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Notes -
Anyone watch the Roadster demo last night? As expected, it had some peak Elon cringe moments, but you don't have to be a great MC when you have a flying car.
Possibly the greatest product demo of all time.
I considered making a culture war post about this, but I suck at writing.
When I watched it, I audibly gasped; the most incredible feat of engineering I've witnessed since I saw the dual Dragon landings on that ocean platform. That said, I've been amazed to see the polarizing response on all the usual sites. You have a vocal contingent going "HOLY HELL THIS IS INCREDIBLE", but also a sizable movement going "this is stupid"/"what are we gonna use this for?"/"you could've solved world hunger instead", etc.
To me, this could've been a rallying reminder of the greatness of human ingenuity. Instead it's just another scissor statement.
Yeah, the Hacker News thread was a disaster.
I used to think "Atlas Shrugged" was a poorly written strawman. Now I realize that it spoke with the clearest truth about human nature. Weak people hate greatness.
It's pathetic. The people who have trouble getting out of bed in the morning or keeping a job are belittling the first realistic flying car. Talking shit about Trump accounts as a "tax dodge" when billionaires are giving money directly to children instead of going through the government.
As you said, I've spent the past 20 years after reading Atlas Shrugged and complaining about how unrealistic it is, but it's just too on the money.
Unsurprising. In any society where rewards are distributed lopsided to those who are successful (irrespective of however one wants to define it or thinks it should be), the object of those outcomes will always be sure to acquire a bad name, mostly owing to the villainy of people unfit to possess them.
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