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No Billionares at FOSDEM

drewdevault.com

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Re: No Billionares at FOSDEM

#51

Post by lolinder »

> After Dorsey sold Twitter to Elon Musk, selling the platform out to the far right for a crisp billion-with-a-“B” dollar payout

Twitter was publicly traded at the time and Dorsey owned approximately 2-3%. The shareholders overwhelmingly voted in favor of the sale, effectively giving Dorsey no choice. He, in fact, didn't even sell, he instead rolled his shares over into the new company, which means he didn't take the payout implied and instead ate the decrease in value that has occurred since then.

I'm all for criticizing billionaires for the things they do wrong, but there are enough of those things that we don't need to invent fault where there is none! It's actually counterproductive to do so because it distracts from your legitimate points.

Re: No Billionares at FOSDEM

#52

Post by wormlord »

boxed wrote: post #42
throw5959 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What other person started a rocket company from scratch and got them landing? Of course I want to hear everything he says. Yes, he's crazy - seems to be a requirement if you want to do such stuff. Doesn't mean I will ignore it. I can think for myself, it's not like I take everything at face value. All that to say, perhaps other people don't prioritize values like you do. The technical excellence that companies repeat…

It's so sad that the current culture wants to judge peoples life based on the worst they've ever done. Yea, Musk is a troll online, but his success as a business/tech leader is something you can only doubt by donning the proverbial tin foil hat.

I care less about his "troll" posts online (implying there is a conspiracy of jews importing people to destroy America is just a troll and not an actual Nazi conspiracy guys) than his manipulation of the US government, mistreatment of workers, and maybe the most egregious of all, being a fake nerd and pretending to like Evangelion.

Re: No Billionares at FOSDEM

#53

Post by zellyn »

To be fair (and I'm a big fan of Drew), it seems unlikely that Jack could have prevented the sale of Twitter to Musk.

I'm part-way through the book “Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter” by Kate Conger and Ryan Mac, and so far I can recommend it. It's not necessarily perfect writing (they do _not_ think highly of Jack, nor really any other tech-bros), but definitely informative.

[Disclaimer: I have been an employee at Square/Block for nine years now, so I technically work for Jack. Luckily, we have the kind of work culture where my openly bemoaning his blockchain obsession has not (yet) had any (obvious) negative consequences… although tbh I would be _extremely_ surprised if he even recognized my name or face.]

Re: No Billionares at FOSDEM

#54

Post by throw5959 »

wormlord wrote: post #47
throw5959 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What other person started a rocket company from scratch and got them landing? Of course I want to hear everything he says. Yes, he's crazy - seems to be a requirement if you want to do such stuff. Doesn't mean I will ignore it. I can think for myself, it's not like I take everything at face value. All that to say, perhaps other people don't prioritize values like you do. The technical excellence that companies repeat…

> What other person started a rocket company from scratch and got them landing? I'd rather listen to Lars Blackmore (the engineer who is largely responsible for SpaceX powered descent). Or Gwynne Shotwell who actually oversees the business day-to-day. I'm really not interested in what the money guy has to say, especially since he is primarily interested in cultivating his public image-- how can you trust anything he…

Sure, I'm not saying Musk is the only person who has interesting things to say about it. You're absolutely correct about these other people and I listen to them too.

But you're not giving Musk enough credit. All engineers and other professionals told him that landing rockets is bullshit, and what is interesting here is that he went and made it happen anyways.

I'm not talking just about the engineering, everything is interesting here - the project management, the hiring, the investments, the business side... Musk has a lot of input and influence in all of these, he was the one who decided and paid for it.

Re: No Billionares at FOSDEM

#55

Post by wolvesechoes »

Billionares should not surprise anyone, as since Occupy capital did a very good job of hiding wolves among the sheep. As for Drew, he is yet another narcissistic drama queen interested mostly in his own virtue signaling, as shown by Stallman case. His language was forged by liberal preachers that whisper to destroy any solidarity and political power of lower classes; to give them fake individualism, diversity and representation instead of real, material emancipation. Considering that FOSS movement is filled with such people, and prefers code of conducts and pronouns juggling over real political power, I can easily predict it is doomed to fail. So billionares at FOSDEM are just a symptoms of a terminal illness.

Re: No Billionares at FOSDEM

#56

Post by rabite »

> After Dorsey sold Twitter to Elon Musk,

Extreme eyeroll on this post. Twitter's shareholders voted overwhelmingly to sell to Musk. 98.6% of them voted an affirmative yes, in which Dorsey was a very small minority. Dorsey could have voted no at ten times his stake in the company and still it would have been sold to Musk. Everyone was in agreement Musk was overpaying to an extreme degree.

> and its 11 million tons of annual CO2 emissions

Nobody is more in opposition to the current energy regime than Bitcoin miners. They are consistent lobbyists for deregulating private nuclear power, so that they can cleanly power their operations.

This reads like a petulant Communist's criticism of Dorsey. Much like many other of the author's diatribes.

Re: No Billionares at FOSDEM

#57

Post by hshshshshsh »

isodev wrote: post #45
hshshshshsh wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry. When I look at Musk I see self landing rockets, electric cars , star link etc. Obviously he seems to be quite close to truth since without getting close to reality you can't do any of these since Physics is brutal and does not reward any false assumptions. So that gives me a sense that Musk is much closer to truth than most people out there. What am I missing?

> I see self landing rockets, electric cars , star link etc You mean brilliant people were able to achieve this despite him? I don't see why this CEO should be the one taking credit for such achievements. In fact, I believe we would probably be further into the “Space Age” if it weren't for the lost decade since he appeared on TV.

Are you saying without Musk involvement these companies would have been even better performing? Like how did you do that calculation? Seems almost impossible to me how one can simulate that.

Re: No Billionares at FOSDEM

#58

Post by einpoklum »

I would not approve of having a Billionaire keynote a FOSS conference based on his business ventures. However, the author says that billionaires should:

> instead buy our respect by, say, donating 250 million dollars to NLNet

> or the Sovereign Tech Fund

and then, he would have our respect? Hmm. I was later reminded of this phrase when reading author also laments how

> Dorsey sold Twitter to Elon Musk, selling the platform out to the far right

as if a Billionaire + BlackRock + Vanguard can "sell out" in any way, as if they are somehow an elightened elite which is supposed to hold the fort, while Billionaire #2 (Musk) is the evil-far-right we must defend the other Capitalists from.

Re: No Billionares at FOSDEM

#59

Post by whamlastxmas »

wormlord wrote: post #47
throw5959 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What other person started a rocket company from scratch and got them landing? Of course I want to hear everything he says. Yes, he's crazy - seems to be a requirement if you want to do such stuff. Doesn't mean I will ignore it. I can think for myself, it's not like I take everything at face value. All that to say, perhaps other people don't prioritize values like you do. The technical excellence that companies repeat…

> What other person started a rocket company from scratch and got them landing? I'd rather listen to Lars Blackmore (the engineer who is largely responsible for SpaceX powered descent). Or Gwynne Shotwell who actually oversees the business day-to-day. I'm really not interested in what the money guy has to say, especially since he is primarily interested in cultivating his public image-- how can you trust anything he…

He doesn’t do that. People who don’t like him claim that he does without any basis to it, and you’re perpetuating this hyperbole by claiming it as fact when the very thing you linked doesn’t even go that far.

Musk sucks, attack him for valid reasons like racism instead of some made up bullshit about cheating at video games.

Re: No Billionares at FOSDEM

#60

Post by bambax »

duxup wrote: post #32

>In my view, billionaires are not welcome at FOSDEM. I see no reason to discriminate against wealth explicitly. Rather if someone's actions make them worth leaving out, then yeah that's a reason: >Dorsey is presumably being platformed in Janson because his blockchain bullshit company is a main sponsor of FOSDEM this year. That's your problem, not the money. That problem is not solved by drawing the line at personal w…

The money in itself is a problem. People with that amount of wealth are separated from the rest of humanity (and most of the time go to great lengths to make sure they absolutely never cross path with ordinary humans). They don't have the same goals as everyone else, they don't face the same issues, they contribute to climate change in extreme proportions while escaping its most urgent consequences (for the time being).

They have enough influence in the world as it is, for the rest of us not voluntarily giving up some of our precious time to listen to what they have to say.

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