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I think the issue here is that elon is one of many people who make their money not from building the next technology to underly an industrial revolution, but fr

I think the issue here is that elon is one of many people who make their money not from building the next technology to underly an industrial revolution, but from making you feel like one is just around the corner. It’s an aesthetics vs functionality divide. Aside from spacex, which I’ll grant is really impressive, what novel technologies has musk helped develop that you feel will (or currently are) transforming the world in such a dramatic fashion?

nailer 2y ago
Making paraplegics play chess with their mind and making EVs mainstream after they were considered dead.
- BriggyDwiggs42 2y ago
  Good things that help people, but not transformative.
  - nailer 2y ago
    I disagree. One is a huge step towards neural interfaces and the other is a big leap forward for the environment.
    - BriggyDwiggs42 2y ago
      There was already plenty of medical bci research, neuralink is just continuing that work with a talented group and lots of money from Musk. Neural interfaces are definitely a powerful idea and they would be a huge deal if made consumer-grade, but neuralink is far (decades probably) from making it sufficiently non-invasive to be viable for anything other than medical uses, and that prevents it from changing things dramatically. If Musk funded fusion research, I wouldn’t say he’s ushering in the next industrial revolution, I’d say he’s contributing money to a noble research effort. Popularizing electric cars, while similarly noble, doesn’t qualify as revolutionary in my book. The move to electric is fundamentally just an increase in the energy efficiency of cars, which is great, but not a transformative leap. Furthermore, EV’s have been doing kinda bad here in the US as of late and automakers are having to scale back their rollout because of lacking demand. Maybe eventually we’ll be able to credit Musk with a big cut in car emissions, but in the best case scenario where we magically made the switch and powered every electric car with solar, we’d be cutting US emissions by a fifth. Again, the parent comment compared Musk’s contributions to the industrial revolution, which saw a complete transformation in how humans do labor. It wasn’t a percentage gain in efficiency, it was a force-multiplier that spawned whole industries.
      - nailer 2y ago
        I think you consider progress a matter of technology, and disregard economics, project management and culture.
        BriggyDwiggs42 2y ago
        I disagree. I think that I’m measuring progress partially in terms of change, and that in order to feel like Musk was heading a revolution, I’d need to see the possibility for great change as a consequence of his actions. That change could be social/political, but I’m not seeing any. Right now the world I imagine coming about with Musk looks mostly identical to the world I imagine would have happened without Musk.

nailer 2y ago

Making paraplegics play chess with their mind and making EVs mainstream after they were considered dead.

BriggyDwiggs42 2y ago
Good things that help people, but not transformative.
- nailer 2y ago
  I disagree. One is a huge step towards neural interfaces and the other is a big leap forward for the environment.
  - BriggyDwiggs42 2y ago
    There was already plenty of medical bci research, neuralink is just continuing that work with a talented group and lots of money from Musk. Neural interfaces are definitely a powerful idea and they would be a huge deal if made consumer-grade, but neuralink is far (decades probably) from making it sufficiently non-invasive to be viable for anything other than medical uses, and that prevents it from changing things dramatically. If Musk funded fusion research, I wouldn’t say he’s ushering in the next industrial revolution, I’d say he’s contributing money to a noble research effort. Popularizing electric cars, while similarly noble, doesn’t qualify as revolutionary in my book. The move to electric is fundamentally just an increase in the energy efficiency of cars, which is great, but not a transformative leap. Furthermore, EV’s have been doing kinda bad here in the US as of late and automakers are having to scale back their rollout because of lacking demand. Maybe eventually we’ll be able to credit Musk with a big cut in car emissions, but in the best case scenario where we magically made the switch and powered every electric car with solar, we’d be cutting US emissions by a fifth. Again, the parent comment compared Musk’s contributions to the industrial revolution, which saw a complete transformation in how humans do labor. It wasn’t a percentage gain in efficiency, it was a force-multiplier that spawned whole industries.
    - nailer 2y ago
      I think you consider progress a matter of technology, and disregard economics, project management and culture.
      - BriggyDwiggs42 2y ago
        I disagree. I think that I’m measuring progress partially in terms of change, and that in order to feel like Musk was heading a revolution, I’d need to see the possibility for great change as a consequence of his actions. That change could be social/political, but I’m not seeing any. Right now the world I imagine coming about with Musk looks mostly identical to the world I imagine would have happened without Musk.