Live data from Hacker News

Elon Musk: The Recode interview

recode.net

51–60 of 71 posts

Re: Elon Musk: The Recode interview

#51
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At 50:00 Elon agrees that Trump's "Space Force" is a good idea.

Trump isn't the first person to talk about having a military presence in space, that was pretty much the main reason for the budget going into NASA early on. And, well, aside from the bias Elon would have where he's developing what will likely become the most successful for-profit space business in history - which I'm sure he's aware of that bias, it definitely is a good idea to be prepared to defend against bad acto…

>Trump isn't the first person to talk about having a military presence in space

The U.S. even researched (and in some cases developed prototype) weapons for space, not just SDI/Star Wars stuff either.

Stuff out of the Future Weapons Office, some of which can be found in the declassified "The Meanderings of a Weapon Oriented Mind When Applied in a Vacuum Such as on the Moon" like 'a spin stabilized micro gun', 'spin/fin stabilized sausage gun', 'sausage gun #2', 'directed gas weapon for close in fighting', 'spring propelled spherical projectile', 'gas cartidge gun', 'gas operated needle gun'.

The Soviets even sent conventional firearms into space like the triple-barreled TP-82, 2 barrels in 28 gauge and a rifled barrel in 5.45x39mm, although this was more for survival upon re-entry in remote Russia. HOWEVER they did develop a prototype laser pistol in the 80's that used a pyrotechnic flashbulb for disabling optical sensors on spacecraft, basically let a cosmonaut out for an EVA, get within 20 meters of the sensor and fire.

Re: Elon Musk: The Recode interview

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

He's the CEO of one of the most valuable car companies and the words he speaks affect those trading on that information. Saying whatever he wants for entertainment is horribly irresponsible when his words have financial consequences for real people. The "funding secured" tweet wasn't harmless, it was a lie that gave a false valuation basis for Tesla at $420. If he was just an employee or outsider that wouldn't matter…

He's actually CEO of one of the _least_ valuable car companies, but I get your point.

Re: Elon Musk: The Recode interview

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The "funding secured" tweet wasn't harmless, it was a lie that gave a false valuation basis for Tesla at $420. If you make a snap financial judgement based on a single tweet, you deserve to lose money.

Tesla explicitly declared in their official filings that Elon twitter is a source of material news about Tesla Inc.

People got trolled (blatantly so, I and several friends laughed as soon as we saw the price) and deserved it.

Re: Elon Musk: The Recode interview

#54
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's the CEO of one of the most valuable car companies and the words he speaks affect those trading on that information. Saying whatever he wants for entertainment is horribly irresponsible when his words have financial consequences for real people. The "funding secured" tweet wasn't harmless, it was a lie that gave a false valuation basis for Tesla at $420. If he was just an employee or outsider that wouldn't matter…

He's actually CEO of one of the _least_ valuable car companies, but I get your point.

By market cap it is top 5...which is a common measure of value

Re: Elon Musk: The Recode interview

#55
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's the CEO of one of the most valuable car companies and the words he speaks affect those trading on that information. Saying whatever he wants for entertainment is horribly irresponsible when his words have financial consequences for real people. The "funding secured" tweet wasn't harmless, it was a lie that gave a false valuation basis for Tesla at $420. If he was just an employee or outsider that wouldn't matter…

He's actually CEO of one of the _least_ valuable car companies, but I get your point.

How so? Tesla is worth more than Ford and GM.

Re: Elon Musk: The Recode interview

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unpopular opinion but I’m coming up pretty short on sympathy for someone trading stocks based on a few words in a tweet and then losing their shirt. These people are grownups and fully aware of the risks they are taking when they walk into the casino. Nobody is forcing them to read twitter or take it seriously as a source of investment advice. The $420 thing didn’t hurt grandma’s pension fund or long term buy-and-hol…

I'm sorry but this kind of thinking is so dangerous. Pumping hurts anyone who buys it after the pump, including grandma's pension fund, because now they're buying it at an artificial value. Traders have a right to accurate information from the officers of the company, which is the whole reason we have regulations in the first place.

Pension funds don't buy the most shorted equity on the market, typically. He's right that the people most affected were in effect gamblers. They gambled on the 5k number happening or not and got creamed in aftermath.

Re: Elon Musk: The Recode interview

#58
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's actually CEO of one of the _least_ valuable car companies, but I get your point.

How so? Tesla is worth more than Ford and GM.

Maybe in la la land where the only thing that matters is market cap or othe rmeasures that don't consider actual revenue.

Re: Elon Musk: The Recode interview

#59
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 can only speak for myself but yes, exactly this. Didn't they model the movie Tony Stark after him? I like that character for the same reason; he's confident, he's cocky, he does what he wants, he doesn't really care what others think, he's not afraid to off…

> Didn't they model the movie Tony Stark after him?

Iron Man the character was created in 1963.

Elon Musk was born in 1971.

The actor of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) did say in 2011 he was inspired in part by Elon Musk when developing his character, but that was 7 years ago now and certainly predates some of Elon Musk's more notorious antics.

We all certainly cross the line and should be forgiven for it, but the standards are different when you're a public leader.

Re: Elon Musk: The Recode interview

#60
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.

I trust his physics knowledge. But 'truth' is very dependent on how you model your world. If he was so rigorous he probably would have done his factory design properly instead of rushing things somehow randomly.
Post reply on HN