The Elon Musk Show

[Forty_Two]

Cult leader, Gambler, Genius?

I watched all three episodes of the TV documentary ‘The Elon Musk Show’ which I found surprising, shocking, disturbing. At the end of it I struggled to quantify my feelings about him. Clearly he has achieved incredible things not least is staggering amounts of money but I asked myself - did he achieve those things because he is a genius or the greatest cult leader ever with the biggest gambling addiction ever or maybe a genius gambling cult leader?

Bob Mansfield (of Apple fame) was in tears as he remembered the stress he went through with Tesla. His second wife (who took on the 5 kids from his first wife) (who he divorced and remarried 3 times)) waxed lyrical about him. He demands (and gets) 110% commitment from all employees who talk about him like he’s the ‘second coming.’ In many interviews Musk himself is on the verge of tears.

Difficult / disturbing . . . . If you have watched this documentary – watch it.

 

[Chimpy McChimp]

I just watched it too. Mrs McChimp and I felt the same. Impressed by him, followed by sorry for him, then towards the end a bit frustrated and annoyed by his antics.

 

[browellm]

This is an excellent article on the challenges he's going to face having just purchased Twitter.
tl:dr - big mistake

Welcome to hell, Elon

Owning Twitter means owning a host of impossible political problems. Is Elon ready?

www.theverge.com

 

[pgkevet]

Does anyone believe a tv show Is any more than a loose framework of facts around which a story is cobbled up to sell advertising or ratings. And quite likely adjusted by the participants to get their opinions of themselves across.

 

[Tam]

...His second wife (who took on the 5 kids from his first wife) (who he divorced and remarried 3 times)) waxed lyrical about him...

Did the show forget about the negative comments from the first wife Justine?

"I Was a Starter Wife": Inside America's Messiest Divorce

In the middle of her headline-grabbing divorce settlement from Elon Musk, Justine Musk reveals the truth about her marriage.

www.marieclaire.com

He took advantage of an naive wife who didn’t understand what the postnuptial agreement was about until it's too late that she’s disposal just like his employees are.

"...there were warning signs. As we danced at our wedding reception, Elon told me, "I am the alpha in this relationship.""


He criticized Justine and she repeatedly told him "I am your wife, not your employee." He then repeatedly replied "If you were my employee, I would fire you."

He forbid her to grieve the death of their own 10 weeks old infant citing that is "emotionally manipulative."

Her job: perfect house management, perfect hostess, Botox, C-sections scar reduction, getting blonder and blonder was not satisfactory to her husband so she demanded equality, partnership, love and be loved, the way it was before all his millions.

They went to 3 therapy sessions and he gave an ultimatum: status quo or divorce tomorrow. He then filed the divorce the next day.

Her mistake was that she thought she’s a wife and not an employee so she wouldn't have to go through an annual employee evaluation. It's worse because she's being evaluated every chance her husband could: from not dying her hair blonde enough to her c-section scar...

 

[phil4]

I think it's worth remembering, SpaceX, Tesla and the rest... are the work of many many people. Their success is a result of their hard work. Sure it takes someone to chart a course, and they should take reward for their plan, roping in the right people and sticking to it, but never forget that single handly not even Elon could have made those companies what they were.

So having watched it, he does seem to have some good idea, and luckily has the team around him to make them work, but of late seems to be a bit crackpot.

 

[AKS AKS]

Something of a big whoop, honestly. I am not saying you're wrong, but the same could be said about a lot of charismatic, effective leaders, not just in business but in politics, entertainment, sports, etc, no? I can think of any number of names.

It's almost as though these are, in many cases, attributes and outcomes that define people who do crazy envelope-pushing stuff. And for every one of those, there are probably 10x that we never hear of because they tried and flamed out.

 

[Graham J]

Impressed by him, followed by sorry for him, then towards the end a bit frustrated and annoyed by his antics.

I haven't watched it yet but this has already been the trajectory of my thoughts about him.

 

[UkNorthampton]

Does your view change after reading up on Business Insider's CEO & owner, it's reporter Linette Lopez & Martin Tripp? Ignoring that part probably helps. Remember "who benefits" when a story is reported on.

There's been a lot of "short and distort" action on Tesla shares.

Often, a series of hit pieces are published just before major stock activity.

Hedge funds, Market Makers are alleged to work together with TSLAQ - Wikipedia to cause misinformation. Usually stories turn out to be untrue, repeats of previous stories/old news. Tslaq maintain a Blocklist on twitter to filter out any pro tesla tweets.

One way of viewing Elon Musk is an "Elon the Disruptor". This makes a lot of powerful enemies very quickly with access to media, large advertising/political budgets they can use as carrots and sticks for media/lobbyists/politicians.

For further info I recommend Jack Rickard's legendary article and a YouTube series. For details on tslaq, their echo chamber Blocklist, attacks and threats, try Whole Mars articles Chapter 4: Meet $TSLAQ

This part relates to Tripp talking about Lopez
"One of the first things Martin Tripp noticed when he started talking to Linette Lopez was that she “definitely has it out for Elon”, but Tripp said he didn’t know why.

“definitely has it out for Elon”

Links on disruption/fossil fuel and other lobbying attacks

RIP Jack

The Tesla Conspiracy… or Am I a Dead Whistleblower? - EVTV LLC

I generally eschew conspiracy theories under the rubric that little explained by conspiracy cannot as well be explained by incompetence and that the occurrence of stupid is vastly more common than the occurrence of evil in the hearts and minds of men. But it is also true that it can only be a...

www.evtv.me

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDn5j59RTWJk5LoqD3j1n9XDvKWGz7oS-

Also there's "Fight the FUD" on this site.

Business insider's ceo Henry Blodget - Wikipedia

"Due to his violations of securities laws and subsequent civil trial conviction, Blodget is permanently banned from involvement in the securities industry.[2] Blodget is the CEO of Business Insider.[3]"

 

[_Redshift_]

Does your view change after reading up on Business Insider's CEO & owner, it's reporter Linette Lopez & Martin Tripp? Ignoring that part probably helps. Remember "who benefits" when a story is reported on.

There's been a lot of "short and distort" action on Tesla shares.

Often, a series of hit pieces are published just before major stock activity.

Hedge funds, Market Makers are alleged to work together with TSLAQ - Wikipedia to cause misinformation. Usually stories turn out to be untrue, repeats of previous stories/old news. Tslaq maintain a Blocklist on twitter to filter out any pro tesla tweets.

One way of viewing Elon Musk is an "Elon the Disruptor". This makes a lot of powerful enemies very quickly with access to media, large advertising/political budgets they can use as carrots and sticks for media/lobbyists/politicians.

For further info I recommend Jack Rickard's legendary article and a YouTube series. For details on tslaq, their echo chamber Blocklist, attacks and threats, try Whole Mars articles Chapter 4: Meet $TSLAQ

This part relates to Tripp talking about Lopez
"One of the first things Martin Tripp noticed when he started talking to Linette Lopez was that she “definitely has it out for Elon”, but Tripp said he didn’t know why.

“definitely has it out for Elon”

Links on disruption/fossil fuel and other lobbying attacks

RIP Jack

The Tesla Conspiracy… or Am I a Dead Whistleblower? - EVTV LLC

I generally eschew conspiracy theories under the rubric that little explained by conspiracy cannot as well be explained by incompetence and that the occurrence of stupid is vastly more common than the occurrence of evil in the hearts and minds of men. But it is also true that it can only be a...

www.evtv.me

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDn5j59RTWJk5LoqD3j1n9XDvKWGz7oS-

Also there's "Fight the FUD" on this site.

Business insider's ceo Henry Blodget - Wikipedia

"Due to his violations of securities laws and subsequent civil trial conviction, Blodget is permanently banned from involvement in the securities industry.[2] Blodget is the CEO of Business Insider.[3]"

Elon is not Jesus. He is a disrupter, but one who is corrupted deeply by his wealth, his fame, and his loyal army of ‘Elon can’t do wrong‘ worshippers.

 

[UkNorthampton]

Elon is not Jesus. He is a disrupter, but one who is corrupted deeply by his wealth, his fame, and his loyal army of ‘Elon can’t do wrong‘ worshippers.

Any examples that actually stand up? In what way is he corrupted?

• His mega yacht?
• His huge house?
• Huge number of children - loads of XXX? All but one child conceived by IVF
• Wanting to heal the left-right schisms via preventing the split & divided silos?
• Subject of unfair attacks of motivated, well-funded & thoroughly selfish & evil people/fossil fuels/media/lobbyists?
• His "extreme" politics? Until recently always voted Democrat as he viewed them as kinder. Recently may have voted Republican after years of abuse from both sides, but particularly targeted by a few selfish career politicians/media.
• Perhaps it's his support for Ukraine where he organised free* Starlink for Ukraine government & army at a time when Russian Federation had wiped out other forms of communication. SpaceX then came under extreme cyber attack & had to harden the whole of Starlink at breakneck speed.

* 97% of dishes and all service costs which are huge as SpaceX has to pay for around 100 times normal levels of usage - ie internet bandwidth from ground stations. US Gov then came in & claimed credit for the 3% of dishes as if they had paid for it all - but notably none of the service charges. US Gov may have helped with shipping.

Plenty of examples where he has been attacked by Fossil Fuel lobbyists & their useful idiots.

TMC - Help Fight the FUD

 

[_Redshift_]

Any examples that actually stand up? In what way is he corrupted?

• His mega yacht?
• His huge house?
• Huge number of children - loads of XXX? All but one child conceived by IVF
• Wanting to heal the left-right schisms via preventing the split & divided silos?
• Subject of unfair attacks of motivated, well-funded & thoroughly selfish & evil people/fossil fuels/media/lobbyists?
• His "extreme" politics? Until recently always voted Democrat as he viewed them as kinder. Recently may have voted Republican after years of abuse from both sides, but particularly targeted by a few selfish career politicians/media.
• Perhaps it's his support for Ukraine where he organised free* Starlink for Ukraine government & army at a time when Russian Federation had wiped out other forms of communication. SpaceX then came under extreme cyber attack & had to harden the whole of Starlink at breakneck speed.

* 97% of dishes and all service costs which are huge as SpaceX has to pay for around 100 times normal levels of usage - ie internet bandwidth from ground stations. US Gov then came in & claimed credit for the 3% of dishes as if they had paid for it all - but notably none of the service charges. US Gov may have helped with shipping.

Plenty of examples where he has been attacked by Fossil Fuel lobbyists & their useful idiots.

View attachment 868881
View attachment 868882

TMC - Help Fight the FUD

Good grief man. Wake up.

 

[UkNorthampton]

Good grief man. Wake up.

No evidence then. It's the same kind of argument that gets a lot of people into daft situations (eg Brexit, assuming "hearts & minds" will be easily won when invading). Without evidence, only hearsay, bigoted paid-for media - there isn't a way to get to the truth or near it - without this, it's not possible to think, learn or grow.

 

[rowedav]

I’ve got the episodes to watch on iPlayer.

Can’t wait for the Walter Isaacson biography. His book on Steve Jobs was incredible.

 

[_Redshift_]

No evidence then. It's the same kind of argument that gets a lot of people into daft situations (eg Brexit, assuming "hearts & minds" will be easily won when invading). Without evidence, only hearsay, bigoted paid-for media - there isn't a way to get to the truth or near it - without this, it's not possible to think, learn or grow.

Once you wake up from all the narcotic effects of the Elon Koolaid, I can provide plenty. In the mean time, you can also make some effort: Start with his big lie about the stick figure graph. Look up how he has ignored the horrendous service and build quality at Tesla, budding up to anti-semites like Ye and oh let’s not forget ‘catturd’, among others. How he made one of the dumbest acquisitions by overpaying at least $32B for Twitter. How he continues to troll like an 8 year old on Twitter. Why, is that too much to digest in your rose tinted world?

Whatever you are accusing me of ‘bigoted paid for media’ or whatever BS, I’d wager your list of biased, bubble-gum-in the mouth fanboy gushing videos are prime examples. you think they account for “evidence”? You can’t be serious!

Oh, I’d advise you take your own advise to ‘learn and grow’ - but that can only happen once you stop projecting.

I don’t have the patience, nor the time to engage with rah rah cheerleaders. My last post to you, have a nice life.

 

[Astrape]

Cult leader, Gambler, Genius?

I watched all three episodes of the TV documentary ‘The Elon Musk Show’ which I found surprising, shocking, disturbing. At the end of it I struggled to quantify my feelings about him. Clearly he has achieved incredible things not least is staggering amounts of money but I asked myself - did he achieve those things because he is a genius or the greatest cult leader ever with the biggest gambling addiction ever or maybe a genius gambling cult leader?

Bob Mansfield (of Apple fame) was in tears as he remembered the stress he went through with Tesla. His second wife (who took on the 5 kids from his first wife) (who he divorced and remarried 3 times)) waxed lyrical about him. He demands (and gets) 110% commitment from all employees who talk about him like he’s the ‘second coming.’ In many interviews Musk himself is on the verge of tears.

Difficult / disturbing . . . . If you have watched this documentary – watch it.

Gambler, certainly, but he has made the right bets so far. But also charismatic leader and visionary for good or ill.
Twitter may work out if he has the magic sauce to turn it into the all-in-one social media application to lock in a huge number of permanent users. But for sure thats not the same kind of puzzle as engineering, and it may not even be possible. So far social media has been a fickle marketplace. And free speech is a minefield.
He clearly struggles with a normal power balanced relationship, which is the only foundation of a happy relationship in the long term. Perhaps he gets on with Grimes because actually she doesnt give a t*ss whether it continues or ends. Certainly they seem to be behaving that way.
I agree that the wealth and power has probably messed him up. It makes it very difficult to anyone to speak to him with the authority of an equal, and once that happens only a very humble person will avoid getting delusions, and Elon isnt a humble person. Also you cannot be given affirmation by your partner if you dont treat their views as of importance. It seems he may have a problem with considering others as equal to him, maybe he experiences us all as inferior beings.
But he is a questioning person, and that comes across as somewhat of a saving grace throughout the footage.
Overall I think he has been incredibly lucky with his enterprises, but also he has demonstrated that people will put in a lot of effort if they believe in what is being attempted, and in the leadership they are being shown.
There are huge tensions in the bio between the agenda of the investors, the engineering dreams, and people in his life and companies.
In my opinion he favours the first two over the latter as many capitalist company owners do. Usually once the founder owner leaves this settles down into something more balanced for the companies. The jury is still out on the partners and children.

 

[EVer Hopeful]

I was thinking the other day that Joe Biden just went to upstate New York to celebrate the opening of a factory to build semi-conductors on American soil

Personally I'd prefer FULL conductors, but that's a different story

Apparently there factory cost One Hundred Dillion Mollars (ten points for the spoonerism reference seeing as this is the UK forum)

So think how big a deal it would be if they built ten of them

...then think how big a deal it would be it they did that every year for 44 years

Well That's what Elon just "paid" for twitter (whatever twitter is). All I can say is ... wtf?

 

[pgkevet]

Things like providing Starlink - it's less money out of Elon's pocket than out of the shareholders profits, paid for by the subscribers and used as a tax loss...
Buying Twitter is hardly leaving him unable to pay his leccy or heating bill this winter and again is as much as a risk to the guys he pulled in to contribute. It wasn't 44billion out of post taxed money sitting in a tin in his bedroom and you can bet that the new company is isolated from all his others so if it goes bust it'll be the banks and joint partners that lose as much as him.

 

[Regulo]

I've got no more interest in Mr Musk than I have in the CEO of Ford, BMW or any other company. I bought the car because it suited my needs. His personal affairs are his, his business affairs don't concern anyone but the regulators.

 

[spdpsba]

I've got no more interest in Mr Musk than I have in the CEO of Ford, BMW or any other company. I bought the car because it suited my needs. His personal affairs are his, his business affairs don't concern anyone but the regulators.

Of course you may not have and that is your personal choice. But the reality is Elon is not just a CEO of a car company like ford and bmw CEOs. Elon is the richest man on the planet Earth, so his profile is similar to how it was for Bill gates in the 90s and Steve Jobs in the 2000s. Not just CEOs of tech companies but global influencers- from philanthropists to cult figures - whether it is in Africa or south east Asia Gates foundation and its reach was there from good water supply to HIV programs to vaccinations. Jobs to a lesser extent but still more than a CEO. Elon is in that category and he is trying to define his own space outside of what Gates and Jobs did to etch their names.

Is it of any interest to you, of course not. But lots of others are interested- ask Ukrainians when the whole world was just talking but he was the one who plumbed the resources free- not many people give any credits.