And similarly...."Absolute power corrupts absolutely." We have allowed individuals to amass so much wealth that the next thing they crave is power. It does show his true character that instead of using that power to create an environment conducive of love and compassion on X, he decides to promote hate and fear.
what do you mean "how'd it work out"? It's still to be seen over the next 4+ years. It's not like people who said that have obviously been proven wrong.
I’m not too worried about it. Dumb extreme views will correct themselves. The silent majority will act when lines are crossed. Just happened. What’s ironic is the extreme progressives/ socialists on the left led to Trump being re-elected. The socialists are warning people about a threat to democracy… Irony at its finest.
I agree with you on this initial part about the fear mongering. But do you really believe the democratic party is a socialist party? Additionally do you think it is good that one private individual, like Elon, has this much influence over US?
We can't even agree in this very thread whether he passes that test. It seems like his character is polling somewhere between "very naughty boy" and "existential threat to democracy," with error bars to either side that you could build oh I don't know a Tesla factory on.
I don't think "very naughty boy" and "existential threat to democracy" are necessarily very different... and in fact they could easily overlap. One label is about their behavior, and the other is about the impact of their behavior.
I believe it is always incredibly important to set the record straight. So well done.
Anyone with a shred of social awareness will recognize that Elon has psychological problems that put his emotional maturity at about the level of a 14-year-old.
Asperger’s is no longer considered a specific syndrome, but rather a part of a broader Autism spectrum.
According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, "management of autism itself is chiefly about the provision of the education, training, and social support/care required to improve the person's ability to function in the everyday world".
Musk has as much access to this as any of us. Despite his lack of free will, he should still be able to consider at evidence as dispassionately as he does in business.
Keep in mind that every story has two sides. Without hearing Musk’s perspective—and it’s unlikely he’ll engage at this level—you don’t have enough information to form a fully informed opinion.
You’re free to judge, as so many are quick to do, but until you’ve heard the other side of the story, you can’t claim your opinion is accurate or fully informed. Those attempting to diagnose Musk with a psychological condition—without the proper credentials or any direct interaction with him—are even more absurd. It’s shocking how many people are eager to expose their hatred and ignorance. The most important thing to know is what you don't know and that you do not seek to fill in the blanks with rumor and speculation.
I saw one man jumping up and down on stage gleefully with Trump, re-platforming Alex Jones and double down on retribution and revenge when challenged, while I've seen the other man articulately and consistently address cultural, political and ethical concerns at his own peril and repeatedly address situations where he misspoke or was wrong and mindfully and compassionately engage people he disagrees with. I think many of us have all the information we need to make a mostly informed judgement for how to proceed in our own lives.
Musk has openly shared that he has Asperger's Syndrome, a developmental condition classified under Autism Spectrum Disorder. People with Asperger's often have above-average intelligence but can face significant challenges with social interaction and behavior. Failing to understand and consider this when forming an opinion about Musk reflects a serious oversight on the part of his critics.
Nonsense. The problem being identified with Elon is not to do with his social skills but his honesty & integrity. I've been told before that I am "punching down" on a socially disabled man when I criticise his dishonest rhetoric and this is frankly ludicrous. I strongly resent the implication that being on the autistic spectrum leads one to be unable to distinguish what is true, maintain ethical integrity and recognise cause and effect in one's own actions. My father was autistic and he was the most scrupulously honest person I have ever known. He was, if anything, too unforgiving of lapses in ethical integrity as his autism made him rather rigid. His ability to recognise cause and effect made him a millionaire and was absolutely related to his systemising brain. My daughter is autistic and it is fundamentally difficult for her to say things that are not true or are misleading even in games. She absolutely has integrity and is repelled and mystified by people who do not. She also does particularly well with recognising cause and effect. I am the member of my family least observably affected by autism but I am still affected by it and this may lead me to miss social cues and be somewhat awkward in gatherings and not know what to do with my face in photos, but it absolutely does not make me prone to a lack of honesty or ethical integrity or an inability to recognise cause and effect.
This just isn't a thing. (I have also worked with autistic people for many years). If anything, people with Aspergers are likely to be higher than average in honesty and integrity because they are likely to suffer from a rather excessive need for precision and accuracy and be so focused on having every little detail straight that it can take them forever to feel confident to opine on anything or do so in so much detail that the most salient points get lost in the weeds. Some difficulties with theory of mind can also cause a rather rigid sense of integrity where some autistic people are inclined to be unforgiving of someone behaving in a way that is inconsistent or unethical. This is because they have failed to recognise that somebody else is experiencing strong emotions which can affect their judgement or make them temporarily behave in a way that is out of character and does not define their reasoning abilities or character generally.
Please stop saying that Musk's Aspergers explains or excuses his blatant dishonesty and lack of integrity. It's factually incorrect and insulting to all the autistic people whose attention to detail, precision, accuracy and professional and personal integrity make the world a better place.
Someone with a behavioural condition deserves a degree of compassion, it does not give them carte blanche to endanger others with toxic behaviour - whether that's a product of their condition or other outside factors. In this case it seems online radicalisation of the kind that shot up during the pandemic.
Endangering others is what Musk is doing and does on a global scale due to his power. If he were doing similar on a small scale and had no wealth and power, people would be staging an intervention and getting him serious help. As it is we need to help ourselves.
Nope. You’re basically saying that “explaining the reason” behind emotional immaturity is the same thing as negating it. Utter nonsense.
Having a medical diagnosis doesn’t change the fact that he has the emotional reactivity of a child based on his tweets and other behavior that is open for the public to see. SO WHAT if it’s related to a condition like Asperger’s? So what if he is open about it? It changes absolutely nothing. (And I refer you to the comment above of a person who actually has Aspergers themselves, and denies that his emotional immaturity is likely to be from that.)
They’re actually not two sides to every story. If I’m in an argument with a six-year-old about whether there really is a man in the moon or not, there’s only one side to that story. I am so sick of people drawing false equivalences using that phrase.
Elon Musk has demonstrated openly to the world that he is emotionally immature. Trying to say that that last sentence might be untrue because he has explained he has Aspergers is just dumb.
Correct. But when said person has the information on his own diagnosis as well as access to billions of dollars and virtually any Dr or therapist alive, they do have to begin to take responsibility for how their actions are interpreted by others. Using a ASD diagnosis as an excuse for any and all bad behavior is just not taking responsibility for your own actions. Plenty of people with far less resources and intelligence are able to learn to take steps to think of consequences from their speech and actions. If Musk wants to be famous and powerful as well, he's got to start being accountable for his own behavior. Having Asperger's does not mean he is incapable of leaning about social cues or doing introspection.
Being on the spectrum does not prevent one from understanding the difference between right and wrong. I have a child on the spectrum and his moral compass is firmly intact.
Ah, so we shouldn't say anything. Seems to me that's been going on for a very long time and is largely why we're in the mess we're in, and will likely to continue a decline until we're, indeed, a third world nation. As more and more extremists find platforms and microphones, mental illness will be on rampant display. What should we do Valerie? What's your recommendation?
Interesting how Elon fan-folk are so sensitive suddenly about being woke and how to 'avoid' microaggressions towards the neuro-divergent techbronerds. The double-standard, one-way-street hierarchy of the MAGA Elonald 'fan-folk' is exhausting!
According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, "management of autism itself is chiefly about the provision of the education, training, and social support/care required to improve the person's ability to function in the everyday world".
Musk has as much access to this as any of us. Despite his lack of free will, he should still be able to consider evidence as dispassionately as he does in business.
You only have to listen to his endless lies about himself, being the smartest most knowledgeable person ever and the constant promises about his cars and rockets that never come true. He is a liar. A self-promoter and manipulator.
Sam Harris has demonstrated himself time and again as someone who strives to be scrupulously honest and willing to own his mistakes. Elon Musk has neither of those qualities, to the best of my knowledge. He has not proven himself to be trustworthy or ethically consistent. Even if he released a statement that cast doubt on Harris’s claim, I would assume it was crafted by a team of screenwriters. Elon Musk can take a flying fuck at a rolling donut.
Absolutely agree with this ... I'm among those who occasionally find myself disagreeing, vehemently so, with Sam on some issues, although I'm not among those who elect to "cancel" him over it. But there's no doubt in my mind that his description of how the falling out with Musk went down is absolutely the way it happened. Musk is beyond the pale, absolutely unhinged at this point.
I don’t think Musk is unhinged, he’s just an asshole. He’s a self-entitled manager type who takes credit for the hard work of others. I’ve heard no shortage of tales about Musk where he demonstrates having limited basic understanding of subjects where he’s supposedly an expert. He’s a grifter, a PT Barnum type.
Ok, put aside the text exchanges. Now what "side" do you think is missing? You can make nearly all the same conclusions from publicly available information on X. What piece of missing information do you need? Elon has so very clearly maligned Sam on X. It doesn't take a genius or a leap of faith to read how unfair (and even dangerous given his audience size and propensity to hurl BS) he's been to Sam and others.
Actions speak Valerie and if you think his actions are those of a person with integrity you are mistaken. Perhaps it isn't mental illness but his known drug abuse (ketamine). Either was Musk tells his side of the story in ignorant, mean spirited and often deliberate lies on his social platform daily.
Sam’s story about Elon isn’t unique. At some point the evidence—anecdotal, behavioral, and from his own mouth—adds up to a fair representation of the person.
I feel saddened by this situation, as I have deep respect for both you and Elon. That said, it’s clear that you, Sam, are the more grounded and measured voice here (obviously). While Elon’s brilliance and good intentions are undeniable, his current actions suggest a misalignment with the moral clarity we need at this critical time. I believe he has the capacity to reflect and adjust, but his present approach falls short of the thoughtful, honest, and balanced leadership humanity truly deserves. Thank you for speaking your truth and striving to hold Elon accountable. Hopefully, he will find his way back to a more constructive path.
As someone who has been in Recovery (12 step) for over 30 years, Elon's behavior over the last 3+ years closely mirrors that of an addict who has crossed over the threshold, losing any ability to return to "sane" behavior. Once that threshold has been crossed, the capacity to reflect and adjust is lost.
What is he addicted to? Probably immunity. He is now immune, through money, contracts, technologies and associations, from recrimination or consequences of any kind. POTENT.
But, the universe is self-correcting, so there is that.
100% - I know a lot about ketamine addiction and it absolutely leads to delusional grandiosity. We need an intervention. Narcissistic psychopaths make up at most 5% of the human population, but in a world of 8 billion people that’s a lot of narcissistic psychopaths and they are all banding together and creating this powerful psychopathic autocrat of their new world order together.
There’s only one force powerful enough to stop that and that is the 95% of us who are not narcissistic psychopaths cohering together and absolutely putting a stop to this bullshit nonsense.
He abused the hell out of stimulants when I was close enough to his orbit to know. He and Trump have that in common. He didn't work those sleepless weeks ramping to mass production on sheer willpower! Ketamine makes sense, but I can't speak to that directly.
While I’m not attempting to diagnose Musk from a distance—and I don’t think Sam or anyone else should either—I do know that he has Asperger's syndrome. Individuals with this form of autism often struggle to communicate in ways that neurotypical people perceive as normal or socially appropriate. It’s ironic that someone on the far left, who often claims to value compassion and understanding, Sam wouldn’t consider that before launching such a harsh and public attack—one that feels like a schoolyard bully rallying others to join in.
You're right. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. It's just that some opinion's are more grounded than others.
Sam really isn't 'far left'
But if you want to belabor the point please do share a few 'far left' views that Sam shares and outline how sharing those positions means that he is, above all else, 'far left'
How is Sam far left when he constantly talks about the dangers and derangement of the far-left and woke liberalism? How is he far-left when he is concerned about the influx of immigrants? It is not a matter of opinion - you are just wrong.
How do you "know" he has Asperger's? The people who I know with diagnosed Asperger's don't, really can't, lie. They always tell the truth, even when not convenient or appropriate. Elon lies a lot. And if you're relying on Elon's assertion that he has Asperger's, it was a lie. If there was a fair market, I'd bet a lot of money he does NOT have Asperger's.
With all due respect, you are not qualified to determine who does or does not have an autism spectrum disorder. Emphasis on the word "spectrum" signifies a wide range of symptoms and behaviors that can vary greatly from person to person. (Pro tip: Recognizing what you don’t know is the most important wisdom.)
To be clear, Valerie, I never claimed to know that he doesn't have Asperger's; I speculated that he doesn't. He has lied so much over the years (funding secured, FSD, solar roof are the most well-known. A more comprehensive list is here: https://elonmusk.today/) that I have no reason to believe him. To the contrary, when he says in the same interview that he's "absolutely obsessed with truth", my conviction that he doesn't have Asperger's strengthens and I wonder if he's just the ultimate conman.
https://www.plainsite.org/realitycheck/tesla.html is another list, albeit stale, of the fraud and lies. Aaron highlights the continued deception / lies by Elon on social media and elsewhere, but I don't think he's put it in one file since 2020.
Sam's setting the story straight is NOT an attack, but rather a completely appropriate act of self-defense. This kind of victim-blaming is uncalled for.
I think you are wrong on this. And, there are heaps of way more harsh whistle-blowing testimonials about Elon's uncoolness out there than what Sam reveals here. Sam is absolutely spot on. Elon has crossed the line into the 'dark triad' spectrum of 'Cluster B' anti-social personality disorders - a Machiavellian Narcissistic Psychopathy.
This very repeated pattern of ruining close friendships absolutely needs to come out. There can be a dark side to being on the spectrum. All of this is not black-and-white. It’s all a big gray area. We want to heal Elon. I have tons of compassion for the abuse he received as a child in South Africa. I’ve read ‘The Power of One’ and I know how traumatic the bullying in the school systems is. I also know because I grew up in a family like Rupert Murdoch’s and Errol Musk’s, and all of these world power grabbing social Darwinist oligarchs.
I believe you meant Machiavellian—I’ve never heard of Mac Pavilion. Machiavellianism is a personality trait, not a form of psychosis. It is not a mental illness characterized by a disconnection from reality, which is the defining feature of psychosis. It’s clear that you don’t fully understand these terms and concepts well enough to make a diagnosis of Musk from afar.
Machiavellianism is usually regarded as one of the three vertices of the Dark Triad, psychopathy and narcissism being the two other. Putin is the ultimate creature of Machiavellianism.
Please rtesearch the 'the Dark Triad' - it's a wild world of mental disorder diagnosis out there. you are encouraged by myself to take what you need and leave the rest.
So we should default to assuaging the dysfunction of the neuro-divergent? Individuals with Asperger's (I was married to one) certainly do have the ability to learn and hold the knowledge of good/bad. Their ability to communicate in ways the neurally normal can be comfortable with (a ridiculous idea on the face of it - what is normal) is a challenge, but not impossible.
Your experience with just one person with Asperger's is, in scientific terms, statistically insignificant. This is considered anecdotal evidence and isn’t enough to support broad conclusions. Keep in mind that Asperger's is part of the Autism Spectrum Disorder—spectrum being key—which reflects a wide range of symptoms and behaviors that vary greatly from person to person.
Moreover, in a time when we’re encouraged to understand and accommodate the differences of others, especially those with disabilities, your suggestion that we shouldn't "default to assuaging the dysfunction of the neuro-divergent" reveals not only a lack of understanding but also a lack of tolerance and compassion. Is it really necessary to nitpick Musk's communication style?
Asperger's Syndrome is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition. While individuals with Asperger's can develop coping strategies and adaptive skills over time, it does not go away and isn’t something one simply "overcomes." Accusing someone of using their diagnosis as an "excuse" shows a lack of empathy and understanding. It dismisses the real challenges neurodivergent individuals face and unfairly oversimplifies their behavior. A more compassionate and thoughtful response is to consider a person’s intent and context rather than making assumptions. Criticizing someone without recognizing their neurological differences not only reflects ignorance and a lack of awareness—it’s also its own form of "acting shitty."
What makes you feel that he didn't 'consider that?'
What makes you believe that having A's means that you can't be judged as a moral person with integrity and social awareness? (read the Helen Puckrose comment above)
As for 'harsh' - tbo I don't think it was harsh. It as a calm rebuttal of attacks made against him by a man will a gigantic megaphone. As for 'schoolyard bully' - I can only conclude you have never had the ill fortune to come across one, because they most definitely do not behave as did SH.
A diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome would not account for his erratic behavior and the chaos he is unleashing with smears, conspiracy theories. and meddling in the business of the US Congress. Most of the engineers in Silicon Valley are priobably somewhere on the spectrum, and yoiu don't see them behaving similarly. There is clearly more going on than Asperger's tand that does warrant rebuke.
Not sure why you are going out of your way Valerie to defend a man who is continually going out of his way to hugely spread misinformation and disinformation and promote far right causes and tip the scales of multiple elections. Who cares how neurodivergent he is! We need to figure out a way to prevent his neurodivergence from causing autocratic and technocratic chaos!
This is exactly the kind of baseless speculation that shouldn’t be spread. Elon Musk has openly stated that he uses ketamine in small, medically supervised doses—about once every other week—to manage depression. While ketamine does carry the potential for misuse and addiction, there is no publicly available evidence suggesting that Musk is addicted. In fact, he has directly addressed concerns about overuse, noting that excessive use would interfere with his ability to manage his demanding workload. A compassionate person wouldn’t make unfounded accusations of addiction, and a wise one would recognize that such claims dangerously verge on libel.
He is not and never was the "Chief Engineer" of anything. He used his part of his dodgy family's dodgy fortune made in Blood Diamonds and Conflict Gems in the Afrikaner wars to BUY companies from the Original Creative Geniuses who started them, then run them out and steal the credit for himself. He also violated the law when he came here on a student visa and then worked, which makes his citizenship open to revocation. His drug usage means he can't get the top security clearances to run Space-X. On top of that he's an Unreconstructed Afrikaner White Supremacist pig, like his Nazi-loving buddy Peter Thiel.
Cool. I love this informed, idiotic, biased take -- you can always count on it from the crazy progressives..... except it's been refuted many times over by people that work with him and both his biographers, one of which is Walter Isaacson.
Let's not give pricks like Francis a leg to stand on by overblowing our case, eh? Tesla would 100% be dead without Elon. I was there. I know you want him to both be a POS and dumb, but we aren't blessed with a simple reality. He's BEING dumb now out of self-interest and self-delusion.
That may all be true (not going to research all of those claims right now), but it's also true he's done substantial technical work of his own. The man has done software engineering, at the very least. He has founded his own companies, not just taken over existing ones that were already on the path to success. He has made decisions regarding capital and personnel for multiple companies that have gone on to be enormously successful.
I'm unsure why people try so hard to prove the idea that he's unintelligent, or simply lucky, or simply Machiavellian enough... and that this alone explains his wealth/success/whatever one likes to call it. I think it's a cowardly approach, because it means we're pretending not to have a very real and very important question in front of us:
Why, in this day and age, is an intelligent and wildly successful person like Musk so uninterested in being constructive, and so interested in being a mega-troll? Again, it's not merely that he just doesn't care about other people. At this point, I'd happily accept a Musk that does nothing but go on cruises on his super yacht. The one we have is so much worse than that.
This is a question we should want to answer thoroughly so that we can act on those answers. Because the current state of things doesn't seem sustainable. I'd offer that Musk is simply the most visible victim of a disease of social media, but maybe that's not it.
Two million people are or more do 'software engineering' straight out of college every year worldwide. If there is one genius level product from the mind of Musk I would like to know about it. Actual technical work not business manipulation 'work'. And he was lucky when Compaq bought and average software idea from them at an enormous overvaluation.
Yeah, I just don't see this as a serious response. Do two million people or more do something like what Musk did at zip2? Just take what happened there, by itself. I don't even need to disagree with the idea that Compaq bought it at an enormous overvaluation. The fact is, if Musk had competition, and if Compaq knew about it, they could've gone somewhere else. They could've offered less. They didn't. And this enormous success has been dwarfed by Musk's achievements since.
I'm unsure what you mean by "genius level product". No, I don't think Musk ever personally produced something like PageRank. But Falcon 9 is a billion-dollar product. Model 3 is a billion-dollar product. And Musk played a substantial role in both of those things happening, even if he never wrote a line of code, or even solved a simple equation. I know this, because I'm an engineer.
It's not just about technical work, it's about noticing opportunities that others don't, and finding a way to execute (either through your own technical skills, or by employing the right people). And it's about doing that, multiple times.
I'm not claiming Musk is a technical genius... I'm claiming that his success is in substantial part a result of who he is. Technical competence, drive, vision, intelligence, adaptability, etc. were part of this.
Again, I'm confused by this need for all of Musk's achievements to have nothing to do with his positive traits.
I believe Elon seems to struggle with fully recognizing the extent of his power and influence—at least, that's my hope. It’s hard to imagine that he’s entirely unaware, but sometimes, in our earnest desire to speak our minds and act with the best intentions, we can become misguided and fail to grasp the impact we have on others. I hope Elon can take a step back at some point and recalibrate in this respect.
Being on the spectrum may play a role in how he navigates these dynamics, though I’m unsure to what extent. Additionally, I think Elon has always craved and enjoyed attention, and the unprecedented level he’s receiving now must be intoxicating. When you combine that with the constant, endorphin-fueled feedback loops of Twitter/X, it’s easy to see how it could cloud judgment and amplify impulsivity.
Maybe. And of all of the nepo babies of South African gem merchants I know about, he might be the most ethical. But there's also the possibility that he's just a chronically online shitposter who also happens to be rich, which may or may not have to do with the gem merchant thing. Sometimes people are psychologically deranged and the reasons are overdetermined, you know?
I wish I could spend one day with Elon Musk just him and I because I come from a similar old family lineage that has been prescribing to this white supremacist New World order for ever since the holy Roman empire, and I also know a lot about ketamine addiction, and this person needs a lot of healing and I could totally guide him and I’ve reached out to him, but I will not go on X and so if anybody knows how to put me in contact with him I would love to offer him a Freeday of healing recovery.
I’m not jealous and I agree with Joe. no brilliant person would have looked at Covid and said the things Musk said publicly (and now we know, privately).
Sure Dave, and no not-brilliant person would be able to send a 20 story sky scraper into orbit and then catch it w/ giant chopsticks before it slams into the ground ..... Just because your a genius in one field doesnt mean your skills transfer to other fields.
"While Elon’s brilliance and good intentions are undeniable, his current actions suggest a misalignment with the moral clarity we need at this critical time."
Assuming you're a real person and not a bot, the language you are using sounds Asiatic like from a totalitarian state where they must mince their words. It is truly pathetic to behold
Why are his good intentions "undeniable"? He knowingly circulates conspiracies including Pizzagate. He behaves in an absolutely insane way constantly. His claim to fame is founded in electric cars, yet he has backed the most pro-climate-change government in the history of the Earth.
have you seen the recent footage of Elon talking to the firefighters in LA about the pressure system? OMG, it’s like Elon doesn’t even understand the engineering of the LA water system and what was happening there? This guy is a total plant. He is not an engineering genius. We need an intervention.
This is inaccurate and painfully wrong. Please retract. CalFire and LAFD are complete heroes. If you have politics on this, it lays elsewhere in LA/CA and NOT with the firefighters. Please retract.
I hear you and I saw that later. I think this is much more complex and much bigger a fire than the fire fighters "letting" the city burn. The system failed, not the firefighters. And that system has a lot of players, from Sacramento to local LA and more. That was my key issue with your comment. Peace and to better times....
There isn't enough water in ALL of California to put out fires that are spreading because of hurricane force winds. Don't blame the heroes. These fires are unprecedented.
Yep. Everyone says he’s a genius. Including Sam lol but all evidence I see of Elon actually doing something suggests he’s not a genius and in many cases is below average intelligence.
No. You are wrong. Easy to see why you would think so from how he's advertising himself these days, but having been in the room with him 10-15 years ago with other extremely intelligent people, he isn't or wasn't unintelligent. He has (or had) raw intelligence in spades. He would real-time process tona of information coming at him, and if your logic and work wasn't buttoned up he would find it. Unfortunately like any tool, intelligence can be misused and squandered. He used to be aligned with goals that were productive and (politics aside) beneficial to humankind. He was never a GOOD person, and that is a trillion dollar problem. The addict bought the drug factory and it's all been downward spiral into stupidity from there. Nothing more dumb than squandered potential.
I agree this is part of it, but this motivation is coming from what, in particular? The impact of a pandemic on his businesses?
I suspect there were quite a few people roughly in Musk's position who took a very different tack. They responded "normally", looking to experts in the field... or simply waiting quietly to see what would happen.
He must've already been knee-deep in nonsense by the time the pandemic hit. Fell in with the wrong crowd?
And many are motivated to believe he's not to maintain their parsimonious world view. I've seen it first hand, have you? (I'm not denying he's lied, cheated, and stolen his way up from his humble emerald-mine-heir origins. But he had a real hand in technical things without which Tesla and SpaceX would not be where they are.
Many believe Elon is one of the best video game players in the world. It turns out he’s been hiring someone to play the game for him and get his character to the top. When observed playing the game he is a pretty average video game player.
Elons genius is always hidden. Very little evidence he possesses superior engineering ability than an average engineering grad.
Look into the hyper loop and replacing planes with rockets for some clear examples of his terrible engineering ideas. More component engineers had to talk him down.
If Elon is a genius at anything it’s taking credit for other people’s work and getting most people to believe he’s is the mastermind.
See, that's an unserious response, and Sam explained in his essay why. We saw what was happening in other countries by the time the bet was made.
And again, to bolster his position, Musk cited statistics about how many Americans had died from COVID-19 up to that time. This is a nonsensical point to make for obvious reasons: we cannot expect casualties, or a casualty rate, from a communicable disease to remain anything close to constant in the early days of an outbreak. This is a simple applied math problem.
We had the information we needed by March of 2020 to know this was going to be a big deal, and that we'd hit -- easily hit -- 35k cases. However, some people weren't paying that much attention. Maybe Musk just wasn't paying much attention. I think it's more likely he was paying attention, but that his attention was just on sources that were (to say the least) disreputable.
There are quite a few people in this thread who argue Musk is just stupid. He certainly behaves like a stupid person on twitter, so there's something to this: "stupid is as stupid does". But we also know that he's almost certainly a quite intelligent person. He has looked at situations and noticed potential solutions that others haven't. He has correctly evaluated the skill and dedication of engineers and managers that he subsequently employed. He has managed to convince other intelligent people (importantly, investors) to help him with his work.
In my view, just calling Musk stupid, or downplaying his achievements to the point where his contribution was nothing but luck, is a cowardly way to evaluate the situation.
What we have here is an intelligent and very successful person... who acts like a stupid person. He has been co-opted by bad ideas. And these bad ideas lead him to bad behaviors.
I did actually lol that’s when I sold my Tesla stock. I was thinking this guy is unstable and unserious. Jokes on me I guess. We live in an era where unstable and unserious people rise to the top.
Well said Sam. Musk has become a threat to democracy and I heard he will have an office in the White House. I truly believe we are an oligarchy, and have been for many years. Musk managed to bring Bezos and Zuckerberg into the oligarchy orbit to seal the deal, so to speak.
Regarding the LA fires, I look forward to your assessment of the state and local government role in this tragedy. Before, during, and hopefully soon , after the fires are tamed.
I thought he wrote that on his last posting? He evacuated, are you saying they were lucky enough to have not lost their house? I’d be very happy if you could confirm that. Thank you.
Having been evacuated for three long weeks from a fire in '20, it is very hard to know what's going on inside the evacuated area. Early responders are not prioritizing making public social media posts. Satellite heat maps can't distinguish between fire and hot smoke columns. I thought my house was gone for sure, until photos and videos from the neighborhood started to leak out over a week later. Wildfire is very chaotic and whole neighborhoods burnt with a few random survivors (or the inverse) is the norm, not the exception.
“Based on several reports received in the middle of the night, I became nearly certain that we had lost our home. Later evidence has convinced me that it was spared”
- from His post previous to this most recent. Nothing I have seen since has said otherwise.
My two cents: He and his family might still have effectively lost their house. I think the wrote that most of the neighbourhood was burned down, including stores, his daughters' school, etc etc. So even if his house is still standing, it might be impossible to have a normal life in the neighbourhood for months or years to come
Point well taken. I have a son and DIL who’s pregnant with their first child in SW LA County. So far they’ve been spared except for the awful air quality. So, wife and I have been watching things more closely than the average person outside of CA. We are on the East Coast.
“Based on several reports received in the middle of the night, I became nearly certain that we had lost our home. Later evidence has convinced me that it was spared—while two doors away houses were destroyed. “
As someone who has watched, respected and followed Elon at length for nearly 10 years, this story makes perfect sense. Elon has absolutely lost it. The man who I felt could help turn the tide of western civilizations decline, keep free speech a priority, help push us into a new yet cautious future when it came to AI and robots and who might even be able to put enough backing behind a moderate(dare I say centrist) presidential candidate for then to win, has disappeared. He has grown increasingly disconnected from reality and honestly has become so incredibly childish over the past 3 years that I have blocked him on every social media simple because I can’t stand seeing the BS anymore. It’s sad, he could have accomplished so much in bettering the west, he threw it all away to join the conspiracy cabal.
Elon has been purposely deceiving people for decades.
One time when he was dating Amber hurst, and I think Jennifer Laurence or someone else from Hollywood was there that they were trying to impress, some beautiful actress, Errol Musk came in and the topic of Donald Trump came up. Errol Musk began praising Donald Trump and said ‘you know, he’s one of us’ to Elon and his brother in front of the Hollywood actresses. The women were shocked and basically went into the usual reaction to any mention of Trump, which is that he’s a disgusting buffoon.
Later, when they were no longer in the presence of the American actresses, Elon and his brother got really mad at their dad for praising Donald Trump in front of the girls that they were trying to impress. And that is when Errol explained to his sons that Trump‘s family was on the same team as their family. and what was the game that that team was playing? Social Darwinist autocratic New World Order.
That is when Elon realized that he could not reveal to his Silicon Valley or most American acquaintances what his and his family’s true politics and ideology stood for. He has absolutely been deceiving us about who he is. We are now seeing who he truly is. He totally made up a lie about how he was estranged from his father because he didn’t want people making the political connections about this New World order agenda.
Source or you made that shit up. Who would even be reporting that? Maybe you've been on social media too long and think disembodied cameras just follow the action around?
I’ll totally post the interview. I’ll be right on it. It’s I listen to an hour and a half interview with Errol musk saying these words out of his mouth what do you think it was an AI fake or something?
LOL! Has Elon been learning obligation management techniques from the Felon in Chief?... or is it vice versa? ... chicken or egg, but now it's a vicious circle.
100% Sam. The world as we know is appears to have devolved into one devoid of any sense of decency. Its the Jerry Springer show writ large, and nobody seems to realize how uncool Elon, Trump and the entire cadre of right wing bozos in Washington are. Dogs still seem to be able to sniff each others asses, but humans, at least in this country, no longer care about or are able to discern the fact that the person they are listening to is a total douche.
I read someplace that "intelligence without wisdom is dangerous". Maybe Robert Sapolsky. Anyway, to our great peril, we tend to conflate intellgence and wisdom, intelligence and virtue. Give me average minds with ethics and humanity over these brilliant libertarian tech child-men. Please.
A post like this takes immense courage and integrity and is the kind of thing that makes me proud to pay to subscribe to Making Sense. The fact so many others won't speak out, even rich powerful people, goes to show it's not local councillors in Rotherham, England who are afraid of speaking up.
What I find most unusual about his behavior of late, is that despite being extremely intelligent, he appears to be taking tweets on X posted by random people and agreeing with their apparently unsourced fact-based statements, or their opinions posing as facts, simply because of confirmation bias. While I certainly have my own opinions, there is NO source on the Internet that I do not question, and source for myself. Even from Sam. :)
I love this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDZ9REOh2xA&t=23s), which I think really gets at the heart of what makes him great. What he talks about may seem simple and obvious but having the combination of intelligence, experience, confidence, and work ethic to make it work is incredibly rare in a CEO.
At the same time, he is also clearly a borderline autistic, uninformed, overconfident, braggadocio, whose political opinions and beliefs about social change shouldn't be given the least bit of deference.
It amazes me that some people struggle with accepting the fact that both of these things can be true.
That’s a good point, however it doesn’t surprise me. We like simple things - something is good or bad. Seeing every side of something makes it complex and confuses the simple value judgement. It requires much more effort.
The problem is systemic. Elon Musk is just the greatest example of it at the moment: the problem is an erosion of authority and the narcissism that steps in to take its place. By that I mean, there is nothing that keeps Elon Musk in his lane of the highway, namely building great things. He is allowed to swerve all over the place and even find himself speeding along in a lane that requires great empathy and understanding of human beings on a micro and macro scale. He does not possess these skills and he will never be able to develop them to the extent required. But the state of our democracy at the moment allows this kind of reckless driving not only to occur, but it gets applauded.
I will forever find Sam's defense of Trump's "both sides" statement perplexing. Trump wasn't saying "I think the white supremacists were good people"- this is true. But he WAS saying that there were many good people who attended the unite the right rally. In other words, while white supremacists and neo nazis were at the rally, many of the other people there were good people. This is hard to reconcile with the facts on the ground at the march. Once the rally started engaging in things like chanting "jews will not replace us" and the other despicable things that the rally engaged in, good people would have left. Trump was well aware of this during the press conference- he had been discussing it prior to saying to there were good people on both sides.
Why is it so atrocious to say that Trump's statement about "good people" was inclusive of people who participated in a pretty disgusting march?
ETA: To be clear, I'm saying that it's awfully hard to claim that someone isn't a neo nazi or white supremacist when they march in a literal white supremacist/neo-nazi rally. Sure, they might not have filled out the registration card to join the groups, but their actions speak pretty loudly. And not leaving the rally once it became clear what was happening speaks very loudly to someone's character. Calling someone a good or fine person after attending such a thing is a pretty despicable statement, and one that I don't have any problem criticizing Trump for making.
I listened to the press conference, and agree with Sam's take. In addition, when looked at through a compassionate lens, I imagine some of the "good people" Trump was referring to just liked that the statue had been there for their lifetimes and they got used to it and saw no reason to remove their familiar nostalgic landmark. I doubt they even thought of its meaning. And in that way, they should perhaps be seen as ignorant, but not as evil or bad.
I don't take issue with folks defending the statue. As I said above, I take issue with the people who heard a group of men carrying tiki torches chanting things like "Jews will not replace us!" and decided not to leave. THAT'S who Trump was saying were fine people.
If I showed up to a pro-choice rally and started hearing leftist chanting "From the River to Sea" I would leave, even though I am unabashedly pro-choice. The people who wouldn't are either supporting the statement or so unfeeling about how awful it is to be fine with it and being associated with it. Neither of those choices make someone a "good" or "fine" person.
Hanging around with white supremacists and neo nazis WHILE they're having a neo-nazi white supremacist rally makes you a bad person. Calling out Trump for saying the opposite is completely fair game.
If I realized I was surrounded by literal white supremacists and neo-nazis then yes, absolutely I would leave. Why on earth would you march in lock stop with those men? If you think that’s okay then you waive the right to be outraged when people say you were marching with nazis and white supremacists- it’s what you’re literally doing. When they start chanting horrific things and you continue to march with them then it signals, at a minimum, that you acquiesce to and don’t object to those statements.
This is 100% true. If you read the transcript, Trump makes it clear that people who support traitors like Robert E Lee are "very good people." From my view, Confederate-supporting who love Robert E Lee are not in fact "very fine people."
He was clearly trying to draw an imaginary line between the boogieman Bad Racists and his supporters. As so often happens with him everybody spun it wrong, EXCEPT his supporters. They heard it loud and clear that he knows they're just reasonable people with reasonable concerns about the purity of their society or whateverthefuck. The left spectacularly diluted their message of rightfully shaming the racist outburst of that event by getting the details wrong and giving them an out.
💯 Sam has a blind spot on this one. Agree with & appreciate him on so much of what he thinks & writes about but this and his position on gun safety/control (as well as some inaccurate & misleading takes on Kamala Harris he's shared) truly perplex me.
I can't often fault Sam's reasoning, but I think he sometimes weighs the importance of things badly. It's gotten noticeably better since he left Xitter, but he still gets hung up on the principle of certain issues in ways that make the outcome (real effects on real people now) worse.
Unfortunately, now-a-days, we simply cannot imagine the potential that we have been influenced by either an AI generated fake video or by algorithms. I find on frequent occasion somebody who just seem spot on might have a very different take than me on one specific incident. I’m starting to chalk it up to AI fakes.
I think it’s motivated reasoning. He made it explicit in this post: “Not only have I never advocated lying to defeat Trump, I’ve taken great pains to defend Trump from the most damaging lie ever told about him.”
He uses that example to earn credibility with trump supporters. If he’s willing to point out when the left lies about Trump, his critique of Trump appears less likely to be based on lies. At this point he’s too invested in using that talking point to that end to look into the issue any further
I am sorry to read of this experience with Elon. You have lost a friend. But I applaud your explanation and appreciate both the need and the clarity of your position. Like you, I admire Elon's entrepreneurial spirit but I am deeply disappointed in the direction Elon has gone. He isn't the first ultra wealthy person who has gone off the rails.
Personally, I believe “the greatest entrepreneur of our generation” would only be such if they didnt exploit the people who put in the real work, and if such a person was an entrepreneur working holistically in the current climate of social and world environment needs and equity. History shows there is no obstacle to a person (generally a man) to being a financially successful entrepreneur when they ignore the health of the people and world around them.
'Greatness' as a concept generally entails substantial collateral damage. Alexander was 'Great' for conquering the world, but whether that was in any sense 'good' for anyone is a separate question.
Mostly importantly it should have been in the past tense. He is only a liability to Tesla and SpaceX at this point. No matter how much his wealth grows, it's hard to imagine him starting another successful venture. I said successful so bankrolling failed states doesn't count. He's vigorously making all heat and no light until he's gone. [Edit: I mistyped "all heart", definitely not that!]
I agree, I am so sick of people using that line about him. He’s a plant he represents the efforts of a whole team of operators whole team of the shadow government.
I think the fact that Elon feels the need to lie and pretend he is one of the best gamers in the world says enough about his ego. Its as fragile as it comes. This is probably out of sight for most people, but he recently streamed on X playing the highly anticipated Path Of Exile 2 game. He was on one of the highest level accounts atm, while pretending it was his to look like a chad to the gaming community, which he so much identifies with… Its just such a lowpoint for the worlds richest man.
I was going to point this out as well. And the Razzing from the gaming community streamers probably hurts his ego more than most people could understand. It truly says a lot about where he is now , and perhaps how he has been for a long time.
I know Trump, musk, teal, Putin. They are all just weak flailing around with their patriarchal phallic weapon systems. The 99% of us who are not narcissistic psychopaths need to put a stop to this we must cohere!
"If you want to test a man's character, give him power."
And similarly...."Absolute power corrupts absolutely." We have allowed individuals to amass so much wealth that the next thing they crave is power. It does show his true character that instead of using that power to create an environment conducive of love and compassion on X, he decides to promote hate and fear.
Always corrupt, power reveals.
People are still using the “threat to democracy” line? How’d that work out for you? Maybe try something else.
what do you mean "how'd it work out"? It's still to be seen over the next 4+ years. It's not like people who said that have obviously been proven wrong.
I’m not too worried about it. Dumb extreme views will correct themselves. The silent majority will act when lines are crossed. Just happened. What’s ironic is the extreme progressives/ socialists on the left led to Trump being re-elected. The socialists are warning people about a threat to democracy… Irony at its finest.
I agree with you on this initial part about the fear mongering. But do you really believe the democratic party is a socialist party? Additionally do you think it is good that one private individual, like Elon, has this much influence over US?
The tobacco industry convinced a lot of people that cigarettes were safe. How did that work out for them?
See fall of Rome
See fall of Rome
We can't even agree in this very thread whether he passes that test. It seems like his character is polling somewhere between "very naughty boy" and "existential threat to democracy," with error bars to either side that you could build oh I don't know a Tesla factory on.
I don't think "very naughty boy" and "existential threat to democracy" are necessarily very different... and in fact they could easily overlap. One label is about their behavior, and the other is about the impact of their behavior.
“Give me power. Give me money. I don’t care.”
perfect
I believe it is always incredibly important to set the record straight. So well done.
Anyone with a shred of social awareness will recognize that Elon has psychological problems that put his emotional maturity at about the level of a 14-year-old.
A 14 year old who IS NOT an Aspergian. As an Aspergian myself, I can say that no one on that spectrum acts as he does by choice.
Asperger’s is no longer considered a specific syndrome, but rather a part of a broader Autism spectrum.
According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, "management of autism itself is chiefly about the provision of the education, training, and social support/care required to improve the person's ability to function in the everyday world".
Musk has as much access to this as any of us. Despite his lack of free will, he should still be able to consider at evidence as dispassionately as he does in business.
And his current BFF is about 12.
Keep in mind that every story has two sides. Without hearing Musk’s perspective—and it’s unlikely he’ll engage at this level—you don’t have enough information to form a fully informed opinion.
His actions aren’t enough? Can we judge any public figure for any action?
You’re free to judge, as so many are quick to do, but until you’ve heard the other side of the story, you can’t claim your opinion is accurate or fully informed. Those attempting to diagnose Musk with a psychological condition—without the proper credentials or any direct interaction with him—are even more absurd. It’s shocking how many people are eager to expose their hatred and ignorance. The most important thing to know is what you don't know and that you do not seek to fill in the blanks with rumor and speculation.
I saw one man jumping up and down on stage gleefully with Trump, re-platforming Alex Jones and double down on retribution and revenge when challenged, while I've seen the other man articulately and consistently address cultural, political and ethical concerns at his own peril and repeatedly address situations where he misspoke or was wrong and mindfully and compassionately engage people he disagrees with. I think many of us have all the information we need to make a mostly informed judgement for how to proceed in our own lives.
Honestly anyone supporting Trump is either broken morally or is taking the ‘lesser evil’ path to a near infinite extreme.
I'd say the same for anyone who supported Harris for president.
Elon, we know it’s you.
Valerie please wake up
All we do is hear his “perspective!” The guy doesn’t shut up!!
As I said, anyone with a shred of social awareness knows enough to see a huge problem there, even if based solely on his tweets.
Musk has openly shared that he has Asperger's Syndrome, a developmental condition classified under Autism Spectrum Disorder. People with Asperger's often have above-average intelligence but can face significant challenges with social interaction and behavior. Failing to understand and consider this when forming an opinion about Musk reflects a serious oversight on the part of his critics.
Nonsense. The problem being identified with Elon is not to do with his social skills but his honesty & integrity. I've been told before that I am "punching down" on a socially disabled man when I criticise his dishonest rhetoric and this is frankly ludicrous. I strongly resent the implication that being on the autistic spectrum leads one to be unable to distinguish what is true, maintain ethical integrity and recognise cause and effect in one's own actions. My father was autistic and he was the most scrupulously honest person I have ever known. He was, if anything, too unforgiving of lapses in ethical integrity as his autism made him rather rigid. His ability to recognise cause and effect made him a millionaire and was absolutely related to his systemising brain. My daughter is autistic and it is fundamentally difficult for her to say things that are not true or are misleading even in games. She absolutely has integrity and is repelled and mystified by people who do not. She also does particularly well with recognising cause and effect. I am the member of my family least observably affected by autism but I am still affected by it and this may lead me to miss social cues and be somewhat awkward in gatherings and not know what to do with my face in photos, but it absolutely does not make me prone to a lack of honesty or ethical integrity or an inability to recognise cause and effect.
This just isn't a thing. (I have also worked with autistic people for many years). If anything, people with Aspergers are likely to be higher than average in honesty and integrity because they are likely to suffer from a rather excessive need for precision and accuracy and be so focused on having every little detail straight that it can take them forever to feel confident to opine on anything or do so in so much detail that the most salient points get lost in the weeds. Some difficulties with theory of mind can also cause a rather rigid sense of integrity where some autistic people are inclined to be unforgiving of someone behaving in a way that is inconsistent or unethical. This is because they have failed to recognise that somebody else is experiencing strong emotions which can affect their judgement or make them temporarily behave in a way that is out of character and does not define their reasoning abilities or character generally.
Please stop saying that Musk's Aspergers explains or excuses his blatant dishonesty and lack of integrity. It's factually incorrect and insulting to all the autistic people whose attention to detail, precision, accuracy and professional and personal integrity make the world a better place.
thank you
Someone with a behavioural condition deserves a degree of compassion, it does not give them carte blanche to endanger others with toxic behaviour - whether that's a product of their condition or other outside factors. In this case it seems online radicalisation of the kind that shot up during the pandemic.
Endangering others is what Musk is doing and does on a global scale due to his power. If he were doing similar on a small scale and had no wealth and power, people would be staging an intervention and getting him serious help. As it is we need to help ourselves.
Nope. You’re basically saying that “explaining the reason” behind emotional immaturity is the same thing as negating it. Utter nonsense.
Having a medical diagnosis doesn’t change the fact that he has the emotional reactivity of a child based on his tweets and other behavior that is open for the public to see. SO WHAT if it’s related to a condition like Asperger’s? So what if he is open about it? It changes absolutely nothing. (And I refer you to the comment above of a person who actually has Aspergers themselves, and denies that his emotional immaturity is likely to be from that.)
They’re actually not two sides to every story. If I’m in an argument with a six-year-old about whether there really is a man in the moon or not, there’s only one side to that story. I am so sick of people drawing false equivalences using that phrase.
Elon Musk has demonstrated openly to the world that he is emotionally immature. Trying to say that that last sentence might be untrue because he has explained he has Aspergers is just dumb.
Correct. But when said person has the information on his own diagnosis as well as access to billions of dollars and virtually any Dr or therapist alive, they do have to begin to take responsibility for how their actions are interpreted by others. Using a ASD diagnosis as an excuse for any and all bad behavior is just not taking responsibility for your own actions. Plenty of people with far less resources and intelligence are able to learn to take steps to think of consequences from their speech and actions. If Musk wants to be famous and powerful as well, he's got to start being accountable for his own behavior. Having Asperger's does not mean he is incapable of leaning about social cues or doing introspection.
Being on the spectrum does not prevent one from understanding the difference between right and wrong. I have a child on the spectrum and his moral compass is firmly intact.
Ah, so we shouldn't say anything. Seems to me that's been going on for a very long time and is largely why we're in the mess we're in, and will likely to continue a decline until we're, indeed, a third world nation. As more and more extremists find platforms and microphones, mental illness will be on rampant display. What should we do Valerie? What's your recommendation?
They are happy to censor, shut up, or cancel culture anyone who refutes their point of view - but they can't handle what they dish out.
Interesting how Elon fan-folk are so sensitive suddenly about being woke and how to 'avoid' microaggressions towards the neuro-divergent techbronerds. The double-standard, one-way-street hierarchy of the MAGA Elonald 'fan-folk' is exhausting!
According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, "management of autism itself is chiefly about the provision of the education, training, and social support/care required to improve the person's ability to function in the everyday world".
Musk has as much access to this as any of us. Despite his lack of free will, he should still be able to consider evidence as dispassionately as he does in business.
He's claimed to have it. How do we really know? Does he have an actual diagnosis?
You only have to listen to his endless lies about himself, being the smartest most knowledgeable person ever and the constant promises about his cars and rockets that never come true. He is a liar. A self-promoter and manipulator.
Sam Harris has demonstrated himself time and again as someone who strives to be scrupulously honest and willing to own his mistakes. Elon Musk has neither of those qualities, to the best of my knowledge. He has not proven himself to be trustworthy or ethically consistent. Even if he released a statement that cast doubt on Harris’s claim, I would assume it was crafted by a team of screenwriters. Elon Musk can take a flying fuck at a rolling donut.
Absolutely agree with this ... I'm among those who occasionally find myself disagreeing, vehemently so, with Sam on some issues, although I'm not among those who elect to "cancel" him over it. But there's no doubt in my mind that his description of how the falling out with Musk went down is absolutely the way it happened. Musk is beyond the pale, absolutely unhinged at this point.
I don’t think Musk is unhinged, he’s just an asshole. He’s a self-entitled manager type who takes credit for the hard work of others. I’ve heard no shortage of tales about Musk where he demonstrates having limited basic understanding of subjects where he’s supposedly an expert. He’s a grifter, a PT Barnum type.
Ok, put aside the text exchanges. Now what "side" do you think is missing? You can make nearly all the same conclusions from publicly available information on X. What piece of missing information do you need? Elon has so very clearly maligned Sam on X. It doesn't take a genius or a leap of faith to read how unfair (and even dangerous given his audience size and propensity to hurl BS) he's been to Sam and others.
Actions speak Valerie and if you think his actions are those of a person with integrity you are mistaken. Perhaps it isn't mental illness but his known drug abuse (ketamine). Either was Musk tells his side of the story in ignorant, mean spirited and often deliberate lies on his social platform daily.
Seems to me Sam is reacting to Elon’s side via Elon’s many posts about Sam on Twitter X
Sam’s story about Elon isn’t unique. At some point the evidence—anecdotal, behavioral, and from his own mouth—adds up to a fair representation of the person.
haha. ok.
What a silly thing to say.
I agree.
14 is very generous
I feel saddened by this situation, as I have deep respect for both you and Elon. That said, it’s clear that you, Sam, are the more grounded and measured voice here (obviously). While Elon’s brilliance and good intentions are undeniable, his current actions suggest a misalignment with the moral clarity we need at this critical time. I believe he has the capacity to reflect and adjust, but his present approach falls short of the thoughtful, honest, and balanced leadership humanity truly deserves. Thank you for speaking your truth and striving to hold Elon accountable. Hopefully, he will find his way back to a more constructive path.
As someone who has been in Recovery (12 step) for over 30 years, Elon's behavior over the last 3+ years closely mirrors that of an addict who has crossed over the threshold, losing any ability to return to "sane" behavior. Once that threshold has been crossed, the capacity to reflect and adjust is lost.
What is he addicted to? Probably immunity. He is now immune, through money, contracts, technologies and associations, from recrimination or consequences of any kind. POTENT.
But, the universe is self-correcting, so there is that.
How about Ketamine?
100% - I know a lot about ketamine addiction and it absolutely leads to delusional grandiosity. We need an intervention. Narcissistic psychopaths make up at most 5% of the human population, but in a world of 8 billion people that’s a lot of narcissistic psychopaths and they are all banding together and creating this powerful psychopathic autocrat of their new world order together.
There’s only one force powerful enough to stop that and that is the 95% of us who are not narcissistic psychopaths cohering together and absolutely putting a stop to this bullshit nonsense.
And a narcissistic psychopath richer than many countries is even more dangerous.
He abused the hell out of stimulants when I was close enough to his orbit to know. He and Trump have that in common. He didn't work those sleepless weeks ramping to mass production on sheer willpower! Ketamine makes sense, but I can't speak to that directly.
Kyle Kulinski believes that is the case.
While I’m not attempting to diagnose Musk from a distance—and I don’t think Sam or anyone else should either—I do know that he has Asperger's syndrome. Individuals with this form of autism often struggle to communicate in ways that neurotypical people perceive as normal or socially appropriate. It’s ironic that someone on the far left, who often claims to value compassion and understanding, Sam wouldn’t consider that before launching such a harsh and public attack—one that feels like a schoolyard bully rallying others to join in.
It's absurd to describe Sam Harris as "someone on the far left".
That's fine, we don't all have to agree.
Nah, there's definitely a consensus on the characteristics of far left ideology and Sam is nowhere near them.
You're right. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. It's just that some opinion's are more grounded than others.
Sam really isn't 'far left'
But if you want to belabor the point please do share a few 'far left' views that Sam shares and outline how sharing those positions means that he is, above all else, 'far left'
I'll wait.
How is Sam far left when he constantly talks about the dangers and derangement of the far-left and woke liberalism? How is he far-left when he is concerned about the influx of immigrants? It is not a matter of opinion - you are just wrong.
How do you "know" he has Asperger's? The people who I know with diagnosed Asperger's don't, really can't, lie. They always tell the truth, even when not convenient or appropriate. Elon lies a lot. And if you're relying on Elon's assertion that he has Asperger's, it was a lie. If there was a fair market, I'd bet a lot of money he does NOT have Asperger's.
This is my experience as well
With all due respect, you are not qualified to determine who does or does not have an autism spectrum disorder. Emphasis on the word "spectrum" signifies a wide range of symptoms and behaviors that can vary greatly from person to person. (Pro tip: Recognizing what you don’t know is the most important wisdom.)
Video of Musk describing and discussing his ASD:
https://youtu.be/kVBAYmY8slM
To be clear, Valerie, I never claimed to know that he doesn't have Asperger's; I speculated that he doesn't. He has lied so much over the years (funding secured, FSD, solar roof are the most well-known. A more comprehensive list is here: https://elonmusk.today/) that I have no reason to believe him. To the contrary, when he says in the same interview that he's "absolutely obsessed with truth", my conviction that he doesn't have Asperger's strengthens and I wonder if he's just the ultimate conman.
https://www.plainsite.org/realitycheck/tesla.html is another list, albeit stale, of the fraud and lies. Aaron highlights the continued deception / lies by Elon on social media and elsewhere, but I don't think he's put it in one file since 2020.
Sam's setting the story straight is NOT an attack, but rather a completely appropriate act of self-defense. This kind of victim-blaming is uncalled for.
I think you are wrong on this. And, there are heaps of way more harsh whistle-blowing testimonials about Elon's uncoolness out there than what Sam reveals here. Sam is absolutely spot on. Elon has crossed the line into the 'dark triad' spectrum of 'Cluster B' anti-social personality disorders - a Machiavellian Narcissistic Psychopathy.
This very repeated pattern of ruining close friendships absolutely needs to come out. There can be a dark side to being on the spectrum. All of this is not black-and-white. It’s all a big gray area. We want to heal Elon. I have tons of compassion for the abuse he received as a child in South Africa. I’ve read ‘The Power of One’ and I know how traumatic the bullying in the school systems is. I also know because I grew up in a family like Rupert Murdoch’s and Errol Musk’s, and all of these world power grabbing social Darwinist oligarchs.
I believe you meant Machiavellian—I’ve never heard of Mac Pavilion. Machiavellianism is a personality trait, not a form of psychosis. It is not a mental illness characterized by a disconnection from reality, which is the defining feature of psychosis. It’s clear that you don’t fully understand these terms and concepts well enough to make a diagnosis of Musk from afar.
Machiavellianism is usually regarded as one of the three vertices of the Dark Triad, psychopathy and narcissism being the two other. Putin is the ultimate creature of Machiavellianism.
What does that have to do with Harris' squabble with Musk?
yes, thank you for the autocorrection:-)
Please rtesearch the 'the Dark Triad' - it's a wild world of mental disorder diagnosis out there. you are encouraged by myself to take what you need and leave the rest.
Excusing liars and manipulators because they 'may' have a condition is nonsense.
So we should default to assuaging the dysfunction of the neuro-divergent? Individuals with Asperger's (I was married to one) certainly do have the ability to learn and hold the knowledge of good/bad. Their ability to communicate in ways the neurally normal can be comfortable with (a ridiculous idea on the face of it - what is normal) is a challenge, but not impossible.
Your experience with just one person with Asperger's is, in scientific terms, statistically insignificant. This is considered anecdotal evidence and isn’t enough to support broad conclusions. Keep in mind that Asperger's is part of the Autism Spectrum Disorder—spectrum being key—which reflects a wide range of symptoms and behaviors that vary greatly from person to person.
Moreover, in a time when we’re encouraged to understand and accommodate the differences of others, especially those with disabilities, your suggestion that we shouldn't "default to assuaging the dysfunction of the neuro-divergent" reveals not only a lack of understanding but also a lack of tolerance and compassion. Is it really necessary to nitpick Musk's communication style?
Yes.
Your professorial style is certainly entertaining.
Who is the school yard bully here? Sam is only defending himself against one.
You missed the point entirely.
There's a difference between growing up with Aspergers and using it as an excuse to act shitty when you know you're acting shitty. See https://www.axios.com/2022/04/15/elon-musk-aspergers-syndrome
Asperger's Syndrome is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition. While individuals with Asperger's can develop coping strategies and adaptive skills over time, it does not go away and isn’t something one simply "overcomes." Accusing someone of using their diagnosis as an "excuse" shows a lack of empathy and understanding. It dismisses the real challenges neurodivergent individuals face and unfairly oversimplifies their behavior. A more compassionate and thoughtful response is to consider a person’s intent and context rather than making assumptions. Criticizing someone without recognizing their neurological differences not only reflects ignorance and a lack of awareness—it’s also its own form of "acting shitty."
What makes you feel that he didn't 'consider that?'
What makes you believe that having A's means that you can't be judged as a moral person with integrity and social awareness? (read the Helen Puckrose comment above)
As for 'harsh' - tbo I don't think it was harsh. It as a calm rebuttal of attacks made against him by a man will a gigantic megaphone. As for 'schoolyard bully' - I can only conclude you have never had the ill fortune to come across one, because they most definitely do not behave as did SH.
'far left'???? - GTFOH
A diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome would not account for his erratic behavior and the chaos he is unleashing with smears, conspiracy theories. and meddling in the business of the US Congress. Most of the engineers in Silicon Valley are priobably somewhere on the spectrum, and yoiu don't see them behaving similarly. There is clearly more going on than Asperger's tand that does warrant rebuke.
Not sure why you are going out of your way Valerie to defend a man who is continually going out of his way to hugely spread misinformation and disinformation and promote far right causes and tip the scales of multiple elections. Who cares how neurodivergent he is! We need to figure out a way to prevent his neurodivergence from causing autocratic and technocratic chaos!
Harsh and public attack? You mean a clarification of ideological positions.
Great points Rosemary.
He's a Ketamine addict, so your analysis is spot on.
This is exactly the kind of baseless speculation that shouldn’t be spread. Elon Musk has openly stated that he uses ketamine in small, medically supervised doses—about once every other week—to manage depression. While ketamine does carry the potential for misuse and addiction, there is no publicly available evidence suggesting that Musk is addicted. In fact, he has directly addressed concerns about overuse, noting that excessive use would interfere with his ability to manage his demanding workload. A compassionate person wouldn’t make unfounded accusations of addiction, and a wise one would recognize that such claims dangerously verge on libel.
I honestly feel like brilliance and good intentions are two of the most deniable things about him.
He is not and never was the "Chief Engineer" of anything. He used his part of his dodgy family's dodgy fortune made in Blood Diamonds and Conflict Gems in the Afrikaner wars to BUY companies from the Original Creative Geniuses who started them, then run them out and steal the credit for himself. He also violated the law when he came here on a student visa and then worked, which makes his citizenship open to revocation. His drug usage means he can't get the top security clearances to run Space-X. On top of that he's an Unreconstructed Afrikaner White Supremacist pig, like his Nazi-loving buddy Peter Thiel.
Cool. I love this informed, idiotic, biased take -- you can always count on it from the crazy progressives..... except it's been refuted many times over by people that work with him and both his biographers, one of which is Walter Isaacson.
This is pretty unhinged. Let's dispense with the fake news, can we?
https://www.snopes.com/news/2022/11/17/elon-musk-emerald-mine/
Trolls are everywhere. Quick and early blocking seems to be required.
Personally, I think that any follower of Sam should be treated at least semi-seriously with a reply.
Let's not give pricks like Francis a leg to stand on by overblowing our case, eh? Tesla would 100% be dead without Elon. I was there. I know you want him to both be a POS and dumb, but we aren't blessed with a simple reality. He's BEING dumb now out of self-interest and self-delusion.
That may all be true (not going to research all of those claims right now), but it's also true he's done substantial technical work of his own. The man has done software engineering, at the very least. He has founded his own companies, not just taken over existing ones that were already on the path to success. He has made decisions regarding capital and personnel for multiple companies that have gone on to be enormously successful.
I'm unsure why people try so hard to prove the idea that he's unintelligent, or simply lucky, or simply Machiavellian enough... and that this alone explains his wealth/success/whatever one likes to call it. I think it's a cowardly approach, because it means we're pretending not to have a very real and very important question in front of us:
Why, in this day and age, is an intelligent and wildly successful person like Musk so uninterested in being constructive, and so interested in being a mega-troll? Again, it's not merely that he just doesn't care about other people. At this point, I'd happily accept a Musk that does nothing but go on cruises on his super yacht. The one we have is so much worse than that.
This is a question we should want to answer thoroughly so that we can act on those answers. Because the current state of things doesn't seem sustainable. I'd offer that Musk is simply the most visible victim of a disease of social media, but maybe that's not it.
Two million people are or more do 'software engineering' straight out of college every year worldwide. If there is one genius level product from the mind of Musk I would like to know about it. Actual technical work not business manipulation 'work'. And he was lucky when Compaq bought and average software idea from them at an enormous overvaluation.
Yeah, I just don't see this as a serious response. Do two million people or more do something like what Musk did at zip2? Just take what happened there, by itself. I don't even need to disagree with the idea that Compaq bought it at an enormous overvaluation. The fact is, if Musk had competition, and if Compaq knew about it, they could've gone somewhere else. They could've offered less. They didn't. And this enormous success has been dwarfed by Musk's achievements since.
I'm unsure what you mean by "genius level product". No, I don't think Musk ever personally produced something like PageRank. But Falcon 9 is a billion-dollar product. Model 3 is a billion-dollar product. And Musk played a substantial role in both of those things happening, even if he never wrote a line of code, or even solved a simple equation. I know this, because I'm an engineer.
It's not just about technical work, it's about noticing opportunities that others don't, and finding a way to execute (either through your own technical skills, or by employing the right people). And it's about doing that, multiple times.
I'm not claiming Musk is a technical genius... I'm claiming that his success is in substantial part a result of who he is. Technical competence, drive, vision, intelligence, adaptability, etc. were part of this.
Again, I'm confused by this need for all of Musk's achievements to have nothing to do with his positive traits.
If I didn’t know better I would think this comment area was Twitter!
Oh gawd, no wonder this world is going to hell.
His father told him in South Africa that the native people had just come down from the trees. He is a fake and sociopath
100%
I believe Elon seems to struggle with fully recognizing the extent of his power and influence—at least, that's my hope. It’s hard to imagine that he’s entirely unaware, but sometimes, in our earnest desire to speak our minds and act with the best intentions, we can become misguided and fail to grasp the impact we have on others. I hope Elon can take a step back at some point and recalibrate in this respect.
Being on the spectrum may play a role in how he navigates these dynamics, though I’m unsure to what extent. Additionally, I think Elon has always craved and enjoyed attention, and the unprecedented level he’s receiving now must be intoxicating. When you combine that with the constant, endorphin-fueled feedback loops of Twitter/X, it’s easy to see how it could cloud judgment and amplify impulsivity.
Maybe. And of all of the nepo babies of South African gem merchants I know about, he might be the most ethical. But there's also the possibility that he's just a chronically online shitposter who also happens to be rich, which may or may not have to do with the gem merchant thing. Sometimes people are psychologically deranged and the reasons are overdetermined, you know?
Jealously isn't a good look, Joe.
No one can be critical of our oligarichal overlords without someone calling it envy, it seems.
Elon is an oligarch, Trump is a nazi, half the country is a racist..... Yawn.
These names don't mean anything anymore because your side has been using them ad nauseam for 8 years.
I wish I could spend one day with Elon Musk just him and I because I come from a similar old family lineage that has been prescribing to this white supremacist New World order for ever since the holy Roman empire, and I also know a lot about ketamine addiction, and this person needs a lot of healing and I could totally guide him and I’ve reached out to him, but I will not go on X and so if anybody knows how to put me in contact with him I would love to offer him a Freeday of healing recovery.
Jealously isn't a good look, Joe.
I’m confused, who’s Joe and who’s jealous?
OP
I’m not jealous and I agree with Joe. no brilliant person would have looked at Covid and said the things Musk said publicly (and now we know, privately).
Sure Dave, and no not-brilliant person would be able to send a 20 story sky scraper into orbit and then catch it w/ giant chopsticks before it slams into the ground ..... Just because your a genius in one field doesnt mean your skills transfer to other fields.
Why are his good intentions "undeniable"
So weird people still willing to say things like that. At least say "I believe he still has good intentions but I could be wrong."
I’m ok with saying that and having worded it that way.
Brilliance? Making cars or what?
Wait, why are Elon’s brilliance and good intentions undeniable? I see little evidence of either.
"While Elon’s brilliance and good intentions are undeniable, his current actions suggest a misalignment with the moral clarity we need at this critical time."
Assuming you're a real person and not a bot, the language you are using sounds Asiatic like from a totalitarian state where they must mince their words. It is truly pathetic to behold
Why are his good intentions "undeniable"? He knowingly circulates conspiracies including Pizzagate. He behaves in an absolutely insane way constantly. His claim to fame is founded in electric cars, yet he has backed the most pro-climate-change government in the history of the Earth.
Sorry for your misassumptions and misunderstanding.
The fact Elon was convinced Covid cases wouldn’t pass 35k suggests his intelligence isn’t what people think. Perhaps he’s been fooling people.
have you seen the recent footage of Elon talking to the firefighters in LA about the pressure system? OMG, it’s like Elon doesn’t even understand the engineering of the LA water system and what was happening there? This guy is a total plant. He is not an engineering genius. We need an intervention.
And the Firefighters telling he doesn't know what he's talking about.
The same fire fighters that just let half of LA burn to the ground?
This is inaccurate and painfully wrong. Please retract. CalFire and LAFD are complete heroes. If you have politics on this, it lays elsewhere in LA/CA and NOT with the firefighters. Please retract.
Sorry David, I'm just reading the Los Angeles times:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-14/firefighters-lafd-response-lack-of-staff-engines-pacific-palisades-fire
I hear you and I saw that later. I think this is much more complex and much bigger a fire than the fire fighters "letting" the city burn. The system failed, not the firefighters. And that system has a lot of players, from Sacramento to local LA and more. That was my key issue with your comment. Peace and to better times....
There isn't enough water in ALL of California to put out fires that are spreading because of hurricane force winds. Don't blame the heroes. These fires are unprecedented.
oh yeah, have you fought a wildfire before?tell us about your successes in fighting fires, please. We are all ears, my friend.
What do you have to say about this:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-14/firefighters-lafd-response-lack-of-staff-engines-pacific-palisades-fire
Okay - read it. I still don't think this warrants the harsh belittling criticism you were dolling out.
Yep. Everyone says he’s a genius. Including Sam lol but all evidence I see of Elon actually doing something suggests he’s not a genius and in many cases is below average intelligence.
Siba what have you accomplished that is so compelling that you can question his intelligence -- Generally curious ?
No. You are wrong. Easy to see why you would think so from how he's advertising himself these days, but having been in the room with him 10-15 years ago with other extremely intelligent people, he isn't or wasn't unintelligent. He has (or had) raw intelligence in spades. He would real-time process tona of information coming at him, and if your logic and work wasn't buttoned up he would find it. Unfortunately like any tool, intelligence can be misused and squandered. He used to be aligned with goals that were productive and (politics aside) beneficial to humankind. He was never a GOOD person, and that is a trillion dollar problem. The addict bought the drug factory and it's all been downward spiral into stupidity from there. Nothing more dumb than squandered potential.
I don’t understand how he can be making such obvious mistakes if he is a genius? The Covid issue was clear to anyone who understood fairly basic math.
Sure you can, it's called motivated reasoning.
I agree this is part of it, but this motivation is coming from what, in particular? The impact of a pandemic on his businesses?
I suspect there were quite a few people roughly in Musk's position who took a very different tack. They responded "normally", looking to experts in the field... or simply waiting quietly to see what would happen.
He must've already been knee-deep in nonsense by the time the pandemic hit. Fell in with the wrong crowd?
I think people are motivated to believe he’s a genius.
And many are motivated to believe he's not to maintain their parsimonious world view. I've seen it first hand, have you? (I'm not denying he's lied, cheated, and stolen his way up from his humble emerald-mine-heir origins. But he had a real hand in technical things without which Tesla and SpaceX would not be where they are.
Now though, he's just a liability.)
Many believe Elon is one of the best video game players in the world. It turns out he’s been hiring someone to play the game for him and get his character to the top. When observed playing the game he is a pretty average video game player.
Elons genius is always hidden. Very little evidence he possesses superior engineering ability than an average engineering grad.
Look into the hyper loop and replacing planes with rockets for some clear examples of his terrible engineering ideas. More component engineers had to talk him down.
If Elon is a genius at anything it’s taking credit for other people’s work and getting most people to believe he’s is the mastermind.
Hindsight is 20/20, Siba.
See, that's an unserious response, and Sam explained in his essay why. We saw what was happening in other countries by the time the bet was made.
And again, to bolster his position, Musk cited statistics about how many Americans had died from COVID-19 up to that time. This is a nonsensical point to make for obvious reasons: we cannot expect casualties, or a casualty rate, from a communicable disease to remain anything close to constant in the early days of an outbreak. This is a simple applied math problem.
We had the information we needed by March of 2020 to know this was going to be a big deal, and that we'd hit -- easily hit -- 35k cases. However, some people weren't paying that much attention. Maybe Musk just wasn't paying much attention. I think it's more likely he was paying attention, but that his attention was just on sources that were (to say the least) disreputable.
There are quite a few people in this thread who argue Musk is just stupid. He certainly behaves like a stupid person on twitter, so there's something to this: "stupid is as stupid does". But we also know that he's almost certainly a quite intelligent person. He has looked at situations and noticed potential solutions that others haven't. He has correctly evaluated the skill and dedication of engineers and managers that he subsequently employed. He has managed to convince other intelligent people (importantly, investors) to help him with his work.
In my view, just calling Musk stupid, or downplaying his achievements to the point where his contribution was nothing but luck, is a cowardly way to evaluate the situation.
What we have here is an intelligent and very successful person... who acts like a stupid person. He has been co-opted by bad ideas. And these bad ideas lead him to bad behaviors.
Like many people, I’m sure he has areas of high intelligence. But he is not the genius many thought he was. That is plain to see.
I did actually lol that’s when I sold my Tesla stock. I was thinking this guy is unstable and unserious. Jokes on me I guess. We live in an era where unstable and unserious people rise to the top.
Can you say "Kakistocracy" (government by the worst)?
Well said Sam. Musk has become a threat to democracy and I heard he will have an office in the White House. I truly believe we are an oligarchy, and have been for many years. Musk managed to bring Bezos and Zuckerberg into the oligarchy orbit to seal the deal, so to speak.
Regarding the LA fires, I look forward to your assessment of the state and local government role in this tragedy. Before, during, and hopefully soon , after the fires are tamed.
Be well.
Sam Harris’s home was not burnt down.
I thought he wrote that on his last posting? He evacuated, are you saying they were lucky enough to have not lost their house? I’d be very happy if you could confirm that. Thank you.
Having been evacuated for three long weeks from a fire in '20, it is very hard to know what's going on inside the evacuated area. Early responders are not prioritizing making public social media posts. Satellite heat maps can't distinguish between fire and hot smoke columns. I thought my house was gone for sure, until photos and videos from the neighborhood started to leak out over a week later. Wildfire is very chaotic and whole neighborhoods burnt with a few random survivors (or the inverse) is the norm, not the exception.
“Based on several reports received in the middle of the night, I became nearly certain that we had lost our home. Later evidence has convinced me that it was spared”
- from His post previous to this most recent. Nothing I have seen since has said otherwise.
My two cents: He and his family might still have effectively lost their house. I think the wrote that most of the neighbourhood was burned down, including stores, his daughters' school, etc etc. So even if his house is still standing, it might be impossible to have a normal life in the neighbourhood for months or years to come
Point well taken. I have a son and DIL who’s pregnant with their first child in SW LA County. So far they’ve been spared except for the awful air quality. So, wife and I have been watching things more closely than the average person outside of CA. We are on the East Coast.
Yes, I somehow missed that paragraph:
“Based on several reports received in the middle of the night, I became nearly certain that we had lost our home. Later evidence has convinced me that it was spared—while two doors away houses were destroyed. “
Thank you. I’m happy to learn that. I’ll correct my post.
As someone who has watched, respected and followed Elon at length for nearly 10 years, this story makes perfect sense. Elon has absolutely lost it. The man who I felt could help turn the tide of western civilizations decline, keep free speech a priority, help push us into a new yet cautious future when it came to AI and robots and who might even be able to put enough backing behind a moderate(dare I say centrist) presidential candidate for then to win, has disappeared. He has grown increasingly disconnected from reality and honestly has become so incredibly childish over the past 3 years that I have blocked him on every social media simple because I can’t stand seeing the BS anymore. It’s sad, he could have accomplished so much in bettering the west, he threw it all away to join the conspiracy cabal.
I'm in the exact same place. He was a huge idol of mine since 2013 but he is nearly unrecognizable to me today.
I feel you and thank you for your share here.
Elon has been purposely deceiving people for decades.
One time when he was dating Amber hurst, and I think Jennifer Laurence or someone else from Hollywood was there that they were trying to impress, some beautiful actress, Errol Musk came in and the topic of Donald Trump came up. Errol Musk began praising Donald Trump and said ‘you know, he’s one of us’ to Elon and his brother in front of the Hollywood actresses. The women were shocked and basically went into the usual reaction to any mention of Trump, which is that he’s a disgusting buffoon.
Later, when they were no longer in the presence of the American actresses, Elon and his brother got really mad at their dad for praising Donald Trump in front of the girls that they were trying to impress. And that is when Errol explained to his sons that Trump‘s family was on the same team as their family. and what was the game that that team was playing? Social Darwinist autocratic New World Order.
That is when Elon realized that he could not reveal to his Silicon Valley or most American acquaintances what his and his family’s true politics and ideology stood for. He has absolutely been deceiving us about who he is. We are now seeing who he truly is. He totally made up a lie about how he was estranged from his father because he didn’t want people making the political connections about this New World order agenda.
Source or you made that shit up. Who would even be reporting that? Maybe you've been on social media too long and think disembodied cameras just follow the action around?
Disrupters Podcast: Interview with Errol Musk Episode:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruptors/id1076679649?i=1000669637099
I’ll totally post the interview. I’ll be right on it. It’s I listen to an hour and a half interview with Errol musk saying these words out of his mouth what do you think it was an AI fake or something?
I take it Elon did not pay up on the $1 million as promised? If so, that speaks volumes to me.
Were you looking for honor? ha!
LOL! Has Elon been learning obligation management techniques from the Felon in Chief?... or is it vice versa? ... chicken or egg, but now it's a vicious circle.
100% Sam. The world as we know is appears to have devolved into one devoid of any sense of decency. Its the Jerry Springer show writ large, and nobody seems to realize how uncool Elon, Trump and the entire cadre of right wing bozos in Washington are. Dogs still seem to be able to sniff each others asses, but humans, at least in this country, no longer care about or are able to discern the fact that the person they are listening to is a total douche.
I read someplace that "intelligence without wisdom is dangerous". Maybe Robert Sapolsky. Anyway, to our great peril, we tend to conflate intellgence and wisdom, intelligence and virtue. Give me average minds with ethics and humanity over these brilliant libertarian tech child-men. Please.
to our great peril, we tend to conflate intelligence and wisdom, intelligence and virtue with wealth and more of all to those with more wealth.
A post like this takes immense courage and integrity and is the kind of thing that makes me proud to pay to subscribe to Making Sense. The fact so many others won't speak out, even rich powerful people, goes to show it's not local councillors in Rotherham, England who are afraid of speaking up.
Musk is the perfect argument for why obscene personal wealth is so incredibly dangerous
What I find most unusual about his behavior of late, is that despite being extremely intelligent, he appears to be taking tweets on X posted by random people and agreeing with their apparently unsourced fact-based statements, or their opinions posing as facts, simply because of confirmation bias. While I certainly have my own opinions, there is NO source on the Internet that I do not question, and source for myself. Even from Sam. :)
It’s called fantasy addiction, and it is fueled by the gaslighting of cognitive dissonance
What's strange to me is how some people struggle seeing both sides of Elon.
He simultaneously is the greatest industrial entrepreneur of our era almost singlehandedly helping the U.S. make progress on building innovative new industrial products:(https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/why-americas-future-could-hinge-on)
I love this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDZ9REOh2xA&t=23s), which I think really gets at the heart of what makes him great. What he talks about may seem simple and obvious but having the combination of intelligence, experience, confidence, and work ethic to make it work is incredibly rare in a CEO.
At the same time, he is also clearly a borderline autistic, uninformed, overconfident, braggadocio, whose political opinions and beliefs about social change shouldn't be given the least bit of deference.
It amazes me that some people struggle with accepting the fact that both of these things can be true.
That’s a good point, however it doesn’t surprise me. We like simple things - something is good or bad. Seeing every side of something makes it complex and confuses the simple value judgement. It requires much more effort.
The problem is systemic. Elon Musk is just the greatest example of it at the moment: the problem is an erosion of authority and the narcissism that steps in to take its place. By that I mean, there is nothing that keeps Elon Musk in his lane of the highway, namely building great things. He is allowed to swerve all over the place and even find himself speeding along in a lane that requires great empathy and understanding of human beings on a micro and macro scale. He does not possess these skills and he will never be able to develop them to the extent required. But the state of our democracy at the moment allows this kind of reckless driving not only to occur, but it gets applauded.
Please see my comments about how he is ‘a plant’ that is being set up by a whole team within the shadow government
I did see them and was intrigued. Maybe you can say a bit more about who/what is doing the setting up? I’m not sure I understand fully what you mean.
I will forever find Sam's defense of Trump's "both sides" statement perplexing. Trump wasn't saying "I think the white supremacists were good people"- this is true. But he WAS saying that there were many good people who attended the unite the right rally. In other words, while white supremacists and neo nazis were at the rally, many of the other people there were good people. This is hard to reconcile with the facts on the ground at the march. Once the rally started engaging in things like chanting "jews will not replace us" and the other despicable things that the rally engaged in, good people would have left. Trump was well aware of this during the press conference- he had been discussing it prior to saying to there were good people on both sides.
Why is it so atrocious to say that Trump's statement about "good people" was inclusive of people who participated in a pretty disgusting march?
ETA: To be clear, I'm saying that it's awfully hard to claim that someone isn't a neo nazi or white supremacist when they march in a literal white supremacist/neo-nazi rally. Sure, they might not have filled out the registration card to join the groups, but their actions speak pretty loudly. And not leaving the rally once it became clear what was happening speaks very loudly to someone's character. Calling someone a good or fine person after attending such a thing is a pretty despicable statement, and one that I don't have any problem criticizing Trump for making.
I listened to the press conference, and agree with Sam's take. In addition, when looked at through a compassionate lens, I imagine some of the "good people" Trump was referring to just liked that the statue had been there for their lifetimes and they got used to it and saw no reason to remove their familiar nostalgic landmark. I doubt they even thought of its meaning. And in that way, they should perhaps be seen as ignorant, but not as evil or bad.
I don't take issue with folks defending the statue. As I said above, I take issue with the people who heard a group of men carrying tiki torches chanting things like "Jews will not replace us!" and decided not to leave. THAT'S who Trump was saying were fine people.
If I showed up to a pro-choice rally and started hearing leftist chanting "From the River to Sea" I would leave, even though I am unabashedly pro-choice. The people who wouldn't are either supporting the statement or so unfeeling about how awful it is to be fine with it and being associated with it. Neither of those choices make someone a "good" or "fine" person.
Hanging around with white supremacists and neo nazis WHILE they're having a neo-nazi white supremacist rally makes you a bad person. Calling out Trump for saying the opposite is completely fair game.
It's possible to dislike the people on your own side. I've never left an anti-Trump march because of the bell-ends on my side. Would you?
If I realized I was surrounded by literal white supremacists and neo-nazis then yes, absolutely I would leave. Why on earth would you march in lock stop with those men? If you think that’s okay then you waive the right to be outraged when people say you were marching with nazis and white supremacists- it’s what you’re literally doing. When they start chanting horrific things and you continue to march with them then it signals, at a minimum, that you acquiesce to and don’t object to those statements.
This isn’t hard people.
This is 100% true. If you read the transcript, Trump makes it clear that people who support traitors like Robert E Lee are "very good people." From my view, Confederate-supporting who love Robert E Lee are not in fact "very fine people."
He was clearly trying to draw an imaginary line between the boogieman Bad Racists and his supporters. As so often happens with him everybody spun it wrong, EXCEPT his supporters. They heard it loud and clear that he knows they're just reasonable people with reasonable concerns about the purity of their society or whateverthefuck. The left spectacularly diluted their message of rightfully shaming the racist outburst of that event by getting the details wrong and giving them an out.
💯 Sam has a blind spot on this one. Agree with & appreciate him on so much of what he thinks & writes about but this and his position on gun safety/control (as well as some inaccurate & misleading takes on Kamala Harris he's shared) truly perplex me.
I can't often fault Sam's reasoning, but I think he sometimes weighs the importance of things badly. It's gotten noticeably better since he left Xitter, but he still gets hung up on the principle of certain issues in ways that make the outcome (real effects on real people now) worse.
Unfortunately, now-a-days, we simply cannot imagine the potential that we have been influenced by either an AI generated fake video or by algorithms. I find on frequent occasion somebody who just seem spot on might have a very different take than me on one specific incident. I’m starting to chalk it up to AI fakes.
You're starting to get delusional is what you're doing. Stop looking so hard for a conspiracy when the answer is simple yet unsatisfying.
I think it’s motivated reasoning. He made it explicit in this post: “Not only have I never advocated lying to defeat Trump, I’ve taken great pains to defend Trump from the most damaging lie ever told about him.”
He uses that example to earn credibility with trump supporters. If he’s willing to point out when the left lies about Trump, his critique of Trump appears less likely to be based on lies. At this point he’s too invested in using that talking point to that end to look into the issue any further
That would be a great theory if you knew nothing of Sam Harris or Trump fans.
I am sorry to read of this experience with Elon. You have lost a friend. But I applaud your explanation and appreciate both the need and the clarity of your position. Like you, I admire Elon's entrepreneurial spirit but I am deeply disappointed in the direction Elon has gone. He isn't the first ultra wealthy person who has gone off the rails.
Personally, I believe “the greatest entrepreneur of our generation” would only be such if they didnt exploit the people who put in the real work, and if such a person was an entrepreneur working holistically in the current climate of social and world environment needs and equity. History shows there is no obstacle to a person (generally a man) to being a financially successful entrepreneur when they ignore the health of the people and world around them.
Agreed. That bugged me as well. I believe “most successful” entrepreneur would have been more apt.
'Greatness' as a concept generally entails substantial collateral damage. Alexander was 'Great' for conquering the world, but whether that was in any sense 'good' for anyone is a separate question.
Mostly importantly it should have been in the past tense. He is only a liability to Tesla and SpaceX at this point. No matter how much his wealth grows, it's hard to imagine him starting another successful venture. I said successful so bankrolling failed states doesn't count. He's vigorously making all heat and no light until he's gone. [Edit: I mistyped "all heart", definitely not that!]
I agree, I am so sick of people using that line about him. He’s a plant he represents the efforts of a whole team of operators whole team of the shadow government.
I think the fact that Elon feels the need to lie and pretend he is one of the best gamers in the world says enough about his ego. Its as fragile as it comes. This is probably out of sight for most people, but he recently streamed on X playing the highly anticipated Path Of Exile 2 game. He was on one of the highest level accounts atm, while pretending it was his to look like a chad to the gaming community, which he so much identifies with… Its just such a lowpoint for the worlds richest man.
I was going to point this out as well. And the Razzing from the gaming community streamers probably hurts his ego more than most people could understand. It truly says a lot about where he is now , and perhaps how he has been for a long time.
I know Trump, musk, teal, Putin. They are all just weak flailing around with their patriarchal phallic weapon systems. The 99% of us who are not narcissistic psychopaths need to put a stop to this we must cohere!