Comment on Elon Musk vows ‘thermonuclear lawsuit’ as advertisers flee X over antisemitism

ilinamorato@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• Lianodel@ttrpg.network ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Wikipedia lists him as a founder

  Does it? I expected better of Wikipedia, so I checked, and both Musk’s page and Tesla’s avoid simply listing him as a founder by explaining the situation, i.e., that he was an early investor. Even the sidebar for Tesla, Inc. just links to a subsection rather than listing names.

  Just a note to add:

  It’s a very common piece of misinformation that he was determined to be a founder in a court of law. That never happened. It was part of an agreement to avoid a lawsuit. It’s a lie that the relevant parties could all live with as part of a larger settlement.

  I like to ask Musk apologists, “Do you need to found a company to be that company’s founder, yes or no?” If they waffle or say “no,” there’s no point continuing in good faith, because they’re not serious people. It’s not hard to say “Okay, that’s a bit of a fib, he should be called an honorary founder, but blah blah blah…” But if they can’t even do that, then they aren’t operating based on reality.

  source

  • cashews_best_nut@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    But what is reality? Is it vijñapti-mātra?

    source
  • weew@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I will respond to this by asking “is registering the name of a company the only thing that counts when founding a company?”

    Because that’s what the original founders did. They registered the name. No patents, no designs, no engineering, no staff. They registered the name, then went searching for VC money.

    source
• weew@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Ok, it sounds like you’re trying real hard to split hairs.

  Not just the company itself and Wikipedia, but legally, he is a founder. That was the outcome of the lawsuit.

  It’s true that the first 2 founders legally registered the corporate entity known as “Tesla Motors”. Then for the next year, they didn’t do jack shit involving anything automotive… they were just going around looking for investors.

  Musk was basically their first, and biggest, investor. They didn’t actually hire any engineers or, you know, actually start doing anything until Musk’s money came into play.

  source

  • JohnDoe@lemmy.myserv.one ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    The rule of law in a specific geographic area in a specific period of time isn’t nearly as important as the meaning conveyed which is misleading.

    Rather than missing the forest for the trees, why might he push for the title of founder? Why might some discredit his efforts and tactics in assuming the founder of title in specific contexts?

    He did not play a meaningful role in the beginning of the company and is not responsible for its success. Money was responsible, the two founders’ expertise was responsible, that specific person is not special enough for their contribution to matter much. Anyone can supply capital especially during the inflated economic conditions (of which we are suffering the consequences of now) and during the time where EV and technology at large was developed enough to allow such developments to take place.

    source

    • weew@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      He did not play a meaningful role in the beginning of the company and is not responsible for its success. Money was responsible

      You say that, but applies just as well to the first 2 founders.

      the two founders’ expertise was responsible

      What expertise? Seriously, tell me what they actually brought to the table aside from pitching their idea for a company and attracting venture capitalist money.

      source

      • wildginger@lemmy.myserv.one ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Was elon choosing who was hired, and managing the initial company team?

        Cause if writing the title and coming up with the ideas doesnt count as founding, giving up some cash doesnt either. Thats just buying a company, not founding it.

        source

        • -> View More Comments
      • I_dont_believe_it@lemmynsfw.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        See I’d tend to think that founding a company has to be more than just registering a name. Like maybe that’s the dictionary definition, but it seems a bit weak if that’s it.

        source
      • foofy@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Did musk hire expertise? Or do the actual engineering?

        It sounds like your actual argument is that neither he nor they founded the company.

        source
      • JohnDoe@lemmy.myserv.one ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        I was meaning to respond but I think other’s have. I have one of those 30+ min YouTube videos or similarly ridiculously long blog posts (and a longform article somewhere…) though I think you might not be interested so I’ll keep it to myself unless you are interested in a good faith argument (argument, root word is the latin argumentum, to make clear; prove), I would rather not waste your time or my breath if that isn’t the case.

        source