If Musk just shut his face and kept doing his thing, he would have been a historic figure. Not Edison or Tesla famous, but like an Alexander Bell tier name sure. Especially if his Mars plans panned out. But dude wanted to be Tony Stark and forgot that Stark was charming and likable (in the movies at least) and he… is not.
Comment on Mmusks new ideas
phoneymouse@lemmy.world 11 months agoJust like a year ago it was considered an essential part of modern discourse and society. The media was heavily dependent on Twitter. If Elon had simply kept his stupid mouth shut, he wouldn’t have been forced to buy the company, let alone for such a high price. Once purchased, if he had been less of a maniac and just managed Twitter in a boring way that maintained the status quo, then it would still be better off today than it currently is. Everything Elon has done has made the company less valuable.
Wayward@compuverse.uk 11 months ago
FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Not really. Not by any stretch of the imagination. He’s more of a Carnegie type. except Carnegie managed to convince people he was actually a good person. (his philanthropy is responsible for a LOT of the libraries. But also, he came down hard when it came to union busting, and a lot of his dirty work was done by Henry Frick.)
In any case, the reality is, his prior ‘good’ reputation- including for all things you’re saying he’s going to be famous for doing- is more the result of having a good PR staff keep him looking … like that. he’s not a founder of Tesla. he’s not a brilliant engineer (or a brilliant anything else.) he’s just a rich guy tossing money around to make it grow.
Ryantific_theory@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I mean, he had a genuinely good reputation prior to the big money and PR back in 2012-ish. I followed him because I love space stuff, and he was this awkward nerd pushing for electric cars, solar power, and reusable rockets, which were so insane it was basically considered impossible. Most of his early twitter conversations were discussing rocket details with other space nerds, pulling videos of RUDs on request, and sharing some of the hidden numbers that we’d normally never have access to. He was genuinely involved in the early years at SpaceX.
Up until he called the guy who saved the cave children a pedo, he was basically held up as one of the individuals who would be responsible for changing the world for the better. An actual example of capitalism being used to push society forward. Then it was a steady downward spiral, but early Elon was basically just a nerd that liked rockets and green tech. Had he stuck in that lane, and not been greedy about squeezing every penny of profit out of Tesla workers, he’d probably still be considered the “real life Iron Man” instead of another classic example of how capitalists are consumed by greed.
So, don’t get me wrong, I am deeply disappointed in what he’s decided to do with himself, but he was a legitimately popular figure and led SpaceX to face off against the military-industrial space industry and break a monopoly that’s been in place for half a century. The myth was exaggerated, but his initial popularity was earned before being wasted.
LexiconDexicon@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I’m sorry but only delusional 12 year olds ever believed Muskrat was anything but an attention whore, all of us engineers saw right through the act
zeppo@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Squeezing every penny of profit from workers is awful of course, but pretty much par for the course. Where he went wrong was in being a sad and desperate acting attention whore and never shutting the fuck up, while pushing ideas, people and viewpoints that a large amount of people find objectionable. It’s what make people like Zuckerberg or Spez not seem quite as douchey. If they tried to make themselves the #1 star on their platforms they’d probably end up embarrassing themselves too, but they mercifully don’t.
Hopps@lemmy.world 11 months ago
This is a great summary of the fall of Elon Musk. I admired him too years ago until he went off the rails. RIP to the better decisions and the their benefits that this man could have made.
azuth@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Especially if his Mars plans panned out.
His Mars plan cannot pan out, no more than using rockets in place of airplanes for international travel.
The man is a compulsive attention seeker. He owns some companies that legitimately are good at what they do, arguably pioneers in their field. It’s not enough for him. SpaceX being the leading rocket launcher is not enough for him. Doing something already possible, even if done many times better or cheaper is not flashy enough for him. He needs to go to Mars.
The problem with that is that he is probably going to at least destroy the companies having them chasing his pie in the sky ideas as well as possibly having people die (depending on how far along he manages to take some of his plans).
zeppo@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I thought what he said about his new AI company was hilarious. His new AI company seeks to ‘understand the true nature of the universe’. Just jaw droppingly pretentious, it so on-brand for him, as techno-Jesus.
Ryantific_theory@lemmy.world 11 months ago
There’s nothing wrong with SpaceX’s Mars launch plan, and while the rocket travel plan is niche (read: ultra rich), it’s viable assuming Starship winds up hitting the same reliability levels as airplanes. Course, worst thing that happens is a couple hundred millionaires and billionaires die, so… I see no downsides lol.
Obviously, I’m not gonna defend Elon himself, but sending a Super Heavy to Mars isn’t some grand project like it would be for NASA. For one, other than the engines it only takes a couple of months to build a new booster and Starship, and for two it would take a minimum of 6 months for the Starship to reach Mars after launch (from the optimal window), essentially tying up a single Starship. It also tests low gravity propulsive landing, which is being designed for one of the Artemis landers, as well as the fuel conversion process using solar power to convert CO2 into methane rocket fuel. Which would greatly simplify future NASA projects for Mars.
I doubt there would be a NASA mission on an untested launch platform, but the lack of payload is also what makes it so cheap. They might toss some projects as a just in case, but it’s otherwise an interplanetary proof of concept. I might hate Elon, but SpaceX is currently the best rocket company around, with the Super Heavy likely to make the Space Launch System obsolete the moment it’s certified for government launches.
azuth@lemmy.world 11 months ago
If you mean launching a rocket to Mars, yes eventually they will be able to do that. That is not what Musk’s bullshit. It’s a permanent base with people on Mars.
The rocket travel plan is not niche, it’s impossible. Sound (environmental) concerns, refueling time cutting into the flight time benefit on turnover, Gs exerted on launch etc. Moreover Musk billed it as a regular service not a “dive to Titanic” kind of activity for billionaires.
It’s also impossible to make a rocket as reliable as a plane. If you seriously consider that possible I cannot argue with you on any other point. Just the planes ability to land and maneuver unpowered makes it much more safer and reliable. The nature of it’s fuel itself makes it much safer and reliable.
Starship/SuperHeavy is not ready. Engine production rate is a huge problem and they need a lot of them per vehicle. They also currently are unreliable with quite a few failures on the last launch. Some might be a result of the first failing but there were at least two clusters of failure, suggesting at least two independent failures.
So when they get SS/SH working the best thing to do would be to take government contracts, or fly Starlink satellites up if it’s profitable. But yeah sending a rocket to Mars for free is exactly the kind of stunt I would expect Musk to do. Like demanding the launch to be on 4/20.
SuddenDownpour@lemmy.world 11 months ago
forgot that Stark was charming and likable (in the movies at least)
But is he, really? I haven’t watched much Marvel but I distinctly remember Tony Stark as a jerk, and that’s even dismissing his bullshit ideology of
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc8qbcIMZVg
I’ve Successfully Privatized World Peace
PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks [bot] 11 months ago
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): piped.video/watch?v=yc8qbcIMZVg
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
Sarcastik@lemmy.world 11 months ago
That’s kinda the point of his character ark. It takes till the end for him to really show us who he is deep down. Also, RDJ nailed the balance of ego and redeeming qualities.
But Elon is not the hero of any story. He’s the evil child playing with a magnifying glass on an anthill and he views everyone but him as an ant.
Fuck Elon and I can’t wait till the Saudis come to collect on that $44B they loaned him.
SuddenDownpour@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Fuck Elon and I can’t wait till the Saudis come to collect on that $44B they loaned him.
Well, this is news to me. The Saudis owning Tesla is definitely going to be a bitter joke.
LexiconDexicon@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Out of all the insane made up things in comic books, a “billionaire with a heart of gold” is the least believable
sol@thelemmy.club 11 months ago
He’s one of the richest men in the world, you are not even a billionare. Can you really point out that his business is off?
The guy is doing exactly what they want to do, if they are letting the platform fall off like that is because that’s what their goal is. They build monopolies.
Rubezahl@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Do you even billionaire, bro?
PatFussy@lemm.ee 11 months ago
I dont understand this sentiment. When Jack Dorsey sold twitter he wanted it delisted so someone could make it more publicly owned. He thought Elon could do that and so it was sold. Its essentially the opposite of what Reddit is trying to do.
If Elon comes in amd says “this company needs to change or else it wont survive” i would believe that. People are essentially mad that the company doesnt have investor funding.
FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Sorry, you believe what Elon Musk says about anything at this point?
PatFussy@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Dorsey sold Twitter for a reason. It wasmt money. You tell me why he thought Elon was the best option
FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Why wasn’t it money? Are you saying he isn’t a greedy billionaire like all of the other tech CEOs?
anlumo@feddit.de 11 months ago
No, once purchased, the problems were already insurmountable. The company was bought on company debt, meaning that it was in deep shit on day 1 of him owning it. It wasn’t profitable before that move, and adding a ton of debt didn’t improve the situation.
All moves Musk did are essentially cost-cutting measures (except for the ones where he’s trying to establish it as a social network for Nazis).
zeppo@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Firing 75% of the staff works as cost cutting but is very short-sighted. Acting like an attention-starved “fellow kids!!” edgelord and ruining the Verified program wasn’t cost cutting. And then, his edgelordness led to losing 60-70% of ad revenue, which surely nullified any legitimate cost cutting attempts.
anlumo@feddit.de 11 months ago
There was a method behind these things, which are the exception I mentioned. He removed the moderation staff, because he wanted to encourage Nazi content on the platform, and moderators are bad for that. The paid verified program meant that only fans of him and Nazis would pay money and thus be verified, so he could legitimately amplify their voice on the platform.
The problem he ran into is that advertisers don’t like their ads next to Nazi propaganda, so now revenue is down.
FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I really don’t understand why he doesn’t see that Coca-Cola doesn’t want their product next to some guy just posting the N-word over and over.
downpunxx@kbin.social 11 months ago
on purpose. by design. with intent.
FirmRip@lemmy.world 11 months ago
But what if he’s just a fucking idiot?
FaceDeer@kbin.social 11 months ago
It's possible that Musk is good at some things and not good at others, but his success at those things he's good at have caused him to think he's good at everything.
xtr0n@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
Becoming a billionaire requires winning so many dice rolls that it’s difficult (impossible?) to really understand that you can lose sometimes.
instamat@lemmy.world 11 months ago
That’s the Techius Bromus Effect. They get too much smoke blown up their asses that they eventually believe they’re capable of solving every problem.
I made up the term but the idea is true.
jtk@lemmy.sdf.org 11 months ago
Hanlon’s razor is reserved for people without a life long rap sheet of blatant malice.
ellesper@lemmy.world 11 months ago
For what it’s worth, I think Elon is both evil and an idiot.
4am@lemmy.world 11 months ago
You don’t think it takes a fucking idiot to be forced into spending 44 billion dollars, some of it other people’s money, to purposely destroy a social media platform because you (and the people who’s money you used) were upset how critical said platform was of you?
BangelaQuirkel@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Then it’s unintelligent design.
sol@thelemmy.club 11 months ago
They wouldn’t be the richest men in the world then.
squiblet@kbin.social 11 months ago
Ever since he bought it and started basically wrecking the place, I've suspected that his goal has been to reduce the usefulness of Twitter to non-conservatives. Obviously he has a incredibly massive stick up his ass regarding politics, and Twitter failing would mean basically nothing to him personally.
aruraios@kbin.social 11 months ago
It just works.
curryandbeans@lemmy.world 11 months ago
For what purpose?