Yes, you would expect that someone from tech revolutionizing an entire industry at global scale would get a little bit more respect and appreciation here.

> you would expect that someone from tech revolutionizing an entire industry at global scale would get a little bit more respect and appreciation here.

I'm not one of the people negatively commenting but I personally think one's character is significantly more important than ones accomplishments and he doesn't really seem like a good person.

I admire that he is trying to do something about global warming. Nevertheless he seems like he's let his fame (or lack of sleep..) get to his head and I strongly disagree with the marketing of autopilot.

I understand why people would admire him though. He's done some amazing things and consistently.

Why he doesn't seem like a good person to you?

Emailing a Buzzfeed reporter that someone is a pedo who isn’t? Telling the police that a whistleblower was planning a mass shooting attack at Tesla HQ? Marketing autopilot as anything more than a driver assist system when misuse of the system has now killed at least 4 people?

Or indeed his views on unions which will hurt exactly the sort of people who frequent hacker news, and his terrible treatment of his staff.

His (public) behavior is not that of someone I'd look up to.

As others have said, his accusing of someone to be pedophile is very low. I strongly disagree with the marketing and, in my humble opinion, reckless release of Autopilot.

I also really don't like how he handled the issue with the SEC. Whether he intended to or not, he did misled investors with his tweets about having funding secured and instead of just admitting he made a mistake acted like he could do no wrong. He's actually surprisingly similar to Trump in his inability to take criticism with grace.

Again, I don't think he's an evil person but my impression is that he's let his wealth and fame get to his head. I can't say I blame him, people idolize him like he's the second coming of Jesus. I'm sure that kind of admiration isn't healthy for anyone and I am sure it'd mess me up too.

He's very much like a real life Tony Stark, and I suppose a part of me resents that he has so much admiration. It has nothing to do with him but I hate the idea that people seem to place success above everything else, when that's really not what should be important and I'd argue that emphasis on success probably leads to a lot of unhappiness in modern society. But I digress.

Fair enough. To me, considering all the shit and negativity he has been hearing from so many people on a daily basis for over a decade, he doing only these things you listed I consider him a saint. I’d have done a lot worse and I consider myself a very good person.

What I like the most about the guy is that he shows that he’s pretty much a human like anyone else.

I respect the engineers and workers actually doing the revolutionizing, not the man taking all the credit and the money.

Can you provide any documentation of this being the case? Because here is Tom Mueller, Co-founder of SpaceX and designer of initial Merlin rocket engine saying that is not the case.

https://twitter.com/lrocket/status/1099411086711746560

I definitely respect them too, but they would not do anything of this magnitude if it wasn’t for Elon’s vision and leadership. Isn’t that obvious?

>but they would not do anything of this magnitude if it wasn’t for Elon’s vision and leadership. Isn’t that obvious?

It would be just as correct to say that Elon Musk's vision wouldn't go anywhere without his employees' vision and talents, many of which likely exceed his own in terms of technical or intellectual skill.

Obviously, he has his place, and credit where credit is due, but I think we've gotten a bit too obsessed with the cult of personality and "great man" model of thinking that creeps into history, business and science.

But he made it happen (commented before you edited yours).

People are hating on Tesla because they don’t like Elon. A company that will literally benefit everyone, directly or indirectly.

It’s a human flaw, it seems.

No, he paid people to make it happen, who made it happen. He doesn't deserve more credit than his employees.

Nobody is saying he deserves more than the employees. You brought them to the conversation. He deserves a lot of credit, that’s all.

Except remember when he slept in the factor for a month straight and worked harder and longer than everybody?

No one has put more blood sweat and tears into Tesla than Musk.

In what way is it interesting? It's not uncommon in the various Facebook and Google threads for commenters to make this same complaint.

How is "Elon Musk brought up pedophilia epidemic in thailand" at all an accurate description of Elon Musk calling a cave diver a pedophile just because he was an expat in Thailand? There may be people who go overboard on the Elon hate, but this just seems like the opposite bias.

And he doubled down in that email to the Buzzfeed reporter and implied that he had proof for those bogus claims. He’s being sued for that.

> The "thailand crowd" for lack of a better word upset Elon Musk brought up pedophilia epidemic in thailand.

You mean that time he accused a child-saving hero of having sex with children? I guess that's one way of putting it.