Chindie Posted March 7, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted March 7, 2023 I'm genuinely at a loss why people think he's some genius. He was born into riches and made some lucky right place right time style moves at boardroom level. He's obviously a complete bellend who's whole schtick is fees very rich and has built some cloak of tech bro authority when there's people well down the ladder from him who are vastly more qualified. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 He’s so rich he could (and probably will) make extremely bad decision after extremely bad decision for the rest of his life and still die a billionaire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lichfield Dean Posted March 7, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted March 7, 2023 2 hours ago, Davkaus said: When the pilots take their hands of the wheel, the plane doesn't crash immediately. Years of institutional knowledge have been lost because people don't want to work with this massive penis. The brand name and inertia is all it has going for it right now, it has no money, and a workforce that's had one of the biggest self-inflicted braindrains I've ever seen. But he's a billionaire so he must know what he's doing I notice he's mentioned a couple times about Twitter needing a complete rewrite. As a software developer, I know that a) it probably does (all software does) and b) it would be a complete nightmare to even embark on it and it will not take the three months or whatever figure he has in his head 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted March 7, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted March 7, 2023 24 minutes ago, Lichfield Dean said: I notice he's mentioned a couple times about Twitter needing a complete rewrite. As a software developer, I know that a) it probably does (all software does) and b) it would be a complete nightmare to even embark on it and it will not take the three months or whatever figure he has in his head As a user of software I also know that it will be a complete and utter **** up and be worse than it was before, if it ever works at all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panto_Villan Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 2 hours ago, Chindie said: I'm genuinely at a loss why people think he's some genius. He was born into riches and made some lucky right place right time style moves at boardroom level. He's obviously a complete bellend who's whole schtick is fees very rich and has built some cloak of tech bro authority when there's people well down the ladder from him who are vastly more qualified. I sorta feel like as he’s become more of and more of a dick over the years, his prior accomplishments get talked down more and more. What he achieved in his early career and then with Tesla and SpaceX is genuinely impressive even if you don’t buy the cult myth that he single-handedly built every car and rocket. I also don’t really buy that your dad being a millionaire means you have an easy path to being literally the richest person in the world. There’s lots more richer dads out there than he had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 11 minutes ago, Panto_Villan said: I sorta feel like as he’s become more of and more of a dick over the years, his prior accomplishments get talked down more and more. What he achieved in his early career and then with Tesla and SpaceX is genuinely impressive even if you don’t buy the cult myth that he single-handedly built every car and rocket. I also don’t really buy that your dad being a millionaire means you have an easy path to being literally the richest person in the world. There’s lots more richer dads out there than he had. I appreciate that you may unintentionally be displaying fanboy traits, but to the outside world, he has pretty much always been a word removed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 "Even if"? If I were to say one nice thing about Musk, it's that he picked some very good businesses to lump cash into and empowered them to aim for moonshots that has lead to us innovating with electric cars and reusable rockets years ahead of where we'd be without his vision and financing. I'd struggle to add a second thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avfc1982am Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 Yeah, my view is he's a narcissistic prick who was probably spawned from the arsehole of the anti christ and followed by the community better known as dipshits. That's really the only positive I've got I'm afraid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 6 hours ago, Seat68 said: As it seemingly was a condition of the sale of the company, I cant see this ending well. When Twitter bought his company recently supposedly his payment was structured as a salary to him rather than a large payment up front. The balance of the payment would be due if he was laid off from Twitter. I presume this now means Twitter are contractually obligated to pay him the cost of a company buyout? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted March 7, 2023 Moderator Share Posted March 7, 2023 Just now, LondonLax said: When Twitter bought his company recently supposedly his payment was structured as a salary to him rather than a large payment up front. The balance of the payment would be due if he was laid off from Twitter. I presume this now means Twitter are contractually obligated to pay him the cost of a company buyout? His payment was structured as salary at his request because he wanted Iceland to collect the Income Tax due. I would seriously hope Twitter are still on the hook for the rest of that salary, hence him being on the DO NOT SACK list Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 (edited) 5 minutes ago, bickster said: His payment was structured as salary at his request because he wanted Iceland to collect the Income Tax due. I would seriously hope Twitter are still on the hook for the rest of that salary, hence him being on the DO NOT SACK list Yes, I think that is exactly what has just happened. This is his latest Tweet: Edited March 7, 2023 by LondonLax 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KentVillan Posted March 7, 2023 Author Share Posted March 7, 2023 2 hours ago, Lichfield Dean said: I notice he's mentioned a couple times about Twitter needing a complete rewrite. As a software developer, I know that a) it probably does (all software does) and b) it would be a complete nightmare to even embark on it and it will not take the three months or whatever figure he has in his head One of the things I realised after working in software / data engineering for a few years is most self styled “tech bros” are massively clueless about developing software. You’re completely right. All mature software is affected by technical debt, poor documentation, clumsy design patterns and hacky solutions, but the idea you can change the tyre while the car is moving is pie in the sky. People always think new entrants will do it cleaner. And then within a couple of years their software is full of the same problems, because they ran into similar obstacles and had to turn around solutions quickly, and history just repeats itself. Plus the huge irony with all of this is Tesla software is buggy as hell, with actual life or death consequences. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panto_Villan Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 31 minutes ago, Seat68 said: I appreciate that you may unintentionally be displaying fanboy traits, but to the outside world, he has pretty much always been a word removed. I’ve detested the guy since he called the cave diver in Thailand a pedo for no reason, which was at least five years ago. The OP wasn’t asking why people thought he was a word removed though. He was asking why people thought Musk was a genius - and the answer is because SpaceX and Tesla are pretty impressive companies. So while I do think Musk is a massive word removed, I don’t think he managed to become the richest guy in the world purely by being lucky. That doesn’t seem an unreasonable point to be make, personally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panto_Villan Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, Davkaus said: "Even if"? If I were to say one nice thing about Musk, it's that he picked some very good businesses to lump cash into and empowered them to aim for moonshots that has lead to us innovating with electric cars and reusable rockets years ahead of where we'd be without his vision and financing. I'd struggle to add a second thing. Yeah, and that’s probably exactly the right place to be. I just find it weird when people refuse to give him that much credit. That’s not aimed at anyone specific on here, I’ve just seen a lot of it going around the internet recently. Edited March 7, 2023 by Panto_Villan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KentVillan Posted March 7, 2023 Author Share Posted March 7, 2023 8 minutes ago, Panto_Villan said: I’ve detested the guy since he called the cave diver in Thailand a pedo for no reason, which was at least five years ago. The OP wasn’t asking why people thought he was a word removed though. He was asking why people thought Musk was a genius - and the answer is because SpaceX and Tesla are pretty impressive companies. So while I do think Musk is a massive word removed, I don’t think he managed to become the richest guy in the world purely by being lucky. That doesn’t seem an unreasonable point to be make, personally. Yeah I agree, he has some serious entrepreneurial qualities - hyperactive work ethic, good sales / marketing / networking skills, he’s not dumb. But he is massively overrated as a guru I think. His latest ventures (Tesla etc) have very much been a product of the low interest rates + money printing + corrupt govts regime that has prevailed since the financial crisis… the way you make money in this environment is user acquisition and “disruption”, negotiate subsidies and tax breaks with govts, and normal concerns like profitability, moats / first mover advantage, genuine innovation, and stable infrastructure, etc fly out the window. Yes he made his wealth in the 90s with something that was genuinely useful and innovative, although it’s unclear how much that was just luck vs initiative? But the recent stuff has all been much more in the Richard Branson mould - selling hype and attaching your brand to other people’s work, and just riding a wave of dumb money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoony Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 The guy is absolute peak arsehole. I cannot stand his weird cultish fanboys who are all cut from the same q-anon, incel cloth. All rocket polishers have now moved into Teslas as well. I just hate everything about him and everything he touches. Guy should be in prison or removed to some psychiatric facility so we can be rid of him and the poison he inflicts on the world. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panto_Villan Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 He also seems to be talking down the Capitol riots now. His political views (at least the ones he espouses in public) seem to have lurched to the extreme right so quickly that you've really got to wonder where he'll be in a few years. I don't think Trump ever believed his own lies, and it sorta seems to me like Musk might end up saying the same sort of things but actually believing them. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it did come out that he had developed a serious mental illness or a really major substance abuse problem. Or maybe it's just as simple as he feels like the "normal" people have turned against him and the only people that appreciate him are the hard right, and so he's absorbing their views as he falls into their orbit. But he just seems to be disintegrating mentally. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panto_Villan Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 16 minutes ago, KentVillan said: Yeah I agree, he has some serious entrepreneurial qualities - hyperactive work ethic, good sales / marketing / networking skills, he’s not dumb. But he is massively overrated as a guru I think. His latest ventures (Tesla etc) have very much been a product of the low interest rates + money printing + corrupt govts regime that has prevailed since the financial crisis… the way you make money in this environment is user acquisition and “disruption”, negotiate subsidies and tax breaks with govts, and normal concerns like profitability, moats / first mover advantage, genuine innovation, and stable infrastructure, etc fly out the window. Yes he made his wealth in the 90s with something that was genuinely useful and innovative, although it’s unclear how much that was just luck vs initiative? But the recent stuff has all been much more in the Richard Branson mould - selling hype and attaching your brand to other people’s work, and just riding a wave of dumb money. Yeah, it's pretty clear he was very good at having a vision, raising funding for it, and inspiring others to work on it. He's got plenty of negative traits too, but he (or others) must have controlled them in his earlier career else he wouldn't be where he is now. But I feel like he's a busted flush these days, and he'll struggle to motivate enough intelligent and well-educated people to go and work for him to start a new company. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets removed as the CEO of Tesla soon either, because he's just too much of a liability. I think perhaps you're a bit overly cynical about his work in the 2000/2010s with SpaceX and Tesla. I think it's tough to argue that the products they delivered weren't innovative. And while both companies did get subsidies, I think the existing companies in those industries probably had quite a bit more more (the US space industry in particular was a ludicrously cosy arrangement before SpaceX arrived on the scene). One of the most impressive things about the companies is how they managed to navigate the powerful vested interests, imo. It's also easy to forget all the sneering and fossil fuel misinformation that was aimed at electric cars in the early days. They did well to overcome that. Shame he didn't go down the philanthropy route like Bill Gates, really. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted March 7, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted March 7, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, Panto_Villan said: or a really major substance abuse problem. I think this might be the issue to be honest. Edited March 7, 2023 by sidcow 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 He’s essentially calling ultra right wing spawn of the devil Mitch McConnell a democrat I know that the right left split is massively **** in the US but this is proper loony extreme right nonsense now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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