Times Elon Musk Said ‘Do as I Say, Not as I Do’ About Remote Work | Hacker News Reader

Times Elon Musk Said ‘Do as I Say, Not as I Do’ About Remote Work

gizmodo.com

6 pointsbelter7 comments

Does anyone serious take Elon Musk seriously after all these years of hardtrolling the globe?

I believe that if more billionaires shed more light on their thoughts the way Elon does people would conclude that vast majority of them are not geniuses just ruthless idiots that got lucky.

That's in part true, but also Elon is still quite "special", given not just how he speaks, but how he acts (i.e. the entire Twitter transaction to begin with).

Plus I prefer a quiet, well-mannered idiot, because it restricts the damage.

Back when I believed Elon Musk, I even got inspired in my own work by his words, and this is now lost. I'm no better for it, the world is no better for it. We need some beautiful lies to aspire to. As they say "don't meet your idols". And we meet Elon every day, on Twitter.

One good thing that has come out is the acceleration in acceptance of electric cars, battery tech, and charging network. I also don't think NASA would have outsourced anything without the developments of Space X.

Re NASA that’s factually incorrect. It didn’t occur NASA to fund SpaceX while they were in the middle of it. They had a contract open before that. Electric cars - sure. But we had hybrids and small electrics before this. And I find it questionable if large electrics make sense at all in terms of cost, eco impact and longevity. The propaganda doesn’t match reality. He sure is good at propaganda and empty promises though.

I think most of them have much higher EQ that probably makes them more normal even if it also makes them better at hiding their faults. Trump and Elon are a little different somehow, they really really want continuous affirmation from their biggest fans all the time and will do whatever it takes to get it.

It is entertaining. Elon has stacked a house of cards that's pretty compelling: Without Starlink, SpaceX isn't worth its valuation, without a very profitable Starship you can't launch a constellation big enough, cheaply enough, to make the Starlink numbers work. Without robotaxi revenue Tesla is just a car OEM with car OEM valuation. Without Tesla's robotaxi-driven valuation, Elon gets a margin call on his remaining liquidity and the Twitter LBO creditors who can't sell their debt end up owning Twitter.

Some things are rickety already: Blowing up the launch pad makes it impossible for SpaceX to be on time with a lunar lander variant of Starship. If they blow it up again Starship viability is questionable.

It makes WeWork, Wirecard, FTX, etc. look dull and obvious. Elondammerung is the epic entertainment event of the next year or two.

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