Incredible. And still, the guy who makes things possible again and again gets a lot of poison thrown his way.
Human nature at work. On both sides.
Human nature at work. On both sides.
Shame.
Steve Jobs is a nice, more recent example, being just about old enough to remember his death, I know he was very much an asshole with many strongly held opinions most people would've disliked, but a current teenager is probably only aware that he was the visionary founder of Apple.
Bill Gates is also an interesting example, he was notorious for being cutthroat back in his day, but since he has mostly just been doing charity stuff since retirement, that reputation is fading.
Galileo was notorious for being a douche.
The world is complex. I'm a huge SpaceX fan, and a big critic of Musk's handling of Twitter. It's OK to hold these opinions simultaneously.
Then we're in a agreement that Musk's arbitrary bans (https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/04/elon-musk-twitter-st... / https://theintercept.com/2022/11/29/elon-musk-twitter-andy-n...) are bad. I'm glad!
Musk is not perfect but compared to the way the previous leadership handled the ban hammer he's doing quite well. I hope he ends up leaving TwiXXer in capable hands who take freedom of expression seriously and who are on the level with regard to policies and supposed violations of such. Who do not allow themselves to be used by governments to circumvent their own laws with regard to the suppression of speech. Who follow the law of the land, not the feelings of a few noisy extremists. I'd rather have people like Musk focus on projects like SpaceX but I see it as a net positive that he wrested control of 'the public square' away from ideologues who had turned it into the 'Red Square'. May it end up like (my possibly idealised idea of) Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park where anyone can put down a soapbox, climb on it and say what's on his mind as long as he stays within the bounds set by law. If what he says makes sense he'll mostly get applause plus a few boos and jeers, it it doesn't he'll get pelted with rotten tomatoes.
</soapbox>
I get the dislike - his politics are pretty reprehensible - but it’s hard to argue with the results his businesses generally achieve.
What he brings to the table apart from money is an absolutely bull-headed madcap drive to make the infeasible into reality in the face of a chorus of naysayers, and that, I respect.
>What he brings to the table apart from money is an absolutely bull-headed madcap drive to make the infeasible into reality in the face of a chorus of naysayers, and that, I respect.
This is exactly my point. Elon didn't make the infeasible into reality, other people did, and could have done without him. And if his behavior at Twitter and Tesla are any indication, his "absolutely bull-headed madcap drive" has to be managed and worked around lest it do more harm than good.
But it’s not due to him alone, but also due to the people that he managed to attract, hire and keep. Due to the people he passed the responsibility onto, and just as much due to the processes and philosophy he put in place. Alone having the people doesn’t guarantee success on this scale, you need the magic stuff, and the vision.
Nobody else did what he has done today with Starship or in the past with enough other things. And when it comes to costs and capabilities of Starship, nobody is even close. Not even close.
It can't be merely "other people" who are responsible for the success of SpaceX, because Blue Origin (and other rocket companies like ULA) also have "other people", but are not anywhere near as successful.
Musk had, at the very least, the ability to pick good talent, enough commitment to try for one last launch even after burning through most of his fortune with no results and the ability to establish good culture for an R&D focused company. This is relatively well documented in books about the early days of SpaceX.
Theoretically someone else could have made the exact same decisions as him, but by that same logic Einstein should not be praised for his contributions to science because someone else could've theoretically had the same realizations.