[mrtron]

Why don't you like the guy? I am always surprised that people could have a net negative opinion on someone who is trying hard to push technology forward in multiple directions.

I agree this move is brilliant, and could be a huge competitive advantage when self-driving bad press liability kicks in.

[ckastner]

> Why don't you like the guy?

Maybe I've just become weary of him, but it feels like his personality has devolved into something so narcissistic that his primary motive is no longer the technological advancement itself, but to be worshiped as a Messiah on Twitter for it.

Case in point: at a time at which he claimed he had so much work at Tesla that he slept in his office at the factory, he suddenly needed to be at the front of the Thai cave rescue, he needed to pick a pointless fight with one of the rescue divers, he needed to fix the water in Flint, Michigan, etc., and all of this naturally on Twitter.

>I am always surprised that people could have a net negative opinion on someone who is trying hard to push technology forward in multiple directions

What he has done with SpaceX is just... incredible. There are no other words for it.

However, to me, it seems as if he's taken his success at SpaceX as a life lesson to mean "If I attempt something very hard, and if everybody is telling me I'm doing it wrong, I'm actually doing it right". I think he actually considers himself infallible now. At least, we know how he reacts to criticism, especially from within his own ranks.

In effect, it's not moving technology forward. It's subjecting technological progress to a single person's whim, and results in the technological mess that we have seen at the Fremont plant, for a technological problem that others have already solved a long time ago.

Case in point: how long do you think it would take VW to build a plant that can build 10.000 cars a week?

[peeters]

I'm overall a fan of Tesla and SpaceX, but there are a number of valid criticisms you could make against Musk:

Occasionally childish relationship with his investors. Unfoundedly calling a diver a pedophile after he attacked Musk's rescue submarine as a dumb idea. He thinks he's an expert in any field he touches. Has an overall tendency on social media to promote Trump-style tribalism--you're either on team Elon or you're an idiot. There is no such thing as valid criticism of anything he does.

Some of these things also make him great. He assumes that everyone who looked at a problem before him was just too incompetent, corrupt, or complacent to solve it right, which can be a useful trait because it's often true. But when it's false it just makes him look like an asshole.

To be honest a lot of the hate just seems to come from how he responds to haters, so it's a bit of a vicious circle. If he just took a break from Twitter it'd probably benefit his image considerably.

[bvc35]

I'm not qualified to make a diagnosis of any kind, but this at first glance suggests that he's a narcissist.