Re:CEOs are hugely expensive. Why not automate them?
by satvikpendem on Sunday December 28, 2025 @08:59PM
(#46416608)
It did, and it needed a direction to be pushed towards. Are you familiar with the great man theory of history [0]? It is no different here (well, historians these days use a blend of great man theory and historical materialism as you're stating in your example, as no one theory explains the majority of historical changes).
Re:CEOs are hugely expensive. Why not automate them?
by ceejayoz on Sunday December 28, 2025 @09:08PM
(#46416677)
How does one distinguish between a great man and a lucky one?
Re:CEOs are hugely expensive. Why not automate them?
by satvikpendem on Sunday December 28, 2025 @09:25PM
(#46416810)
Historians don't care about such a distinction, of course. Was Genghis Khan lucky when he conquered half the world?
Re:CEOs are hugely expensive. Why not automate them?
by ceejayoz on Sunday December 28, 2025 @09:40PM
(#46416906)
I mean, read his Wiki entry, and you’ll discover he got a really nice coat as a wedding present, which he regifted to a powerful patron.
You can decide if that’s a touch of luck. I’m sure he had a few near misses in combat with an element of luck, too.
Re:CEOs are hugely expensive. Why not automate them?
by satvikpendem on Sunday December 28, 2025 @10:19PM
(#46417126)
That's exactly what I mean by my point, it's not all luck, of course it was his skill in uniting the tribes which none had done before.
Maybe, maybe not. We often see technology reach a threshold that allows for sudden progress, like Newton and Leibniz both coming up with calculus at around the same time (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz%E2%80%93Newton_calculu...), or Darwin rushing to publish On The Origin of Species because someone else had figured out the same thing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Russel_Wallace).
SpaceX benefited immensely from massive improvements in computing power, sensors, etc.