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Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]

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Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]

#131

Post by etjossem »

brianstorms wrote: post #127

The most remarkable thing about the 60 Minutes segment was the simplification of Tesla Motors' history, and Elon's apparent unwillingness to correct the record in front of the camera. Elon was not the founder of Tesla. He was an angel investor, and then became a major investor, and over time took over after ousting the early founders. That is a very different story than he founded the company, that it was his singula…

Elon Musk has made a deliberate attempt to simplify a founding story before, when he was leaving Paypal. In Musk's separation agreement with the company [1], there's a section marked "Deletion of References to Founders." In light of (what looks like) Musk rewriting history with his previous company too, I'm not sure 60 Minutes is to blame.

"[Paypal] acknowledges that Mr. Musk is a founder of the Company and its predecessor X.com. The Company agrees that, within ten days after the effective date of this Agreement, all references to 'founders' of the company will be removed from the Company's website ... the Company shall refrain from stating who the founders of the Company are or making statements quoted in the press that undermine Mr. Musk's status as a 'founder' of X.com."

I love what he's done for Tesla since taking over. There's real potential in the products the company has to offer, and I own a bit of TSLA myself. But at this point, Elon Musk doesn't need a "lone hero" story to change the world, and I'm not sure I agree with the decision to craft it.

[1] http://evworld.com/pdf/eberhardvmusk.pdf, scroll to p.42

Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]

#134

Post by MimiZ »

Someone brought this up to me:

"If Elon Musk wanted to revolutionize the car industry, why didn't he figure out how to recycle the materials of the existing cars into Tesla somehow? Instead of making more new cars? Sure, the new cars are more environmentally friendly and sustainable but that doesn't solve the existing waste problem."

Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]

#136

Post by aryastark »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #126
dclowd9901 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I'd rather stare at a pretty marvel façade than put my kids through college, too. I'm all about sweat equity, but that payoff better be substantial.

Counterpoint: I keep applying for a Linux sysadmin job at SpaceX that would have me taking a ~$80K/year paycut, so I can work at SpaceX. Substantial payoff? Mine is getting to work in launch operations, no matter what the position is.

I have yet to hear anyone speak positively about their experience working at SpaceX. The common theme seems to be incredibly high turnover with intense burnout. However, looking at Glassdoor right now, it seems things may have improved. Or there has been a lot of recent astroturfing going on. The reviews were pretty negative last I looked, a year or two ago.

Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]

#139

Post by dclowd9901 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #126
dclowd9901 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I'd rather stare at a pretty marvel façade than put my kids through college, too. I'm all about sweat equity, but that payoff better be substantial.

Counterpoint: I keep applying for a Linux sysadmin job at SpaceX that would have me taking a ~$80K/year paycut, so I can work at SpaceX. Substantial payoff? Mine is getting to work in launch operations, no matter what the position is.

Just remember there's lots of people you're robbing of an opportunity because you're selfish enough to value your time so little.

Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]

#140

Post by tambourine_man »

pjkundert wrote: post #130
tambourine_man wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone care to explain the reason for the downvotes?

The day scientific consensus fails to be a disputed issue is the day science begins to die.

How often do you see the BigBang or Plate Tectonics being reported as a controversy? There is a pile of evidence supporting anthropogenic climate change, but it's constantly downplayed as something one “believes” in or not.
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