on "Falken Azenis FK520" which are definitely not stock tires (Michelin, Hankook, Pirelli, Conti are stock tires). So it's rather meaningless for comparison. Unless folks buy a car and dump the stock tire for Falken immediately.
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2024; Tesla's Tipping Point?
- Thread starter NV Ray
- Start date
i mean being on the lower end of the spectrum regarding weight probably has something to do with it too
As someone once said, the truth is often times in the messy shades of gray between the much more appealing black and white. We all love the clarity and seductiveness of black or white. On the one hand, Elon is hailed as a visionary, a technological genius and inspirational leader, who has done more to move the needle on sustainable transportation and energy than anybody, and on the other hand is vilified as sadistic authoritarian, self-absorbed, lacking empathy, and just interested in running everybody over that stands in his way of the mission, whether the mission is electric vehicles, cybertruck design choice, autonomous driving, or getting to Mars.
The problem is that almost everybody is seduced by the notion that one view of necessity excludes the other. Both of these views of Elon may contain significant and important truths. As a bit of context, and as a first principle as Elon might say, few things are as polarizing as someone with an unresolved abuse history. This is actually something only psychiatric clinicians widely appreciate. Walter Isaacson's book on Elon makes it clear that that unresolved abuse is sadly the state of affairs with Elon Musk (and Elon has by career choice injected himself into an already polarized and polarizing space of disruptive technology – as everyone on this forum can bear witness where tribalism in some of its less attractive forms spreads fast).
And while this is way easier said than done, we should all spend some serious time trying to walk in the shoes of somebody, before we pass judgment. So many people are just plain ignorant about Elon's real history, and thus reflexively either idealize or vilify him. To his credit, I think he's done some work, off and on, in various forms of therapy and crisis intervention by his family and by concerned others on what was a very severe early abuse history by his father. This was compounded by various proxy abusers that his father aligned in front of him to make sure that he was not "weak" – all with disastrous results. But I doubt that he has done quite enough work on his trauma history to get past getting regularly triggered by various folks who look to him like they're recapitulating the abuse, and we've all seen this including in his very unfortunate recent video interview where he completely lost it.
Additionally there are a lot of complicated issues compounding and significantly complicating Elon's abuse history, two biggies in particular. I believe that he does have a version of Asperger's. This is not some fabrication on his part but something that he's rather embarrassed about, and where the indications of this are actually fairly visible. This significantly impacts his ability to read body language, tones of voice, and other indications of what other people might be feeling – and although some of those things can be taught in a sense as cognitive add-ons, there remains a fundamental weakness in Elon's theory of mind about other people's emotions, a cognitive weakness that is compounded and interdigitates with the emotionally-based distortions created by any form of abuse in terms of difficulty seeing people and their motives accurately.
Last but not least, and this is true of a lot of gifted individuals with trauma, he's developed a certain degree of grandiosity or what we would call 'pathological narcissism' as a compensation and defense against the underlying shame and against feeling either humiliated or rejected. This is not an excuse – but there are times when I think he struggles to confront his own lack of empathy for other people, whether that comes from more cognitive issues stemming from Asperger's or more psychological issues related to trauma-induced paranoia and mistrust.
But I think it's worth reminding people that Elon's mission has always been to make the world better and even though sometimes we might not agree with exactly how he might want to do that, or how important it is to get to Mars, I don't think Elon's basic heart is anything but prosocial – although there are times when it is hard to believe that when he is acting out. And it's virtually impossible for anybody on the receiving end of some of his harsher behavior.
What's truly bizarre and rather puzzling is that he's gotten himself politically aligned with people who are science skeptics/haters and climate deniers. That worries me, both for his sake and for ours. We, as members of the Telsa community, and the world at large, need the best in Elon to rise above the worst. Not clear, at least to me, how to best insure such a desirable outcome.
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Elon isn't only supporting science skeptics / haters and climate deniers ... he repeatedly stated now that "population collapse" is a greater danger for humanity than global warming. and the "woke mind virus" of course.
Ostrichsak
Well-Known Member
Free market is exactly the reason why.
Ford only got in the EV game to compete with Tesla. They originally laughed at them and now they're a direct competitor. Don't kid yourself, this is the only reason Ford even bothered getting into the BEV game. If Tesla ceases to exist (again, purely hypothetical since I'm not predicting it) Ford would exit the BEV game about 10 minutes later.
Compared to the rest of their sales, BEV isn't even a drop in the bucket. Conversely, they sink tons of money into R&D of entirely new drivetrain so it's a massive loser for them currently. They would be in violation of making their shareholders profitable if they did anything other than ax that boutique BEV program the moment they weren't hemorrhaging market share to the likes of Tesla any longer.
That's how free market works. Suppliers are only going to build what the demand calls for by consumers. Right now there's a tiny spike in EV popularity (relative to total cars sold & also owing large thanks to tax incentives) but they have yet to gain the support of the masses. Until that happens, it's just a niche product.... Like it or not. Ford doesn't need to dable in such resource intensive endeavors to be profitable.
Tesla will not cease to exist. But will need to adjust its priorities.
And Elon will need to get some screws replaced in his head or get kicked out.
And Elon will need to get some screws replaced in his head or get kicked out.
Thanks for the gracious comments. Polarization just seems to be so baked into our political and social media environment these days. In so many ways it's getting harder and harder to see the shades of gray. Of course the black and the white views can broker no compromise, just rev up the tribe, and all this is part of how polarization has many positive feedbacks loops. Don't think it's good for our chances though at avoiding either climate catastrophe or more wars. It does sell a whole lot of clicks and views on the other hand.
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