What Ketamine Does to the Human Brain | Hacker News Reader

What Ketamine Does to the Human Brain

theatlantic.com

17 pointscoloneltcb23 comments

It seems like everyone on the internet either hates Elon or loves him. I would like to explore a third perspective: Maybe he's a guy who genuinely meant well at one point, overworked himself, has fallen on hard times, and is now hurting both himself and others.

So many considered him to be a hero 5-10 years ago. Is it really right to turn your back on a hero when they're going through a crisis?

I don't know if constant vicious condemnation is the best way to let someone know they need help.

You make a good point. It is always best to direct one's ire at the action rather than the person. On the other hand, while I always want to believe that people can change for the better, very few do. I do try to work on my character, but it is rather hard, and I know that I have lots of room for improvement. When people think they are very close to perfect, they often spend less time on introspection. -- It is easier to help a neurotic than someone with character disorder.

I've never seen Elon claim he's close to perfect. To the contrary, I can remember specific instances of him being pretty open about his flaws and mistakes.

Recently he seems to struggle to admit he's made a mistake, but I think all of us would, given his public profile. Think about it -- currently at least half the world hates him; if he admits he's been screwing up, almost everyone will hate him (his former allies will hate him for being weak/traitorous). It's just human nature to double down in those circumstances, I think.

This direction of inquiry might ultimately be irrelevant, in that Musk's actions speak louder than his words.

If a person says "I'm not perfect" but never actually reforms their recklessly harmful behavior, then it's really just an attempt to deflect criticism.

I seem to recall him talking about some mistakes he made which made it hard to get the Tesla factory going. Once he fixed those mistakes things worked a lot better.

Hard times sitting on hundred of billions? Really? He uses his wealth and power to cause problems for regular people.

I'd rather be broke and addicted to drugs than rich and addicted to drugs. At least if you're broke, there are natural limits to your consumption.

considering his public opinions have flip flopped entirely, it totally makes sense to turn your back on a dude who is speed running the hero to villain arc

I'm unsure to what degree his public opinions have flip-flopped. Previously, Elon was fairly apolitical, and was concerned about global warming. I've never seen him announce that he's no longer concerned about global warming. He's acquired new concerns about the so-called "woke mind virus" etc., but he wasn't exactly known for political progressivism in the past, so I don't count that as a flip-flop.

i mean i read his tweets. he has flipped his stance. google it. heres an ai summary to give a semblance of proof Criticism of censorship and then censoring content: Musk has criticized what he perceived as censorship by Twitter and other platforms, while also being accused of censoring content on his own platform, X. Promoting free speech and then taking action against accounts: Musk has championed free speech, but has also been criticized for suspending or restricting accounts that he deemed critical of his policies or other figures. Claiming to be a "free speech absolutist" and then engaging in censorship: Musk has stated that he is a "free speech absolutist," but has also been accused of engaging in censorship, particularly regarding content critical of his own actions or those of his companies. Criticizing the UK government and then interacting with UK politicians: Musk has criticized the UK government and its policies, while also interacting with UK politicians on his platform. Criticizing the European Commission and then praising the EU: Musk has criticized the European Commission, while also praising the EU on other occasions. Promoting conspiracy theories and then claiming to be against misinformation: Musk has promoted conspiracy theories, while also claiming to be against misinformation. Criticizing the SEC and then interacting with them: Musk has criticized the SEC, while also interacting with them on his platform. Claiming to be a "non-profit" and then making money from Twitter: Musk claimed to have acquired the "world's largest non-profit" for $44 billion, but Twitter had in fact reported profit in 2018 and 2019.

Attacking a rescuer who absolutely was right as a "pedo guy" was 5-10 years ago, man.

It's been longer since there were rumors about Elon's "personality". I always disregarded them as rumors without deep value, which I still believe it's the right thing to do, but I won't deny they were there all along.

> Attacking a rescuer

Checked out of curiosity: 2018/07/15, so coming up on 6 years 8 months now.

https://web.archive.org/web/20180715141116/https://twitter.c...

Two things can both be true: Elon has always been a bit erratic, and it's gotten significantly worse recently.

I think Elon was fairly well regarded prior to the pedo guy remark, so I'd say my statement is still accurate.

The issue with the pedo thing was not being "erratic". It was rather massive moral failure and intent to harm.

How about misinfo / unsupported claims that have been spread about Musk himself? Would you also call these "massive moral failure and intent to harm"?

https://www.snopes.com/list/5-elon-musk-facts-that-have-been...

Thinking of this in particular: https://www.snopes.com/news/2022/11/17/elon-musk-emerald-min...

I never heard about those ... and none of them makes Musk pedo comments better. Or current nazi salutes better.

There is enough true about Musk that paints him as someone way more sinister then just "erratic" person.

> I don't know if constant vicious condemnation is the best way to let someone know they need help.

What’s the theory here? If everyone’s really nice to him and pretends that he’s a good government official, he’ll resign and go to a psychiatrist?

Like, come on, really.

How would you hold an intervention for a friend?

Differently than I'd protest the actions of someone who is doing things I consider actively harmful to my world, probably.

Let's not rewrite history, he's always been a megalomaniac. Hyperloop started 12 years ago as a way to derail investment into high speed rail. [1]

People who considered him a hero 5-10 years ago were blinded by their own worship.

[1] https://xcancel.com/parismarx/status/1557702368417964032

Eh, I'm skeptical.

https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/1ekv0n2/com...

I read Elon's biography like 10 years ago and came away with a positive impression. No one is perfect. Even if the Hyperloop thing is true, over-fixating on it seems like hindsight bias. With sufficient creativity, any event can be considered as foreshadowed.

Based on the actual biography, I think Elon proposed Hyperloop because he is passionate about high-speed rail, not as an attempted derail:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EDN5mmpVAAAYo1F.jpg?name=orig

The fault appears to be with California's mediocrity, not Elon. In fact this episode basically illustrates to me that Elon is not super-egotistical, and thought the state of California could do something great if they put their minds to it. The mindset that "Elon described an idea, but we know it would only succeed if Elon lead the project, so his not leading was an act of sabotage" is rather revealing.

By default, constructively criticizing a government project should be considered as a contribution.

https://archive.ph/C3kGV

> Even infrequent users—those who used, on average, roughly three times a month—scored higher on a delusional-thought scale than ex–ketamine users, people who took other drugs, and people who didn’t use drugs at all. Those who averaged 20 uses a month scored even higher. People believed that they were the sole recipients of secret messages, or that society and people around them were especially attuned to them. The psychological profile of a frequent ketamine user, Morgan and her team concluded, was someone who had “profound” impairments in short- and long-term memory and was “distinctly dissociated in their day-to-day existence.”

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