Fuck that... just imagine the practical jokes you could pull. Buddy passes out at a party? No more just drawing dicks on his forehead with a Sharpie... put him in his car and send him to Tijuana.
Well, first jail time as a result of the Meuller investigation: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ied-to-mueller-about-russian-spy-gets-30-days
I think he’s doing a good thing for the the world. He’s furthering our progress technologically. He openly encourages competition against his own company. He didn’t name his company after himself. Although calling your electric vehicle a “Musk” might not go over well. He’s not, that we know of, a complete douchebag to people. Maybe behind the scenes, he could be a shit, but we don’t know. As far as his public persona, I think he’s doing a good job.
I was thinking that this might be the key thing about him... he's not doing things with "shareholder value" as his goal... he's trying to better humankind. Maybe some people/investors are pissed about that for some reason, as it goes against their priorities.
It's interesting talking to people who worked or used to work at Tesla. My fiancee's best friend's husband (I think I have that right) used to work at Tesla and one of his good friends still works there. After they finished describing the work environment to me, I think a made an observation that it sounded like the most amazing and inspiring place to work and simultaneously the most horrifying. When I said that, they just basically nodded their heads and simply said "Yep".
I was driving around with my mom's boyfriend, a retired truck driver, the other day. I was telling him how eventually all freight trucks will be self-driving, and it will most likely happen in his lifetime, to which he replied, "Well that's scary." And I shit you not, in the same breath he started talking about how Swift and J.B. Hunt are known for hiring awful drivers. I've had the same conversation with numerous people from that age group (late 60's and up) and they seem to either not understand the technology or completely miss the point. I'm just looking forward to getting in my self driving F-150 after the bar closes and saying "Go Home". I'm sure they'll have legislation that will make that illegal, since the cops won't have enough to do.
It’s not just that. Things as simple as merging improperly into freeway traffic, unnecessary braking because you’re looking at your phone/radio or poorly designed interchanges. Computers are able to determine the most efficient way for all the vehicles in that spot to get to where they need to be whereas unless we learn to communicate telepathically there’s no way people can properly execute many of the thousands of small maneuvers needed while driving. The technology isn’t there yet but it really isn’t that far off. It’ll take longer than it should just because there is always pushback with change on this scale, plus there is a huge initial investment to upgrade the infrastructure. But I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say once fully realized that type of technology would save thousands of lives.
The part that really fucks it up is when companies like Uber do stupid shit... like this last accident they had, where they intentionally disabled the Volvo safety systems that would have prevented the crash... and didn't have a proper human overseer in the car. By fucking around and cutting corners they're screwing it up for everyone... not just legally, but in the court of public opinion.
Because horses know where they live, farmers used to do exactly that. They'd get drunk, pass out in the back on some comfy hay, and the horse would just walk home and pull their drunk ass with them. Everything old is new again.
I wonder who might be funding all the negative press about Musk? Could it be the major car companies that don't have a serious competitor to Tesla despite 6 years to develop one? Ugh...this is the key example of shit media quality for me. The dude made a better mousetrap. And all he gets for it is bullshit and comparisons to DeLorean.
He’s also challenging the way they are sold. In some states, it’s actually illegal to sell a car direct to the consumer...it has to go through a dealership. The typical electric vehicle is shit, and here he comes with a high end, high performing electric, and has electric trucks in the pipeline as well. But, most importantly, Tesla is a software company. Their cars are nothing more than pretty shells for their software, and that is where the big car companies are WAY behind. Some are dabbling in “auto-pilot” like features, but nowhere near the level of Tesla. Waymo is a close second, but they only have the software. How much and how long to design a car for it and retool a production line for it? Tesla may be slow to ramp up production, but they’re already there. And that’s why a Google or an Apple would buy Tesla in a heartbeat.
Wow. Based on China's last reaction to the tariff's, I can only imagine how they will respond. You very well may have been better off lobbing a nuke their way instead... might have done less damage in the long run.
Well, I gotta say, I love Tesla too.....and SpaceX. I think he is a great dude and definitely a positive influence on society but bad press for him isn't new. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/28/ana...ke-it-to-mars-before-tesla-is-profitable.html http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/23/news/companies/tesla-tax-credit/index.html http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html Let's face it, despite a huge fan base, a great product and Government at all levels making it rain OPM, he still isn't making money. At some point, he has to turn a profit, that is all investors care about. I will say this, he at least seems to have principles, giving the technology out is the right thing to do, the Government help pay for it after all.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...list-takes-aim-at-technologies-beijing-covets NOT THE FUCKING FLAMETHROWERS TOO! Seriously though, I don't see this devolving into full-blown trade wars. I really do believe there is going to be a rebalance of trade that everyone knew needed to occur because things have being deteriorating in the trade realm for decades. If you look at the level of IP transfer U.S. companies were required to undergo to get into the Chinese market and the down-stream impacts of that cannot be overstated. China's goal clearly is to make the U.S. a vassal state, they want to control R&D AND production, not just production as they do currently. Someone somewhere needed to stand up to China and make a change, short term pain be damned. Don't forget - China cannot sustain itself either, they rely on outside sources for practically everything from energy, raw material and food; they are creating the modern version of the silk road to that end. With that said, there is no reason for us to continue to help them hasten our demise.
It's funny when people compare him to DeLorean, when DeLorean's first mistake was trying to get his factory to double production early in the game, which set off the chain of events that destroyed his company. He had a hard-on to go public and got greedy. Musk is doing quite the opposite of that. It's apparent that greed isn't what motivates him, and I think he truly believes in what he's trying to accomplish.
Look how long it took Amazon to get profitable. Or the huge numbers of Silicon Valley companies that aren’t yet, like Uber. And his cash is going into some pretty serious manufacturing infrastructure, not being pissed away on marketing or buying / subsidizing market share. He’s a long way from being in financial straights.
Plus the fact that, you know, he is developing technologies that benefit both the world currently and generations to come. Someone said above, might have been ODEN I forget, that all investors care about is their ROI. But a lot of them have massive fucking egos, and the money to sling to satisfy it. So being able to say "I'm an investor in something that's changing the world" is kinda a big deal to them.
I have conflicted feelings about Musks, Bezos and the other tech titans. I really admired the world they’re trying to create and the innovations they’re making, but they also remind me of the Robber Barons and Railroad magnates of the early 20th century in that they’ll abuse the hell out of the rest of us to make those innovations. I love the Tesla and think it’s one of the first steps to a green energy future, but you don’t here good things about the working conditions at the plants. Same thing with Amazon. Supposedly the working environment at the distribution centers is pretty harsh. Then take the automated semis. Does Musk care about the millions of people that won’t have jobs in the future because of that technology? I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be pursuing the future, but as usual no ones trying to address the social issues that are inevitably going to come from that future. Where are the “disrupters” for those things. People seem to have forgotten how ugly it got between the working class and the upper class. I would like to not see that repeated in my lifetime.
It's funny... I hear about shit from the drones at Amazon that are filling boxes in warehouses, but I know about 10 guys (from various video game companies I worked at) in Seattle and Vancouver that pretty well enjoy the work they're doing for AWS and software development... some late hours, and a bit strict, but they get paid crazy good money and knew what they were getting into when they signed up. There's some bullshit politics, but overall it's much better than most startups and game companies, at least that's the general consensus. As to SpaceX, I know 2 guys working there, and hear that it's challenging as hell, and they don't suffer fools. If you know what you're doing, and are doing a good job, it's a dream job. If you're not on top of your game, and aren't producing what you should be, then you'll have a target on your back to be replaced. There are NO slackers there, and they are not shy about cleaning out anyone with less than stellar work. I know that's not what you read in the news... but you know my take on modern "journalism".