[WarmWash]

If you listen to Elon speak, and you don't have much technical knowledge, or even maybe have some mild technical knowledge, Elon really sounds like he knows what he is doing and has very high confidence he can execute it. He can very non-nonchalantly rattle off a plan to pull off the impossible like it's no big deal. And he does have some significant achievements under his belt, but quite a bit easier things than what he promises (and promised, often a decade ago) ahead.

I can totally see why retail shareholders are so enthralled with him. Nevermind Tesla largely was a self-fullfilling prophecy, despite the prophecy not even becoming true. But the share price did, and that's all that really matter to retail traders.

[jordanb]

It's funny he's only able to do that because he has so little real technical understanding. A real engineer wouldn't be so flippant.

[tristanj]

> [Elon] has so little real technical understanding

This is a common trope, it's been dismantled many times previously https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33555870

[bigyabai]

Your response is also a common trope. What has Elon actually invented? What code did Elon write on-par with Carmack?

We can judge him by technical merits very easily. But if you hold him to the standards of Carmack or Feynman, Elon's accomplishments are entirely benign.

[tristanj]

The query in question is "Elon little real technical understanding", which is demonstrably false. Responding to that with the logical fallacy of Moving the Goalposts does not address it.

[keeda]

Wait, "demonstrably false" based on anecdotes? I'm sorry, when I wonder whether someone like, say, Carmack has technical chops I wouldn't rely on anecdotes from people, especially people I do not know of.

For one, I can counter those with anecdotes from people I do know and trust. Like, I know directly from at least one very senior ex-Twitter engineer, who I worked directly with and whose technical chops I can vouch for (and who left before Elon took over, so you know, less chances of prejudice) that everything Elon said about Twitter engineering after he took over was absolute BS.

For another, I can point to boneheaded moves directly traceable to Elon, like eschewing LIDAR for Tesla FSD, that have endangered my own life on multiple occasions. Like, phantom braking is STILL a problem for in 2026, something that LIDAR would largely eliminate.

Just because he's built some very successful technical businesses does not mean he's technically strong. It is useful to know that cults of personality are cultivated. And especially for one like Elon (cf video game cheating scandal) when in doubt, it is probably a good idea to err towards "cultivated."

[tristanj]

Elon is clearly highly technical as demonstrated by the Starbase interviews by Everyday Astronaut https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLStF4EoZOEFJ6xDx656Ik...

You can pick any video and see this for yourself.

[jazz9k]

What I think is funny is that Steve Jobs also had very little technical knowledge and was just as much of an asshole, yet he's worshipped in the tech community. The only reason comments like yours are being made is because of Musk's politics. He was also loved in the Tech community, before supporting Trump.

Musk doesn't have to be a 'real engineer'. Most 'real engineers' would obsess over mundane details and rarely think about the bigger picture or making a profit.

[oska]

> yet he's worshipped in the tech community

Maybe for those who are younger and who mostly know of Jobs posthumously but Jobs was a highly polarising figure through the 80s, 90s and 2000s and there were many ppl who would never buy any Apple product because of the Jobs personality behind it (including when Jobs wasn't actually in charge; it was still a company built in his "Walled Garden + Salesman Hype" image)

[cosmicgadget]

For people outside the Apple bubble, Jobs is disliked for perpetuating the Apple walled garden and contempt for its users.

Elon would have gotten there with his inability to deliver on promises but he found his political cash cow first.

[jordanb]

I don't worship Steve Jobs but he didn't pretend to be an engineer

What turned me off to Elon was "it's a tube with an air hockey table in it, it's not that hard."

[kklisura]

> Elon really sounds like he knows what he is doing and has very high confidence he can execute it

In 2015, Elon Musk on Hyperloop: "it's no that hard", "it's like a tube with an air hockey table...", "I swear, it's not that hard" [1] Eventually, it was hard. You can literally go on and on with these examples.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQcfi8HK1i8