
Elon Musk: The Recode interview - prostoalex
https://www.recode.net/2018/11/2/18053424/elon-musk-tesla-spacex-boring-company-self-driving-cars-saudi-twitter-kara-swisher-decode-podcast
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Endama
I think the thing that people really like about Elon Musk is that he just
doesn't care about the interpersonal social status dynamics at play with his
position in the world. If you look at the interview, he's very dismissive of
Kara's questioning about how others perceive him:

 _Kara: What’s Twitter? Okay, let’s start with Twitter. I have an obsession
with Twitter, too, and an addiction. What happens with you and Twitter?

Elon: Well, I tweet interesting things pretty much as they come to me, and
probably with not much of a filter.

Kara: And why?

Elon: I find it entertaining. I think, “Oh, other people might find this
entertaining.” Sometimes they do.

Kara: Just at night? What are you, at home you’re doing this?

Elon: Yeah. Mostly at home. I spend a lot less time on Twitter than people
probably think. It’s like maybe 10-15 minutes or something.

Kara: Yeah, well people pay attention when you do that._

And then he continues on to legitimize his tone by showing his prowess in
entrepreneurship and science:

 _Kara: Do you take criticism to heart correctly?

Elon: Yes.

Kara: Give me an example of something if you could.

Elon: How do you think rockets get to orbit?

Kara: That’s a fair point.

Elon: Not easily. Physics is very demanding. If you get it wrong, the rocket
will blow up. Cars are very demanding. If you get it wrong, a car won’t work.
Truth in engineering and science is extremely important.

Kara: Right. And therefore?

Elon: I have a strong interest in the truth.

Kara: All right. And you are —

Elon: Much more than journalists do._

I think people find this kind of backed-up braggadocio incredibly entertaining
and exciting to watch, it makes Elon musk an irresistible personality to
follow.

~~~
esotericn
He's just a pretty no-nonsense individual.

Bureaucracy, and coded ways of doing things, seem to be irresistible to many.

He types some words into a phone, presses an enter key, and a decent subset of
the world loses their minds.

Golly gosh.

If I were him, I'd be doing it for the amusement factor alone.

~~~
camjohnson26
He's the CEO of one of the most valuable car companies and the words he speaks
affect those trading on that information. Saying whatever he wants for
entertainment is horribly irresponsible when his words have financial
consequences for real people.

The "funding secured" tweet wasn't harmless, it was a lie that gave a false
valuation basis for Tesla at $420. If he was just an employee or outsider that
wouldn't matter, but as the CEO he should know better.

~~~
ryandrake
Unpopular opinion but I’m coming up pretty short on sympathy for someone
trading stocks based on a few words in a tweet and then losing their shirt.
These people are grownups and fully aware of the risks they are taking when
they walk into the casino. Nobody is forcing them to read twitter or take it
seriously as a source of investment advice.

The $420 thing didn’t hurt grandma’s pension fund or long term buy-and-
holders. It hurt day traders, options traders, shorts, and other gamblers.

~~~
camjohnson26
I'm sorry but this kind of thinking is so dangerous. Pumping hurts anyone who
buys it after the pump, including grandma's pension fund, because now they're
buying it at an artificial value.

Traders have a right to accurate information from the officers of the company,
which is the whole reason we have regulations in the first place.

~~~
Proziam
Pension funds don't buy the most shorted equity on the market, typically. He's
right that the people most affected were in effect gamblers. They gambled on
the 5k number happening or not and got creamed in aftermath.

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sabertoothed
Kara Swisher is a terrible interviewer. She was terrible here [1], and she was
terrible in this interview. You have an hour with Elon Musk and you ask what
BFR means again (knowing the answer) and don't know that they attempt to catch
fairings? Why does she always look like she did not do her research? Why do I
never learn anything new if she interviews?

[1] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsixsRI-
Sz4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsixsRI-Sz4)

~~~
leesec
Yeah I thought she was really bad as well. Kept interrupting him and also
seemed disinterested in things he was saying. Like she was looking for certain
answers and he wouldn't give them so she would just interrupt. She also asked
really irrelevant questions, and in some cases condescending.

~~~
fhood
Oof, I didn't listen originally, just read the transcript, and I thought
everyone was overreacting, but it comes of a lot worse in audio format.

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perseusprime11
What was Kara thinking? She was trying to be too much of a high-brow. I will
give you a lecture on how you should behave by asking you questions that will
put you down. Very offputting!

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educationdata
Joe Rogan interview of Elon is much better:
[https://youtu.be/ycPr5-27vSI](https://youtu.be/ycPr5-27vSI)

~~~
davej
I don't agree. Rogan is a better interviewer but Elon is much more fluent in
the recode interview.

~~~
dorianm
Joe Rogan as interviewer but in the Tesla Palo Alto office instead of in the
evening when Musk is tired would be perfect.

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sidcool
Elon almost reprimanded Kara for not listening carefully.

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ProAm
I'm tired of having Elon Musk in my life. I like his initiatives, but Im very
tired of him.

~~~
loceng
Elon's been a counter-balance to the insanity that is Trump, for me at least.

~~~
camjohnson26
Musk has a lot in common with Trump actually. They both despise the media and
have a casual relationship with the truth.

They're both self-made billionaires who built their companies on risky debt
financing, and they both have narcissistic traits and an apparent "god
complex," as well as difficulty accepting criticism.

~~~
randomsearch
Both victims of the twitter manipulation machine.

~~~
loceng
Who are the supposed victims? Elon and Trump?

