Elon Cleaning House

Or best case scenario, he really thought it was that easy and black and white going in - although that's hard for me to imagine given his intelligence. But in that event, he could restore some credibility by simply admitting he miscalculated and underestimated the nuances and considerations involved.

 

Some shareholders are starting to call for him to step down at Tesla.

'Tesla has no working CEO': As stock drops 61% from its peak, a major Tesla shareholder calls for Elon Musk's ouster

 

"Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth."

 

Stupid paranoia.

Had a hard time logging into Twitter this morning. I have not sent out a tweet since 2014 then only to enter into a contest. All of my DMs are about Gator basketball. All I could think of was that they are looking at the accounts I follow, and banning liberals.

Alas, logged in without incident on the next try.

This guy is driving us crazy, or at least driving me crazy

 

Musk wasn't even the founder of Tesla although he was largely responsible for its success.
Tesla founders Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning talk about the early days and bringing on Elon Musk

 

This whole experience has me thinking of this quote:

 

It's hypocritical when Musk incited violence against one of his own employees, Yoel Roth, who had to vacate his home due to threats of violence against him and his family. Is Musk going to ban himself for this?

Former Twitter executive Yoel Roth was reportedly forced to flee his home in the wake of threats spurred by the 'Twitter Files' and increased criticism from Elon Musk

 

Snowflake billionaire

 

Too often overlooked given Musk's predilections is that fact that he is the product of niche of tech utopians like Thiel with a very specific demented worldview that we are seeing fail as a natural experiment. Unfortunately, empirical failure rarely kills dangerous ideologies. Thread

 

That big short interest has been cashing checks

 

I'm down for bashing all of Musk's recent behaviors, but we shouldn't let his apparent swan dive into craziness take away from, or distort what he has accomplished - and he was very much responsible for a lot of it.

Take in this reddit thread on his input into SpaceX.

 

So was it his idea to mooch off of NASA infrastructure and shoot a car into space for the lulz?

 

Almost assuredly!

Those photos are arguably the coolest pictures ever taken in space and likely did a lot to create excitement about space exploration for the first time in decades.

 

Without knowing any of the details, I instinctively believe that while his prior giant successes may have been exaggerated as a product of his personal genius, they cannot be minimal or nonexistent. As I said earlier in the thread, it is nearly impossible to accomplish what he has without significant personal attributes/accomplishments. Again, I don't know the details but I've never believed that all of his prior success was illusory or predatory.

At the same time, I think the far bigger danger in our current zeitgeist is the mistaken belief in the sole genius who births great human accomplishments without collaboration. It just doesn't exist, really in any human endeavor. There is no great accomplishment that is the product of a single individual's effort. Almost every great invention attributed to a single individual was usually "discovered" in parallel with numerous other individuals, with the "inventor" that gets the credit largely figuring out a way to monetize it better or otherwise been fortuitous in being recognized as the sole inventor.

Yet we feed that myth continually, to or detriment.

While Elon may now be subject to unmerited criticism of his prior record as entirely void of personal accomplishment, I think his financial success can be attributed in significant part to the individual genius myth

 

That's another point incidental to my one above. Almost all great accomplishments, especially his, travel on and use prior public investments.

No criticism in that. It's our model. Government funds generalized research (i.e., mapping human genome), entrepreneurs apply it into applied research for profit (drugs/therapies). This model is a large part of our university system.

What drives me crazy is that after they do, they again get into that myth of sole individual accomplishment and begrudge any request to pay taxes or otherwise recognize any public obligation or role.

Ramesh Ponnunru has an op-ed circulating on conservatives attempts to delegitimize ESG investing, which I look at as a species/corollary of the same defective thought process.

 

It's the classic Great Man Theory that dominated our telling of history for so long. Now "trends and forces" are more often viewed as the catalysts of great change.

I think both can be true at the same time, but don't have to be. Trends and forces create opportunities that great leaders can grab and elevate. Would EVs and reusable rockets have come into being without Elon Musk? Most likely. Would they be where they are today without Elon Musk? I don't think so.

We all stand on the shoulders of giants.

 

yup. And just like you were butthurt about it before - now you think its great. Weird how that works.

 

All true, although I was trying to express something different from the "great man" political debate. I was referring to inventions/"progress" achievements. I view those as distinct in analysis, because politics presupposes motivating others. I was trying to talk about the myth of the sole creator. But your points are solid

 

Apparently Musk doesn’t want twitter to broadcast Russian Oligarch plane locations.

 

So all is good, thanks!