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Why? Because Elon like many people is extremely smart on narrow fields, he is not generally smart (he can’t fight for example, which is a form of intelligence.

Why? Because Elon like many people is extremely smart on narrow fields, he is not generally smart (he can’t fight for example, which is a form of intelligence. He also struggles with being honest, demonstrating potentially low EQ). That’s not to say he’s dumb - it’s just that there is no one (!) who is generally smart - there is no generally applicable intelligence, experience always matters, and you always learn by doing. It’s an illusion of the high IQ crowd that high IQ will means you will always succeed. He is also always taking high risk bets. The X/politics/Trump bet paid off, in a way, but it also has its blowback. edit also having said all this, it’s extremely unlikely that Europe will be successful at this. The future is US-China dominated.

UncleEntity 2y ago
> ...it’s extremely unlikely that Europe will be successful at this. The future is US-China dominated. I think the events of the last few weeks have been a wake-up call to many people around the globe who now see the value of not having their entire economy (or telecommunications &etc) be vulnerable to the whims of one person, be that the richest person in the world or a president nobody in Europe voted for. I suspect there's a lot of really smart people who were previously happily living/working in the US who are now looking to emigrate to other lands, Europe could easily allow them to go over there and practice their skills on a Europe First initiative. Could also rope in the Chinese to help as they also aren't too happy with the current state of affairs.
- bslanej 2y ago
  > or a president nobody in Europe voted for. Are you talking about the European Commission, which we didn’t vote for?
  - debugnik 2y ago
    Your head of government appointed a member of that commission, though. For better or worse, it's similar to that same head of government being appointed by the people you actually voted for in a parliamentary system (but two steps removed).
- kranke155 2y ago
  Sure I’m just saying Europe is not a place. Europe is not a giant coordinated economy. I’m “European” and I know how hard coordination problems are in the continent, since I’ve lived through its mismanagement my entire adult life.
- arandomusername 2y ago
  > the value of not having their entire economy (or telecommunications &etc) be vulnerable to the whims of one person, be that the richest person in the world or a president nobody in Europe voted for. . > Could also rope in the Chinese to help This is pretty funny. That's just switching who you rely on. > Europe could easily allow them to go over there and practice their skills on a Europe First initiative In Europe we prefer unskilled labour from third world countries so that they can do uber eats for cheap
- Whoppertime 2y ago
  Britain tried voting themselves out from under the influence of a politician in Brussels that nobody in Britain voted for, but found that removing that influence was a lot easier said then done.
JumpCrisscross 2y ago
He’s surrounded himself with idiot sycophants. It’s a well-known failure mode of the rich and powerful that he should have seen coming ten years away.
CamperBob2 2y ago
He had little choice but to defect to Trump's side. If Harris had won, the damage due to supporting Trump would have been finite and likely fixable. However, a Trump victory would wreck essentially all of his companies if he'd gone all-in for Harris. They have massive dependencies on Federal government support. No way to hand-wave the Nazi salutes away with game theory, though. Those were just stupid. Safe to say that nobody including Trump expected him to go that far.
- CamperBob2 2y ago
  It would be interesting to hear this refuted rather than simply downvoted, by the way. What are some alternative explanations?
  - kranke155 2y ago
    What do you mean? He’s obviously got a point? Even Steve Bannon thinks so. He says Elon was just ahead of the curve. How much of Elon’s conversion was genuine vs mercenary is impossible to know, but it’s likely.
- mindslight 2y ago
  Stay out and distance yourself from either camp? You're absolving the agency of the richest person in the world. And I get that might hard when one has got a crippling social media addiction and can't help but run their mouth. But again, let's not absolve the agency of the richest person in the world.
  - CamperBob2 2y ago
    Traditionally that's what most public-facing CEOs and other business leaders have done, keeping their politics to themselves in order to avoid needlessly alienating customers and to maintain business continuity as administrations come and go. That won't work with Trump. Not if you built your businesses on sectors that he is targeting, ranging from EVs to space exploration and research. Musk had to pick a side. Neutrality was never an option. Few if any of us, regardless of wealth, have any real "agency" with Trump in office. There's nothing he can't fuck up and no one he can't fuck over. This is not an attempt at justification or absolution, just a simple statement of fact.

UncleEntity 2y ago

> ...it’s extremely unlikely that Europe will be successful at this. The future is US-China dominated. I think the events of the last few weeks have been a wake-up call to many people around the globe who now see the value of not having their entire economy (or telecommunications &etc) be vulnerable to the whims of one person, be that the richest person in the world or a president nobody in Europe voted for. I suspect there's a lot of really smart people who were previously happily living/working in the US who are now looking to emigrate to other lands, Europe could easily allow them to go over there and practice their skills on a Europe First initiative. Could also rope in the Chinese to help as they also aren't too happy with the current state of affairs.

bslanej 2y ago
> or a president nobody in Europe voted for. Are you talking about the European Commission, which we didn’t vote for?
- debugnik 2y ago
  Your head of government appointed a member of that commission, though. For better or worse, it's similar to that same head of government being appointed by the people you actually voted for in a parliamentary system (but two steps removed).
kranke155 2y ago
Sure I’m just saying Europe is not a place. Europe is not a giant coordinated economy. I’m “European” and I know how hard coordination problems are in the continent, since I’ve lived through its mismanagement my entire adult life.
arandomusername 2y ago
> the value of not having their entire economy (or telecommunications &etc) be vulnerable to the whims of one person, be that the richest person in the world or a president nobody in Europe voted for. . > Could also rope in the Chinese to help This is pretty funny. That's just switching who you rely on. > Europe could easily allow them to go over there and practice their skills on a Europe First initiative In Europe we prefer unskilled labour from third world countries so that they can do uber eats for cheap
Whoppertime 2y ago
Britain tried voting themselves out from under the influence of a politician in Brussels that nobody in Britain voted for, but found that removing that influence was a lot easier said then done.

JumpCrisscross 2y ago

He’s surrounded himself with idiot sycophants. It’s a well-known failure mode of the rich and powerful that he should have seen coming ten years away.

CamperBob2 2y ago

He had little choice but to defect to Trump's side. If Harris had won, the damage due to supporting Trump would have been finite and likely fixable. However, a Trump victory would wreck essentially all of his companies if he'd gone all-in for Harris. They have massive dependencies on Federal government support. No way to hand-wave the Nazi salutes away with game theory, though. Those were just stupid. Safe to say that nobody including Trump expected him to go that far.

CamperBob2 2y ago
It would be interesting to hear this refuted rather than simply downvoted, by the way. What are some alternative explanations?
- kranke155 2y ago
  What do you mean? He’s obviously got a point? Even Steve Bannon thinks so. He says Elon was just ahead of the curve. How much of Elon’s conversion was genuine vs mercenary is impossible to know, but it’s likely.
mindslight 2y ago
Stay out and distance yourself from either camp? You're absolving the agency of the richest person in the world. And I get that might hard when one has got a crippling social media addiction and can't help but run their mouth. But again, let's not absolve the agency of the richest person in the world.
- CamperBob2 2y ago
  Traditionally that's what most public-facing CEOs and other business leaders have done, keeping their politics to themselves in order to avoid needlessly alienating customers and to maintain business continuity as administrations come and go. That won't work with Trump. Not if you built your businesses on sectors that he is targeting, ranging from EVs to space exploration and research. Musk had to pick a side. Neutrality was never an option. Few if any of us, regardless of wealth, have any real "agency" with Trump in office. There's nothing he can't fuck up and no one he can't fuck over. This is not an attempt at justification or absolution, just a simple statement of fact.