This is how I used to picture Elon Musk:

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GfpzQhEsY/?mibextid=wwXIfr

 

Pros: He can keep a straight face while being an exceptionally good friend...

“I think the president is a good man,” Musk said. “I think he is an honest man, and I have yet to see him do anything mean or anything that is wrong, that I would say morally wrong. Not even once.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/lying-gaslighting-elon-musk-torched-034126750.html

 

 

 

 

15 hours ago, Trurl said:

This is how I used to picture Elon Musk:

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GfpzQhEsY/?mibextid=wwXIfr

 

So basically unattributed account of an interaction that, as far as I can tell is entirely phony (a quick search revealed similar videos but each with another "professor"). This is astonishingly accurate, but in a sad, vacuous way.

  

58 minutes ago, J.C.MacSwell said:

Pros: He can keep a straight face while being an exceptionally good friend...

“I think the president is a good man,” Musk said. “I think he is an honest man, and I have yet to see him do anything mean or anything that is wrong, that I would say morally wrong. Not even once.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/lying-gaslighting-elon-musk-torched-034126750.html

 

 

 

 

Regarding keeping a straight face, he is really good at making very detailed promises (like, autonomous driving by end of next year December, maybe November) and keep doing that for years without showing any level of self-consciousness. But maybe that is because he is such a math genius that actual numbers don't mean anything to him anymore.

How does the saying go?

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me every time, I must be a Musk fan.

...never ever realize I've been fooled...Trump fan

21 hours ago, CharonY said:

Regarding keeping a straight face, he is really good at making very detailed promises (like, autonomous driving by end of next year December, maybe November) and keep doing that for years without showing any level of self-consciousness. But maybe that is because he is such a math genius that actual numbers don't mean anything to him anymore.

Perhaps he heard, that dividing by zero would give him infinite wealth?

1 hour ago, dimreepr said:

Perhaps he heard, that dividing by zero would give him infinite wealth?

I mean he believes it's a 50/50 chance we are living in a simulation so wouldn't surprise me.

41 minutes ago, MSC said:

I mean he believes it's a 50/50 chance we are living in a simulation so wouldn't surprise me.

I'm not sure that you understand the odds...

Shareholders at today's meet may be thinking, Get back to your factory, First Buddy!"

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/21/business/musk-tesla-investors-call/index.html

Like many American manufacturers, Tesla is caught in a bind thanks to President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Unlike most of those other companies, though, Tesla has an added wrinkle – its CEO, Elon Musk, sometimes called the First Buddy for the close relationship he’s cultivated with the president.

On Tuesday, Tesla reports earnings; that afternoon, Musk will take questions from investors. But there is a catch-22: If Musk continues his close ties to Trump, the company could alienate potential customers, both at home and overseas, who dislike Trump’s policies. If he distances himself from Trump, though, he risks the ire of the White House. It’s a lose-lose situation, and it’s a trap of Musk’s own making.

The first quarter saw the company’s largest drop in sales after virtually nonstop double-digit sales growth. But the automaker’s finances are only part of what investors will want to know.

SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft exploded ahead of an engine test late Wednesday, sending a large fireball into the South Texas sky and dealing another major setback to Elon Musk’s company.

It was the fourth time the company has lost a Starship spacecraft this year. In three previous test flights, the vehicle came apart or detonated during its flight.

Wondering if Musk's "rapid iterative development" approach is really such a great idea for space travel. Maybe leave the "move fast and break things" to Zuckerberg.

2 hours ago, TheVat said:

SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft exploded ahead of an engine test late Wednesday, sending a large fireball into the South Texas sky and dealing another major setback to Elon Musk’s company.

It was the fourth time the company has lost a Starship spacecraft this year. In three previous test flights, the vehicle came apart or detonated during its flight.

Wondering if Musk's "rapid iterative development" approach is really such a great idea for space travel. Maybe leave the "move fast and break things" to Zuckerberg.

Musk has his multi-billion dollar contract, so it’s not really a setback.

And a link I provided earlier critiques his approach as not actually being iterative (the turnaround is too fast to actually be doing that)

2 hours ago, TheVat said:

SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft exploded ahead of an engine test late Wednesday, sending a large fireball into the South Texas sky and dealing another major setback to Elon Musk’s company.

It was the fourth time the company has lost a Starship spacecraft this year. In three previous test flights, the vehicle came apart or detonated during its flight.

Wondering if Musk's "rapid iterative development" approach is really such a great idea for space travel. Maybe leave the "move fast and break things" to Zuckerberg.

You could say some of the other launches had successful elements.

He was just what space flight needed, lots of launches, new technologies, reusable kit.

Then Trump, DOGE and insanity.

France is urging Europe and other partners to compete with him on low orbit satellites.

An article in physics.org today.

He could have been instrumental in pushing space flight to the next level.

Now, every achievement leaves a nasty taste in my mouth.

Be nice if Europe could knock him of his perch.

https://phys.org/news/2025-06-macron-europe-space-power.html

17 hours ago, pinball1970 said:

You could say some of the other launches had successful elements.

He was just what space flight needed, lots of launches, new technologies, reusable kit.

Then Trump, DOGE and insanity.

France is urging Europe and other partners to compete with him on low orbit satellites.

An article in physics.org today.

He could have been instrumental in pushing space flight to the next level.

Now, every achievement leaves a nasty taste in my mouth.

Indeed, the race to the bottom is accelerating...

17 hours ago, pinball1970 said:

Be nice if Europe could knock him of his perch.

https://phys.org/news/2025-06-macron-europe-space-power.html

I have mixed feelings, mostly I hope Europe stays out of that particular race and aims more accurately at the top...

Look out, Austin!

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-tiptoes-into-long-promised-robotaxi-service-2025-06-22/

If I were in Austin today, I would (a) look carefully before crossing the street or traveling by bike, and (b) petition City Hall for a test mobilizing a large team of pedestrians (in heavy body armor) pushing empty baby carriages and suddenly and randomly crossing streets.

On 6/20/2025 at 12:25 PM, swansont said:

Musk has his multi-billion dollar contract, so it’s not really a setback.

And a link I provided earlier critiques his approach as not actually being iterative (the turnaround is too fast to actually be doing that)

And to some degree it is also a way to externalize cost. From what I have heard, NASA is actually required to do a "proper" iterative process but with are not allowed to take risks. I.e. they are in a bit of trouble if they were to blow something up outside of a very controlled scenario and with a clear assessment of risks, but also environmental pollution. From what I understand, SpaceX is not really proactive in that area and basically just wait until they get fined, which is one of the potential reasons why DOGE is gutting regulators.

Ultimately someone has to pay the bill and the "advantage" of a private company is that they can get others (to do that).

34 minutes ago, TheVat said:

Look out, Austin!

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-tiptoes-into-long-promised-robotaxi-service-2025-06-22/

If I were in Austin today, I would (a) look carefully before crossing the street or traveling by bike, and (b) petition City Hall for a test mobilizing a large team of pedestrians (in heavy body armor) pushing empty baby carriages and suddenly and randomly crossing streets.

I read recently that one of the difficulties cited by US developers of robocars, when implementing them in the UK, is that the number of "jaywalkers" is said to be 7 times as high as in the USA. What these nerds don't seem to have clocked yet is that there is no such thing as "jaywalking" in the UK. Pedestrians are allowed to cross the street anywhere, at any time - and do. They should get their technology fit for London, Manchester or Glasgow and then it will work in Austin, TX.

17 minutes ago, exchemist said:

I read recently that one of the difficulties cited by US developers of robocars, when implementing them in the UK, is that the number of "jaywalkers" is said to be 7 times as high as in the USA. What these nerds don't seem to have clocked yet is that there is no such thing as "jaywalking" in the UK. Pedestrians are allowed to cross the street anywhere, at any time - and do. They should get their technology fit for London, Manchester or Glasgow and then it will work in Austin, TX.

They should be tested in undisciplined places.

8 minutes ago, StringJunky said:

They should be tested in undisciplined places.

Which is to say in places where the roads remain at the service of the people, rather than being the exclusive preserve of motor vehicles.

18 minutes ago, exchemist said:

Which is to say in places where the roads remain at the service of the people, rather than being the exclusive preserve of motor vehicles.

Yes.

IIRC The Tesla system can't discriminate a life-size picture of the road ahead from the real one. It will drive through the picture. This is because it doesn't use radar.

Edited June 22Jun 22 by StringJunky

This is physically impossible. Imagine that someone squeezes between one car and another standing on the road on the sidewalk. And suddenly he gets into the road. The car driving down the street would have to start braking before this person made an attempt to cross the street. The computer, nor the person driving this car, does not read people's minds..

One fatal pedestrian hit accident occurs in London every six days. By a man driving an ordinary, non-autonomous car. No one mentions it in the news. The same accident with a computerized driver would be a story on TV for weeks.

Immediately there would be hundreds of home-grown specialists who would bend reality and tell how autonomous cars are dangerous for people. No one would care that 100/100 human drivers in a similar incident would also cause a hit, because it would be an unavoidable situation. A car has a speed it has to lose and it takes time. Someone is hit in one way, and dies, and as if they were 1 millisecond later, they would have been hit in another non-fatal way, and would have survived, or only eaten their fear..

Unlike real people, autonomous cars, obey the rules and speeds set on the roads, and do not drive under the influence of alcohol or other drugs..

Edited June 22Jun 22 by Sensei

On 6/20/2025 at 4:59 PM, TheVat said:

Wondering if Musk's "rapid iterative development" approach is really such a great idea for space travel. Maybe leave the "move fast and break things" to Zuckerberg.

“Move fast and break things” has a rather long history in the story of America’s  industrial development - not least in the field of automobile production. There is an entertaining but probably apocryphal story that back in the year of 1895, the only two automobiles in the entire state of Ohio managed to collide with each other

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/only-two-cars-ohio-crashed-1895/

That story is probably untrue, but a better founded one says the first automobile accident ever recorded in the US did happen in Ohio City in 1891, when inventor James Lambert’s single cylinder vehicle hit a tree root and smashed into a hitching post.

Some historians note this mishap was predated by some 20 years by an accident in Dublin Ireland  in 1869 when astronomer and naturalist Mary Ward became the first person to be killed in an automobile accident.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/08/pioneering-female-scientist-was-first-car-crash-victim/597037/

That vehicle however was steam-powered.

"Grok," Elon Musk's AI, which he has been running on his social media platform, seems to keep turning into a Nazi.

https://bsky.app/profile/kthorjensen.bsky.social/post/3lti7lu56uc2n

When it isn't suggesting a new Holocaust, it's praising Adolph Hitler...

https://x.com/tab_delete/status/1942690597866799405

Or attacking people with Jewish surnames. Grok singled out a user with the last name Steinberg, describing her as “a radical leftist tweeting under @Rad_Reflections.” Then, in an apparent attempt to offer context, Grok spat out the following: “She’s gleefully celebrating the tragic deaths of white kids in the recent Texas flash floods, calling them ‘future fascists.’ Classic case of hate dressed as activism—and that surname? Every damn time, as they say.” (one may wonder if Steinberg was a troll account, designed to provoke the less sentient)

And black people have not escaped Grok's artificial stupidity, with a series of posts (since taken down) using the N word spelled out to slur Blacks - this drew the admiration from an actual white supremacist group...

https://x.com/TheTowerWaffen/status/1942678406245802050

Given the origin of Grok's name, I can well imagine Robert Heinlein turning over in his grave.

1 hour ago, TheVat said:

"Grok," Elon Musk's AI, which he has been running on his social media platform, seems to keep turning into a Nazi.

Well, probably the least surprising development in recent times.

he's an incompetent nazi. the nazi part we all know, he hailed hitler on live tv for fuck's sake, but a close examination of his social media activity shows that he is rather objectively unintelligent. he has posted about how he prefers c-sections for his children due to the fact that "vaginal birth can decrease the size of the brain" or something along those lines. this shows a total inability to grasp the difference between correlation and causation, something you would not see in someone with the superior intelligence he boasts about. his mannerisms show a lack of intelligence as well. his disastrous attempts at humor show he has average to below average pattern recognition skills (a skillset required to be funny) and his grasp on language is very poor. i don't believe much in iq, but if i did, i'd say his was average at best. his financial success seems to derive mostly from a combination of luck, wealthy parents, and a complete lack of a moral compass.

Edited July 13Jul 13 by spiralhatted

On 2/20/2025 at 10:30 PM, exchemist said:

He made electric cars sexy and showed that Gerry Anderson had the right idea about rockets. Both fantastic achievements. But then he went mad after his son changed gender and disowned him, started to live in a far-right bubble, raving about the "woke mind virus" and has morphed into a megalomanic Nazi.

The Silicon Valley has always been a reactionary, anti-egalitarian hellhole (see" "The Californian Ideology" by Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron, released in the 1990s") so his son's transition most likely has nothing to do with his politics. It's actually weird since the Silicon Valley is located so close to San Francisco, arguably the most leftward place in the US.

Sorry for quoting a months old post BTW.

Edited July 15Jul 15 by Otto Kretschmer

46 minutes ago, Otto Kretschmer said:

The Silicon Valley has always been a reactionary, anti-egalitarian hellhole (see" "The Californian Ideology" by Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron, released in the 1990s") so his son's transition most likely has nothing to do with his politics. It's actually weird since the Silicon Valley is located so close to San Francisco, arguably the most leftward place in the US.

Sorry for quoting a months old post BTW.

Interesting. Perhaps his son was the last straw then that triggered Musk to “come out” as the nazi he secretly was all along. But it does not seem coincidence that within 6 months of his son’s announcement Musk had bought Twitter, sacked the moderation staff and embarked on a series of high profile far right activities, not just in the US but concerning Europe too.

All very odd, counterproductive behaviour for a maker of EVs.

But, back to your observation about Silicon Valley, I realise Peter Thiel is on record as expressing contempt for democracy. And it seems Zuckerberg has also run up the Jolly Roger, promoting a new, snarling macho persona, quite at odds with how he used to present himself. So yeah, there does seem to be a lot of it about among the tech bros.