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Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

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Re: Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

#401

Post by mncolinlee »

grellas wrote: post #211

Paternalistic meddling with free consumer choices is always fraught with peril. Sometimes it is necessary to protect important principles in society. You can't discriminate based on race - that limits choice but who would support the contrary? You can't defraud people in selling products - ditto. You can't buy land to build a smokestack plant in a quiet residential neighborhood - ditto. Many other examples might be c…

I don't think anyone could a write a less accurate depiction of John Kenneth Galbraith's writings if one were trying. He did not argue against competition. He argued that modern industries tended to anticompetitive behaviors and that they could not be trusted to preserve free, competitive markets. He was right. Proof is in the behavior of the auto dealers.

I understand Galbraith is a Libertarian boogeyman and Adam Smith is viewed as the opposite, but they share a heck of a lot in common. It's sad to see such easily refuted ignorance elevated to the top of HN comments threads.

Re: Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

#403

Post by sukuriant »

stcredzero wrote: post #361
sukuriant wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. It's a car, and has the power to kill people on software malfunction, making it a critical system. Critical systems are tend to go through a much greater and more robust form of testing.

The destructive potential of a car exceeds that of a lot of handguns one can buy. There have long been techniques for writing software as formal proofs of correctness. As far as I can tell, they haven't been popular with mainstream programmers because they are simply too different.

That is a really neat bit of fact; but, what does that have to do with what I was talking about? I really would like to know, it sounds like a really important insight, I'm just not sure what train of thought led to that.

Re: Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

#404

Post by protester »

ghshephard wrote: post #297
stcredzero wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are all sorts of laws on the books that we've agreed are idiotic and are no longer enforced. It's up to the executive to determine which those ones are, and, as time progresses, some laws become so outdated that no rational minded person would ever think of enforcing them. Europeans (mostly Germans) I've talked to about how we do this in the US shake their heads. These shenanigans along with the "speed limit+9m…

Just to clarify for any europeans who might have read this, ""speed limit+9mph" informal rule " - is a rule (at least in California) for what your minimum speed on the freeway/highway should politely be. Anybody traveling slower than this needs to be in the slower right lanes to avoid getting tailgated or inspiring road rage. I've often wondered if anybody traveling at (or just over) the speed limit on the freeway ha…

You should get tailgated, headlight-flashed and all around road-raged if you drive at any speed in the left lane and you are not passing.

Re: Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

#405

Post by AlisdairO »

repsilat wrote: post #398
takluyver wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively, it could be that people do like full service enough to pay for this, but act irrationally at the pump, not the ballot box. I.e. people undervalue their own comfort and do things themselves because the idea of paying more seems so objectionable. This has occurred to me with airlines as well - we relentlessly optimise for cheap flights, and then complain that we're crammed in to tiny seats while flight a…

Cool idea. Reading your post I thought, "This is obviously wrong," but it's growing on me the more I think about it (making it the best kind of comment to read.)

I experience the same thing with charitable giving. While I think I give a reasonable-ish amount out of pocket compared to most people, I absolutely don't give enough to match my ideals - fundamentally, the money is there, in my pocket, and it's hard to part with. On the other hand, at the ballot box, I always vote for parties that tend more redistributive (and since I earn decently, likely to raise my taxes). It's a much easier decision to make when there's that degree of separation.

Re: Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

#406

Post by PeterisP »

jasonlingx wrote: post #242
FD3SA wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heartily believe there's a market for both. Compare a Macbook Pro with a custom built Linux desktop. The MBP is very user friendly, plug n play, and has very little customization capacity. The custom Linux desktop is an absolute tinkerer's paradise, with everything from hardware to software being open for customization. The car equivalent of these used to exist for daily drivers, but are now relegated mainly to clo…

> Compare a Macbook Pro with a custom built Linux desktop. The MBP is very user friendly, plug n play, and has very little customization capacity. The custom Linux desktop is an absolute tinkerer's paradise, with everything from hardware to software being open for customization. It's not fair to say Macs are less customizable or less of a tinkerer's paradise just because they are more user friendly.

Who said that it's because of user friendliness? But they are intentionally made uncustomizable and not for tinkerers hardware-wise, that 1/10 repairability score (http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Retina+Di...) isn't an accident.

Re: Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

#407

Post by eru »

Edmond wrote: post #86
toomuchtodo wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't exclude myself, we all use these web services that are highly concentrated in SV, what is going to happen to our local economies? They adapt, as all economies must to the changing winds.

That is an optimistic take, the evidence so far with the move of manufacturing to low-wage countries suggests otherwise.

> That is an optimistic take, the evidence so far with the move of manufacturing to low-wage countries suggests otherwise.

Like Germany?

Re: Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

#408

Post by eru »

AlisdairO wrote: post #405
repsilat wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool idea. Reading your post I thought, "This is obviously wrong," but it's growing on me the more I think about it (making it the best kind of comment to read.)

I experience the same thing with charitable giving. While I think I give a reasonable-ish amount out of pocket compared to most people, I absolutely don't give enough to match my ideals - fundamentally, the money is there, in my pocket, and it's hard to part with. On the other hand, at the ballot box, I always vote for parties that tend more redistributive (and since I earn decently, likely to raise my taxes). It's a…

Shouldn't you vote for the party that's best for the less-well off, and not the one that most redistributive? (OK, if you are eg in the US, there's not that much choice in the first place.)

Re: Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

#409

Post by AlisdairO »

eru wrote: post #408
AlisdairO wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I experience the same thing with charitable giving. While I think I give a reasonable-ish amount out of pocket compared to most people, I absolutely don't give enough to match my ideals - fundamentally, the money is there, in my pocket, and it's hard to part with. On the other hand, at the ballot box, I always vote for parties that tend more redistributive (and since I earn decently, likely to raise my taxes). It's a…

Shouldn't you vote for the party that's best for the less-well off, and not the one that most redistributive? (OK, if you are eg in the US, there's not that much choice in the first place.)

I live in the UK, which like the US has serious problems with income gaps and class mobility. When I say redistributive, I should clarify that I don't just mean 'here poor person, have some money', but more that I would aim towards a more Scandinavian-style economy, where more money/effort is spent on social programs.

Re: Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

#410

Post by thenonsequitur »

gutnor wrote: post #272
oddevan wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You make a valid point. In Musk's defense, I can't think of any car manufacturers that have used direct sales on this scale, so while the correlation does not prove causation here, it doesn't disprove it either. He seems to simply be stating that this aspect of their business model (direct sales) is a key part of Tesla's business and one that he believes is essential to its survival.

Just wondering though, what is preventing them to sell a franchise of Tesla and just provide the seller the appropriate incentive - like keep a fraction of the sales. I suppose they still have the right to put some restriction to the franchisee like they do in the food industry ( like you will not see a McDonald selling KFC )

What's preventing them? If they did that, they'd have to give up a fraction of their sales. Also, it's not easy to set or agree on a commission percent when Tesla and the dealerships have such opposing interests to begin with.

In other words, they are not trying this simply because selling direct is a better choice.

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