Elon Musk: The Recode interview • Hacker News Board

Re: Elon Musk: The Recode interview

#11

Post by daedalus_j » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 5:07 PM UTC

sabertoothed wrote: post #3

Kara Swisher is a terrible interviewer. She was terrible here [1], and she was terrible in this interview. You have an hour with Elon Musk and you ask what BFR means again (knowing the answer) and don't know that they attempt to catch fairings? Why does she always look like she did not do her research? Why do I never learn anything new if she interviews? [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsixsRI-Sz4

Agreed. She always seems to me to be far more interested in herself than in the person she's interviewing. Previously I thought it was runaway narcissism, but I think you may have nailed it in saying she doesn't do her research. Perhaps everything is phrased as "Well when I did this...how does that relate to you", because she didn't prepare and is just vamping. (Good old Hanlon's Razor...)

Re: Elon Musk: The Recode interview

#12

Post by travbrack » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 5:07 PM UTC

sabertoothed wrote: post #3

Kara Swisher is a terrible interviewer. She was terrible here [1], and she was terrible in this interview. You have an hour with Elon Musk and you ask what BFR means again (knowing the answer) and don't know that they attempt to catch fairings? Why does she always look like she did not do her research? Why do I never learn anything new if she interviews? [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsixsRI-Sz4

An interview is supposed to be about the subject. Kara makes the interviews about herself by being the biggest personality in the room.

Re: Elon Musk: The Recode interview

#13

Post by esotericn » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 5:11 PM UTC

Endama wrote: post #5

I think the thing that people really like about Elon Musk is that he just doesn't care about the interpersonal social status dynamics at play with his position in the world. If you look at the interview, he's very dismissive of Kara's questioning about how others perceive him: Kara: What’s Twitter? Okay, let’s start with Twitter. I have an obsession with Twitter, too, and an addiction. What happens with you and Twitt…

He's just a pretty no-nonsense individual.

Bureaucracy, and coded ways of doing things, seem to be irresistible to many.

He types some words into a phone, presses an enter key, and a decent subset of the world loses their minds.

Golly gosh.

If I were him, I'd be doing it for the amusement factor alone.

Re: Elon Musk: The Recode interview

#14

Post by rdtsc » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 5:24 PM UTC

Endama wrote: post #5

I think the thing that people really like about Elon Musk is that he just doesn't care about the interpersonal social status dynamics at play with his position in the world. If you look at the interview, he's very dismissive of Kara's questioning about how others perceive him: Kara: What’s Twitter? Okay, let’s start with Twitter. I have an obsession with Twitter, too, and an addiction. What happens with you and Twitt…

> I think people find this kind of backed-up braggadocio incredibly entertaining and exciting to watch, it makes Elon musk an irresistible personality to follow.

I think they follow him because he created Tesla, Space-X and other things. Braggadocio without results to back it up won't take him as far.

Re: Elon Musk: The Recode interview

#15

Post by leesec » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 5:25 PM UTC

sabertoothed wrote: post #3

Kara Swisher is a terrible interviewer. She was terrible here [1], and she was terrible in this interview. You have an hour with Elon Musk and you ask what BFR means again (knowing the answer) and don't know that they attempt to catch fairings? Why does she always look like she did not do her research? Why do I never learn anything new if she interviews? [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsixsRI-Sz4

Yeah I thought she was really bad as well. Kept interrupting him and also seemed disinterested in things he was saying. Like she was looking for certain answers and he wouldn't give them so she would just interrupt. She also asked really irrelevant questions, and in some cases condescending.

Re: Elon Musk: The Recode interview

#16

Post by lalos » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 5:30 PM UTC

Endama wrote: post #5

I think the thing that people really like about Elon Musk is that he just doesn't care about the interpersonal social status dynamics at play with his position in the world. If you look at the interview, he's very dismissive of Kara's questioning about how others perceive him: Kara: What’s Twitter? Okay, let’s start with Twitter. I have an obsession with Twitter, too, and an addiction. What happens with you and Twitt…

Sounds like he just took notes of his PR management lessons, do you think they throw a CEO without teaching him how to interact with journalists? That's not his personality, see early videos of CEOs to see how their personality really was before all the PR makeover (make them go to the gym, get hair plugs, pick their clothes, train them how to talk, what to say, when to say it, etc). Another perfect example is Zuckerberg, he was basically trained to be someone else after the (coincidentally) Kara interview where he cracked and almost died of dehydration from sweating.

Re: Elon Musk: The Recode interview

#17

Post by educationdata » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 5:33 PM UTC

Joe Rogan interview of Elon is much better: https://youtu.be/ycPr5-27vSI

Re: Elon Musk: The Recode interview

#18

Post by lalos » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 5:35 PM UTC

sabertoothed wrote: post #3

Kara Swisher is a terrible interviewer. She was terrible here [1], and she was terrible in this interview. You have an hour with Elon Musk and you ask what BFR means again (knowing the answer) and don't know that they attempt to catch fairings? Why does she always look like she did not do her research? Why do I never learn anything new if she interviews? [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsixsRI-Sz4

I'll never forget the train wreck the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs interview was. She kept interrupting them and adding nonsensical meta commentary ("oh that was sweet"). You can see in their faces that both were uncomfortable with her poor professionalism. At the end Jobs seemed to be ignoring her fully. One small example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76mVGGlFGRA

Re: Elon Musk: The Recode interview

#19

Post by Reedx » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 5:38 PM UTC

sabertoothed wrote: post #3

Kara Swisher is a terrible interviewer. She was terrible here [1], and she was terrible in this interview. You have an hour with Elon Musk and you ask what BFR means again (knowing the answer) and don't know that they attempt to catch fairings? Why does she always look like she did not do her research? Why do I never learn anything new if she interviews? [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsixsRI-Sz4

Yeah, I've been frustrated with that ever since the Gates & Jobs interview in 2007.

Here's the question I've been wondering: How does such an interviewer manage to keep getting these historically important interviews?

Re: Elon Musk: The Recode interview

#20

Post by perseusprime11 » Fri, Nov 02, 2018, 5:42 PM UTC

What was Kara thinking? She was trying to be too much of a high-brow. I will give you a lecture on how you should behave by asking you questions that will put you down. Very offputting!