Sure Musk is abrasive and has a ton of flaws, but you lose a lot of credibility pretending the guy isn’t smart.

He is smart. His achievements appear to be in seizing opportunity and attracting various other smart people. Unlike Trump, he hasn't destroyed too much wealth along the way.

He is smart, and progressives in general lose credibility by claiming otherwise, but short tempered.

Also, this headline is misleading. This wasn't said by Walter Isaacson who actually wrote the biography on Musk. It's a random dude, who seems to have a personal vendetta against Musk, compiling a bunch of his tirades into something he optimisically calls a "biography".

Smart people do not lie as much as Musk does. Smart people care a lot more about their credibility than musk does.

1. Smart people lie plenty.

2. Musk rarely lies, he's honest to a fault.

"Musk rarely lies, he's honest to a fault."

He lies all the time. If you honestly believe this you must get scammed a lot.

Any attempt to engage with scarab92 has been a waste of time. That person truly believes what they say to a fault, there's no amount of evidence of Elon's lies that phases them.

It's rather sad but they are true-believers, best to just move on before they post another flamebait comment.

Is it more than the credibility you lose pretending he -is- smart?

My point is that if you want to convince other people, you should try to argue from a place of intellectual honesty instead of gaslighting or willful blindness. Valid arguments could be made for “I don’t like what he is doing” or “he is dangerous” but just stating that he is not intelligent as the starting point for your argument doesn’t pass the smell test, so it clouds the rest of your argument. For me at least.

It seems there are plenty of legitimate areas he is open for valid criticism.

I know this will be downvoted, but I’m not discouraged by that outcome because it would only reinforce the point that a good faith discussion based on facts and logical persuasion is not welcome in this discussion.

The difference I guess is how much you care about the facts. The man is very intelligent (or at least he was before he started doing tons of ketamine).

This is beyond reasonable dispute. Whether or not people get mad when you say it out loud is more of a reflection of them than of me.

Actual subject line is "Author of Upcoming Elon Musk Biography Says ‘There Is No Evidence’ Billionaire Has Any ‘Intellectual Achievements’".

https://xcancel.com/SethAbramson/status/1892710698683142638

It doesn't matter how many people say it.

In the Attention Economy, that social media platforms create, he knows how to capture Attention. The question is not Elon but about why we tolerate these platforms that prop up people like Elon or what the alternatives are.

Michael Goldharber pointed out at the dawn of the Internet => info explodes but Attention does not + ppl have a limited capacity to pay attention but unlimited capacity to receive attention.

The truth is Everyone needs a bit of Attention (it is a source of self esteem), that's why sites like HN work because people feel they are seen or heard even if its one upvote.

But then there are Elon and Trump types who are born with a need to be loved and respected by everyone. Plant them in the social media environment, where attention capture is rewarded, and is the main source of profit for the platforms, and we get the abnormal fruits we sow.

Who or what is Elon Musk?

"Said @sherdil2022."

He is but a statistical chance.

The probability there would be a musk i.e. someone born to money that doesn't lose it all, has one success, then believes they're not a statistical certainty, is very high.

It's not that he's stupid but that he's not really that smart.

But nor are most people. Hence his unknowing fan club.

I often hear progressives stating this line about Elon being born into money, but as far as I can tell it isn't actually true.

He was a poor university student like everyone else, had student debt like everyone else, and his business success seems to have come from rolling profits from his previous venture into his next one, and this domino starts from very modest beginnings with Zip2.

What's a 'progressive'?

Fireworks producer.

I have never seen a Musk tweet that seemed very smart.

SpaceX Musk is pretty good!

Here's another comment so you can downvote me some more for stating a completely innocuous personal opinion.

If you see video of him talking about spacex he's obviously reasonably smart eg. https://youtu.be/cIQ36Kt7UVg?t=55

" see how he beats the likes of Boeing and gets stuff out faster and cheaper than NASA. "

Musk has nothing to do with anything at SpaceX. He has absolutely no skills or education in designing or operating rockets. SpaceX is so successful because of how little involvement Musk has with it.

Also the easiest case of "Take subordinates ideas for my own" with the culture at that company.

I can read up on an algorithm and explain it to people, it doesn't mean it's my own intellectual accomplishment to repeat it.

Bezos has a rocket company. Branson used to. There's a smattering of financially troubled small-scale launch providers.

And then there's SpaceX, which is like 70% cheaper than the alternatives, wildly profitable, launched a constellation of thousands of satellites, etc., etc.

Musk likes rockets. He has technical chops. If good technical leadership is so cheap, why is SpaceX so far ahead?

I understand that the man is kind of nuts these days but we underestimate him at our own risk.

Rich people can hire smart people to do things and take credit for it. It happens all the time.

"He has technical chops"

Not in rockets he doesn't. Or programming.

" If good technical leadership is so cheap, why is SpaceX so far ahead?"

Because of Gwynne Shotwell

Really? At least 4 more years of this?

  > Haha, Elon is dumb, he should be fired!
  > Trump smells, to the dungeon with him!
  > All republicans have a lot of dandruff, they must be traitors!
  > Scientists discovered that right leaning people fart more than nice people.

Pulitzer-worthy journalism.

Elon was too busy hustling to waste time on academic pursuits.

I'm sure he has hundreds of PhDs, etc working for his various companies.

He went from having student debt to the richest man on the planet, transforming two industries, cars and rockets, on the way. That's not so easy to do. At least I haven't managed it yet.

Seth Abramson the "Musk biographer" who as far as I can tell has not written an actual biography seems pretty bitter.

Clearly a greater intellect than the guy in second place who sells overpriced handbags and booze.