6 ms·

What happened to Elon? A couple years ago he was pretty darn respected and had tesla and SpaceX beating the odds in two very difficult industries, and now he j

What happened to Elon? A couple years ago he was pretty darn respected and had tesla and SpaceX beating the odds in two very difficult industries, and now he just feels like a dork. Icarus syndrome?

xenospn 3y ago
He was always like this. He just didn’t have the spotlight on him, and most importantly, he didn’t talk as much.
- PartiallyTyped 3y ago
  Maybe he had PR people handling all his communication before, and after the whole crypto/doge and stock manipulation allegations they decided to step away so as to not get incriminated or otherwise caught up in the investigations?
  - panick21_ 3y ago
    People really come up with the wildest nonsense theories. Incredible.
- alex_duf 3y ago
  Oh he had plenty of spotlight time. He's just been slowly descending into nonsense. My theory is: he's surrounding himself by people who put him on a pedestal and will therefore only be yes-men. In such a situation I imagine that you lose track of what's a reasonable way of thinking, and possibly remove the few remaining sensible people out of your life because they tend to disagree with you.
p1mrx 3y ago
I think he ran out of good ideas. Electric vehicles and computer-controlled rockets would've happened eventually, but he had enough money and insight to light the fuses at the right time. He found two bits of low-hanging fruit, picked them, and started taking random useless actions when he couldn't find more.
- deprecative 3y ago
  He bought into Tesla; he didn't come up with the ideas nor found it. SpaceX came at a time when NASA was investing in private companies to replace the shuttle program (and more). He didn't come up with any of the ideas there, either. As far as I can tell he hasn't invented anything of note.
  - solardev 3y ago
    I'm as annoyed/disappointed by his antics as anyone, but I think he does deserve credit for making two (three, if you count Starlink) very difficult industries happen. Electric cars were dead until Tesla, plenty of SpaceX competitors never made it (like Bezos's and Carmack's and the British one). Whether or not he "invented" these things, he made them an everyday reality the same way Steve Jobs made the smartphone an everyday reality. I don't like Musk very much these days, but he did undeniably change the world not once but thrice. I mean, comparatively, Bezos improved logistics, Gates made office software, and Jobs made a telephone. Are these notable "inventions"?
    - deprecative 3y ago
      Without Elon all of the things would have happened - he just jumped in and siphoned wealth via public funding. His companies did great - he didn't.
      - Gud 3y ago
        That’s not at all a given. To bootstrap mass production of electric cars requires a lot of risk, it was by no means certain it would pan out. Now that it’s a given the rest of the car manufacturers are racing to keep up. Same can be said with reusable rockets - why weren’t anyone else pursuing this? I think I know the answer(weak leadership from ULA etc).
      - RetroTechie 3y ago
        solardev summarized my opinion of Musk pretty well. I don't know enough about the space industry. SpaceX did introduce some pretty significant advances. But EVs: yeah they would have happened - eventually. Big car makers sat on their asses (concerning EVs), and would have kept doing so for another 5..10y or longer. Tesla took the lead, broke that market wide open, scaled up battery production enormously (which also served other applications like grid storage), and forced car makers to get in on the game or be left behind. Those car makers would have produced EVs on their own. On their timeline. But Musk kickstarted that market on his timeline. Years sooner than would have happened otherwise. Debate how many years all you want. But net effect is an enormous benefit to society. Personally, I think it may come down to stress / pressure. Musk has worked hard, for a long time. Maybe he didn't get enough sleep. Or didn't get laid (often enough, anyway :-). NOT saying he did, but if it turns out he's been popping pills or snorting coke, I would be neither surprised nor hold it against him (or even care, tbh). Regardless, such pressure tends to bring up the darker side in people. But who am I to tell Musk he needs a vacation? Fun fact: bought a pack of 70 Li-ions recently (21700) for use on my boat. These were manufactured and/or designed by Samsung... for Tesla. I didn't buy them 'cause Tesla fanboy. They're not even the chemistry I preferred. But I got 'em because they worked out to the lowest price per Wh stored (in my case, ~800 Wh total for just over €100). Tesla-initiated economies of scale. And in the meanwhile, there's now global internet access thx to StarLink. Like him or not, feel free to think he's a lunatic or an asshole, but Elon Musk has pushed humanity forward.
3cats-in-a-coat 3y ago
He was a dork with some self-restraint, and several layers of people managing him, as he's effective at drawing capital and talent with bold promises (not covered by reality) and visions of the future. He was always a dorky con-man, but he was useful in that role. As long as people didn't see what he truly was. What happened here is those layers kept getting new holes. By him becoming increasingly bolder posting on Twitter, and now by trying to run it without his trusty lieutenants. The stress of buying Twitter and it losing billions, unstoppably, is adding to his self-restraint fading away. This is Elon, himself. Always was. And... it's hard to believe this, but Twitter can change you, addict you to certain behaviors, even if you're a billionaire. He craves the likes, the retweets, the replies. Despite being the richest person, he's incredibly lonely. Everyone around him is fake, trying to stay afloat and maybe profit somehow from their proximity to Musk, or having no choice. He has no friends, no wife. And he has no connection with his children aside from couple of photo ops per year with "lil X". Twitter is his social life. And Twitter wants circus. So he delivers.
- panick21_ 3y ago
  The claim that he was managed by layers of people is simply false. Talk to any journalist who interacted with him. Musk has always been incredibly public and incredibly outspoken on anything he cared about.
  - 3cats-in-a-coat 3y ago
    I'm talking about his companies. Read why everyone is worried that CFO of Tesla quit a week ago. He was basically running the company. As for Elon being public... yeah. This is what we're discussing. He's very public and it's very embarrassing. Has been for along time.
    - panick21_ 3y ago
      Everybody on HN was worried, investor were not. CFO was not running the company, that is just more totally false information based on assumtion with no base behind it. And anybody that thinks a CFO who has made millions leaving after 13 years is a major problem is just delusional. This just more evidence that people literally lose their brain anytime Musk comes up.
Mountain_Skies 3y ago
He's the same, his public perception changed when he went against some aspects of the pandemic response. Now things that would have brought him praise are ignored and the weird things that would have been ignored or considered quirky are amplified with a negative wash on them.
Veserv 3y ago
Nothing. This is the person he has always been. He just always sent his rabid investors and lawyers to intimidate people into silence. It just stopped working once he started doing it to people who can actually pay a legal bill.
TrackerFF 3y ago
Musk has admitted to having Asperger's, which in itself isn't that big of a deal - but they (people with Asperger's) can become quite obsessed with things. Some of the social aspects can also be lacking, which in turn can be mistaken for narcissism. He knows he's smart, he has a burning passion for what he does, and he's probably been surrounded by sycophants for decades now.
- lucubratory 3y ago
  There are millions of people with autism. Only one of them is Elon Musk. The problem isn't the autism.
midasuni 3y ago
A couple of years ago he was shouting at a guy who rescued some kids from a cave and calling him a pedo
panick21_ 3y ago
Nothing. The difference literally is that he started to talk about politics. Having followed SpaceX for a long time, Musk is milostly the same guy. The "pedo guy" thing was the first big turning point, the second big turning point was the free speech absolutism all that followed from that.
solumunus 3y ago
Intelligent people paying close attention have almost never respected him, or they at least realised he was wildly overrated. Elon fell in love with the limelight and inevitably his true character is becoming exposed, very publicly.

What happened to Elon? A couple years ago he was pretty darn respected and had tesla and SpaceX beating the odds in two very difficult industries, and now he just feels like a dork. Icarus syndrome?

xenospn 3y ago

He was always like this. He just didn’t have the spotlight on him, and most importantly, he didn’t talk as much.

PartiallyTyped 3y ago
Maybe he had PR people handling all his communication before, and after the whole crypto/doge and stock manipulation allegations they decided to step away so as to not get incriminated or otherwise caught up in the investigations?
- panick21_ 3y ago
  People really come up with the wildest nonsense theories. Incredible.
alex_duf 3y ago
Oh he had plenty of spotlight time. He's just been slowly descending into nonsense. My theory is: he's surrounding himself by people who put him on a pedestal and will therefore only be yes-men. In such a situation I imagine that you lose track of what's a reasonable way of thinking, and possibly remove the few remaining sensible people out of your life because they tend to disagree with you.

p1mrx 3y ago

I think he ran out of good ideas. Electric vehicles and computer-controlled rockets would've happened eventually, but he had enough money and insight to light the fuses at the right time. He found two bits of low-hanging fruit, picked them, and started taking random useless actions when he couldn't find more.

deprecative 3y ago
He bought into Tesla; he didn't come up with the ideas nor found it. SpaceX came at a time when NASA was investing in private companies to replace the shuttle program (and more). He didn't come up with any of the ideas there, either. As far as I can tell he hasn't invented anything of note.
- solardev 3y ago
  I'm as annoyed/disappointed by his antics as anyone, but I think he does deserve credit for making two (three, if you count Starlink) very difficult industries happen. Electric cars were dead until Tesla, plenty of SpaceX competitors never made it (like Bezos's and Carmack's and the British one). Whether or not he "invented" these things, he made them an everyday reality the same way Steve Jobs made the smartphone an everyday reality. I don't like Musk very much these days, but he did undeniably change the world not once but thrice. I mean, comparatively, Bezos improved logistics, Gates made office software, and Jobs made a telephone. Are these notable "inventions"?
  - deprecative 3y ago
    Without Elon all of the things would have happened - he just jumped in and siphoned wealth via public funding. His companies did great - he didn't.
    - Gud 3y ago
      That’s not at all a given. To bootstrap mass production of electric cars requires a lot of risk, it was by no means certain it would pan out. Now that it’s a given the rest of the car manufacturers are racing to keep up. Same can be said with reusable rockets - why weren’t anyone else pursuing this? I think I know the answer(weak leadership from ULA etc).
    - RetroTechie 3y ago
      solardev summarized my opinion of Musk pretty well. I don't know enough about the space industry. SpaceX did introduce some pretty significant advances. But EVs: yeah they would have happened - eventually. Big car makers sat on their asses (concerning EVs), and would have kept doing so for another 5..10y or longer. Tesla took the lead, broke that market wide open, scaled up battery production enormously (which also served other applications like grid storage), and forced car makers to get in on the game or be left behind. Those car makers would have produced EVs on their own. On their timeline. But Musk kickstarted that market on his timeline. Years sooner than would have happened otherwise. Debate how many years all you want. But net effect is an enormous benefit to society. Personally, I think it may come down to stress / pressure. Musk has worked hard, for a long time. Maybe he didn't get enough sleep. Or didn't get laid (often enough, anyway :-). NOT saying he did, but if it turns out he's been popping pills or snorting coke, I would be neither surprised nor hold it against him (or even care, tbh). Regardless, such pressure tends to bring up the darker side in people. But who am I to tell Musk he needs a vacation? Fun fact: bought a pack of 70 Li-ions recently (21700) for use on my boat. These were manufactured and/or designed by Samsung... for Tesla. I didn't buy them 'cause Tesla fanboy. They're not even the chemistry I preferred. But I got 'em because they worked out to the lowest price per Wh stored (in my case, ~800 Wh total for just over €100). Tesla-initiated economies of scale. And in the meanwhile, there's now global internet access thx to StarLink. Like him or not, feel free to think he's a lunatic or an asshole, but Elon Musk has pushed humanity forward.

3cats-in-a-coat 3y ago

He was a dork with some self-restraint, and several layers of people managing him, as he's effective at drawing capital and talent with bold promises (not covered by reality) and visions of the future. He was always a dorky con-man, but he was useful in that role. As long as people didn't see what he truly was. What happened here is those layers kept getting new holes. By him becoming increasingly bolder posting on Twitter, and now by trying to run it without his trusty lieutenants. The stress of buying Twitter and it losing billions, unstoppably, is adding to his self-restraint fading away. This is Elon, himself. Always was. And... it's hard to believe this, but Twitter can change you, addict you to certain behaviors, even if you're a billionaire. He craves the likes, the retweets, the replies. Despite being the richest person, he's incredibly lonely. Everyone around him is fake, trying to stay afloat and maybe profit somehow from their proximity to Musk, or having no choice. He has no friends, no wife. And he has no connection with his children aside from couple of photo ops per year with "lil X". Twitter is his social life. And Twitter wants circus. So he delivers.

panick21_ 3y ago
The claim that he was managed by layers of people is simply false. Talk to any journalist who interacted with him. Musk has always been incredibly public and incredibly outspoken on anything he cared about.
- 3cats-in-a-coat 3y ago
  I'm talking about his companies. Read why everyone is worried that CFO of Tesla quit a week ago. He was basically running the company. As for Elon being public... yeah. This is what we're discussing. He's very public and it's very embarrassing. Has been for along time.
  - panick21_ 3y ago
    Everybody on HN was worried, investor were not. CFO was not running the company, that is just more totally false information based on assumtion with no base behind it. And anybody that thinks a CFO who has made millions leaving after 13 years is a major problem is just delusional. This just more evidence that people literally lose their brain anytime Musk comes up.

Mountain_Skies 3y ago

He's the same, his public perception changed when he went against some aspects of the pandemic response. Now things that would have brought him praise are ignored and the weird things that would have been ignored or considered quirky are amplified with a negative wash on them.

Veserv 3y ago

Nothing. This is the person he has always been. He just always sent his rabid investors and lawyers to intimidate people into silence. It just stopped working once he started doing it to people who can actually pay a legal bill.

TrackerFF 3y ago

Musk has admitted to having Asperger's, which in itself isn't that big of a deal - but they (people with Asperger's) can become quite obsessed with things. Some of the social aspects can also be lacking, which in turn can be mistaken for narcissism. He knows he's smart, he has a burning passion for what he does, and he's probably been surrounded by sycophants for decades now.

lucubratory 3y ago
There are millions of people with autism. Only one of them is Elon Musk. The problem isn't the autism.

midasuni 3y ago

A couple of years ago he was shouting at a guy who rescued some kids from a cave and calling him a pedo

panick21_ 3y ago

Nothing. The difference literally is that he started to talk about politics. Having followed SpaceX for a long time, Musk is milostly the same guy. The "pedo guy" thing was the first big turning point, the second big turning point was the free speech absolutism all that followed from that.

solumunus 3y ago

Intelligent people paying close attention have almost never respected him, or they at least realised he was wildly overrated. Elon fell in love with the limelight and inevitably his true character is becoming exposed, very publicly.