So "X" - nothing to see here. Elon's in control - Part XXX

Cordell

I can't understand why all this effort, but it was the driver's fault he sped up to catch a yellow light and lost control. No one seriously hurt though, so the car is safe.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119065203#Comment_119065203

We still have instances of their autopilot literally leading to death. And Tesla have been called out for false advertising in relation to it. On top of that, Tesla are known for using DMCA takedowns to remove clips of autopilot misbehaving.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53418069

Cordell

Autopilot still requires human supervision and all the accidents happened because the human driver failed to do just that. The driver had this information in the actual owner manual, and yet we still see people crawling into the back seat while the car is driving itself and this happens on other car brands not just Tesla.

Dyr

"Elon Musk never really did anything bro, it's just a coincidence that all these companies he bought had massive levels of success bro, anyone could become the richest man in the world so long as they have rich parents bro"

The absolute state of some of the posters on here 😂

It is pretty comical. Why can't people just dislike or hate the man without having to validate it with nonsense like saying he never did anything and he just had rich parents. It's perfectly ok to say "I hate him but accept that he played a huge role in electric vehicles and space." but people seem to be completely and utterly incapable of such nuance.

So what is Musk? He's an autistic business savant. He is the furthest from normal you can get. He is hated because of some stupid comments over the years, which can be explained by his Asperger's, and because he is associated with the right for some reason. All of his most prominent haters here were also active in the anti-Trump threads. It's entirely political but they don't want to admit that.

TomTomTim

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119065426#Comment_119065426

I was going to say it myself, but you already got there. Elon honestly seems to be turning into their new Trump, where he gets credit for nothing and yet blamed for everything. One poster was even arguing in earnest that Trump deserved his ban because he was in a position of great power and had lied from that position. Breaking rules was also mentioned, yet there's no rules against lying, and there's certainly no rule that say that lies from people in power should be treated more severely. There's many, many powerful people on Twitter that tell lies daily and nothing happens, so they are literally creating standards that don't exist to justify their position.

Tony EH

@[Deleted User] It is pretty comical. Why can't people just dislike or hate the man without having to validate it with nonsense like saying he never did anything and he just had rich parents.

Who said anything about "disliking" him or even "hating" him? What people are simply saying about Musk are facts. He's a wealthy individual that used his wealth to buy and sell a few businesses. AND THAT'S ALL.

Some people want to go into some masturbatory fantasy about him being some kind of renaissance man, but he isn't. He's a guy with money who bought and sold things. He buys businesses he thinks are viable and hires people to do the work and then flips them to make a profit.

It has nothing to do with "hate". It's just reality.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119065983#Comment_119065983

Facts? He just used his wealth to buy and sell a few businesses?

He created zip2 with his brother. His father gave them $28k to help at the start. He was a programmer. They sold it for 300m.

That one venture alone inarguably makes someone extremely successful. And he went on to do it multiple times.

This idea that he just bought and sold his way up to 200bn dollars is insane. It is so devoid of reality, only someone emotionally invested in disparaging the man could believe it.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119066200#Comment_119066200

Facts. He was born into wealth and used that wealth to make a couple of wise investments to build on it. He's had the cushion of wealth all his life and has been able to take the hits that would have finished others.

He's now so wealthy he can afford to spunk it away on silly vanity projects like buying Twitter.

However, he's no genius. He's no inventor. He's no great mind. He's just a guy who used his wealth wisely.

They way some people go on about him, you'd think he was the second coming of Christ.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119066225#Comment_119066225

Yes, people overdo it. But this reaction to it where you decide that none of it could be true is just as ridiculous.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119066237#Comment_119066237

What do you mean "none of it could be true"?

Penn

I dislike Musk just because he seems like an absolute knob rather than anything to do with his politics. He's petulant and arrogant and so far up his own hole he can see his own heart beating.

But I hate the veneration he's treated with (and which he tries to propagate himself) as if he himself is pulling late nights in a lab programming the guidance system on spaceships or whatever. For the past decade or so he's been a CEO or major shareholder of several large companies. He makes decisions and states what he wants the companies to achieve, but to credit him with the actual technological achievements of the company as if he himself is the genius behind them is nonsense. Let's also not forget the many things he's claimed he would or could do which have ended up amounting to nothing because neither him nor his teams were actually able to achieve them, or they were just claims he was making for publicity.

Again, the man is just a knob. He's been a successful one, but he's still a knob.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119066272#Comment_119066272

Practically everything. The truth is somewhere in between "The man invented water." and "All he did was use his wealth to make wise investments." If you believe the latter, then you are dismissing everything else.

And for reference, the latter is more akin to Warren Buffet. He invests in companies. Elon Musk is an entrepreneur, he grows companies.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119066376#Comment_119066376

That's nonsense.

Musk isn't an inventor. He isn't a designer. He isn't a great mind. He takes existing ideas (and sometimes companies) and pumps money into them and uses his wealth and status to commercialise the product.

He's a guy that's used his money wisely. That's all.

And there's nothing I'm saying that's even controversial here. I just don't think he's worthy of all the excessive eulogising and overblown admiration that comes from some people's own power fantasies and ridiculous aspirational desires.

NSAman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119065983#Comment_119065983

If it is that easy, why are you not doing it?

sam t smith

Is the USD 28,000 all the money he got from the parents as an investment?

If so, turning it into USD 200,000,000,000 is pretty impressive.

Anyone who claims otherwise is delusional.

Plenty of people in Ireland get more that that from their parents to pay towards their house.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119066419#Comment_119066419

"Musk is an entrepreneur."

"That's nonsense."

What a pointless conversation if you can't even accept that he's an entrepreneur. Good luck.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119066430#Comment_119066430

Because daddy didn't own an emerald mine in South Africa.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119066451#Comment_119066451

What's nonsense is you saying "The truth is somewhere in between".

But go on so, enjoy your Sunday. 😉

kowloon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119065426#Comment_119065426

The whole being on the spectrum announcement seems very self-serving to me. I'm not saying he doesn't have anything, but it really does seem like a planned move by a narcissist looking to reform their image and excuse being a dick.

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119066451#Comment_119066451

While he was indeed born into wealth he used that wealth to grow and develop various technologies that benefits the whole world. But he was born rich so all the good he does and his legacy must be tarnished because he dared to be born rich and not waste his fortune like they expect all the rich boys to do. He can't win with these people no matter what he does.

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119069143#Comment_119069143

It’s not the fact that he comes from wealth that bothers people. It’s his claims of engineering and business chops he simply doesn’t have. But that’s his whole shtick - winding people up with claims he knows are bull, just to see them react. He doesn’t give a shyte about anyone who actually believes his BS, they’re of no interest to him whatsoever.

Musk is proven to have have lied about many things, exaggerated others, taking credit for things he wasn't even around for. He has swindled billions from taxpayers. He has been involved in securities fraud, he's an attention seeker, he defamed one of the Thailand rescuers for (rightly) ridiculing Elon's stupid idea. He ****-stirs on twitter to manipulate stock prices.

Anyone who takes anything he says seriously - caring about the environment, wanting to travel to mars etc - is very naive. I seriously doubt he has any interest in buying twitter, it seems to be more ****-stirring or market manipulation.

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119069279#Comment_119069279

I'm not praising his engineering chops but it's unfair to say he has none - engineering is a very complex field and having a vision of what has the potential to be successful is part of it. For example in roles like principal engineer the engineering turns more towards leadership and politics and strategy. And as for his business chops, he clearly proved that he has plenty.

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119069589#Comment_119069589

I’m not saying he has none, I’m saying that he’s making claims of engineering and business chops he simply doesn’t have. All his nonsense about his high standards and all the rest of it, he’s got marketing chops, he’s unrivalled in terms of self-promotion. He hasn’t actually engineered or created anything of any unique value. He’s just really good at talking people’s original ideas, throwing a lot of virtual collateral behind the idea, and using that as a means of avoiding paying any tax.

Take for example the purchase of Twitter. He didn’t come up with the concept, and he’s using his shares from Tesla as collateral, shares which he hasn’t paid any tax on, because they’re not considered income, and the value they have is determined by confidence in Tesla, not whether or not EVs, which also weren’t his idea, are any good. Satellite broadband? Space tourism? Been around for donkeys, he didn’t come up with either concept, so even trying to suggest he’s some sort of visionary in terms of engineering or business, is nonsense.

Cordell

Satellite broadband? Space tourism? Been around for donkeys

No, it wasn't. Satellite broadband before Starlink is using geostationary satellites which lead to low speed and high latency simply because of the speed of light limitations, the sats are just too far. The Starlink satellites and especially the phased array antenna are technologies never seen before in consumer space. And he's not doing space tourism like the other 2 shifting old farts into space, what he is now is effectively the US space program with 18 launches so far this year whereas NASA has only 5 scheduled.

Lol doesn't even have business chops now.

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119069959#Comment_119069959

Lol, first line in my post, lol 🙄

I’m not saying he has none, I’m saying that he’s making claims of engineering and business chops he simply doesn’t have.

sam t smith

Thread has descended into begrudgery?

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119069143#Comment_119069143

Nobody is "tarnishing" anything. What's wrong with you people? 🤣

Saying that a wealthy guy wisely invested his money in various companies is not a slight on him in any way.

Amadan Dubh

It looks like twitter might in fact, like Facebook, be misleading advertisers in terms of the exposure their ads get. Effectively, that twitter could be a bit fraudulent (like Facebook). The inactive versus active and bot account issue is starting to really upset the Twitter omerta and I see the CEO had a big rant about the matter without bringing much clarity on the matter.

If all of this leads to twitter getting taken down a few pegs then I have to welcome it. These Silicon Valley vehemoths are far too big and, if they won't be forcibly broken up, then anything that hurts their influence has to be welcomed.

sam t smith

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119072049#Comment_119072049

The under 5% estimate provided by Twitter had so many caveats and assumptions that it is completely meaningless with Twitter unable or unwilling to stand over the figure.

I doubt we will ever hear the true figure, but any reduction in the share purchase price will tell it’s own story.

Penn

Story going around since last night about a software engineer at Twitter who was recorded in a conversation saying that Twitter only censors right-leaning views and is purposefully biased.

When I saw the headlines, my first thought was that it was probably one of those Project Veritas things, the group who have been found faking such "leaked videos" etc before. Sure enough, it is directly from Project Veritas and pretty much the only Google results for the engineer's name on the first few pages are all links to articles about the Project Veritas video. Like the guy never existed before about 8 hours ago despite being high enough in Twitter to know the policies on censoring groups. Not to mention the vast amount of right-wing stuff that Twitter does allow which makes his point completely redundant.

Just said I'd give the heads up before someone comes onto the thread claiming there's a leaked video from someone at Twitter who says they purposefully censor the right on Twitter. The video and all articles stemming from it come from an account of a group of known liars.

It's.......... Project Veritas' account.

silverharp

It sounds like Twitter employs a lot of work shy commies.

https://twitter.com/Timcast/status/1526336405663776768

Penn

Wow, I could not have timed that better...

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119073660#Comment_119073660

who else is doing undercover journalism? an easy guess. the trick now would be to go off and find that this guy is an actor and doesnt work for Google at all.

Immediately dismissing something as not true because of its source is just as bad as believing a conspiracy. A reasonable person waits and sees if it's true or not.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119073685#Comment_119073685

When the source is Project Veritas, it's entirely reasonable to dismiss it.

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119073730#Comment_119073730

if it helps you sleep but if the guy is an engineer at Twitter and he is more forthcoming because his defenses are down the full clip ( i assume this is just an excerpt) should be entertaining.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119073730#Comment_119073730

If it's shown to be 100% true, will you continue to dismiss it as false?

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119073771#Comment_119073771

Of course not. If it's shown to be 100% true, then I'll consider it to be true.

However going on Project Veritas' record, I'd be shocked if it's even proven to be 10% true.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119073806#Comment_119073806

Well as long as you accept if it turns out to be true, that is reasonable. I won't even bother watching it until it's verified.

Dohnjoe

There's been no visible downside to de-platforming disinformation. No idea why people would welcome the idea of a completely uncensored Elon style Twitter.

Dyr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119073730#Comment_119073730

I can't believe they gave that twitter engineer a script and made him read from it. Project Veritas are so evil and so forth

Potatoeman

Remember when the lab leak was a conspiracy and fake news because Trump said it, then when he was out of office it resurfaced as a likely scenario. Funny how the truth is conveniently ignored when it doesn’t fit the narrative. The mainstream media really have shown themselves to be unreliable and biased. No wonder people believe some of the crazy theories/stories.

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119074737#Comment_119074737

Because any visible downside has been deplatformed as well. And because it will be like a breath of fresh air :)

I don't know about you but I'd like to be able to judge the information myself rather than having someone else do that for me.

Dohnjoe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119075123#Comment_119075123

The current scientific consensus was and still is that the virus is zoonotic in origin. Investigations have been unable to confirm it, therefore other theories, for which there is less consensus (e.g. lab leak) cannot be ruled out.

Early in the pandemic, Trump engaged in speculation that it was released by accident or intentionally. That did not reflect US intelligence beliefs at the time (although it couldn't be ruled out) it's likely that speculation was off-the-cuff.

Also whenever I see the phrase "mainstream media", alarm bells go off.

Dohnjoe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119075209#Comment_119075209

You might be fine at filtering information, the problem is the general public. If false information is not filtered it can become the "truth" for portions of the public, sometimes a significant portion. As we've seen before, that can pose dangers for society.

Populists and charlatans have shown how relatively simple it is to convince millions of people of completely false information using social media and the internet. Modern disinformation is very clever and pre-empts attempts to counter it with correct information.

During the pandemic for example, just about every internet platform or social media platform had to take action to curb the spread of harmful medical disinformation simply because of the unfortunate fact that people cannot be trusted to "decide for themselves what's true or not".

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119075123#Comment_119075123

It NEVER surfaced as the "likely scenario".

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119075306#Comment_119075306

If false information is not filtered it can become the "truth" for portions of the public, sometimes a significant portion. As we've seen before, that can pose dangers for society

Yes, it is a danger. But an even bigger danger is entrusting a private for profit entity to filter the truth. A much bigger one.