An important thing about Elon Musk that’s widely known in tech circles but perhaps not in the larger world: he’s kind of an idiot.
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@inthehands
You're missing the other side of PT Barnum. He doesn't just con investors. He, forgive me, inspires. He makes people believe in the impossible.I had a boss like this once. I, who've never met a deadline in my life, never missed one when I worked for him. Things I wasn't able to learn in school I managed to teach myself. Being enmeshed with him made me believe I could run through walls and I often succeeded.
Lots of damaged people at SpaceX like me worked miracles because of him.
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@cam
Wait, really?! -
@kims
I think that's the most credible argument circulating for him actually having a positive effect.What I've heard from people who worked close to him was much more along the lines of “omfg, that guy, get me away.” But yeah, there is something to believe that you’re a part of something big. Drinking the Kool-Aid really can be a source of motivation.
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@inthehands
It wasn't about drinking Kool-Aid. I didn't believe in the work I was doing, in fact I talked about how unimportant it was all the time.What I did believe in—what he made me believe in—was my own unlimited potential. I'd never felt that way before and I haven't felt it since.
I told my therapist that it was like someone took my DNA and created a motivation drug perfectly formulated just for me. It was amazing and incredible and I miss it all the time. But it was also toxic.
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@kims
Ah, yeah, sorry, I was thinking of something really different when I first replied. What you describe there is a wild experience I've managed to spend most of my life avoiding. Is it the “tough coach” phenomenon? Is the thrill of trying to please someone who is almost but not quite impossible to please, the thrill of seeking approval? Is it simply the experience of being in close proximity a sociopath? -
@inthehands So when #Musk says hydrogen powered cars are not practical I should ignore him?
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@inthehands
It's a repetition compulsion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repetition_compulsion#:~:text=Repetition%20compulsion%20is%20the%20unconscious,is%20likely%20to%20occur%20again.We can have intense schema chemistry with people who remind us toxic people in our past who we subconsciously want to heal from.
It’s these people who give us a boost of energy, help us self-activate, feel inspired and temporarily confident, etc., while also threatening our fears of abandonment.
If (like me) you grew up with an authoritarian parent, a boss like Musk is better than amphetamines. And, inevitably, just as toxic.
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@inthehands I observed that Elon is excellent at convincing tech people to work for him. Either by communicating a vision (often stolen from sci-fi), or by providing attractive incentives. It’s the real tech nerds that get the things done. Plus he’s good at convincing money people to back his plays.
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@kims
Wow. Just wow.The layers of abuse.
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@inthehands @hugoestr so many people who know what they’re talking about keep losing their shirt shorting musk. He’s a master at missing targets that should absolutely smash the genius narrative but being able to continue distracting capital so the scorecard that matters (net worth) keeps going up
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@inthehands time to remove musky from my timeline as people are adamant on not putting a uspolitics content warning on their shit
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@inthehands yea well at least the archetype of the 80s business guy which Trump was decidedly one of the most famous. So instead of a scientist/industrialist, Luthor was the top boss of a huge corporation barking orders at scientists. One even makes him an AI that correctly figures out Clark Kent is Superman and Luthor fires him because he doesn’t believe it.
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@virtualinanity @hugoestr
Oh, I wouldn't short him. I'm serious in post 2/3 about this being a special skill, and our society offers lavish rewards to con artists. I argue only for seeing him for what he is. -
@petko
People also seem to be adamant about passive-aggressively notifying me of their unasked-for personal preferences in my mentions.
