8 ms·

No, no - you see, despite rapidly speeding up EV adoption, completely transforming how we get things into space, and enabling many people to finally get high sp

No, no - you see, despite rapidly speeding up EV adoption, completely transforming how we get things into space, and enabling many people to finally get high speed internet… He’s (gasp)…a republican!

bamboozled 2y ago
What’s the point of rapidly speeding up EV adoption if you have elected “drill baby drill”? Is that to save humanity ?
- snovv_crash 2y ago
  There's no way you can convince republicans to buy electric cars if the electric car guy is a democrat.
  - bamboozled 2y ago
    On the other hand he’s isolated a LOT of his original customers and most of republicans still think EVs are stupid.
    - snovv_crash 2y ago
      The stated goal of Tesla was acceleration of electric car production and adoption. It's fine if the people who believe in global warming buy a car from someone else. The republicans need an electric car that they can take to the gun range and not get laughed at though. Coastal elites ignoring flyover states is nothing new, Elon just figured out how to exploit it.
- Sparyjerry 2y ago
  As a stop gap until infrastructure is updated to handle the electricity and generate it from renewable sources. Tesla is heavily in the battery and solar space as well, they just have focused on cars so much its practically been ignored. Solar in order to generate electricity, and battery to store it so you can use it when its night or cloudy. Once alternatives are truly available, you'll see you'll see a huge change, but as it is now, electrification itself enables you to later simply change your power plants rather than every vehicle on the road.
  - bamboozled 2y ago
    That's not going to happen when there is vested interest in propping up fossil fuels. I hope I'm wrong and you're right, I just don't think that's how the incoming administration sees things.
    - timschmidt 2y ago
      > That's not going to happen when there is vested interest in propping up fossil fuels. Sure it will, because Solar PV is less expensive than any other option: https://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2013/4/2/1051953-13649193321115432-zjkiss.png https://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2013/4/2/1051953-136... from: https://seekingalpha.com/article/1324411-trends-in-the-cost-of-energy https://seekingalpha.com/article/1324411-trends-in-the-cost-...
      - bamboozled 2y ago
        You can ruin that by introducing tariffs on Chinese products for example and disincentivizing local solar production. Hacker News has lost it's imagination IMO. The "facts" you site are obvious, we could've solved climate change 50 years ago with nuclear, it's not about that. It's about fossil fuel money.
        timschmidt 2y ago
        Seems like you're looking for reasons to complain. "Total U.S. solar module manufacturing capacity grows by 71% in Q1 2024" https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2024/06/06/total-u-s-solar-module-manufacturing-capacity-grows-by-71-in-q1-2024/ https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2024/06/06/total-u-s-solar-modul... "The U.S. Solar Market Insight Q2 2024 report says 11 GW of new solar module manufacturing capacity came online in the United States during Q1 2024, the largest quarter of solar manufacturing growth in American history." "Renewable Energy Is Now The Cheapest Option - Even Without Subsidies" https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/06/15/renewable-energy-is-now-the-cheapest-option-even-without-subsidies/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/06/15/renewa... There you go. Economics will handle it. No stopping it. > we could've solved climate change 50 years ago with nuclear Next time you fire up that time machine, let me know. I've got a sports almanac packed and ready. On this timeline it never happened. Meanwhile, solar pv production capacity has doubled reliably every couple years for decades. And is only a few doublings away from providing all the power the world needs.
latentcall 2y ago
You can do good things and still be a bad person. I’m glad the company he is CEO of is bringing Internet to rural or underserved communities. However I do think he’s a bad person. I prefer my company to be down to earth and act with humility, not to be smug “know it all” edgelords. I am aware many American men are also immature so I won’t pretend to not understand the worship.
- Sparyjerry 2y ago
  He makes jokes and is humble but wouldn't know it from democrat reporters. In a way he was forced into being a republican just like most former democrats like him were. When you are trying to get things done, things like anti-meritocratic ideas like woke culture get in the way. Things like California eliminating advanced classes for students altogether because it was seen as diverting too many resources away from black and brown students. That's one example of hundreds where the democrat run states/cities/officials always seem to make things harder to accomplish anything.
  - olyjohn 2y ago
    I hope you can come up with more than he makes jokes and is humble. That's not proof that he's a good person. I'm curious, how did 'woke culture' get in the way of Tesla or SpaceX? Seems like they are doing fine to me.
- timschmidt 2y ago
  What's wild is that he could take his billions and retire to a private island for the rest of his life, but he seems to spend a great deal of time working on large difficult projects which further humanity's place as a species. I.e. shifting humanity to renewable power, engineering the first reusable rockets, worldwide internet and cellular phone communication, colonizing other bodies in the solar system as backup civilizations, and you've got to wonder why with the way he's vilified. Paints an interesting picture as to why other billionaires aren't interested in grand projects. Edit: downvoting this comment just reinforces my impression.

bamboozled 2y ago

What’s the point of rapidly speeding up EV adoption if you have elected “drill baby drill”? Is that to save humanity ?

snovv_crash 2y ago
There's no way you can convince republicans to buy electric cars if the electric car guy is a democrat.
- bamboozled 2y ago
  On the other hand he’s isolated a LOT of his original customers and most of republicans still think EVs are stupid.
  - snovv_crash 2y ago
    The stated goal of Tesla was acceleration of electric car production and adoption. It's fine if the people who believe in global warming buy a car from someone else. The republicans need an electric car that they can take to the gun range and not get laughed at though. Coastal elites ignoring flyover states is nothing new, Elon just figured out how to exploit it.
Sparyjerry 2y ago
As a stop gap until infrastructure is updated to handle the electricity and generate it from renewable sources. Tesla is heavily in the battery and solar space as well, they just have focused on cars so much its practically been ignored. Solar in order to generate electricity, and battery to store it so you can use it when its night or cloudy. Once alternatives are truly available, you'll see you'll see a huge change, but as it is now, electrification itself enables you to later simply change your power plants rather than every vehicle on the road.
- bamboozled 2y ago
  That's not going to happen when there is vested interest in propping up fossil fuels. I hope I'm wrong and you're right, I just don't think that's how the incoming administration sees things.
  - timschmidt 2y ago
    > That's not going to happen when there is vested interest in propping up fossil fuels. Sure it will, because Solar PV is less expensive than any other option: https://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2013/4/2/1051953-13649193321115432-zjkiss.png https://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2013/4/2/1051953-136... from: https://seekingalpha.com/article/1324411-trends-in-the-cost-of-energy https://seekingalpha.com/article/1324411-trends-in-the-cost-...
    - bamboozled 2y ago
      You can ruin that by introducing tariffs on Chinese products for example and disincentivizing local solar production. Hacker News has lost it's imagination IMO. The "facts" you site are obvious, we could've solved climate change 50 years ago with nuclear, it's not about that. It's about fossil fuel money.
      - timschmidt 2y ago
        Seems like you're looking for reasons to complain. "Total U.S. solar module manufacturing capacity grows by 71% in Q1 2024" https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2024/06/06/total-u-s-solar-module-manufacturing-capacity-grows-by-71-in-q1-2024/ https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2024/06/06/total-u-s-solar-modul... "The U.S. Solar Market Insight Q2 2024 report says 11 GW of new solar module manufacturing capacity came online in the United States during Q1 2024, the largest quarter of solar manufacturing growth in American history." "Renewable Energy Is Now The Cheapest Option - Even Without Subsidies" https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/06/15/renewable-energy-is-now-the-cheapest-option-even-without-subsidies/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/06/15/renewa... There you go. Economics will handle it. No stopping it. > we could've solved climate change 50 years ago with nuclear Next time you fire up that time machine, let me know. I've got a sports almanac packed and ready. On this timeline it never happened. Meanwhile, solar pv production capacity has doubled reliably every couple years for decades. And is only a few doublings away from providing all the power the world needs.

latentcall 2y ago

You can do good things and still be a bad person. I’m glad the company he is CEO of is bringing Internet to rural or underserved communities. However I do think he’s a bad person. I prefer my company to be down to earth and act with humility, not to be smug “know it all” edgelords. I am aware many American men are also immature so I won’t pretend to not understand the worship.

Sparyjerry 2y ago
He makes jokes and is humble but wouldn't know it from democrat reporters. In a way he was forced into being a republican just like most former democrats like him were. When you are trying to get things done, things like anti-meritocratic ideas like woke culture get in the way. Things like California eliminating advanced classes for students altogether because it was seen as diverting too many resources away from black and brown students. That's one example of hundreds where the democrat run states/cities/officials always seem to make things harder to accomplish anything.
- olyjohn 2y ago
  I hope you can come up with more than he makes jokes and is humble. That's not proof that he's a good person. I'm curious, how did 'woke culture' get in the way of Tesla or SpaceX? Seems like they are doing fine to me.
timschmidt 2y ago
What's wild is that he could take his billions and retire to a private island for the rest of his life, but he seems to spend a great deal of time working on large difficult projects which further humanity's place as a species. I.e. shifting humanity to renewable power, engineering the first reusable rockets, worldwide internet and cellular phone communication, colonizing other bodies in the solar system as backup civilizations, and you've got to wonder why with the way he's vilified. Paints an interesting picture as to why other billionaires aren't interested in grand projects. Edit: downvoting this comment just reinforces my impression.