Elon Musk

[wdolson]

Apparently Errol Musk was fairly well off. He was a successful engineer (it sounds like a civil or architectural engineer). However his relationship with his sons was very strained and reports are he was extremely abusive. Elon has said on several occasions he didn't want anything to do with his father after reaching adulthood.

Everything to Know About Errol Musk, Elon's “Brilliant,” “Terrible” Father

Elon has said that he had over $100K in debt after college. His mother said that when Elon was in college (and she had moved back to Canada) they had Thanksgiving dinner at Boston Chicken in Philadelphia because neither of them had the money to afford a turkey.

Elon did graduate from a private school in Pretoria, but from what I've read that isn't uncommon for middle class white kids in South Africa. He did attend a public high school for a while.

 

[Nuclear Fusion]

I think Elon should make this song his personal anthem

 

[mikevbf]

Since it's Sunday, I thought I would share a long form post. Last week's long form post was Is Tesla Worth Double Toyota? This week is:

What People Don’t Get About Elon Musk And His Companies

First Elon Musk. Some people think Elon Musk is an optimist; others think he predicts too much doom and gloom especially as regards ai super intelligence. What people do not get is Elon is nether optimist nor pessimist or perhaps both; He is a visionary. What this means is he looks much further down board than others and sees both very positive and negative possible outcomes.

Second his companies. Most people in the “know” believe all of Elon Musk’s companies are the means to the end goal of colonizing Mars and making the human race multi planetary. I have a different take. What if Elon is instead using his vision to create companies with the larger arching goal of preserving intelligent “life” in the universe? Even though he jokes about things like being a “leader in apocalyptic technology” what if he is not actually joking?

Looking at each of Elon’s companies less as companies, but more as plans to hedge the long term survival of our intelligence in the universe actually makes a lot of sense.

Plan A Tesla Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the advent of sustainable energy. This is an effort to slow global warming in an attempt to make it possible for us to live on the planet Earth for generations to come.

Plan B is SpaceX which is to colonize Mars and make the human race multi planetary. It just so happens to be really important in case Plan A fails.

Plan C is Neuralink and the Boring Company in the case Plan A and B fail, we might not have a place that is habitable for our biological forms. Neuralink eventually may be able to save our state (ie brain) and upload that state into another synthetic better adapted form for an uninhabital planet Earth. A further hedge for Plan C would be for “synthetic us” to move under ground with the much better digging capability developed by the Boring Company. If we still felt the need to move around, we could of course use Hyperloop. Let’s just hope Plan A works.

 

[golfcart]

Plan A Tesla Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the advent of sustainable energy. This is an effort to slow global warming in an attempt to make it possible for us to live on the planet Earth for generations to come.

Plan B is SpaceX which is to colonize Mars and make the human race multi planetary. It just so happens to be really important in case Plan A fails.

Plan C is Neuralink and the Boring Company in the case Plan A and B fail, we might not have a place that is habitable for our biological forms. Neuralink eventually may be able to save our state (ie brain) and upload that state into another synthetic better adapted form for an uninhabital planet Earth. A further hedge for Plan C would be for “synthetic us” to move under ground with the much better digging capability developed by the Boring Company. If we still felt the need to move around, we could of course use Hyperloop. Let’s just hope Plan A works.

I guess my initial reaction to this is that I have seen no evidence that there are potential impacts of anthropogenic climate change (even worst case scenarios that include "tipping points") that would lead to the earth being uninhabitable for humans or make Earth harder for humans to inhabit than Mars. Under some of the really bad scenarios (like RCP 8.5) certain parts of the earth may become much harder to inhabit and cities may end up underwater but none of that is tougher that setting up a colony on Mars where there is an unbreathable atmosphere, no liquid water, no natural food sources, no magnetic field to protect us from radiation, and an average temperature of about -80F.

That makes it hard for me to accept your initial premise here. And if I can't accept the initial premise then it is hard to discuss things that follow from that premise. Of course there are lots of ways that humans could be wiped off the face of the earth (asteroid strike, solar flare, super-volcanoes, pandemic, nuclear war) so it is not a bad idea to have a backup plan or two... but I have a hard time going from point A to point B in your assessment because I don't think global warming would ever make the earth uninhabitable for humans or even harder to live on than Mars.

 

[RobStark]

 

[Nuclear Fusion]

View attachment 583445

If he cares so much for humanity, why not sell a few shares & distribute funds to feed & educate the poor

 

[Cosmacelf]

If he cares so much for humanity, why not sell a few shares & distribute funds to feed & educate the poor

Because that isn't what he means. He's worried about the extinction of humanity and feeding the poor won't solve that.

 

[mongo]

Because that isn't what he means. He's worried about the extinction of humanity and feeding the poor won't solve that.

Yet he does help and educate the poor also...
Elon Musk's $480K donation to Flint, MI is still helping the city address its water crisis

Elon Musk & Musk Foundation Help Victims Impacted by Hurricane Laura

 

[Nuclear Fusion]

Yet he does help and educate the poor also...
Elon Musk's $480K donation to Flint, MI is still helping the city address its water crisis

Elon Musk & Musk Foundation Help Victims Impacted by Hurricane Laura

Considering so many of you Americans are religos, know about the New Testament story of the woman & the 2 copper coins?

 

[Nuclear Fusion]

Interesting contrast between Elon Musk & Bill Gates prior & during this pandemic
The former denies the science, the latter forewarned with science

 

[Cosmacelf]

Interesting contrast between Elon Musk & Bill Gates prior & during this pandemic
The former denies the science, the latter forewarned with science

There is an entire thread on coronavirus where this belongs.

 

[Nuclear Fusion]

There is an entire thread on coronavirus where this belongs.

The issue as not about coronavirus, the issue is about the attitude/worldview of the men in question

 

[Cosmacelf]

I find it fascinating that VW is using Elon’s visit with VW’s chairman at the airport to test drive the ID.3 as a way of showing that the ID.3 is a worthy competitor to Tesla. Volkswagen shares Elon Musk's test drive of the VW ID.3: 'It's pretty good'

 

[mikevbf]

I don't think global warming would ever make the earth uninhabitable for humans or even harder to live on than Mars.

I tend to agree with you on Earth ever being more difficult to make habitable than Mars, but I am not Elon Musk. I will do some more research this weekend to see what Musk thinks unless one of you already knows. Meantime there is this:

 

[golfcart]

I tend to agree with you on Earth ever being more difficult to make habitable than Mars, but I am not Elon Musk. I will do some more research this weekend to see what Musk thinks unless one of you already knows. Meantime there is this:
View attachment 586696

That is a crazy picture, of course there are no wildfires on Mars filling the atmosphere with smoke and making the sky look red so the comparison is a little suspect, but a crazy picture none the less.

As far as Elon is concerned, I think he already answered why he wants to go to Mars a few times... Here is one example.

 

[Cosmacelf]

“What’s your opinion about Bill Gates’ declarations referred to electric trucks?”

Elon: “He has no clue.”

Made my day

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1304792315634966529?s=21

 

[Nuclear Fusion]

Elon: “He has no clue.”

‘Elon’s positioning is to maintain a high level of outrageous comments, He’s not much involved in vaccines. He makes a great electric car. And his rockets work well. So he’s allowed to say these things. I hope that he doesn’t confuse areas he’s not involved in too much.’

- Bill Gates



In regards to coronavirus:

“Based on current trends, probably close to zero new cases in US too by end of April“

- Elon R. Musk

The irony of Elon using the word ‘clue’

 

[mikevbf]

That is a crazy picture, of course there are no wildfires on Mars filling the atmosphere with smoke and making the sky look red so the comparison is a little suspect, but a crazy picture none the less.

As far as Elon is concerned, I think he already answered why he wants to go to Mars a few times... Here is one example.

Thanks for the video and sharing your logic. I now believe Elon's thinking and motivation is closer to what he pinned at the top of his twitter account, "We must pass the great filter" Within this paradigm is the idea if we do not pass through the filter, we will not survive, but it is not the only take. Here is a great video on it:

And

 

[Nuclear Fusion]

”Tesla will have a million robotaxis on the road by December 2020”

- Elon R. Musk, autonomy day
Tesla unveils 'Robotaxi' plan for self-driving ride-sharing network next year - Electrek

”He didn’t really mean that literally”

- any garden variety apologist

Releasing private beta in 2 to 4 weeks, public beta (early access owners who opt in) 4 to 6 weeks after that, then all US Tesla owners mid December. Above schedule is contingent upon not encountering major unexpected setbacks.

- Elon R. Musk, Sept 13 2020

 

[Cosmacelf]

Tangentially related to Elon. Refers back to his Joe Rogan pot smoking interview. Regardless of your politics, you should be able to have a laugh at this: Trump Gets Totally Stoned In Lively 7-Hour Interview With Joe Rogan