
What's the full story behind Elon Musk's involvement with the Thai cave rescue? - curtis
https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-full-story-behind-Elon-Musks-involvement-with-the-Thai-cave-rescue-effort?share=1
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sgentle
Elon Musk is not Tony Stark, nor is he Hari Seldon, nor is he Professor
Moriarty. He's an actual person: a talented engineer and businessman, a
utopian sci-fi nerd who genuinely wants to bring the world closer to being a
sci-fi utopia, a shitty person to be in a working or romantic relationship
with, someone who expects unrealistic things from himself and others, a
megalomaniac with a persecution complex, and an indomitable visionary who
actually does great things and is legitimately persecuted, though not as often
or as unfairly as he thinks.

Can't we just let all those things be true? Are our minds so small and our
comprehension so feeble that we have to take this whole person and turn him
into a cartoonish hero or villain? I mean, if he can do it, can't you?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9GKeYb_vkQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9GKeYb_vkQ)

As to this particular thing, it seems relatively simple to me: Elon genuinely
wanted to help. He and the other engineers were undoubtedly motivated by ego -
not the "we're going to save the day and everyone will love us" kind but the
"we are good engineers and we can find a good solution" kind. This is why Elon
was not upset when his solution wasn't used, because it was still a good
solution, and this is why he was so upset when people trashed his solution as
"never going to work" without evidence. I find that grievance understandable;
by all accounts he went to a lot of effort to ensure his solution was good,
and I would bet that when he inevitably tries it to soothe his bruised
engineer ego, it will, in fact, work.

But that will not help because he called someone a pedophile on Twitter for
insulting him, which is unbelievably moronic, puerile and cruel. Apologists
like this Quora commenter can excuse it as "provoked but disproportionate",
and "coming from somewhere", but if you're honest about it you have to admit
there's no excuse. You don't call people rapists for saying mean things about
your project if you want to hold any claim to being a decent person.

That said, I really like the work he's doing and I hope he succeeds. I also
hope that he can pull out of what appears to be a deteriorating spiral of
erratic lashing out. Dude's under the kind of pressure that snaps people in
half, and has been for half a decade. Maybe that's all he knows. Maybe it's
the only way he can succeed. If so, I pity him and I'm humbled by the value
that his suffering creates. But also, fuck you, Elon. The last thing we need
is more powerful small-man narcissists shitting all over what's left of public
discourse.

I dunno. It's complicated.

~~~
drivingmenuts
For whatever reason, it seems Musk has completely forgotten that he lost the
ability to be treated like a normal person when he took on the over-ego'd
persona of a billionaire mad-scientist.

When it works well, that's great, but he forgot to plan for when it doesn't
work or more specifically, when he fucks it up and badly.

And to be fair, some of the reaction, in general, to him is driven in part by
jealousy and politics. I'd love to be a billionaire mad-scientist type
(Frankly, I'd settle for being a thousand-aire crank-in-garage, which would be
step up for me) but you have to expect outsized reactions.

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bennesvig
I don't understand the hate for Elon (though the response to Unsworth was
disproportionate). His offer to help seemed to stem mainly from a curiosity in
solving the problem and having the ability to potentially help. Great PR
wasn't guaranteed from it (ex. if they used the sub and a kid died in it).
Then came critiques from people on Twitter who have never built anything.
Maybe it's a mix of envy + his willingness to fight back against inaccuracies.

~~~
subjectsigma
How do you not understand the hate? He's perfect for it, and getting better
every day. He's cocky, quick to respond, and occasionally an asshole. He's a
pseudo celebrity - everyone knows about him so discussing him appeals to a
wide audience. He dates and associates with other famous people - big gossip
mills can run solely on that. There's already dedicated crowds of people who
like and dislike him fanatically - lefties love to hate him because he's rich,
white, and male, and righties love to because he sucks up government money and
uses it on ''bogus'' clean energy initiatives. It doesn't even matter what
your angle is, I know an engineer who simply thinks combustion engines are
superior and that Musk is an idiot for ever trying to make electric cars
'premium'. That has nothing to do with politics or image but I have seen it
start Musk-hating trains.

The mix of controversy, zeitgeist, everything. He's literally the perfect
person to rag on for Internet points. If he had a social IQ greater than 0 and
actually cared about improving his public image he would restrict his tweeting
severely and try to appear more aloof.

I use to really like Elon, not just his work but also his personality. He used
to come off as quiet, even a little strange. His recent personal and
professional failings have become so public, and he is handling them so poorly
- it's tarnishing him.

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lasagnaphil
I think the whole narrative with Elon Musk and the cave rescue shows not only
of his flaws, but also the others who reacted with vitriol on the Internet. It
seems like there is a widespread view about the futility of technology, that
technology will no longer save us and will inevitably lead to our downfall.
(This pessimistic view is reinforced by the recent uprising about Cambridge
Analytica, Russia and Facebook Ads, etc.) For those with an extreme version of
this view, Elon Musk is regarded as the ultimate villain, the maniac who
thinks that technology will automatically solve all of our problems, an
impostor trying to pretend saving people with technology but in the inside
only a greedy billionaire trying to maximize his profits.

But the world is obviously more complicated than that; when used wisely,
technology can figure out some of our problems, when used wisely and depending
on the situation. Although Elon Musk’s submarine isn’t a perfect example of a
good use of technology, I think some people have reacted without thinking more
about it. (Personally I am torn, because if lives are at stake, it might not
be a good idea to use a 1-week old engineering design, but then if the “old”
method wasn’t successful and resulted in more deaths things might have been
different)

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utopcell
What I'd like to know is whether the custom submarine was used in any capacity
during the rescue, and whether the pedophile accusations towards the British
diver have any merit. What are the facts in this story ?

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tomatoman
Why should we care if it was used, the guy was trying to help. If they moved
faster and didn't end up using it then so what?

~~~
utopcell
It speaks to whether it was useful in any capacity. There's also a point to be
made about advertising having a solution to a problem without actually having
solved any instance of it in practice.

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bassman9000
Unsurprisingly, only a fraction of the comments here, compared to the hate
pieces last days.

I guess being a small Republican donor is truly the Mark of the Beast.

