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by coldtea 1794 days ago
>Whatever one may think of the persona, Musk’s companies supply products and services for which a line can be directly drawn to improved quality of life for global consumers.

Do they? I see them more as "more of the same crap, but with a techy gloss", for people who don't really need any of it, and whose marginal life improvement bu buying them will be close to zero.
1 comments
inopinatus 1794 days ago
Not sure how low-cost orbital rocketry, power-grid stabilisation on a nation scale, and tunnel engineering, can be so wilfully dismissed as “same crap with gloss”, even if you don’t like the cars. In particular it seems to skip right past the work of the very many talented and brilliant people involved in those projects, in a hurry to be maximally glib.
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coldtea 1793 days ago
Well,

(a) Does that impact you or anybody you know outside of a tiny amount with no difference in your life?

(b) What power-grid stabilization?

(c) What tunnel engineering? Where's the tunnel that makes any difference to people's lives (and a difference offseting the costs at that)? Or you mean the one in Las Vegas, a less than glorious 2 miles or so taking tourists around?

>In particular it seems to skip right past the work of the very many talented and brilliant people involved in those projects, in a hurry to be maximally glib.

The problem in the 21st century (as opposed to the 20th century technologists) is that "very many talented and brilliant people" work in crap, from selling ads, to the latest consumer BS.

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inopinatus 1793 days ago
Yes, these things make an enormous difference to lives on a grand scale and advance overall human capability both for the capabilities they provide directly and the research they enable. Orbital platforms are essential for modern standards of safety, logistics, utilities, communications, even healthcare. Tunnels are essential for mass transit. The civilisational value of infrastructure is incalculable, because it’s not linear, it’s a step change.

Complaining about ads seems wildly off topic.

As for “what power grid”, that’s just another display of wilful ignorance.

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TheSmiddy 1793 days ago
regarding b: https://reneweconomy.com.au/balancing-act-tesla-battery-syst...
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