Elon Musk's epic bacon adventures

That so many randoms seem willing to prostrate themselves in the name of Elon Musk, or better yet, encourage us to dismiss his increasingly insane Bond villain behaviour in a trade off against the belief his ego-driven tech-philanthropy will somehow save the World, or get all the rich people to Mars, or whatever (or perhaps both?) says way more about our cultish sycophantic celebrity culture, than it does the Messianic greatness of Elon Musk.

He’s not Iron Man Jesus FFS. He’s not Rocket Playboy Stephen Hawking either. He’s a pretty clever, but mostly just super rich dude, who can code and engineer a bit, but whose “coolness” is largely the result of ploughing his money into a variety of more-interesting-than-usual super rich dude projects, overseen by large teams of more competent engineers than him, who are ready to act out his every silly super rich dude whim. Yet you’d think from some of the responses he gets to his bratty super-villain tweets, that a whole swathe of people think he sits in his bedroom, single handedly building rockets out of coke cans and string. If the live-tweeted space debris child coffin clusterfeck proved anything, it was how silly that notion is. At one point he was discussing with anonymous anime avatars whether to put iPhones and VR headsets into his daft unfeasible kiddie casket, whilst the 5th and 6th kids were being actually rescued from the cave in real time! It was like some bizarro real world manifestation of that old joke about NASA spending millions on a space faring ball point pen, whilst the Russians just used a pencil…Only with people vociferously defending the imaginary future potential of the pen, and declaring it’s uselessness irrelevant to the joke, as nobody else had even attempted to make such a similarly useless contraption. And then calling the pencil a pedo for good measure.

We’re through the fecking looking glass here.

Look, it was definitely cool that someone with the means and desire tried to pick up the slack in the Space Travel and Clean Transport arenas back in the day. But a decade or so on, he’s mostly just managed to produce a competitively inferior range of over priced killer roadsters, and then send one of them into space for some reason. All whilst apparently treating the people who actually make the random rich guy shit he dreams up like worthless drones, and then undermining the free press whenever anyone points this out. Oh, and giving a load of money to evil GOP evangelists in the process…He’s not really doing a whole lot of World saving right now, it must be said. And even if he was, how is excusing his rapidly rising awfulness in the name of possible future progress any better than any other cultish excusatory “Dear Leader” shit? What does being really into Mars and gadgets have to do with being unaccountable for your bullshit? “I mean, sure we had to build that hidden tropical volcano lair for free under pain of death, but at least the space shuttles to the dust bowl shanty towns of Mars run on time, huh? Hail Elon!”

fecking weirdos.
 
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The Firestarter said:
As I said before , I think these endeavours are beneficial for the world. And yes, eventually that benefit reaches the so called '''little guy".
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Nah. Not having that. Musk can potentially be a force for good, sure, but not by pandering to his ego and dismissing his bullshit until he feels no accountability to anyone or anything. The very reason we’re in the ridiculous position of seeing one of the world’s most prominent industrialists petulantly call a genuine hero - and the man who risked his life to find the very kids Musk purported to care about saving - a fecking pedophile, for daring to call his ultimately useless contribution, ultimately useless, is because sycophantic idiots have been telling him he’s Iron Man for 10 years. In which time he’s managed to regress dramatically both professionally and socially, precisely because he kepts getting fed this bootlicking Tomorrowland Randian rubbish.

So no, feck tolerating his inane childish tantrums in the name of soothing his ego, in the vein hope he might pay his employees long enough to ensure some of their children might have some cooler gadgets 50 years from now.

If anything the best way of making sure Musk ultimately turns out for team good guy in the end, is by slapping down his arrogant and indulged presumptions of unaccountable entitlement, and pulling him back into the real world.

If he even knows what “the real world” looks like in the first place, that is (hint: he probably doesn’t)



Note: One of the professional rescue divers actually died making that swim with equipment, but Super Daddy Elon is saving the world guys....let’s cut him some slack.
 
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I haven't read all the posts on the last few pages. I'm a huge musk fan but this is beyond awful. He has to apologize and even that's barely even the beginning. Horrible tweet.

Having said that just as the good stuff he does doesn't erase this kind of bad incidents, it works the other way.

Newsflash: there is good and bad in people. Everybody.
 
Mockney said:
Nah. Not having that. Musk can potentially be a force for good, sure, but not by pandering to his ego and dismissing his bullshit until he feels no accountability to anyone or anything. The very reason we’re in the ridiculous position of seeing one of the world’s most prominent industrialists petulantly call a genuine hero - and the man who risked his life to find the very kids Musk purported to care about saving - a fecking pedophile, for daring to call his ultimately useless contribution, ultimately useless, is because sycophantic idiots have been telling him he’s Iron Man for 10 years. In which time he’s managed to regress dramatically both professionally and socially, precisely because he kepts getting fed this bootlicking Tomorrowland Randian rubbish.

So no, feck tolerating his inane childish tantrums in the name of soothing his ego, in the vein hope he might pay his employees long enough to ensure some of their children might have some cooler gadgets 50 years from now.

If anything the best way of making sure Musk ultimately turns out for team good guy in the end, is by slapping down his arrogant and indulged presumptions of unaccountable entitlement, and pulling him back into the real world.

If he even knows what “the real world” looks like in the first place, that is (hint: he probably doesn’t)



Note: One of the professional rescue divers actually died making that swim with equipment, but Super Daddy Elon is saving the world guys....let’s cut him some slack.
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I agree that personally he has an ego the size of Falcon Heavy. And he has conducted himself terribly in this situation. But I don't think he should be judged solely by that.

By the way, recently revealed personal diaries by Einstein revealed that he is xenophobic and possibly racist. Should we scratch all his work in physics because of that ?

EDIT:
I am not, in any way , equating the achievemts of the two.
 
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At least Gazza had the wherewithal to bring Stella, chicken and a fishing rod. You know, items that actually help in a crisis
 
He's obviously a bit of a cnut, but I reckon spending so much time on Twitter / social media has sent him a bit loopy in the way Sam Harris described. It's bizarre that these people feel compelled to risk their reputation by getting into internet arguments with people they'll never meet.
 
Brwned said:
He's obviously a bit of a cnut, but I reckon spending so much time on Twitter / social media has sent him a bit loopy in the way Sam Harris described. It's bizarre that these people feel compelled to risk their reputation by getting into internet arguments with people they'll never meet.
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That seems to happen a lot doesn't it? It's hardly surprising either, I know plenty of people on a personal level who've gone nuts on social media by spending too much time there and getting far too invested in what happens and the trolls. Hell, it's probably been seen plenty of times on the Caf alone going by some of the classic threads. I'm really not sure why people like Musk, who clearly have a short fuse and can't hold their tongue, actually actively use twitter like this.

I mean, is nobody in his PR/legal team telling him right now that his use of twitter is severely damaging his superhero image or are they just all too afraid to because he might pin them on a table with a circular rotating saw slowly moving to cut them in half?
 
Brwned said:
He's obviously a bit of a cnut, but I reckon spending so much time on Twitter / social media has sent him a bit loopy in the way Sam Harris described. It's bizarre that these people feel compelled to risk their reputation by getting into internet arguments with people they'll never meet.
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This could also be about Donald Trump
 
Brwned said:
He's obviously a bit of a cnut, but I reckon spending so much time on Twitter / social media has sent him a bit loopy in the way Sam Harris described. It's bizarre that these people feel compelled to risk their reputation by getting into internet arguments with people they'll never meet.
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What I find a bit weird is that being a CEO of multiple companies, with some being up against it I might add, you'd think he'd have more important things to do than be on Twitter all day.

But the again, being in the news constantly and building a cult following is also probably very beneficial for his businesses in a bizarre way. Maybe more so than him attending meetings all day.
 
berbatrick said:
1. There are questions about the viability of the Tesla model when it comes to solving the climate crisis.

2. It offers an alternative explanation as to why Musk might donate money, since his donation and presence on Trump's council certainly didn't stop Trump withdrawing from Paris and butchering the EPA itself .
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More should be said about this, because I really don't see how Tesla is solving the climate crisis. I see a car company trying to stay in business by producing a small range of heavy luxury vehicles with extreme specs for a small percentage of richest people on this planet. The rest is just clever marketing, though maybe I should add that the technological developments they've made are genuinely impressive despite the fact that their end product is not.
 
Brwned said:
He's obviously a bit of a cnut, but I reckon spending so much time on Twitter / social media has sent him a bit loopy in the way Sam Harris described. It's bizarre that these people feel compelled to risk their reputation by getting into internet arguments with people they'll never meet.
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Yup. Another example of the corrosive affect social media is having on society, right? :smirk:
 
Henrik Larsson said:
More should be said about this, because I really don't see how Tesla is solving the climate crisis. I see a car company trying to stay in business by producing a small range of heavy luxury vehicles with extreme specs for a small percentage of richest people on this planet. The rest is just clever marketing, though maybe I should add that the technological developments they've made are genuinely impressive despite the fact that their end product is not.
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https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/06/how-tesla-will-change-your-life.html

This is a bit dated but still essentially valid. Well worth a read.

Since it was written it looks as though the Tesla business might go tits up but I think Musk can still take some credit for forcing the industry as a whole to go electric more quickly.
 
Henrik Larsson said:
More should be said about this, because I really don't see how Tesla is solving the climate crisis. I see a car company trying to stay in business by producing a small range of heavy luxury vehicles with extreme specs for a small percentage of richest people on this planet. The rest is just clever marketing, though maybe I should add that the technological developments they've made are genuinely impressive despite the fact that their end product is not.
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Tesla's mission statement was never to solve the climate crisis. That's a fight in many tableaux that can't be solved by one company. It might not even be solvable by humans because we know global warming is affected by fossil fuels and the greenhouse effect, but we can't quantify by how much. We also know our planet goes through heating and cooling cycles outside of our control or influence.

Tesla's mission statement was to help accelerate the transition from gasoline to electric. Partly through their own innovation and partly by forcing the giants of the motor industry (by their presence and achievements) to invest more in R&D into electric engines and batteries.

Arguably they have achieved much of (if not completely owned) what their mission statement says. They developed the best batteries out there and many of the motor industry giants have been pushed into action directly or indirectly because of their existence.



Their inability to ramp up production to meet demand and their own forecasts might be their undoing. But their innovations and urgency have helped stir the pot and probably bring about the transition to electric quicker than it would have happened without them.
 
Henrik Larsson said:
More should be said about this, because I really don't see how Tesla is solving the climate crisis. I see a car company trying to stay in business by producing a small range of heavy luxury vehicles with extreme specs for a small percentage of richest people on this planet. The rest is just clever marketing, though maybe I should add that the technological developments they've made are genuinely impressive despite the fact that their end product is not.
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Ever heard of the model 3?
 
Ady87 said:
Not sure which bit you're trying to address here. At an expected c.£50k UK price point it's definitely in the luxury range, though if you're looking at quality of the end product part you might have a point.
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It costs USD 35K in the US. I don't think this is luxury segment. And UK pricing is irrelevant.
 
@Pogue Mahone @MadMike

I don't necessarily disagree with wat you guys are saying here. My concerns are obviously about the bigger picture in terms of environmental impact. Also feck you Pogue for posting that link, reading it has drained my brain for today. Obviously as the guy admits he's a massive Musk fanboy and some of his claims are far stretched or even absurd ("I’m pretty convinced that the Model S is the best expensive car ever made." Well feck me sideways.) but it's interesting none the less.

What do you guys make of something like this?

http://fortune.com/2017/11/15/electric-cars-climate-change-iea/

"Today, around 2 million of a total 1 billion vehicles on the planet run on electric or hybrid engines. The IEA expects that number to rise to 50 million by 2025, and to 280 million by 2040, as countries everywhere encourage their drivers to make the change to e-mobility.

That may sound like a lot, but the problem is that that number of cars on the road will have doubled by then to 2 billion. According to Laura Cozzi, the head of the IEA’s energy demand directorate, EVs will only displace 1% of expected global CO2 emissions in 2040."

http://www.iea.org/weo2017/

This suggests not only that what Tesla is doing is barely a blip in the grand scheme of things, but electric vehicles in general are going to be a very marginal factor. Then there's the fact that it's not just Tesla's hype and success that's been pushing other manufacturers to switch from petrol to electric. Climate regulations are put in place, and massive emission fraud scandals are forcing their hand too.

Also very cynically, it's a massive business opportunity traditional car builders. Even if hypothetically the electric vehicles would somehow be worse for the environment than petrol, their performance is still better, particularly with the batteries improving. There's always a market for better products, in the end the car builders are only in it for the money.
 
Henrik Larsson said:
@Pogue Mahone @MadMike

I don't necessarily disagree with wat you guys are saying here. My concerns are obviously about the bigger picture in terms of environmental impact. Also feck you Pogue for posting that link, reading it has drained my brain for today. Obviously as the guy admits he's a massive Musk fanboy and some of his claims are far stretched or even absurd ("I’m pretty convinced that the Model S is the best expensive car ever made." Well feck me sideways.) but it's interesting none the less.

What do you guys make of something like this?

http://fortune.com/2017/11/15/electric-cars-climate-change-iea/

"Today, around 2 million of a total 1 billion vehicles on the planet run on electric or hybrid engines. The IEA expects that number to rise to 50 million by 2025, and to 280 million by 2040, as countries everywhere encourage their drivers to make the change to e-mobility.

That may sound like a lot, but the problem is that that number of cars on the road will have doubled by then to 2 billion. According to Laura Cozzi, the head of the IEA’s energy demand directorate, EVs will only displace 1% of expected global CO2 emissions in 2040."

http://www.iea.org/weo2017/

This suggests not only that what Tesla is doing is barely a blip in the grand scheme of things, but electric vehicles in general are going to be a very marginal factor. Then there's the fact that it's not just Tesla's hype and success that's been pushing other manufacturers to switch from petrol to electric. Climate regulations are put in place, and massive emission fraud scandals are forcing their hand too.

Also very cynically, it's a massive business opportunity traditional car builders. Even if hypothetically the electric vehicles would somehow be worse for the environment than petrol, their performance is still better, particularly with the batteries improving. There's always a market for better products, in the end the car builders are only in it for the money.
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I'm not really sure how that goes against what was previously said? Nobody that possesses a brain argues that Tesla is currently saving the planet or something. Nor that it will make a massive difference in the short term (20-30 years).

CO2 emissions make up 65% of global greenhouse emissions, not 100%. In the US it's 81% and transportation only makes up 34% for that (source: https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases#carbon-dioxide). The rest is mostly industry and electricity generation. Any short term gains in the transportation sector can be really easily offset by growth of fossil fuel consumption by the power grid ("Trump digs coal") or the industry. And that's just looking at the West.

China and India, who make up 36% of the global population, are on a very upward trajectory in terms of fossil fuel consumption. Can't blame them either as China's CO2 emissions per capita are still under half of that in the US and India is at 10%, so they rightly scream hypocrisy when people wave a finger at them about building coal plants. So even if the West started reporting net reduction in the CO2 emissions, the developing countries would turn into an increase quite easily. Their adoption of renewable energy sources and electric cars likely to lag a minimum of 20 years behind the West.

However, in the long term it can make a difference and we do need such green initiatives and we need them as soon as, no matter how small their impact is short term. Because if we keep on our current path with no effort of deviation, we're screwed with 100% mathematical certainty.

As for the motor industry business, as with any business, their purpose is to generate profit for their shareholders. Nothing cynical about it, that's how it's always been. But R&D is expensive and uncertain of outcome, so many established businesses avoid such projects especially ones that could see a change in their whole business model. They needed that kick up the arse to invest more in electric in my opinion and acknowledge that it's the future of car making, rather than just a novelty branch.
 
He seemed so likable back when he did the car in space thing, at least to me anyway. It was cool and it probably got a lot of kids interested in space.

However he's clearly a very insecure man-child and has sullied his reputation recently.
 
Solius said:
He seemed so likable back when he did the car in space thing, at least to me anyway. It was cool and it probably got a lot of kids interested in space.

However he's clearly a very insecure man-child and has sullied his reputation recently.
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That is true. Something is wrong since that meltdown in the investor conference call.
 
Just saw his comments/tweets? Does pedo mean something else in South Africa ? Just seems such an odd insult to throw around if he is genieunly calling the guy a paedophile. Out of nowhere.
 
Brwned said:
He's obviously a bit of a cnut, but I reckon spending so much time on Twitter / social media has sent him a bit loopy in the way Sam Harris described. It's bizarre that these people feel compelled to risk their reputation by getting into internet arguments with people they'll never meet.
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Good post. The internet has that effect.

With that said, what an absolutely cretinous thing to say, calling a hero a pedo just because he didn't like Musk's idea. Is he really that thin-skinned? Sounds like an egomaniac.

I've lost a lot of respect for Musk.
 
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