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Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

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Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#411
post #393
post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But he makes money from those ventures and is therefore immoral! /s I don't understand why so many people seem to hold the attitude that the only acceptable response to someone having money is to pressure them to squander it by giving it all away to atrociously inefficient systems (government, charities, etc). Making money is not immoral. And neither is using money to make investments to make more money.

It could be argued that the reason governments are “inefficient systems” (particularly in the US) is in large part due to the same people making ridiculous amounts of money. So while you’re being sarcastic, and probably believe that you too “can make it” don’t be surprised when you don’t, and when the government becomes even less efficient because private interests keep using their wealth to strip it of anything usef…

The government is elected to represent the interests of the people. They bear the overwhelming responsibility for any corrupt deals made with "people making ridiculous amounts of money." It sounds like you're to assign blame to a business person for buying influence, instead of blaming the politician for selling it in the first place! If politicians stop selling influence, there is nothing to buy.

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#412

Hypothesis: this is not about Elon running Twitter, controlling society, insuring free speech, or any other such thing. It's simply that he wants insurance against being de-platformed, and now he has it.

but 9% seems very expensive way to do that, I think most likely he just likes it and has benefited greatly by the platform.

the question, is it worth investment?

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#413

I think generally the political right in the US is effectively underserved by social media, because all of the giants seem to lean pretty openly left. If Musk can make the platform more neutral this could be a massive business opportunity, if not to grow then to at least ensure Twitter's market dominance by venting some of the pressure for a competitor. Never would have bothered before but I'm long TWTR now, worth a…

Has it occurred to you that social media tilts left because lefty people are more likely to use the internet?

Internet and social media use use track closely with education level, which correlate to position on the political spectrum.

If that's true, then an attempt to make social media more "neutral" would in fact be giving rightists an unfair advantage.

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#414

I think generally the political right in the US is effectively underserved by social media, because all of the giants seem to lean pretty openly left. If Musk can make the platform more neutral this could be a massive business opportunity, if not to grow then to at least ensure Twitter's market dominance by venting some of the pressure for a competitor. Never would have bothered before but I'm long TWTR now, worth a…

[dead]

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#415
post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By "shield himself from the consequences of his activity" I think Elon literally meant "I don't want to get shot by some crazy person following my movements". No perfect solution, but I can get his motivation.

ADS data is public. Just because a Twitter bot puts it in a nice easy to digest format doesn't mean the data isn't out there, and there's nothing Elon or really anyone can do about it. It is trivial to track a plane if you have its tail number and Elon only flies on a small number of jets. And, no, by "shield himself from the consequences of his activities", I mean things like calling someone a pedophile on Twitter.…

Plenty of things are public but are unethical to broadcast, and can range from benign to extremely creepy or harassment.

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. He lies constantly about his products, intentions and behaviors and faces no repercussions. But stocks go brr so who cares

Other than lying about timelines (Which I'm not sure I'd really call lies, he just hasn't learned how to set realistic timing on goals), what has he lied about? Like, I know he hasn't delivered on FSD (And I know he won't for a long time, which is why I didn't buy FSD when I bought my Model 3 in 2019), and the Cybertruck and Roadster have been very delayed, what has he lied about?

> what has he lied about?

"Funding secured"

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An employee exodus from Twitter would only be a good thing in my eyes. They're all too ideological from my experience.

The company will still be ideological, but will simply follow Musk's ideology. Whether that's good or not depends on if you agree with him - I don't.

Open discussion isn’t an ideology. It’s all ideologies.

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#418

This is the biggest thing to happen to twitter since the trump presidency. Both big for twitter, and awful for society.

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

That’s why free speech policies shouldn’t be dictated by partisan concerns. You never know who will be in control of your social media platform in the future.

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#419
post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Elon Musk is kind of obnoxious. He lies (or "exaggerates"). But what Tesla has done is insane. It's happened so quickly, and that's leaving aside the rockets. The hard evidence that we can build new things, that we can progress and build a future that's better than the present is so important. If it takes a flawed man to show us that, I'll take it. Or in other words, the end justifies the means? Not all of us share…

Some ends justify some means. He lies to some investors. Not good. Because of the this the chance we get into serious trouble due to climate change is significantly reduced. We also gain the technology to go to Mars economically. So Yeah I would say this end justifies lying to some investors.

> Because of the this the chance we get into serious trouble due to climate change is significantly reduced.

In which alternate reality?

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#420

you're right, hopefully all those political woke people will go elsewhere. Then they can be replaced by people who believe in minimal oversight and free speech, and then twitter will be truly apolitical.

"Un-woke" people are greater than or at least equally political compared to those you call "woke", is my experience from real life as well as internet encounters with them, so your longing for an apolitical Twitter/online public town square seems a pipe dream, I'm afraid.

Everyone is political. But “woke” people are like the old Christian right. They’re willing to use their control of institutions to prosthelytize their ideology in a way that ordinary liberals or conservatives aren’t.
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