Are we sure Elon is a genius?

[happyhoix]

I know he says he is, but the facts don’t seem to line up. 

His second space X rocket just blew up 8 months after the first one did. Eight minutes into the flight. 

If I remember the figures right, he bought Twitter for something like 73 million, and right now, X is worth about 22 million. 

He’s got employee troubles at Tesla - he’s been accused of sexism and racism in the workplace.  Plus, he doesn’t like bright colors, so he won’t let his warehouse people wear the hi vis clothing most warehouse employees wear ( to avoid getting struck by a forklift). They have to wear black. That fact alone makes me seriously question his IQ. 

Now he’s backed an antisemitic post on X and big companies like Apple and Disney are refusing to advertise on X, and in true Trumpian fashion, Musk is claiming the media company that quoted his post didn’t quote him right, and he’s going to sue them into oblivion. (I think a smarter person would have apologized profusely, claimed a brain fart moment, and given a fat donation to a Jewish charity - but no, he sues a media company for quoting his post.)

This doesn’t scream genius entrepreneur to me. Maybe he peaked a few decades back? 

 

[happyhoix]

His post claimed Jews hate white people.

www.yahoo.com/entertainment/elon-musk-calls-advertisers-oppressors-050350791.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADNkpp1yD7kPr3cJvAOo6loCFeJyK-OQmELW95kNRfV1Ncd0cNiiIjM7JAGA3CiB04fyJmCNhoDRRYtgrMGIG91ONBLULi-8ScTgfTKLRouFlOlyEnTvqz30hwKyqYRE1k7Ni4uxvwCoz48r3AdCwAj5QZphf5d0VQfYYXeCRVMc

And the companies pulling out of X are enemies of free speech.

Pretty sure in a democracy a company can choose where they want to spend their ad dollars.

www.cnn.com/2023/11/18/world/elon-musk-spacex-starship-launch-scn/index.html

variety.com/2023/digital/news/twitter-elon-musk-employee-severance-500-million-class-action-lawsuit-1235668194/

Also, Sweden’s unions are joining against him. www.wired.com/story/sweden-tesla-strike-cleaners/

[Opti]

I never thought of him as a genius. I like this description of him -

Whatever you think of him, I think its so very wrong to ever assume anyone very good at something does not make mistakes or big mistakes. We are all human and everyone makes mistakes and does the wrong thing sometimes. I also believe the more money and power and individual haves the more likely they are to indulge in bad parts of their nature and sadly rarely apologize for it.


Elon Reeve Musk (/ˈiːlɒn/ EE-lon; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman and investor.



Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and briefly attended the University of Pretoria before immigrating to Canada at age 18, acquiring citizenship through his Canadian-born mother. Two years later, he matriculated at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. Musk later transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, and received bachelor's degrees in economics and physics there. He moved to California in 1995 to attend Stanford University. However, Musk dropped out after two days and, with his brother Kimbal, co-founded online city guide software company Zip2. The startup was acquired by Compaq for $307 million in 1999, and with $12 million of the money he made, that same year Musk co-founded X.com, a direct bank. X.com merged with Confinity in 2000 to form PayPal.

Musk's family was wealthy during his youth.[31] His father was elected to the Pretoria City Council as a representative of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party and has said that his children shared their father's dislike of apartheid.[21] His maternal grandfather and namesake, Joshua Elon Haldeman, was an American-born Canadian who took his family on record-breaking journeys to Africa and Australia in a single-engine Bellanca airplane.[33][34][35][36] Haldeman was a member of the Social Credit Party of Canada, possessed antisemitic beliefs, and supported the Technocracy movement.[37] After his parents divorced in 1980, Musk chose to live primarily with his father.[23][28] Musk later regretted his decision and became estranged from his father.[38] He has a paternal half-sister and a half-brother.[33][39]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk#Business_career

[pulmonarymd]

Elon may indeed be a genius. But, what most smart people fail to understand is, just because you are are smart at one thing, doesn’t mean you are smart in all things. Really smart people prove this over and over. He may be smart at some technical things, and possibly entrepreneurship, but his social and people skills sick

[Opti]

I am smart in some things and very aware of the limits of my abilities. And the limits and strengths of geniuses and talented people I met in college and workplaces like big Telco and big Pharma. Honestly, I think is should be not at all secret that smart does not translate everywhere nor protect against biases and upbringing. My XH worked at Bell Labs and I met researchers from all over the world. Luck and opportunity catapulted some but not most. Not saying they weren't deserving just that most smart people do not enjoy the success that Musk has. I'll go further than that, usually its the business minds that reap the financial successes and the geniuses at tech, medicine, bio medical devices etc. rarely do better than upper middle class if that. How many genius teachers or profs are wealthy?

Musk grew up in a country as a rich privileged white guy when Apartheid was still rampant. Little about him surprises me much like little surprises me about DJT.

[busymom]

He reminds me a LOT of Trump.  Rich.  Arrogant.  Thinks he's made up of superior genes. 


I wouldn't be surprised if someday he announces he wants to run for president.  Except he's not eligible.  

[Opti]

Nov 18, 2023 18:58:30 GMT -5 busymom said:

He reminds me a LOT of Trump.  Rich.  Arrogant.  Thinks he's made up of superior genes. 


I wouldn't be surprised if someday he announces he wants to run for president.  Except he's not eligible.  

I can't imagine a life where you start as an upper middle-class kid. No surprise to me that Elon and Trump could launch up from that.

[djAdvocate]

genius is overrated.

John Nash was arguably one of America's greatest geniuses. it did not stop him from becoming paranoid, delusional, and believing in all kinds of crazy shit.

ditto for Trump, and his "beautiful boxes".

[Opti]

Nov 18, 2023 20:55:31 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

genius is overrated.

John Nash was arguably one of America's greatest geniuses. it did not stop him from becoming paranoid, delusional, and believing in all kinds of crazy shit.

ditto for Trump, and his "beautiful boxes".

John Nash was actual brilliant. Trump is just a marketing manipulation savant.

I don't think his genius made John Nash susceptible to mental illness, although it could have. Certain kinds are more prevalent in certain types of "smart" people. I don't blame him for the hell holes he fell into. I still wish there were ways to see these things coming and prevent them. If I ever win massive lottery money, that is something I very much would like to do as I don't think anyone is doing the research that really needs to be done. (Not drugs, not pharma profit centers, but real research and analysis of people affected and trying to find early stages to study for hopefully future prevention.)


But I agree true genius puts one out of the norm anyway, which is rarely a comfortable and celebrated place to be. 

P.S. Before his death, I sometimes thought about trying to meet him in the Princeton area. Always wondered how he aged etc.

[djAdvocate]

i am not in a position to analyze whether Trump is a genius or not.

my sense is that he is not that bright, but tries to sell his above average intelligence as genius to people that are far stupider than he is. but i honestly don't know.

but my point is simply that EVEN IF IT IS TRUE, it doesn't keep a person from believing shit that is absolutely nuts, and has no basis in reality.

my friend Dave was a genius. i can guarantee it. he was also a paranoid schizophrenic. in the end he could not even recognize me, and barely his parents.

[Opti]

DJ, I'm just going to go back to this statement of mine -


Honestly, I think it should be not at all secret that smart does not translate everywhere nor protect against biases and upbringing.


IMO, we should not even be discussing that being smart does not stop someone from believing something stupid. To me that is a huge Duh. If you are human, no matter your intelligence or talents, you can believe stupid things. Full stop. This should be obvious IMO.





FWIW, my boss has a related corollary. Anyone can be scammed. All it really takes is desperation and financial lack and anyone can be an easy scam target. 

[djAdvocate]

i guess it SHOULD be obvious. but clearly, to some, it is not.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

of course he is!

He is the unstable genius compared to trump's stable genius......

[djAdvocate]

i read that as unsuitable. that worked.

[laterbloomer]

Nov 18, 2023 21:26:46 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i am not in a position to analyze whether Trump is a genius or not

He's not. He just sold his soul to the devil. It's really the only possible explanation.

[mollyanna58]

Nov 18, 2023 23:17:35 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

Nov 18, 2023 21:26:46 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i am not in a position to analyze whether Trump is a genius or not

He's not. He just sold his soul to the devil. It's really the only possible explanation.

Well, it’s the greatest soul of all time.  Really, people have said to him, “Sir, you have the greatest soul of all time”.  The devil came to him, and said there’s s no other soul like it, and Trump bargained with him and got the best deal for his soul.

[Opti]

Nov 19, 2023 8:42:34 GMT -5 mollyanna58 said:

Nov 18, 2023 23:17:35 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

He's not. He just sold his soul to the devil. It's really the only possible explanation.

Well, it’s the greatest soul of all time.  Really, people have said to him, “Sir, you have the greatest soul of all time”.  The devil came to him, and said there’s s no other soul like it, and Trump bargained with him and got the best deal for his soul.

The devil saw him at Trump tower and said this is the most beautiful tower I have ever seen. Trump drove a greatest deal of all time for his soul so he could become President. He still however is in shock as he thought the devil promised him a two term Presidency.
Just can't trust people from south of the US border. 

[happyhoix]

Nov 19, 2023 8:42:34 GMT -5 mollyanna58 said:

Nov 18, 2023 23:17:35 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

He's not. He just sold his soul to the devil. It's really the only possible explanation.

Well, it’s the greatest soul of all time.  Really, people have said to him, “Sir, you have the greatest soul of all time”.  The devil came to him, and said there’s s no other soul like it, and Trump bargained with him and got the best deal for his soul.

The people who came up to him to say ‘sir, you have the greatest soul of all time ‘ were crying. Big military men, with tears in their eyes, crying about how beautiful the soul is. Except the women. The lovely women, who would gather around, wanting to touch the beautiful soul, because it was so beautiful. They all wanted to touch it with their soft beautiful hands. And many people said how it was the biggest, best, most American soul they had ever seen. Many people said that, maybe all the people said that.

[Opti]

Its amazing how predictable Trump has become in his speech and actions. So easy to mock because he actually doesn't have all that many tricks. Even though former poster SCP insisted he did and how unpredictable he was.


  He basically has no nuance. It was either the bestes ever or the worst, he does not do anything in between. So much whining and bragging, its tiresome. Not sure how his supporters put up with it and celebrate it. 

[jerseygirl]

Read this cause I’m interested in Elon. But latest comment on Israel war NOT good
But then as usual deteriorated into anti trump delusions. You people can’t help yourselves get away from discussing the guy you (and I) despise. Do you do this IRL?? BORING You’re obsessed

[Opti]

Threads evolve. Elon is deluded like Trump and this thread is over 21 hours old. You missed the discussion too I guess about Nash and delusions of smart people or IMO people in general.

Trump is actively trying to destroy democracy and the US. Its hard for me to not think about it until he is no longer a threat. He is still so much of a threat that not just Bill Maher and my childhood friend think he has a good shot of being elected again. I mostly discuss him here as my current workplace is conservative and if not pro Trump certainly actively anti Biden no matter what. Yes it gets old, so I have here to say what I will. You do too. You just are against CoC if you want to shout us out from bringing him up when it seems appropriate to us.

You can choose to stop whining about it you know. Or block us if it helps.

[pulmonarymd]

Nov 19, 2023 13:37:37 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Read this cause I’m interested in Elon. But latest comment on Israel war NOT good
But then as usual deteriorated into anti trump delusions. You people can’t help yourselves get away from discussing the guy you (and I) despise. Do you do this IRL?? BORING You’re obsessed

You know what? If Trump was not the likely republican nominee, you would have a point. But he is, and he is telling us that he would shout in the constitution and use a second term to get even with anyone who has the gall to disagree with him. So if you want ghe Trump discussion to go away, t you should encourage your fellow republicans to nominate anyone but him.

Not like you arrr we not predictable with your responses. I know what you are going to say before I read it on most topics. But hey, everyone else is the problem

[djAdvocate]

Nov 19, 2023 13:25:51 GMT -5 Opti said:

Its amazing how predictable Trump has become in his speech and actions. So easy to mock because he actually doesn't have all that many tricks. Even though former poster SCP insisted he did and how unpredictable he was.


  He basically has no nuance. It was either the bestes ever or the worst, he does not do anything in between. So much whining and bragging, its tiresome. Not sure how his supporters put up with it and celebrate it. 

everything he does and says is designed to either enrich him or to defend those riches.  he really is about as simple as a gerbil.

[djAdvocate]

Nov 19, 2023 13:37:37 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Read this cause I’m interested in Elon. But latest comment on Israel war NOT good
But then as usual deteriorated into anti trump delusions. You people can’t help yourselves get away from discussing the guy you (and I) despise. Do you do this IRL?? BORING You’re obsessed

obsessed?  let me ask you two things:

1) if you were trapped in your house, and there was a fire or flood coming, would you describe yourself as "obsessed" with the fire or flood?  if so, i will go along with obsessed, if that is synonymous with "deeply concerned".  i am deeply concerned with the safety of my Jewish son, US minorities, and everything i used to love about America.  and Trump is the SOLE person responsible for that concern.  so, yeah, he is a focus for me right now.

2) are you concerned at all?  because it is not clear to me that you are.

[djAdvocate]

Nov 19, 2023 14:50:27 GMT -5 pulmonarymd said:

Nov 19, 2023 13:37:37 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Read this cause I’m interested in Elon. But latest comment on Israel war NOT good
But then as usual deteriorated into anti trump delusions. You people can’t help yourselves get away from discussing the guy you (and I) despise. Do you do this IRL?? BORING You’re obsessed

You know what? If Trump was not the likely republican nominee, you would have a point. But he is, and he is telling us that he would shout in the constitution and use a second term to get even with anyone who has the gall to disagree with him. So if you want ghe Trump discussion to go away, t you should encourage your fellow republicans to nominate anyone but him.

Not like you arrr we not predictable with your responses. I know what you are going to say before I read it on most topics. But hey, everyone else is the problem

i and the media generally ignored him until he announced he was running again.  he is not much of a threat without the power of the US government to back him up.

[Opti]

Nov 19, 2023 15:09:17 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Nov 19, 2023 14:50:27 GMT -5 pulmonarymd said:

You know what? If Trump was not the likely republican nominee, you would have a point. But he is, and he is telling us that he would shout in the constitution and use a second term to get even with anyone who has the gall to disagree with him. So if you want ghe Trump discussion to go away, t you should encourage your fellow republicans to nominate anyone but him.

Not like you arrr we not predictable with your responses. I know what you are going to say before I read it on most topics. But hey, everyone else is the problem

i and the media generally ignored him until he announced he was running again.  he is not much of a threat without the power of the US government to back him up.

I never fully ignored him because it was clear since b4 J6 that part of his legal strategy has been the US President is above the law. Since that seemed to work for him during his term, he is willing to burn everything to the ground and beyond to protect himself. And that means winding up his base and minions and returning to the Presidency. Since he has no moral compass, we know being President is fairly stress free for him. As in he worries not about our soldiers being killed. He and Jared were more concerned about how the Covid and medical stockpile would protect them, damn blue states and red ones not currently sucking up to him. 

He will be a danger until he dies, is jailed, or severely medically incapacitated. He unfortunately is living beyond his medical history because he derives a huge sense of his well being and health from people praising him and sucking up to him. Getting branded a loser in his current court cases should deflate him and his base.

[Opti]

Nov 18, 2023 16:06:37 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

I know he says he is, but the facts don’t seem to line up. 

His second space X rocket just blew up 8 months after the first one did. Eight minutes into the flight. 

Did he design both by himself, or is he the biz behind the venture? I don't think this fact means anything about his genius or lack thereof. Edison found 100 ways to not make a light bulb until he hit on what worked. Persistence is more important overall than some weird YM batting average IMO.

If I remember the figures right, he bought Twitter for something like 73 million, and right now, X is worth about 22 million. 

He also tried to bail on the deal. He did not purchase it assuming it would make him richer, but he probably is surprised as to where he is. His marketing sucks though, leaving it named Twitter IMO would have saved more market share as well as not doing his wild west social media ideas.


He’s got employee troubles at Tesla - he’s been accused of sexism and racism in the workplace.  Plus, he doesn’t like bright colors, so he won’t let his warehouse people wear the hi vis clothing most warehouse employees wear ( to avoid getting struck by a forklift). They have to wear black. That fact alone makes me seriously question his IQ. 

Its not the IQ, its the bias. Rich people generally have it in spades and biz peeps running their own companies tend to be the worst of the breed. ( Larry Ellison of Oracle and similar come to mind. Pillow guy for the sheer stupidity.)

Now he’s backed an antisemitic post on X and big companies like Apple and Disney are refusing to advertise on X, and in true Trumpian fashion, Musk is claiming the media company that quoted his post didn’t quote him right, and he’s going to sue them into oblivion. (I think a smarter person would have apologized profusely, claimed a brain fart moment, and given a fat donation to a Jewish charity - but no, he sues a media company for quoting his post.)

This doesn’t scream genius entrepreneur to me. Maybe he peaked a few decades back? 

 

[Opti]

This doesn’t scream genius entrepreneur to me. Maybe he peaked a few decades back?

I would agree with this. He's currently more stupid entrepreneur than smart or genius right now. Unclear if he will piss his money and good will away like Rudy G. or get out of his own way. People who think they are powerful and right tend not to listen to people telling them when they screwed up and what to do. (Again, Mike Lindell excellent example of stupid, when speaking to almost any late night TV host etc. He couldn't buy a clue with his own money let alone notice there was no provable election interference. Good thing he is willing to destroy his employee's livelihoods' and his company on his imaginary principles and beliefs.)

[djAdvocate]

he should stick to cars. and white supremacy.

[Opti]

Rivan and others are coming after Tesla. I think Rivan won their second award from a car mag on whatever they just released or displayed at a car show. They look stunning but the price is also stunning for now.