X, the moonshot factory • Hacker News Board

Re: X, the moonshot factory

#101

Post by hendersoon » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 4:42 PM UTC

Looking past the Elon hilarity, I'm all for moonshots, a bold move investing in the next big thing.

Trying to transform Twitter into WeChat for the west seems unlikely, to say the least, but has nothing to do with this announcement. They just both have X in their names because I guess Elon likes the letter.

Re: X, the moonshot factory

#102

Post by iainmerrick » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 4:42 PM UTC

I always felt that calling this a “moonshot factory” was foolishly overblown. Just like you don’t generalise your code until you have at least two instances to work from, show us two successful “moonshots” before you even start thinking about a “factory”.

Re: X, the moonshot factory

#103

Post by NBJack » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 4:43 PM UTC

paulvnickerson wrote: post #92

Is this another shot at Elon Musk? Not sure where all the hate for him came from. Was it the hardline free speech direction he took Twitter, reinstating conservative accounts? That seemed to be the downward turning point in his popularity.

Not sure what rock you've managed to find (please send me the address, BTW, I could use a break myself), but between being forced to buy the company, firing a vast swath of the staff, not paying his workers, and other terrible decisions on what was otherwise a floundering if beloved company, I think Elon has earned this fresh disdain.

Re: X, the moonshot factory

#104

Post by codetrotter » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 4:43 PM UTC

joezydeco wrote: post #42

shiftpgdn wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if we can add it to the Google death pile?

Can't say that here. You'll be downvoted as trite and cynical. IMO, it's all headed for the graveyard.

> IMO, it's all headed for the graveyard

Every company will die some day.

But some companies have been around for a very very long time.

Kongō Gumi Co., Ltd. (株式会社金剛組, Kabushiki Gaisha Kongō Gumi) is a Japanese construction company founded in 578 A.D., making it the world's oldest company.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kong%C5%8D_Gumi

And there are some other pretty old companies that are still around as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies

Now you might say, Ship of Theseus. Is a company that is over one millennia old really still the same company at all.

But philosophy aside.

If you’re gonna prophetize the death of Google (or any other company in particular), I want very specific numbers.

When? Tomorrow? This year? Within 5 years? 313,373 years from now?

Re: X, the moonshot factory

#105

Post by brycewray » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 4:44 PM UTC

prepend wrote: post #83

How long do these “moonshots” have until they are considered failures? It seems like an anti pattern that some huge, futzy organization launches a “moonshot” to explain why they burn money on something without needing a return because it’s a “moonshot.” JFK gave his “to the moon” speech in 1962, targeting 1970 [0]. And the USG did it. So 8 years was the first one. It cost a ton of money and was successful and had mas…

The main JFK speech about the manned moon landing was May 25, 1961, before a joint session of Congress. The “we choose to go to the moon” speech at Houston’s Rice University in the fall of 1962 was more a case of pumping up public enthusiasm about the very expensive program, given that polls — especially in that mid-term election year — were showing growing doubts among voters that the expenditure was worth it.

Re: X, the moonshot factory

#106

Post by barbazoo » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 4:44 PM UTC

scblock wrote: post #3

X by Google, X by Twitter, X by X. Terrible branding on all sides and I am so not interested in any of this bullshit.

WTH, I totally 100% thought this was Musk's new company. There is already a company called X by Alphabet, what a goof.

Re: X, the moonshot factory

#107

Post by bongobingo1 » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 4:44 PM UTC

XCSme wrote: post #30

The information looks interesting but the site is so hard to navigate, there are 3-7 moving elements on the screen at any time, text runs away while reading it, scroll doesn't work as expected, information is presented in too many different ways.

I don't think you're really supposed to navigate it. There isn't any real content on sites like this. They exist to check a "we have a marketing website" box, that prospective parties can basically open, scroll half way down and think "yep looks very impressive".

If you're the public, there is nothing to learn, esp if they have a sub brand that actually does the thing (eg waymo). If your an investor (?) you have actual data to review, or dont care either way.

Re: X, the moonshot factory

#108

Post by deelowe » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 4:44 PM UTC

afavour wrote: post #59

deelowe wrote: post #21

To add fuel to the fire, Elon has been quite vocal about his disdain for Larry lately. According to Elon, he got upset at Larry for not taking the risks of AI seriously. I wouldn't put it past Elon for this to be a bit of him thumbing his nose at Alphabet.

Musk wanted to rebrand PayPal as X. His obsession goes back a long, long way.

True. Maybe it was Larry who was doing the nose thumbing to start with.

Re: X, the moonshot factory

#109

Post by yreg » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 4:45 PM UTC

deelowe wrote: post #21

To add fuel to the fire, Elon has been quite vocal about his disdain for Larry lately. According to Elon, he got upset at Larry for not taking the risks of AI seriously. I wouldn't put it past Elon for this to be a bit of him thumbing his nose at Alphabet.

There's also this story although I wouldn't take it too seriously

Elon Musk Reportedly Had Affair With Sergey Brin’s Wife—Ending Billionaires’ Friendship - https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/07/24/el...

Re: X, the moonshot factory

#110

Post by apocalyptic0n3 » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 4:46 PM UTC

andsoitis wrote: post #37

Have any of their projects gone anywhere? https://x.company/projects/

Hard to argue Waymo hasn't gone anywhere with the number of their Taxis I see driving around Scottsdale. I see multiple everyday and I only really drive along a single road as part of my commute. I don't think they've "made it" yet, but it's impressive tech I can actually use nonetheless.