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Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by p_j_w on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @02:13PM (#33974176)
>the $40x billion could have probably paid for getting Starship to Mars.

Maybe he doesn't actually believe in Starship.

Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by panick21_ on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @05:22PM (#33976901)
Or maybe he expected Twitter to actually make money, or at least not lose money.

And this could still be true.

People here act like he bought Twitter and then deleted the website. This isn't the case.

Did he overpay, yes, but its still a business that is worth something.

Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by TMWNN on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @07:02PM (#33978130)
>People here act like he bought Twitter and then deleted the website. This isn't the case.

I was told that Twitter would collapse and die any day now a month ago.

It seems to be holding up well enough during the current mega world event known as the FIFA World Cup.

Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by zizee on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @04:00PM (#33975706)
Are you suggesting it's all an elaborate scheme?

I know it is popular/easy to hate on the man right now, but this is a really strange take.

Given that Musk has been talking about mars since at least 2001, many years before he had the resources he has now, and almost went bankrupt funding spacex's first orbital rocket, it's hard to believe he's pretending.

People seem happy to believe all negative things they hear about him, but discount anything that doesn't gel with this negative image. It's like how the same people who put all missteps of Tesla/SpaceX at Elons feet, will also discount any of the successes and say he has nothing to do with them.

Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by asdff on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @04:22PM (#33976011)
The boring company was literally an elaborate scheme on the other hand. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me, you can't get fooled again.
Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by fastball on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @09:00PM (#33979102)
I dunno, if you look at the Boring Company through the lens of "this man really wants to go to Mars", it kinda makes sense. Probably a lot of Mars colony infrastructure should be tunneled underground, given the lack of atmosphere / magnetosphere.

Things like Hyperloop also make more sense in that context.

Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by adventured on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @02:51PM (#33974727)
It appears to be working/progressing properly so far (and quite rapidly compared to norms in the industry), including the Raptor engines. I doubt that's it.

Musk has very obviously poor impulse control. Someone more contained, patient, less impulsive, would have waited and taken a more strategic approach to acquiring Twitter (which would have left an opening to let the stock implode with the rest of the tech market, after which one could have pounced and grabbed it for far cheaper). On the flip side, that less impulsive person probably wouldn't have started SpaceX in the first place (given the suicidal fiscal task involved and context at the time in the industry), or wouldn't have gone to the financial extremes required to make it succeed (betting essentially all of his wealth on Tesla and SpaceX).