
Is Elon Musk Serious? - huangc10
https://gizmodo.com/is-elon-musk-serious-1827456578
======
danso
Musk's tweet deriding the "rescue chief" made Musk look like a fool:
[https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1016684366083190785](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1016684366083190785)

> _The former Thai provincial governor (described inaccurately as “rescue
> chief”) is not the subject matter expert. That would be Dick Stanton, who
> co-led the dive rescue team. This is our direct correspondence_

As a CEO himself, I would think Musk would know the difference between an
executive and someone who is a technical lead. The "rescue chief", aka Gov.
Narongsak Osottanakorn, was the official who made the call to perform the
rescue operation, which he did after consultation with diving experts and the
families. He is absolutely the person who matters when it comes to opinions of
whether something is "not practical". Just as Musk, as Tesla CEO, is the
person whose has the deciding opinion about whether a car/factory feature is
practical, even if he isn't the chief engineer who does the actual
implementation.

------
jdlyga
He posted the exact conversation with the technical person in charge. They
were considering using the submarine for the youngest as a backup plan. Just
because they weren't forced to use it means nothing. During the Chilean mine
rescue, there were 2 extra drills going at the same time using different
technology.

~~~
huangc10
I agree it doesn't hurt but at the same time, I'm a strong believer in "too
many cooks in the kitchen". Especially when you add to the fact that Elon Musk
and his team of engineers are not experts in search and rescue.

Also, where was he during the first few days of the rescue? All of a sudden
this story has international attention and he steps in.

He's that kid that tried to build a crazy contraption to save the cat from the
tree when all you really needed was a sturdy ladder.

~~~
maxerickson
They lucked out with the rain. It isn't clear that the method they used would
have worked as well with more water in the cave.

Not weighing in on the sub with that, just the ladder.

------
ljw1001
I suspect he's extremely serious about publicity. Was he going to build a
submarine for kids before they ran out of oxygen? Not likely. But now the
world knows about the Boring Company.

~~~
danso
Do they? The Boring angle was pitched as a possibility for drilling holes
(which apparently was practical). The mini-submarine seems more strongly
associated with SpaceX, being built from rocket ship parts and all.

~~~
ljw1001
Well I never heard of them before, but they were mentioned in numerous news
stories.

------
thefifthsetpin
One of his offers to help included drop shipping fully-charged power packs.

I had to wonder: could you deliver more energy if you instead delivered the
fuel you would save by leaving the power packs behind?

