't. Paul could have been linking for the X% of Musk hate that's ill founded based on his personal knowledge of the guy.
    - sandofsky 4y ago
      In the article, he makes no breakdown like you describe. He appears to have created a straw man which he alludes to whenever once of his associates receive criticism. In light of Musk fulfilling the predictions of his worst “haters,” maybe this merits clarifying the essay.
      - concordDance 4y ago
        He certainly didn't fulfil the predictions of tge worst haters. Those predicted twitter going offline over a month ago.
        sandofsky 4y ago
        I’m referring to him treating Twitter as his plaything, changing rules on a whim to suit his latest impulses, creating a whole mess of problems such as scaring advertisers away. I have to say it’s surprising the the site hasn’t had downtime. Maybe that’s a testament to how resilient the previous engineers made things. I think most experienced engineers would agree that if you lost 75% of your company in the span of a month and a half, you’re going to lose critical institutional knowledge, and Twitter has a lot of moving parts. So kudos to Musk for winning that round of Russian roulette? At least so far.
  - sandofsky 4y ago
    Now that Graham’s account is unsuspended, here’s a tweet from a month ago surrounding Musk. https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1591100636854374400 https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1591100636854374400
occamsrazorwit 4y ago
After seeing PG claim that the criticism of Musk was rooted in politics yesterday, I think it's clear that he's become a Musk fanboy. Ironically, this very article is pretty useful in prescribing how to react towards PG himself. Edit: Maybe the suspension will break PG's fanboy-ism, and he'll emerge humbler and wiser.

concordDance 4y ago

That's definitely not what he argues there. It's quite possible for 95% of hate to be mostly unfounded while that person is still worthy of hate. It's just that the existence of haters does not necessarily mean that person is hate-worthy. The different rates and ways that various types of information travels through media (both social and not) and gets distorted by it are fascinating and there's probably been some good books written on them...

sandofsky 4y ago
If my memory serves, Graham would sometimes link to his essay when people criticized Musk. It’s hard for me to check at the moment, as Graham’s Twitter account has been suspended.
- concordDance 4y ago
  As I said, 95% of criticism might by illegitimate while the 5% isn't. Paul could have been linking for the X% of Musk hate that's ill founded based on his personal knowledge of the guy.
  - sandofsky 4y ago
    In the article, he makes no breakdown like you describe. He appears to have created a straw man which he alludes to whenever once of his associates receive criticism. In light of Musk fulfilling the predictions of his worst “haters,” maybe this merits clarifying the essay.
    - concordDance 4y ago
      He certainly didn't fulfil the predictions of tge worst haters. Those predicted twitter going offline over a month ago.
      - sandofsky 4y ago
        I’m referring to him treating Twitter as his plaything, changing rules on a whim to suit his latest impulses, creating a whole mess of problems such as scaring advertisers away. I have to say it’s surprising the the site hasn’t had downtime. Maybe that’s a testament to how resilient the previous engineers made things. I think most experienced engineers would agree that if you lost 75% of your company in the span of a month and a half, you’re going to lose critical institutional knowledge, and Twitter has a lot of moving parts. So kudos to Musk for winning that round of Russian roulette? At least so far.
- sandofsky 4y ago
  Now that Graham’s account is unsuspended, here’s a tweet from a month ago surrounding Musk. https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1591100636854374400 https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1591100636854374400

occamsrazorwit 4y ago

After seeing PG claim that the criticism of Musk was rooted in politics yesterday, I think it's clear that he's become a Musk fanboy. Ironically, this very article is pretty useful in prescribing how to react towards PG himself. Edit: Maybe the suspension will break PG's fanboy-ism, and he'll emerge humbler and wiser.