• ceenote@lemmy.world
    5·
    2 months ago

    Nobody has done more to disprove the “Rich people are smarter than everyone else” idea.

    • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
      2·
      2 months ago

      I genuinely think he’s had some sort of cognitive decline.

      He went from being merely wealthy to the richest man in the world, and nearly everyone thinking he’s a genius, to being hated by nearly everyone and losing money fast.

    • GeeDubHayduke@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      Literally had someone saying that earlier today. Something along the lines of “you don’t become the richest person in the world without some competency.” Just ignore the fact he started on third base…

      • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
        1·
        2 months ago

        I don’t know exactly how much his parents were worth, but his net worth has increased by many thousands of times. That’s not “third base”, saying he got where he is by luck and nepotism is just wilfully ignorant.

        Trump, on the other hand, would have done better if he just left his money in a savings account.

        • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
          1·
          2 months ago

          I dunno, man, we could probably get into an entire dissertation about this, but I’m not totally convinced that most of these fabulously wealthy people didn’t just fail upwards by throwing the spaghetti plate at the wall; the only difference between them and us is that, often, they start with a lot more spaghetti to throw

          • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
            0·
            2 months ago

            Pretty much all of the three digit billions crowd are in tech of some description. There’s definitely an element of being in the right place at the right time, but there’s also a lot of business skills as well.

            A lot of their success seems to be recognising an opportunity before anyone else, whether that’s luck or skill is difficult to know.

            • skisnow@lemmy.caEnglish
              1·
              2 months ago

              A lot of their success seems to be recognising an opportunity before anyone else

              Pretty much everyone in the world has at some point in their lives had some idea or spotted some gap in the market that could be a successful product, but 99% of us don’t get to act on that because the rent is due and will be due again next month.

              • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca
                1·
                2 months ago

                I largely agree with what you’re saying, but he’s been in the right place at the right time 3 times, and made good on the potential. Maybe he was just really lucky, maybe he had dozens of things going and those 3 are the ones that panned out, maybe he was a genius that destroyed his talents with hubris and drugs. Certainly, having the financial security to take those chances was a big factor in his success, as much as apparently believing that success was all due to his inborn talent was a big factor on his continuing fall from grace.

      • jacksilver@lemmy.world
        1·
        2 months ago

        I mean, yeah he had a lot of advantage, but he did have to do something right to become the richest man. But making some good gambles doesn’t make you a good person nor does it mean you’re great at everything.

        Maybe he was good at finding companies at the right time to invest, but that means jack about any economic or political acumen. Same reason why we don’t want businessmen in politics, being good at one thing does not mean you’re good at everything.

    • 9point6@lemmy.world
      1·
      2 months ago

      Remember a decade ago when he was being lauded as our time’s Einstein?

      … Hahahahahahaha

      • QueenHawlSera@sh.itjust.works
        1·
        2 months ago

        And I am proud to have called bullshit on it from day one.

        Whoever leads us to the promised land isn’t going to have a for profit LLC

        • skisnow@lemmy.caEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          Well done. I’m like most people in that I didn’t spot it until he started talking about a subject I knew about. The first Tesla Roadster looked amazing1, and then the hyperloop sounded like a cool idea2, and then oh wait what’s he saying about software development now?

          1 because its body was made by Lotus

          2 except it doesn’t work

          • QueenHawlSera@sh.itjust.works
            1·
            2 months ago

            It wasn’t anything specific, it’s just… the idea of this guy being the real life Tony Stark didn’t pass the smell test. Not because he didn’t seem bright, but because I couldn’t believe ANYONE lived up to the hype that Elon had.

            That and… well… the idea of the Private Corporation coming to save the day and guide us into a Utopia sounded way too much like a Libertarian Fantasy.

          • Blackmist@feddit.ukEnglish
            1·
            2 months ago

            Yeah, he’s like LLMs in that regard. Sounds plausible until it’s a subject you don’t have much knowledge of, then suddenly turns into a dribbling twat when it’s one you do understand.

            Then you realise he was an idiot all along.

      • alekwithak@lemmy.world
        1·
        2 months ago

        Yeah by his own PR team, mostly, but it was a pretty easy fascade to see through when you actually listened to the man speak. Still don’t forgive Dan Harmon for letting him shit on R&M with the eLoN tUsK bullshit. Or Star Trek Discovery for that matter, which happened much later after he had already shown his true face to the world. I know Harmon got paid because he’s talked about it, but I would really like to know how much he spent on getting a passing reference in the least popular ST show of all time.

        • QueenHawlSera@sh.itjust.works
          2·
          2 months ago

          A friend of mine has head canoned that the guy from Star Trek was joking about being from Elon Musk University and that it’s the old “Adolf Hitler School for Friendship and Tolerance” gag but in space.

          I’m just gonna go with that because fuck it’s the equivalent of listing Deepak Chopra as one of the greatest philosophers of the 21st century in your hard sci-fi setting.

        • SatyrSack@lemmy.sdf.org
          1·
          2 months ago

          I would really like to know how much he spent on getting a passing reference in the least popular ST show of all time.

          From what I have heard, that part of the line was not even scripted. The actor ad libbed it in hopes that it might lead to him being gifted a free Tesla vehicle.

          EDIT: There was also the completely unrelated reference in a later episode, in which a character mentioned having gone to Musk Junior High School. That may have been a paid reference.

            • QueenHawlSera@sh.itjust.works
              2·
              2 months ago

              My head canon is that in universe Musk Jr. High isn’t a real school and it’s just an edgy joke… the space version of saying you went to the “Adolf Hitler School for Tolerance and Friendship”

              You say it for a laugh when you’re 14 or acting like it on Space 4Chan

        • dohpaz42@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          There was also an episode of Young Sheldon where Sheldon had sent equations for reusable rockets to NASA, and at the end of the episode it showed Elon buying the equations from NASA.

          • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
            2·
            2 months ago

            He was also in South Park, and Rick & Morty. He had a great PR team considering what they were working with behind the scenes. They dressed him up real nice.

            Then he fired them, because he didn’t like having to wear anything in public. Metaphorically-speaking.

    • Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world
      1·
      2 months ago

      Its a human blind spot. A lot of people confuse wealth for intelligence. In lower socio-economic levels, succeeding involves a lot of intelligence. Its a fucking struggle. Lots of fish trying to eat each other and take what little resources we have. One fuck up and it’s all over. So anyone that is succeeding is also someone that with enough intelligence to foresee pitfalls and avoid them or escape with their wealth.

      Those values are used to evaluate the people at the top which are swimming in a whole different pond. The neopotism and safety nets built into the upper crust of society is not part of the calculation that a lot of people use to factor into how they see these people. They still apply the same dog eat dog mentality to the upper crust of society.

      • Pup Biru@aussie.zoneEnglish
        1·
        2 months ago

        honestly wealth at any level requires luck… intelligence barely factors into it. it’s less that 1 fuck up and it’s all over, and more that 1 fuck up without someone to cover it up or bail you out and it’s all over… the wealthier you are, the bigger the fuck up before you or someone else can bail you out:

        poor? it’s an unexpected car issue

        rich? it’s that you fucked over literally an entire country for years on end in a very public way that gained you very little

      • Glide@lemmy.ca
        1·
        2 months ago

        A lot of people confuse wealth for intelligence.

        Smart people who make good products that people want will have the invisible hand distribute them wealth. Dumb people who make bad products that no one wants will go backrupt. This is the core philosophy behind why capitalism “works.” It is a system that conflates wealth with virtue, by design.

        You’re right to point out that it is incorrect logic, but no one is confusing anything. The entirety of our Western world is build around this idea and reinforces it to its people at every single opportunity. They’re making the judgements that they have been told are correct. Can we really say people are confused when they’re confidently acting exactly as they’ve been taught from birth?

    • LaLuzDelSol@lemmy.world
      11·
      2 months ago

      Look I don’t like Musk either but even starting off wealthy becoming the richest man in the world takes some doing. He was way ahead of the curve on reusable rockets and EVs and succeed there where a bunch of people failed. I think where he fails is when it comes to protecting his image and maintaining relationships. He’s a thin-skinned narcissist who thinks he’s humanity’s savoir and eventually that got to him.

      • skisnow@lemmy.caEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        I guess Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning were just hapless chaps stumbling around in the dark, until Elon lighted their way with his genius vision of how to build an EV. /s

        So much so I had to google their names because even I can’t remember them.

  • krashmo@lemmy.world
    1·
    2 months ago

    He collected data on all Americans from multiple government agencies, successfully killed multiple investigations into several of his companies, and secured additional government contracts for those companies. Is that what we’re calling nothing these days?

    • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
      0·
      2 months ago

      And Trump is now threatening to cancel those government contracts. So he’s blown everything he’s gained (and then some) from his little fling with Trump.

      • pi3r8@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 months ago

        That’s what trump does. He threatens. Then in the majority of times he gets distracted or backs down. Those contracts aren’t cancelled until they are cancelled.

  • nomad@infosec.pub
    0·
    2 months ago

    Somehow nobody has mentioned the drugs? And obvious signs of mental illness? Obviously high functioning, but that does not make the decisions less nuts.

    Has anybody seen the Johnny Harris video on musk? It was all fun and games until the drugs came out to play.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 months ago

        I’m convinced that Thiel is spared this fate solely by his homosexuality and shame in it. He understands the value of keeping some things close to the chest and the risks of being the face of anything. He just came to it in a sad and fucked up way.

        Comparatively, Musk thinks himself a glorious hero who should be the face of everything.

        Thiel rarely puts himself in any spotlight unless he’s either curated it, or drugged up, freaked out, and kinda losing it.

    • psmgx@lemmy.world
      1·
      2 months ago

      that may have been entirely or mostly intentional, because it’s now 100% a right-wing propaganda machine and it got Trump elected

  • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Centrist democrats are already warming to him. Then again, they have been waiting for this moment ever since he performed his nazi salute.

    • spacecadet@lemm.ee
      0·
      2 months ago

      Makes sense considering Cory Booker did the same Nazi salute and he is a centrist democrat

      • Reddfugee42@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        Got a video of that, buddy, where he hits his chest and then goes to a straight arm with no wave, twice?

        • spacecadet@lemm.ee
          0·
          2 months ago

          https://x.com/greenbergnation/status/1928917909088211440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1928917909088211440%7Ctwgr%5E90d752f4e65d34dca49e7a491ddada96bb105838%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnypost.com%2F2025%2F06%2F01%2Fus-news%2Fnew-jerey-sen-cory-booker-roasted-for-nazi-salute-at-california-democratic-convention%2F

          • Reddfugee42@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            2 months ago

            🤣 you could just say you didn’t have the video of him striking his chest and doing it perfectly straight arm twice in a row.

            Thanks for this, I needed a laugh

        • Reddfugee42@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          2 months ago

          You’re misreading the article if you think it shows Democrats are “warming” to Elon Musk. No one quoted in the piece says they like him, trust him, or think he’s a decent person. In fact, what it shows is the exact opposite: many Democrats are still deeply skeptical of him and consider his behavior and politics dangerous. What’s happening here isn’t about admiration or trust—it’s about strategy and necessity. They’re engaging with him not because they want to, but because they feel they have to, given his immense influence over major technologies like EVs, space infrastructure, and social media.

          Take Rep. Robert Garcia, for example. He doesn’t praise Musk or suggest he’s come around to liking him. He says, “Musk has clearly gone down a right-wing rabbit hole,” and openly criticizes his platforming of extremists. The article quotes him as seeing Musk as someone who “lets people say hateful, violent, racist things.” That doesn’t sound like someone warming to him—that’s someone holding their nose while trying to work with him for practical reasons.

          The same goes for the White House. Yes, they’ve met with Musk and engaged him in policy discussions, but that’s because he controls major assets that intersect with government priorities: EV manufacturing, satellite internet, space tech. Musk is essentially a utility at this point—a problematic one, but one that’s too entangled with federal initiatives to ignore. It’s not about warming up to him. It’s about needing him to cooperate because of the role he’s carved out for himself, not because anyone thinks he’s a good actor.

          This is politics, not personal affection. Democrats engaging with Musk doesn’t mean they like him—it means they’re being realistic. They’re dealing with a man they see as dangerous and ideologically aligned with Trump, but who unfortunately holds keys to several important doors. The article reflects that tension. If anything, it paints a picture of wariness and pragmatism, not warmth.

          Whippersnapper.

  • Dr. Wesker@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    01·
    2 months ago

    Just say “retard” if you’re gonna say it. Lazily censoring it seems worse, because implications.

    • QueenHawlSera@sh.itjust.works
      01·
      2 months ago

      Right? I’m tired of the euphemism treadmill telling me what I can and can’t say. Especially if we are coming up with childish phrases like “unalived”

      I used to call myself a <transgender slur> until woke cispeople got on my case about it.

      Ahh… I guess it’s better than the old internet where the N-Word was your fast pass to being seen as funny and cool?