# Elon Musk **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 29, 2018, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765 "2018-01-29T23:24:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/241 "2018-09-30T01:16:36Z")
What would make it worthwhile was if they could turn around and give it to British Diver Guy. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/242 "2018-09-30T01:54:19Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > You cannot punish the super-rich with fines. [Finland](https://nordic.businessinsider.com/the-king-of-aland-just-received-a-speeding-ticket--and-the-fine-will-make-you-clutch-your-pearls--) tries… how about speeding tickets based on income? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/243 "2018-09-30T09:01:10Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Just for reference, Elon Musk’s net worth is about $20 billion. The approximate equivalent for a guy in my age class (average net worth for 24-32-year-olds: $9000) would be fining us… what, maybe $9? It’s 1/1000th of his net worth. That’s _chump change_. It’s a fucking joke. By comparison, my friend parked his car in the wrong spot and had to pay 1/50th of his net worth on a fucking tow bill. If there was _any_ aspect of this decision intended as a punishment for him, It has failed. You cannot punish the super-rich with fines. This is a bit of a personal bugbear of mine, but… _jesus_. C’mon. This is a lesson we shouldn’t have to learn over and over again. Hell, even if you fined him $10 billion it wouldn’t have a noticeable effect on his lifestyle. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/244 "2018-09-30T13:36:36Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > The people saying this are fawning apologists for all things Elon **and without awareness of the technical details** of the products that his companies produce. When the Model S was just coming out, Elon claimed to be intimately involved in the design of every subsystem on the car, which is **just impossible** ; the battery and power management system alone requires **multiple disciplines** of people focusing on individual components of the system. And working in the space launch industry, **when I hear Musk speak about rocket technology it is apparent to me that he is repeating things other people have said to him without good comprehension and often wrong enough that he clearly does not actually understand the fundamentals of propulsion engineering, guidance & control, or other aspects beyond a cartoon level**. > > Tony Stark is an amazing genius because _he is **a comic character who is not subject to the limits** of physics_, and he also has some kind of ridiculously sophisticated automation technology that allows him to CAD up a new mechsuit and have it manufactured and working within hours. It makes for some great cinema, and the design and testing of the Mark II suit are some of the best scenes in the entire MCU series ([“This is a flight stabilizer; it’s completely harmless…I didn’t expect that.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNu6fRo_7fg)) but in reality Stark would had to have mastered **dozens of different engineering disciplines AND be an expert electrical/mechanical/computer technician** , notwithstanding that a microfusion reactor the size of a tuna can would put out so much waste heat it would burn its way right out of his chest in no time. I’ve worked with a handful of actual geniuses (including one who worked on the predecessor to SpaceX’s Merlin pintle injector engines at TRW) and another who was a _Jeopardy!_ Tournament of Champions winner. Nearly all are remarkably humble people in regard to their intellect and professional accomplishments. … > Stranger Exactly. According to people who’ve had to deal with him, this genius couldn’t even grasp how to “neck down” a fuel tank, and why it’s done a certain way, fer chrissakes. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/245 "2018-09-30T13:39:02Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > [Finland](https://nordic.businessinsider.com/the-king-of-aland-just-received-a-speeding-ticket--and-the-fine-will-make-you-clutch-your-pearls--) tries… how about speeding tickets **based on income**? I can just hear it now … “You’re discriminating against job creators” or something. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/246 "2018-10-01T00:55:22Z")
You think you’re joking, don’t you? From Wired: " The Case Against Elon Musk will hurt Innovation." > **[The Case Against Elon Musk Will Chill Innovation](https://www.wired.com/story/the-case-against-elon-musk-will-chill-innovation/)** > > Investors in Tesla and other Musk ventures should know that the CEO does not always hew to the literal truth. Short summary: everyone knows Elon tweets weird stuff, so it couldn’t really have affected the markets, so just let the man be a genius without tripping him with your petty rules designed for non-geniuses! ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/247 "2018-10-01T01:05:17Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > What would make it worthwhile was if they could turn around and give it to British Diver Guy. I’m pretty forgiving of weird people - the dude who founded McAfee is fucking weird. There are other crazy genius billionaires who were weird. Musk is a dick. It’s harder to forgive that. Hell, Steve Jobs was a dick, but he was a dick for a good cause. He built beautiful products and he really knew his shit. Jobs was the guy who demanded that the impossible be done, not to satisfy his ego, but to satisfy his imagination. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/248 "2018-10-01T01:14:27Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > You think you’re joking, don’t you? > > From Wired: " The Case Against Elon Musk will hurt Innovation." > > [The Case Against Elon Musk Will Chill Innovation | WIRED](https://www.wired.com/story/the-case-against-elon-musk-will-chill-innovation/) The author’s argument isn’t very convincing even on his own points: _Musk has a long legacy of inflated statements verging on untruths. In 2009, he assured Tesla investors that the company was about to begin receiving funds from a Department of Energy loan program before the company had been granted a loan. He has routinely guaranteed profitability and production numbers at Tesla that have been so far off the mark that they could only represent aspirations rather than real projections. And while SpaceX has achieved more in terms of functional rockets and payloads than most thought possible, his promise of a first payload to Mars in 2022 is deeply detached from the company’s progress._ The argument, such as it is, is that we need people who break laws and lie to investors in order to spur on innovation and keeping people excited, which is kind of like saying we need the Mafia so Martin Scorsese can make good movies. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/249 "2018-10-01T01:38:57Z")
Oh, agreed. Boils down to “the law shouldn’t apply to smart guys who are making money!” ---
**Author:** ![Running\_with\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/250 "2020-04-30T00:47:52Z")
Figured I’d wake up this zombie thread to post this: _[Elon Musk launches into expletive-laden rant, calling quarantine measures ‘fascist’](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/04/29/tesla-earnings-2020/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YSIsImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNTk2YjVmZGVhZTdlOGE0NGU3ZDY1YWYxIiwidGFnIjoid3BfbmV3c19hbGVydF9yZXZlcmUiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy53YXNoaW5ndG9ucG9zdC5jb20vdGVjaG5vbG9neS8yMDIwLzA0LzI5L3Rlc2xhLWVhcm5pbmdzLTIwMjAvP3dwbWs9MSZ3cGlzcmM9YWxfdGVjaG5vbG9neV9fYWxlcnQtZWNvbm9teS0tYWxlcnQtdGVjaCZ1dG1fc291cmNlPWFsZXJ0JnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPXdwX25ld3NfYWxlcnRfcmV2ZXJlIn0.rrbL6YUi6N51-OVo3QyOpO5OCI327gzqUPUMowQmbpo&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&utm_medium=email&utm_source=alert&wpisrc=al_technology__alert-economy--alert-tech&wpmk=1)_ He really is an asshole, isn’t he? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/251 "2020-04-30T00:52:30Z")
So will this finally result in him being fired by the board of directors? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/252 "2020-04-30T00:52:46Z")
Jesus Christ, I hope he pays for that. He’s fucking insane. ---
**Author:** ![Running\_with\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/253 "2020-04-30T01:09:27Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > So will this finally result in him being fired by the board of directors? I’d be happy if some of his fanboys and fangirls finally realize that he’s not a good guy. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/254 "2020-04-30T01:22:30Z")
> [@Running\_with\_Scissors](#): > > I’d be happy if some of his fanboys and fangirls finally realize that he’s not a good guy. They don’t care. Some of them, like the author of that _Wired_ article, actually idolize him _because_ he is such a massive prick, and don’t care that he regularly makes claims and promises that do not come to pass on anything like the timeline he claims. At this point, despite his infantile and self-destructive behavior, habit of flatly lying and claiming credit for the work of others, and skirting securities fraud and labor regulations while SLAPP suing people for supposed industrial espionage or breach of contact, he is still enough of a PR draw that the Tesla board will keep him on until the SEC forces him out or he starts speaking in tongues during a press conference. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/255 "2020-04-30T23:17:25Z")
I have mixed feelings about Elon Musk. It hasn’t historically been a very popular opinion, but I think that Tesla’s technology is great, and in fact has been held back by Elon Musk’s desire for fame. That is, Elon has been great for the stock price. Yet I really wonder if he’s actually good for the company as a whole. He strikes me straight up as, well, basically Silicon Valley Trump. The wild over-promises, the shady business dealings, the constant focus on hype out of proportion to performance, and the less-than-stellar level of transparency is very concerning. Moreover, there’s a big question of why Musk is spending so much time on new projects and self-aggrandizement when Tesla, obviously, has an awful lot of work on its plate right now. Additionally, the kind volatility and price-to-earnings for Tesla looks very questionable in terms of long-term sustainability. None of this makes sense to me - mediocre financial news is turned into massive stock gains, and somehow there’s never bad news even when there really should be. This is on top of some very dishonest decisions and actions on his part, like splendiforously announcing products that are completely dead in the water. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/256 "2020-04-30T23:25:12Z")
> [@Running\_with\_Scissors](#): > > Figured I’d wake up this zombie thread to post this: > > _[Elon Musk launches into expletive-laden rant, calling quarantine measures ‘fascist’](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/04/29/tesla-earnings-2020/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YSIsImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNTk2YjVmZGVhZTdlOGE0NGU3ZDY1YWYxIiwidGFnIjoid3BfbmV3c19hbGVydF9yZXZlcmUiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy53YXNoaW5ndG9ucG9zdC5jb20vdGVjaG5vbG9neS8yMDIwLzA0LzI5L3Rlc2xhLWVhcm5pbmdzLTIwMjAvP3dwbWs9MSZ3cGlzcmM9YWxfdGVjaG5vbG9neV9fYWxlcnQtZWNvbm9teS0tYWxlcnQtdGVjaCZ1dG1fc291cmNlPWFsZXJ0JnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPXdwX25ld3NfYWxlcnRfcmV2ZXJlIn0.rrbL6YUi6N51-OVo3QyOpO5OCI327gzqUPUMowQmbpo&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&utm_medium=email&utm_source=alert&wpisrc=al_technology__alert-economy--alert-tech&wpmk=1)_ > > He really is an asshole, isn’t he? I thought smoking pot made people really chill and easy going. Maybe he’s doing it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/257 "2020-05-01T20:12:58Z")
Very Stable Genius Elon Musk is in full meltdown on Twitter. Here’s what he’s posting, I’m not joking: Tesla stock price is too high imo Now give people back their FREEDOM I am selling almost all my physical possessions. Will own no house. Just one stipulation on sale: I own Gene Wilder’s old house. It cannot be torn down or lose any its soul. My gf @grimezsz is mad at me Thank fucking god this nut cannot be President of the United States. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/258 "2020-05-01T20:23:50Z")
I think he’s going to be calling trump his father figure before this is all over. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/259 "2020-05-01T21:13:53Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Thank fucking god this nut cannot be President of the United States. Well, until they pass the 28th Amendment counting South Africans as native-born American citizens and mandating that all crops are irrigated with electrolyte-enhanced sports drinks. > [@QuickSilver](#): > > I think he’s going to be calling trump his father figure before this is all over. I’m morally certain Trump would prefer to adopt him and pass the mantle to him rather than Don, Jr. and Eric. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765/260 "2020-05-01T22:47:27Z")
~I will be your father figure (Oh baby) Put your tiny hand in mine (I’d love to)~ If the lyrics fit, they must submit! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musk/807765.md?page=14)