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by hxegon 2661 days ago
https://www.quora.com/Does-Elon-Musk-do-some-very-technical-...

I'm too lazy to track down more right now. I don't know of anyone claiming (with evidence) that he doesn't.

In his biography there's interviews with people inside and out of spacex/tesla talking about it that are pretty convincing.

1 comments

That thread has a quote from an interview, and then a bunch of random people saying he does.

I already know the mythology surrounding his engineering credentials. But I think perpetuating it does a real disservice to the real engineers doing work on these products. Do people really think that a bright, "well read" physics undergraduate can lead the practical engineering work on rockets and cars? I find it hard to believe.

My guess is this guy probably has more claim to "actually makes rockets" than Elon does: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/25/tom-mueller-spacex-cto-who-m...

I'm sure Elon sticks himself into tons of meetings, and hence has a lot of knowledge about what's discussed. And I don't doubt that he sets the goals for the engineers to meet, makes aesthetic and design decisions like some of the interviews suggest. But I think the guys Mueller manages are the people who actually make Falcons fly.

Do people really think that a bright, "well read" physics undergraduate can lead the practical engineering work on rockets and cars?

Most people do not. Don't blame Musk for missing that memo. :P

(By the way: the book Mindset by Carol Dweck might be an eye-opener...)