Is Elon Musk a fraud?

[Moriarte]

It's a bit too blocky, certainly

And you are a bit too old to enjoy Minecraft art

Not my taste too, visually, so it took me a while to see what they've done there.

The idea is - you take an engine out of the car and lots of free space becomes available. So, cyber truck is this raw form of things to come. An unrefined, blocky statue of David. With minimal work done to it by the sculptor. Intentionally.

Straight from Blade Runner 1982, btw.

 

[Crezth]

Blockiness isn't the problem. Ergonomics and good taste is the problem. If cybertrukc looked liek that blade runner thing it'd be fine. It doesn't.

 

[Samson]

I do not think aesthetics are its biggest problem. This "off roader" fails with a little bit of water.

 

[Arakhor]

If it can't even handle rain, one wonders what it can do.

 

[warpus]

Is he a fraud?

Well, he was born into a rich family and used his wealth and privilege to focus on attempting to build up a couple businesses. He seems to have been a good CEO at paypal, oversaw the merger, and seems to have help guide that company to success reasonably well. He also seems to have been a good initial CEO at spaceX, which was also a good investment on his part.

So at best or at the very least, depending on how you look at it, he has at least some sense when it comes to making investments in coming up companies as well as overseeing some of that as CEO. His investment into Tesla was also not bad.

Then there are of course the negative aspects of his personality and leadership style, of which there are just way too many to mention. If he was not born into wealth and privilege, he would have probably ended up being some random office drone, like the rest of us. Having lots of money to play around with when you're young, to invest into whatever, is not something most of us can do. We have to focus on building up our careers and thinking about the future, while he did not have to worry about the necessities and could focus on throwing money at things until something stuck.

In the last 10 years or so some very negative aspects of his personality have come out, which don't really paint him as a fraud, but they do paint him as a self-centered easily offended narcissist with a huge ego who often reacts like a child (as opposed to a grown up adult with some life experience behind him).

His disdain for the working class has been known for years; the way he treats his employees and constantly fights against workers rights further stains his reputation and character, and it's clear that this is not the sort of person who should have as much power as he does.

When his far fetched ideas to rescue those minors stuck in a cave were not taken up by those attempting the rescue, he lashed out in an inexcusable way and he accused one of the rescuers of pedophilia. This is not how a well adjusted human being acts.

He seems to relatively frequently claim that he had a hand in things he did not, and this is the part that is fraudy to me. He did not start many of the companies he owns a part of, and yet he claims that he does. This is strange, narcissistic behaviour that shouldn't be happening.

So yeah, I mean, he's a very flawed human being, in some ways he's a fraud, in some ways he got lucky because he was born into wealth, but at paypal at least he did seem to be a good CEO.

 

[Arakhor]

I don't know what he did at PayPal, but he only lasted six months in the job before the board replaced him whilst he was on holiday, which does not suggest that he was particularly talented or well-liked.

 

[Hygro]

Blockiness isn't the problem. Ergonomics and good taste is the problem. If cybertrukc looked liek that blade runner thing it'd be fine. It doesn't.

I think it looks better. And even more so in person.

Ergonomics is probably one of the few things it actually has going for it.

 

[Kyriakos]

It would go better with an ED209.

 

[Crezth]

I think it looks better. And even more so in person.

Ergonomics is probably one of the few things it actually has going for it.

Clearly, no accounting for taste, because how else would a vehicle designed specifically for anti-ergonomic purposes come off as ergonomic?

Like can a vehicle whose normal usage of the foot pedals involves them being permanently pinned into maximum acceleration sometimes really be called "ergonomic" or is this just wishful thinking from people who realize Musk is too big to fail?

 

[Broken_Erika]

It would go better with an ED209.

Seems about right

 

[schlaufuchs]

Clearly, no accounting for taste, because how else would a vehicle designed specifically for anti-ergonomic purposes come off as ergonomic?

Like can a vehicle whose normal usage of the foot pedals involves them being permanently pinned into maximum acceleration sometimes really be called "ergonomic" or is this just wishful thinking from people who realize Musk is too big to fail?

Don’t forget the door with edges so sharp that one small lapse in attention can result in a gouge in your leg large enough to require stitches

 

[Lexicus]

 

[Hygro]

Clearly, no accounting for taste, because how else would a vehicle designed specifically for anti-ergonomic purposes come off as ergonomic?

Like can a vehicle whose normal usage of the foot pedals involves them being permanently pinned into maximum acceleration sometimes really be called "ergonomic" or is this just wishful thinking from people who realize Musk is too big to fail?

That would be a production error, maybe an engineering error, and not ergonomics.

Ergonomics is all the design choices that effect how you sit, and drive, and pack the truck, etc. You can argue how it drives as well, which by all accounts handles much nicer than a the average truck its size. If you ever cared to know all about it, you'd know it's quite ergonomic. That's one of the few objective things it actually has going for it.

Like in your first sentence, you are saying "designed for". Obviously the foot pedal wasn't "designed for" getting stuck. Let's keep it real here.

 

[Samson]

Ergonomics is the wa

Ergonomics is things like being able to use the controls while driving. Does it have physical switches or a touch screen?

 

[Narz]

View attachment 691147

Mike's life is very sad

 

[Gorbles]

Sitting in a cafe using social media. A poor life, apparently.

 

[Crezth]

That would be a production error, maybe an engineering error, and not ergonomics.

Ergonomics is all the design choices that effect how you sit, and drive, and pack the truck, etc. You can argue how it drives as well, which by all accounts handles much nicer than a the average truck its size. If you ever cared to know all about it, you'd know it's quite ergonomic. That's one of the few objective things it actually has going for it.

Like in your first sentence, you are saying "designed for". Obviously the foot pedal wasn't "designed for" getting stuck. Let's keep it real here.

Let’s keep it real here? You’re saying that the way the foot accesses the pedals so that one can accelerate and brake, that’s not an ergonomic concern? In your mind that’s not literally the first and primary ergonomic concern of any vehicle? Tell me, what exactly do you think is being related if it isn’t ergonomic insofar as it concerns the position of the butt on the seat and legs in the pedal well and feet on the throttle pedals? What isn’t ergonomic about the way one’s torso situated perfectly on one’s butt influences the way one reaches with an arm towards a gear shift stick? Or grabs the damn steering wheel? A pedal that fails because you might push it in a way that it can no longer be operated sitting normally doesn’t strike you as an ergonomic design flaw?

And then that’s putting aside the “ergonomics” of sharp edged doors that will lacerate legs or convert children and dogs to hamburger meat, or the “ergonomics” of a pressure activated Tuff Close (TM) “frunk” hatch literally designed to close harder on objects the shape and size of a human finger or penis.

I know that economists like hate physics and thinking about things in measurable or physical ways but this is ridiculous. I guess it’s also actually really funny though. Like who would say cybertruck is really ergonomic except someone who literally isn’t sure how “industrial design” and “ergonomics” intercept? You say that I can switch my Tesla into reverse with the errant swipe of a drunken finger and send me, Mitch McConnell’s sister in law, to a watery grave? Maybe that is ergonomic, actually.

 

[Hygro]

I'll take the compliment you calling me an economist, but I posted a teardown of Nordhaus already.

Dunno why anyone's sticking their dick in the frunk but I guess people love the cybertruck...

Here's the deal, the vehicle has a lot of problems. Some design problems, definitely tons of assembly problems. But I can tell who hasn't spent time learning about it when the total confident assessment of why the whole thing is terrible. Like how much time have you spent in Teslas? I too prefer knobs and buttons. But also driving on the one pedal is actually sick, its super ergonomic. It lacks redundancy but when is that an issue of ergonomics? Sure if it fails, it's not ergonomic. My ergonomic desk fails if a leg breaks, no backup legs here. I'm missing your point about the gear shift, there isn't one. Yes people are sized differently. You have a profile in the car that moves the seat and steering wheel to your preference. There's loads of things that make it ergonomic because, again, that's what it has going for it.

It rusts, it's dangerous, its build quality is questionable, towing drains its battery quickly, the pedal even. But the pedal problem prompted a recall, the carrot slicer feature was patched out (still dangerous, but less). These are not un-ergonomic design choices, these are errors they are working to fix. Semantics matter.

 

[Crezth]

Semantics matter and your semantic decision to turn ergonomics purely into the hypothetical realm of design without consideration for the implementation of the design is insane. It literally doesn’t make sense to describe a design that yields poor ergonomics as having an ergonomic design. Like according to what standard? That the pedal “feels” good? And that’s enough for you to call this thing ergonomic? And anything that makes it less ergonomic is an error that doesn’t actually make it less ergonomic?

Can you explain to me the ergonomic logic behind designing a cargo vehicle without rounded edges that can maximize the clearance around points of contact for hatches through which people or cargo are regularly expected to pass in either direction? Can you explain the ergonomic sense in then making those hatches not only direct flush fits with hard edges but also *sharp* edges which are expected to swing around and in the vicinity of human limbs regularly during normal usage?

A key feature of all industrial design especially machines intended to interact with humans is safety features designed YES WITH REDUNDANCY IN MIND to make operating the machine or interacting with it less dangerous. It’s why tram doors have rubber edges and aren’t just big aluminum razors. This lays at the center of this thing we call ergonomics. I’m sorry, a foot pedal designed to slip off on the far end is an “ergonomics fail.” And yes it was designed to do that because they slip them on during assembly. Production and usage are two halves of the same coin.

I expect I’m wasting my time here because maybe you’ve never thought about building anything physical in your life, but then again neither has Musk.

 

[Hygro]

I expect I’m wasting my time here because maybe you’ve never thought about building anything physical in your life, but then again neither has Musk.

And then everyone clapped.