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Since you seem to be earnest here: 1. Tesla single-handedly spurred the widespread consumer adoption of electric cars. 2. He's the first person to ever get rock
by epsteingpt 4mo ago
Since you seem to be earnest here:
1. Tesla single-handedly spurred the widespread consumer adoption of electric cars.
2. He's the first person to ever get rockets to orbit and back - governments had been trying for years.
Yes space satellites will be used for surveillance, but you should be much more worried about your digital footprint than your physical one.
I dunno - there are people to be worried about as supervillains maybe. Musk doesn't seem like the worst of them.
You can argue with his values, but his impact... harder to do.
- dtagames 4mo agoI definitely concede that he popularized electric cars in the modern era (they predated gasoline cars in invention) and I'm grateful for that. But just as the US managed to kill the electric car the first time, no actual social benefit of electric cars is accruing here in the US. Is that Tesla's fault? Somewhat. At his core, Elon lives his values. I don't think they're socially motivated.
- botacode 4mo agoThere is significant value to reducing pollution (in human health and flourishing). That said, GP comment is intellectually dishonest. It doesn't account for the negative externalities of his choices/politics that, as you correctly identify, are tied to his values.
- retrochameleon 4mo agoI think his personal impact is overstated. Maybe I have a bad taste in my mouth from overzealous fanboys, but all I see is a manchild who likes scifi and tech, and threw a bunch of money he didn't work very hard to get in the first place at the right problem at the right time. The reason Tesla and SpaceX succeed is because of every person at the company besides Musk. Have you forgotten Musk nearly sabotaging their own company with tweets tanking their stocks?
- NetMageSCW 4mo agoI think I will take the word of the world’s foremost rocket engine designer and person who was in the room over that of a random Internet commenter.
- sidibe 4mo agoPeople are well incentivized to gas him up or they don't want to cross his cultists so it's just easier to go along with it. Just listen to him talk with confidence about something you know about and extrapolate rather than trusting what someone else is saying about him.