4 ms·

For someone with a supreme lack of judgement he sure does own a lot of billion dollar companies. I strive to have the same lack of judgement that he has.

jakeydus 1y ago
I hope not, I'd rather have fewer narcissistic sociopaths in the world. He only cares about himself and what people think of him. Nothing he does is to benefit other people. He's not Iron Man, he's Lex Luthor. I guess people have always idolized the creeps of the world, though.
- marknutter 1y ago
  It will never cease to amaze me how some people think they can know somebody the've never met as well as you think you do. I attribute it to projection.
  - buellerbueller 1y ago
    [flagged]
  - jjcob 1y ago
    This guy tweets all day and the press talks about every little thing he ever does, there are hundreds of videos of him on youtube, dozens of his employees and ex-employees telling stories about him on the net. How much more do you think you are going to learn if you actually talk to him?
    - 0xDEAFBEAD 1y ago
      I would argue a lot of Musk haters are not getting a representative sample of his behavior, but rather only the most outrageous things he says and does, which tend to be the things that penetrate their bubble.
      - jakeydus 1y ago
        I don’t hate him. I think he’s a sad, small man who makes himself feel big by being a bully and faking technical experience and knowledge. I think his fans confuse being in the right place at the right time in possession significant capital as genius. I think he is an incredibly toxic public figure. I think farming outrage and feeding trolls is bad for everyone. I think Nazi salutes are bad. I think that lying is bad. I think abandoning children is bad. I think buddying up with fascists is bad. So sure maybe I miss out on his generous acts but honestly he does enough bad that I don’t particularly care about any good he does. He’s only doing it for himself anyway.
        0xDEAFBEAD 1y ago
        I read this Musk biography a few years ago: https://www.amazon.com/Elon-Musk-SpaceX-Fantastic-Future/dp/006230125X https://www.amazon.com/Elon-Musk-SpaceX-Fantastic-Future/dp/... I don't think he's short of technical skill. I think he is a genius, and I think he's sincere in his desire to make humanity multiplanetary. I recommend reading the biography to get the facts that aren't penetrating your bubble. I think Musk is going kind of insane due to ketamine abuse, bipolar disorder, and/or whatever caused his father to go insane around his current age. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/PaL38q9a4e8Bzsh3S/elon-musk-may-be-transitioning-to-bipolar-type-i https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/PaL38q9a4e8Bzsh3S/elon-musk-... https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/03/ketamine-effects-elon-musk/681911/ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/03/ketamine-...
        jakeydus 1y ago
        You keep saying I’m in a bubble. I read the Vance bio, and the Isaacson one. I came away with very different opinions of him. At least the Isaacson book didn’t leave me with the taste of boots in my mouth.
        WalterBright 1y ago
        > in the right place at the right time in possession significant capital as genius 1. he created the capital he had 2. he is not the only person with capital 3. the opportunities he saw, no one else did When someone wins the lottery 3 times in a row, it is no longer credible to call it "luck". He's simply a genius.
- WalterBright 1y ago
  > Nothing he does is to benefit other people The only way Elon makes money is through people voluntarily giving it to him in exchange for what he creates.
  - jjcob 1y ago
    That, and billions of government contracts and subsidies.
    - WalterBright 1y ago
      The government contracts were simply being paid for a service, like you paying a taxi for a ride. Not a gift in any way, shape, or form. The subsidies were EV subsidies, which were available for all electric cars.
cosmicgadget 1y ago
Caligula was pretty successful too. Maybe money and power aren't the magical trump card you think they are.
hn_acc1 1y ago
Pretty sure there's a correlation between intelligence + sociopathy and money.

jakeydus 1y ago

I hope not, I'd rather have fewer narcissistic sociopaths in the world. He only cares about himself and what people think of him. Nothing he does is to benefit other people. He's not Iron Man, he's Lex Luthor. I guess people have always idolized the creeps of the world, though.

marknutter 1y ago
It will never cease to amaze me how some people think they can know somebody the've never met as well as you think you do. I attribute it to projection.
- buellerbueller 1y ago
  [flagged]
- jjcob 1y ago
  This guy tweets all day and the press talks about every little thing he ever does, there are hundreds of videos of him on youtube, dozens of his employees and ex-employees telling stories about him on the net. How much more do you think you are going to learn if you actually talk to him?
  - 0xDEAFBEAD 1y ago
    I would argue a lot of Musk haters are not getting a representative sample of his behavior, but rather only the most outrageous things he says and does, which tend to be the things that penetrate their bubble.
    - jakeydus 1y ago
      I don’t hate him. I think he’s a sad, small man who makes himself feel big by being a bully and faking technical experience and knowledge. I think his fans confuse being in the right place at the right time in possession significant capital as genius. I think he is an incredibly toxic public figure. I think farming outrage and feeding trolls is bad for everyone. I think Nazi salutes are bad. I think that lying is bad. I think abandoning children is bad. I think buddying up with fascists is bad. So sure maybe I miss out on his generous acts but honestly he does enough bad that I don’t particularly care about any good he does. He’s only doing it for himself anyway.
      - 0xDEAFBEAD 1y ago
        I read this Musk biography a few years ago: https://www.amazon.com/Elon-Musk-SpaceX-Fantastic-Future/dp/006230125X https://www.amazon.com/Elon-Musk-SpaceX-Fantastic-Future/dp/... I don't think he's short of technical skill. I think he is a genius, and I think he's sincere in his desire to make humanity multiplanetary. I recommend reading the biography to get the facts that aren't penetrating your bubble. I think Musk is going kind of insane due to ketamine abuse, bipolar disorder, and/or whatever caused his father to go insane around his current age. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/PaL38q9a4e8Bzsh3S/elon-musk-may-be-transitioning-to-bipolar-type-i https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/PaL38q9a4e8Bzsh3S/elon-musk-... https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/03/ketamine-effects-elon-musk/681911/ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/03/ketamine-...
        jakeydus 1y ago
        You keep saying I’m in a bubble. I read the Vance bio, and the Isaacson one. I came away with very different opinions of him. At least the Isaacson book didn’t leave me with the taste of boots in my mouth.
      - WalterBright 1y ago
        > in the right place at the right time in possession significant capital as genius 1. he created the capital he had 2. he is not the only person with capital 3. the opportunities he saw, no one else did When someone wins the lottery 3 times in a row, it is no longer credible to call it "luck". He's simply a genius.
WalterBright 1y ago
> Nothing he does is to benefit other people The only way Elon makes money is through people voluntarily giving it to him in exchange for what he creates.
- jjcob 1y ago
  That, and billions of government contracts and subsidies.
  - WalterBright 1y ago
    The government contracts were simply being paid for a service, like you paying a taxi for a ride. Not a gift in any way, shape, or form. The subsidies were EV subsidies, which were available for all electric cars.

cosmicgadget 1y ago

Caligula was pretty successful too. Maybe money and power aren't the magical trump card you think they are.

hn_acc1 1y ago

Pretty sure there's a correlation between intelligence + sociopathy and money.