Elon Musk: Force for anthropic advancement or self-serving con-artist?

[Kyriakos]

Musk has been a controversial figure who in recent years is more scrutinized by the public. Part of the scrutiny has been on his often extravagant claims to be gifted in STEM subjects (science/math etc), while he is not a scientist or mathematician. Another focal point has been the frequent false promises he made to buyers of his products or stock, including tech and machinery which either remains unavailable or manifests only with extreme delays (eg the Cybertruck for the latter and full driving car AI or trips to Mars for the former).
Musk does have a sizable group of supporters, but it looks like he won't ever again enjoy the absence of negative press, or absence of intense scrutiny, that he did while rising to great prominence.

This thread is meant for discussions about whether Musk is a con-artist in regards to how he presents himself, or if any of his companies may counterbalance that with useful tech. To keep it updated, posts from the news are encouraged

Moderator Action: New Musk thread. Keep discussion on-topic. Keep things civil and do not attack one another. Don't quote posts from the old thread. Violators may receive thread bans. -lymond

 

[Tee Kay]

21st century Henry Ford

 

[Hygro]

Obviously both. If a con artist gets people to do great things they wouldn’t otherwise have done, then people did great things they wouldn’t otherwise have done.

Conventional car companies were showing near zero initiative for decades

Space companies were even sadder.

Before the charade was up, and his perfect timing with his personality against our tech level, he was able to get all the right investors, engineers, designers, and so forth together under one roof to work extra hours in unsafe conditions for less pay.

And when Tesla almost went under, he doubled down and put all the money he made on the line instead of walking away a billionaire. He had his real moments.


But he was clearly someone who could work 7 days a week to keep putting himself in the right projects on the right time coming from the right background, building a cult of personality that gave us a decade of industrial coordination we just were not seeing for decades before.

Remember, the not-Musk trend is Boeing.


Anyway his companies exist, his personal actual contributions seem pretty slight with a few exceptions, and after becoming the worlds richest person become the single worst private promoter of pro international oligarchy fascism. His boosting of obvious bait psy-op lies is proof he either at least stupid all along, or simply that evil. Of course both is on the table. I believe more evil.

There’s no reason to pretend he’s a great scientist engineer, he was Dumbo’s feather and now we already know we can fly. No one is trusting him with a project to Mars.,

 

[danjuno]

21st century Henry Ford

Sure, but not exactly the flattering comparison Muskrats think it would be, if you're familiar with the details around Ford.

 

[r16]

as nobody seems to report that it took just a week for Russians to start raining fire from drones with being copy cats and Pentagon publicizes this as if the world should care about some race where the Western superiority is in danger or whatever , the would be godbillionaire keeps doing his thing about being in good graces of the US Democrats as much as he will be during a second Trump term .

 

[EnglishEdward]

The comparison I'd prefer is with Thomas Edison.

Thomas Edison - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A businessman who developed the concept of running teams of engineers and scientists.

 

[r16]

a great man who still had to turn to ugly routines to stop Tesla, Nikola for fame and monopoly , still forced on by Henry Ford for stuff and still there as GE kept Tesla afloat with pension payments . He is not a Musk at all .

 

[Gori the Grey]

B

 

[Zardnaar]

Leaning more onto con artist.

Watching older interviews he is not stupid.

 

[Bestbank Tiger]

Doesn't need to be one or the other.

He's the best at making EV vehicles and space exploration is an important long term project.

He's long been viewed as a dick. South Park made fun of him years ago.

 

[Voidwalkin]

Both. More A than B.

Selling people on innovation is necessary to get investors and personnel alike, and if done well, you end up falling short.

The organizations he put together did both. He gets some credit(and blame) for both.

I lean much more towards A. I think innovation is far more effective at alleviating resource scarcity than anything else, and scarcity is always humanity's real problem. Always has been. Anything that furthers the willingness to do innovation is therefore far more good than bad.

I don't really care much about his politics. Too much is made of that. He's no great political mover or shaker. Just a reflection of the times.

 

[Takhisis]

I don't really care much about his politics. Too much is made of that. He's no great political mover or shaker. Just a reflection of the times.

Just because he is a product of something does not mean that he cannot produce on his own.

And boy, does he not, just by bankrolling a culture of domestic violence and outright justifying toppling governments you don't like.

 

[Voidwalkin]

Just because he is a product of something does not mean that he cannot produce on his own.

And boy, does he not, just by bankrolling a culture of domestic violence and outright justifying toppling governments you don't like.

That's people. We hoard resources, we hoard power, we grow unempathetic as we do, and then the generation fades away to be replaced by the next, who will do the same thing, almost certainly, and be condemned by the same moralists.

Innovation stays and makes things better regardless.

 

[Takhisis]

And will the moralists be wrong?

 

[Voidwalkin]

And will the moralists be wrong?

That would depend on specifics. Most criticism of Musk is valid. He tries too hard to be an edgy culture warrior. Using members of his family to make political points is off putting, even if he genuinely believes those points. Airing the family stuff out is imo a betrayal. Generally, though, I think his politics turn the intensity of criticism up past where it should realistically be. Volume on 8, when it should be on 6.

The better question to me is "what changes". There will be another Musk to emerge from the next generation, surely, just as condemned, too. The only thing that realistically will change is that the ball is rolling on EVs and to some extent, the private sector is at least looking at space travel.

 

[Cloud_Strife]

Musk is a fascist

 

[Zardnaar]

Musk is a fascist

What did actual facist do you deserve that comparison!!

 

[Gorbles]

What did actual facist do you deserve that comparison!!

Does it matter? Would you care, or are you just looking to disagree?

 

[Zardnaar]

Does it matter? Would you care, or are you just looking to disagree?

I'm mocking Mysk if that's not apparent. He's a bell end.

 

[Ordnael]

Both.
He has already a great legacy of achievements namely unprecedented innovation in the auto industry and in the space exploration industry. Most of Tesla and SpaceX's the breakthroughs still need a lot of refinement and I am unsure Musk is up to the task and this is where the con artist shows his ugly head.

X purchase seems to be the face of the unruly king of a troll he his, and I am thankful for the laughs I get from the reactions to his bad, bad comments and jokes.