Comment by Florin_Andrei | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Florin_Andrei | Hacker News Reader

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> But if I were to have a living hero, it'd be Elon Musk.

I do have a living hero, and he is Elon Musk.

Has anyone noticed the parallels with Schwarzenegger, and the differences?

When Arnold was a young athlete, someone asked him "so what do you want to do with your life?" He said: "I'd like to be a bodybuilding world champion. Then I'd like to become an actor. Then I'd like to do politics."

He nailed every single one of those goals. But please notice those are the ultimate goals of the individual ego (more precisely, of the male ego): physical power, fame, money, and political power. He's basically Conan in real life.

Now, Elon Musk also made a list of the most important issues to solve - the ones most important for the planet, for humanity as a whole, not for the little individual ego. We need a clean environment, we need energy, and we need to put some of our eggs in another basket.

And then he went on knocking them off the list one by one. First PayPal, to achieve financial independence. Then Tesla Motors (good for the environment), Solar City (energy), and SpaceX (Mars colonization). And he's willing to risk his own life to achieve those goals.

I've no doubt, Elon Musk is up there among the greatest. If he makes it to Mars, one day kids will learn his name from the history books.

It does seem all very noble except when you remember that SpaceX sees itself as a military weapons company. In almost every interview, amongst the background hype, he makes a mention of defence.

Rocketry is a dual-use technology; it can be used for good (satellites, exploration, science) or for launching explosives around the world. Paints are also a dual-use technology; it can be used for good (art) or evil (it can get you high).

Do we label every paint manufacturer a drug dealer because they have a product that can be misused?

evil (it can get you high)

-_-. You could have come up with a less politically charged example than that (perhaps any arbitrary blunt, heavy, or sharp object?).

He could have chose graffiti, but regardless his still had a very valid point.

On the contrary, I seem to recall him saying something to the effect of "it's unfortunate than the U.S. government classifies spacecraft as weapons, so we have to do everything in house."

Found it: http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2012/05/spacex-... (although his assessment of rockets being classified as weapons seems more neutral than I remembered it)

"rocket technology is ... considered an advanced weapons technology so you can't really [outsource] - so in our case manufacturing is necessary."

Name me one weapon SpaceX has had a hand in developing.

Name me one.

I submit that it is Elon's individual ego that drives him to strive for and achieve these goals. Its just that his goals seem broader to you than Arnie's. And to a large extent they are. But the goals are driven by his ego, and not some mumbo jumbo altruistic feeling.

Uh... it's complicated. And that ("it's complicated") is something one needs to repeat often when talking about psychology with computer folks. ;)

Yes, it's his ego driving him. No, I did not imply he's a saint. Yes, his goals are more broad.

Careful with judgements like this, since they are often projections of your own self. In other words, you saw in my statements things that irritate you, and responded to those projections.

And finally, joining and equating mumbo-jumbo with altruism is already very revealing in terms of your own attitude. ;)

And, with that, the armchair psychologist is signing off.

I am not afraid of revealing my values. And what do I have to be careful about?

Cockroaches hide in dark places.

I don't believe that is a driving factor. Is it that hard to believe someone would want to do something soo ambitious just because they want the future to be better? I would say that's the default desire of a human being until it's beaten out of them by society.

> they want

That want is driven by ego.

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