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Comment by DustinBrett | Hacker News Reader

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Elon has done sufficiently impressive things which is why it’s sad that he has to make up a whole bunch of new things to try to impress people. Being the richest man alive is not enough he also has to be the best gamer as well. If he lies about small things that don’t matter then how could I trust him to tell the truth on important things that do matter.

Howard Hughes also did impressive things. Built amazingly advanced aircraft for the era. Started a Hollywood movie studio. Owned one of the world’s largest airlines. His company (after his death of course) provided satellite IP links for decades before Elon showed up with a cheaper option.

He died as an isolated insane hermit wearing kleenex boxes as shoes and collecting his urine in mason jars.

I think that we have already seen peak Elon, and the only thing we will see in the future is his continued descent into madness, which I expect will be aided and abetted by his business associates, just as Howard Huges’s illness was.

Hughes had untreated syphilis. He was highly promiscuous before modern antibiotics and he paid for it.

Because people can be more than one thing, and aren't perfect?

Perfect was not the bar that was set. Elon can be the richest person in the world and a lair at the same time. It's about what kind of person lies about being one of the best gamers in the world when clearly they're not. This is of course not the only thing he has lied about but it is possibly the pettiest. And possibly the stupidest because the very people it was supposed to impress were going to find out near instantly and now despise him for it. Consider his foray into politics, it wasn't enough to sway the elections with a large sum of money he also had to insert himself into the process. In addition to being the best gamer he was trying to be the best politician - the result was a catastrophic failure. I'm still pretty convinced Adrian Dittmann is his sock puppet account and his attempt at being the best streamer as well. Done 'anonymously' to make the case that he's not bootstrapping on his other successes but not too anonymously to avoid being totally irrelevant.

So, do you hold yourself to the same standard?

Yes

OK, that's good.

I assume then, when you've had a massive positive influence on the world, employed hundred of thousands, brought electric vehicles to the mainstream, built a rocket company and blanketed the entire planet in affordable, high speed internet, etc... then you'll agree with the people on the internet that attack you because you claim to be a better video game player than you actually are.

In your hypothetical you are asking that if I was a lier would I be ok with it. One would have to presume that I wouldn’t be a lier if I wasn’t also ok with it. I am neither a lier and if somehow I had lied I would also not be ok with it and would hope others hold me to a better standard.

So, there's no such thing as degrees?

When someone asks you casually "Hey, how's it going?" Do you tell them about your terrible day, or say "Not bad, and you?"

There are differences in degree. No one is 100% honest all the time, thankfully.

I think it's strange to be so hostile towards someone for something so relatively minor compared to his other achievements.

Here is a joke that explains it https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A85ipUgy5B4

Doing great deeds does not give him nor anyone else a licence to lie.

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