Apologies in advance if the question is offensive to some.Anecdotally, I have often noticed that the better programmers that I know are, while congenial and very well-mannered, also tend to be somewhat self-absorbed and not very open to chit chat.Personally, although I consider myself only a decent programmer, on days that I am productive, I tend to be averse to social interactions, and instead...
There is a very nice discussion on the relativity of rationality in the book "Instincts of the herd in peace and war" by Trotter. I copy a relevant paragraph below:
The religious man accuses the atheist of being shallow and irrational, and is met by a similar reply ; to the Conservative, the amazing thing about the Liberal is his incapacity to see reason and accept the only possible solution of public problems. Examination reveals the fact that the differences are not due to the commission of the mere mechanical fallacies of logic, since these are easily avoided, even by the politician, and since there is no reason to suppose that one party in such controversies is less logical than the other. The difference is due rather to the fundamental assumptions of the antagonists being hostile, and these assumptions are derived from herd suggestion ; to the Liberal, certain basal conceptions have acquired the quality of instinctive truth, have become " a priori syntheses," because of the accumulated suggestions to which he has been exposed, and a similar explanation applies to the atheist, the Christian, and the Conservative. Each, it is important to remember, finds in consequence the rationality of his position flawless, and is quite incapable of detecting in it the fallacies which are obvious to his opponent, to whom that particular series of assumptions has not been rendered acceptable by herd suggestion.
Think back to your interactions with others (siblings, playmates, etc.) as a kid. Those experiences taught you how to interact with others. Obviously there were mistakes - you learn to not punch others, call names, etc. The punishment was often a simple timeout, note to parents, etc.
People need to "learn" how to interact with "others" in a professional setting. This process of learning involves making mistakes. Unfortunately, in the professional workplace, the "punishment" usually involves HR, lawyers, and a risk to ruin one's career/reputation.
So most people prefer to not "learn", and instead stick to interacting with only those they are already comfortable with - e.g. people of the same gender, color, social class etc. Social media has already made this hell. More laws will only make this worse. Of course, this isn't helped by the fact that there are actual assholes who deliberately abuse others.
Anecdote - I once sent a stern/corrective email to a female colleague/junior. There was nothing gender specific in the message. My/our boss was in cc. She forwarded the mail to HR, and I got a rebuke from the boss (male) and an informal warning to not critique women. Voila.
Tesla seems to inextricably tie the two together. That's too much innovation at once (ergo, more than double the risk). If he just focussed on making awesome electric cars (with auto-drive as an option), it would 1) make Tesla's job easier, 2) make their PR reps job easier, and 3) everyone is positive about green tech. Winning over the BMW/Merc fans with high performance electric cars seems like a better strategy for a car company than trying to push a fleet of average performing occasionally fumbling self driving cars on the streets - from the perspective of the short sellers.
So in the current scenario, everytime there is some news about how the auto-drive confused one thing for another and crashed into it, the short sellers are convinced that there will be more of a negative public feedback cycle which will bring Tesla, or at least its equity, down. So they short.
Source - I have shorted Tesla in the past after the auto drive crashed and killed a driver. I am also technical enough to be paranoid about trusting human lives to a not-100% reliable piece of tech at high speeds. I only trust our attitude of move-fast-and-break-things with things like websites, not things which could kill you.