I mean, if you want to quibble over the precise meaning of "created", I'm not interested in that. Replace "created" with "drove to commercial success" if you prefer, the fact remains that Tesla as a brand didn't exist in people's minds until he invested and spearheaded the design on the roadster.

As for whether it's a failure, that remains to be seen. Combating climate change is a long-term battle. All of Tesla's products are clearly geared towards this end though, from electric cars to solar roofs to grid level energy storage.

Why do you think it is a failure on the first count? Do you think Tesla EVs are bad and we would be better of without them?

Just judging by the outcome rather than the intent. Has global warming been solved? More generously: is it on a trajectory to be solved?

Was it a net contribution or not? Should we stop every activity that alone is an improvement but an incomplete solution?

I responded on the assumption that the original poster was saying Musk intended counteracting an existential risk to be an audacious goal, a visionary moon shot, rather than just a "net contribution". By that measure, he's not succeeded. In any case, he's not been as successful at solving climate change as he has been at increasing his personal fortune.

What exactly do you support in terms of tackling climate change?

Are you inferring that because I don't believe Tesla solved global warming, that I think it's a force for evil? If so, that is incorrect.

There are a lot of shades between saving the world and evil.

My position is that Musk has focused largely on business that can or do make the world better, and also make a profit. The two are not mutually exclusive and I think the former is a major factor in what Musk selects. Obviously good is determined from Musk's perspective,but I have generally agreed with him with respect to Tesla, spacex, boring, neurolink, solar endeavors, and xprizes.

I don't believe that those up thread were actually claiming Musk will or thinks any of his ventures single handedly will solve climate change. If that was your assumption, I think it was wrong.

I am curious if you agree that his work in these areas is laudable?

I agree that it seems like he is more successful at increasing his fortune than solving the world's problems. I don't hold that against him because the latter is a very tough challenge. I don't hold the fortune against him because it was made from companies that advance humanity, and most of it is tied up in other ventures that also advance humanity. I don't know about the whole Twitter thing, which could be a deviation from this, but I am open to the idea that it could be an improvement over the current state, if not particularly relevant to humanity. I am also open to the idea that he thinks it is more relevant than I do.

Yes. To solve global warming, we have to greatly reduce our reliance on cars, and come up with other solutions in as many places as possible - replacing all ICE cars with EVs will not be anywhere near enough.

"Needing" to reduce reliance on cars is debatable; that's certainly one way but not the only way. I doubt Musk would deny that replacing all cars with EVs would be enough. That's why Tesla also offers the solar roof (which needs more attention from Musk IMO) and grid level energy storage.

Tesla has discontinued the solar roof, as far as I know. That was basically just a stunt to use Tesla's money to bail out Musk and his brother. The solar wall is a better example of what you mean though.

It looks like you can still order the solar roof on their site: https://www.tesla.com/solarroof

People are great at finding ulterior motives for people they've already decided they dislike. I don't think Musk is an altruist, and I'm certain he has multiple motives for the ventures he cares about, but I think it's hard to deny that he's found success where others have struggled, and that his ventures will ultimately benefit humanity.

You can order it, but apparently [0] they are deploying on the order of ~20 per week overall, so it's unclear if you'll ever get one. You're right though that it's not discontinued - sorry about that.

[0] https://electrek.co/2022/07/07/tesla-tsla-achieves-best-sola...

How do you feel about Musks 100M X prize for atmospheric carbon removal?

I am very skeptical of atmospheric carbon removal as a viable path to stopping global warming - especially given the extreme systemic risks of most of the ideas I heard, such as seeding the oceans with iron; but also the extreme difficulty of others, such as re-seeding enough forest area to actually matter.

So, my temptation is to say it's just a publicity stunt. But, I am prepared to praise it if it produces some viable solution, as unlikely as I believe it is.