4 ms·

I wonder why he couldn't just play the "brilliant engineer innovator titan of industry" part without the "teenage edgelord stick-it-to-the-libs Twitter troll" p

I wonder why he couldn't just play the "brilliant engineer innovator titan of industry" part without the "teenage edgelord stick-it-to-the-libs Twitter troll" piece. Or was the latter always a prerequisite for his success, his ability to get eyeballs at all costs? It feels like all of that toxicity was unnecessary and he could have been impactful and transformational without it, but maybe I'm wrong.

faefox 4y ago
His overall arc feels very reminiscent of Notch (of Minecraft fame). Man attains unfathomable levels of wealth and fame and decides to use their bully pulpit to explain to the world how they're the victims, actually.
- 8f2ab37a-ed6c 4y ago
  Yeah. I wonder if there's something to attaining that level of success that leads people to isolation, extreme opinions, and falling out of touch with reality.
  - glaslong 4y ago
    Perhaps an inward effect of the Rougon-Macquart coefficient — corollary to the outward the light-bending phenomenon. https://twitter.com/cpriestman/status/1230821595222028288 https://twitter.com/cpriestman/status/1230821595222028288
    - 8f2ab37a-ed6c 4y ago
      Love the reference.
aaronbrethorst 4y ago
Years of being surrounded by yes men with no one to rein in his worst impulses has consequences. https://slate.com/technology/2022/09/elon-musk-text-messages-twitter-yes-men.html https://slate.com/technology/2022/09/elon-musk-text-messages...
TylerE 4y ago
It’s well documented that CEOs exhibit psychopathic traits at a rate far higher than the general population https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackmccullough/2019/12/09/the-psychopathic-ceo/?sh=715339f0791e https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackmccullough/2019/12/09/the-p...
- pauljurczak 4y ago
  I wouldn't call his behavior psychopathic. Narcissistic, perhaps.
  - TylerE 4y ago
    “ Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits.” Quacks like a duck for me.
    - lostmsu 4y ago
      Antisocial behavior in that definition, which is the core of it, is continual criminal activity. At this point I don't believe it is present. Calling people names doesn't fit.
      - blaser-waffle 4y ago
        > At this point I don't believe it is present. Why rob banks for $10k when you can whip up fervor on social media for millions? Criminal activity is there, basically, cuz people want to get what they want, norms, morals, and the well-being of others be damned. Musk doesn't have to rob banks to get what he wants, and probably never would have since his family owned gemstone mines in S Africa. If you want to judge the man, see how he treated his ex's, his children, etc. That paints a far less flattering picture.
      - jacquesm 4y ago
        If a criminal did that kind of damage to other people we'd be happy to commit them to a long stay behind bars. The fact that it is all bought and paid for makes it legal, but that's a flaw in capitalism: legal and ethical are very much disjoint concepts and you can do a lot of damage in a purposeful way that you'd never get away with otherwise if you have money and an army of lawyers.
ulfw 4y ago
Because you can play a role only for so long. Eventually that toxic real side comes out.
- EFreethought 4y ago
  I think he was always a jerk and now it's just coming out. I think what gave him some cover is that for a long time nobody else was able to do what his companies could do at the same scale, or even close to it. Maybe Blue Origin is not equal to SpaceX yet, but putting Captain Kirk into orbit was a good PR coup. And the legacy car companies are not as experienced as Tesla as making electric cars, but they have been manufacturing cars for a century. US automakers were hurt by Asian carmakers a few decades ago, but survived. It might take a few more years, but I think they will figure out how to survive this transition. His companies were close to monopolies in their niches for a long time, so he kind of walked on water. Now other companies are catching up, and he is not as special.
  - midasuni 4y ago
    They never put Captain Kirk into orbit. That you believe it, or believe BO can even be compared to spacex, shows how flashy the PR was.
- blaser-waffle 4y ago
  aka "the online marketing bots are only picked up by the algorithm so often"
yowlingcat 4y ago
Just speculation, but I think his separation from his last romantic partner isn't necessarily a coincidence. I think I can no more discern what happened between him and Grimes than I could between Kanye and Kim, or any other similar power couple where kids came out of the coupling; but with that said, the timeline of the the beginning and end of the relationship does seem to line up with when the shark was jumped per sé.
- watwut 4y ago
  The close ones are usually treated the worst and are treated badly sooner then the rest. It might just be that - them bailing out as situation worsenes. Musk was divorced like 5 times already.

faefox 4y ago

His overall arc feels very reminiscent of Notch (of Minecraft fame). Man attains unfathomable levels of wealth and fame and decides to use their bully pulpit to explain to the world how they're the victims, actually.

8f2ab37a-ed6c 4y ago
Yeah. I wonder if there's something to attaining that level of success that leads people to isolation, extreme opinions, and falling out of touch with reality.
- glaslong 4y ago
  Perhaps an inward effect of the Rougon-Macquart coefficient — corollary to the outward the light-bending phenomenon. https://twitter.com/cpriestman/status/1230821595222028288 https://twitter.com/cpriestman/status/1230821595222028288
  - 8f2ab37a-ed6c 4y ago
    Love the reference.

aaronbrethorst 4y ago

Years of being surrounded by yes men with no one to rein in his worst impulses has consequences. https://slate.com/technology/2022/09/elon-musk-text-messages-twitter-yes-men.html https://slate.com/technology/2022/09/elon-musk-text-messages...

TylerE 4y ago

It’s well documented that CEOs exhibit psychopathic traits at a rate far higher than the general population https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackmccullough/2019/12/09/the-psychopathic-ceo/?sh=715339f0791e https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackmccullough/2019/12/09/the-p...

pauljurczak 4y ago
I wouldn't call his behavior psychopathic. Narcissistic, perhaps.
- TylerE 4y ago
  “ Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits.” Quacks like a duck for me.
  - lostmsu 4y ago
    Antisocial behavior in that definition, which is the core of it, is continual criminal activity. At this point I don't believe it is present. Calling people names doesn't fit.
    - blaser-waffle 4y ago
      > At this point I don't believe it is present. Why rob banks for $10k when you can whip up fervor on social media for millions? Criminal activity is there, basically, cuz people want to get what they want, norms, morals, and the well-being of others be damned. Musk doesn't have to rob banks to get what he wants, and probably never would have since his family owned gemstone mines in S Africa. If you want to judge the man, see how he treated his ex's, his children, etc. That paints a far less flattering picture.
    - jacquesm 4y ago
      If a criminal did that kind of damage to other people we'd be happy to commit them to a long stay behind bars. The fact that it is all bought and paid for makes it legal, but that's a flaw in capitalism: legal and ethical are very much disjoint concepts and you can do a lot of damage in a purposeful way that you'd never get away with otherwise if you have money and an army of lawyers.

ulfw 4y ago

Because you can play a role only for so long. Eventually that toxic real side comes out.

EFreethought 4y ago
I think he was always a jerk and now it's just coming out. I think what gave him some cover is that for a long time nobody else was able to do what his companies could do at the same scale, or even close to it. Maybe Blue Origin is not equal to SpaceX yet, but putting Captain Kirk into orbit was a good PR coup. And the legacy car companies are not as experienced as Tesla as making electric cars, but they have been manufacturing cars for a century. US automakers were hurt by Asian carmakers a few decades ago, but survived. It might take a few more years, but I think they will figure out how to survive this transition. His companies were close to monopolies in their niches for a long time, so he kind of walked on water. Now other companies are catching up, and he is not as special.
- midasuni 4y ago
  They never put Captain Kirk into orbit. That you believe it, or believe BO can even be compared to spacex, shows how flashy the PR was.
blaser-waffle 4y ago
aka "the online marketing bots are only picked up by the algorithm so often"

yowlingcat 4y ago

Just speculation, but I think his separation from his last romantic partner isn't necessarily a coincidence. I think I can no more discern what happened between him and Grimes than I could between Kanye and Kim, or any other similar power couple where kids came out of the coupling; but with that said, the timeline of the the beginning and end of the relationship does seem to line up with when the shark was jumped per sé.

watwut 4y ago
The close ones are usually treated the worst and are treated badly sooner then the rest. It might just be that - them bailing out as situation worsenes. Musk was divorced like 5 times already.