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swistak84 t1_j18dli6 wrote

Reply to comment by BriefDownpour in Elon Musk posts on Weibo about how action matters more than words and gets an earful from disgruntled Chinese netizens by Saltedline

>The internet really isn't a place fit for billionaires

It used to be for a while. For years any post criticising Musk would get downvoted to oblivion. Anyone questioning Tesla valuation would get shouted over ("Tesla is a tech company!" "It's a growth stock!"). People were honestly arguing that Hyperloop is something that can be realistically built (Hell. Another billionaire-but-imbecile even spent a lots of his money to try to build one).

Perception is just catching up to reality.

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icantfindanametwice t1_j18sx8b wrote

To be fair, Elon also asked his flight attendant for a handjob, and said she’d get a horse in return.

I mean, how out of touch do you have to be to not know a pony was the superior gift, which would have clenched the handy, and saved him a cool quarter million?

Then there’s the whole flying to Epstein’s Island ten times on the Lolita Express.

All that money, and he just wants to copy Woody Allen - or his dad, and bang his stepdaughter.

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namechecksout35 t1_j1acy9l wrote

To be fairer, I'd give a handy for used Toyota Corolla. No frame damage <125k miles.

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ScenicAndrew t1_j1942lh wrote

I was definitely one to defend the person over their message, but I'm pretty happy to have learned. As long as it's just words in the void of the internet; Better to learn and regret than to have been nasty about it without ever changing.

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Lostation t1_j1arbh6 wrote

Omg I first read your post as massage instead of message.after reading the post about willing to give a handy for a car. I made myself laugh today

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ScenicAndrew t1_j1atddx wrote

I had real problems separating Elon from that massage he gave me, too.

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maxoakland t1_j19txpd wrote

What do you think made you that type of person at the time and what made you learn?

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ScenicAndrew t1_j1a5wol wrote

Was just younger. Was not a muskrat but definitely felt like if I liked something he did (or more appropriately, something his PR team said he did) he must not be all bad. Learned by learning he and others were just awful.

Honestly the bigger issue for me was with Gates. Kinda hard to see past the foundation, environmentalism, etc. At the end of the day can't just separate Microsoft's shitty behavior from him.

If you don't learn to separate the person from their actions they really sneak up on ya. Patagonia guy is the recent example. Does SOME good, sure, but he's just setting his wealth in stone.

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SquatchWithNoHeroes t1_j19bcef wrote

Hyperloop CAN be realistically built.

But not with our current technology.

First we need to get regular maglevs on working order and then we can begin thinking on vaccum sealing them.

And then it probably will not make a difference, Hell, the amount of concrete needed may very well offset the energy consumption. Nevermind the issue of a single guy with a drill being able to stop the whole line (and maybe cause a big incident if a train happens to just be going through.)

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swistak84 t1_j19iv6a wrote

>Hyperloop CAN be realistically built.
>
>But not with our current technology.

I mean technically they can be built. But never. And I mean never they would be viable or realistic.

To see why just look at this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz95_VvTxZM one guy with a hammer could trigger this and destroy killometers of tracks.

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SquatchWithNoHeroes t1_j1a22mn wrote

Obviously, the containment would be built out of concrete.

Otherwise it would be impossible, it would collapse on itself by stress alone rather quickly.

Anyway, my point is that Hyperloop is like wanting to make the concorde without making the 707 first.

And it may very well like the concorde end up being not practical.

Frankly, I don't see the need to be faster than 400km/h . That's what videoconferences are for

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swistak84 t1_j1ah065 wrote

Obviously? Because none of the efforts or whitepaper tried that ...

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SquatchWithNoHeroes t1_j1aj5n9 wrote

Nobody is suggesting you build it with the materials of a thin pressure vessel .

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swistak84 t1_j1ak29s wrote

Literally what Musk's whitepaper suggested.

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SquatchWithNoHeroes t1_j1aki7g wrote

I'm pretty sure that even that whitepaper doesn't suggest something that is meant to resist inward pressure instead of outward pressure

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tickle_mittens t1_j19ddly wrote

The only way Teslas valuation made sense is if their solar and power storage technology was so good, and their lead s insurmountable, that they were going to replace Exxon.

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YawnTractor_1756 t1_j19d70i wrote

>Perception is just catching up to reality.

You conveniently "forget" that before 2018 things were other way around. People were shitting on Musk since the very start, for over a decade, saying BEV are unviable, unsellable etc, "rational critiques" said if rockets could land NASA would do it long time ago, etc. etc, but Tesla and SpaceX kept delivering.

So no what you call "reality" is not always right. And it's not reality, it's just another perception.

Musk just changed. And with him his companies are no longer the same.

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swistak84 t1_j19ponc wrote

I remember EV car FUD mate, but plenty of "Rational critiques" were very much spot on. In 2022 we still don't have:

  1. FSD (only beta)
  2. Robotaxis
  3. Hyperloop (and never will)
  4. "Tech company" - It's funny that no one is even trying to argue this any-more.
  5. "Energy company" - SolarCity is on coninous downwards path, solar tiles are insignificant and they are reselling chinese panels
  6. Loops (regular kind, made by boring company). Even Vegas Loop is serviced by taxi drivers
  7. Cybertruck.

The only things they actually delivered on were the "realistic" ones which is to produce and expensive EV Car & SUV.

I called it then that Tesla will become like Mazda small independent carmaker making quirky interesting cars or becomes bankrupt.

They exceeded expectations producing two times more cars then Mazda at his point and I'm sure that they will continue to grow, but the dreams of challenging Toyota are over (but no chance of suddenly going bankrupt either I think).

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YawnTractor_1756 t1_j19qphi wrote

If you shoot from a shotgun many times you eventually hit something and then you can claim that's where you aimed.

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