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non_radical_centrist  8mo ago (astralcodexten.com)   2079 thread views

Book Review: Elon Musk[Scott Alexander]

astralcodexten.com

Scott Alexander’s review of a 2015 biography of Elon Musk. Elon Musk, to me, is one of the world’s most confusing people. He’s simultaneously both one of the smartest people in the world, creating billions of dollars of value in companies like Tesla and SpaceX, and one of the dumbest, in burning billions on Twitter. Scott’s review I think is a good explanation of what’s up with Musk.

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one of the dumbest, in burning billions on Twitter

Why do you think it's dumb? I define "dumb" as having a goal, perform an action that is supposed to achieve the goal, but actually does not, in an obvious way, and likely to place one further from the goal than it was before the action, and that result has been easily predictable and pre-destined before the action was taken. Is your definition different? If not, then which goal do you think Musk had and which action was "dumb"?

I think Musk's goal was a combination of a) make money, b) further free speech, and c) be a cultural icon with lots of positive attention.

He failed catastrophically at making money on the purchase. He had some modest success at furthering free speech, but I don't think it was worth billions. He has certainly gained lots of attention but most of it was negative, maybe he still considers that a win, but personally I think he could've handled the PR much better with a bit more forethought.

I think Musk could've done much better at all three goals if he spent some more time thinking through what he wanted to do with Twitter before taking the CEO position and preparing more. And I think he would've been much better off if he just never bought Twitter and instead spent the money on some other project.

He failed catastrophically at making money on the purchase.

He did, but there was a general tech stock collapse after he locked in the Twitter price. People who dislike Musk love to act like he's responsible for the crash. However, Spotify, Shopify, and many others has more spectacular falls in that same time period.

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