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.
> 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.
I think they follow him because he created Tesla, Space-X and other things. Braggadocio without results to back it up won't take him as far.
> 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
At least from what you've quoted, I have a hard time seeing your point. Seems to be a fairly conservative conversation from a 47 year-old entrepreneurial billionaire physicist, and an interviewer. She asks questions and he gives her straightforward answers with no fluff.
While I would agree that he (clearly) doesn't play by the rules of mortals (how could you, and get to where he's gotten?), I'd hardly call this a matter of he just doesn't care about the interpersonal social status dynamics at play
My read from the interview is that he is just had no patience for how Kara was conducting the interview. My point is that the dismissive attitude he expresses is kind of funny and impressive considering all the pressure he (and his companies) are under.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You don't want to live in a world where corporate officers of publicly traded companies can make completely false statements about funding events without severe consequences.
I trust his physics knowledge. But 'truth' is very dependent on how you model your world. If he was so rigorous he probably would have done his factory design properly instead of rushing things somehow randomly.
Sounds like he just took notes of his PR management lessons, do you think they throw a CEO without teaching him how to interact with journalists? That's not his personality, see early videos of CEOs to see how their personality really was before all the PR makeover (make them go to the gym, get hair plugs, pick their clothes, train them how to talk, what to say, when to say it, etc). Another perfect example is Zuckerberg, he was basically trained to be someone else after the (coincidentally) Kara interview where he cracked and almost died of dehydration from sweating.
>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.
I can only speak for myself but yes, exactly this. Didn't they model the movie Tony Stark after him? I like that character for the same reason; he's confident, he's cocky, he does what he wants, he doesn't really care what others think, he's not afraid to offend and he's generally entertaining.
Sometimes he crosses the line, example being calling that guy a pedo, but come on... we've all crossed a line before and said something out of frustration or misguided hate. When my father was terminally ill, he died 12 days before my 13th birthday, I wanted one of those WWWJD (what would Jesus do) bracelets that were huge in the mid to late 90's while we were at a checkout counter somewhere. He said no and absolutely would not buy it for me, I lashed out and said "I hate you!" which legitimately hurt my father, I didn't mean it, I didn't even think about it, it just flew out of my mouth. Musk does the same thing, sure he doesn't seem to show remorse when he does but ehhhh when you're as high profile as him sometimes it might be worse for you personally to apologize and retract something because the fallout might be greater than if you just wait for the next news cycle.
> Didn't they model the movie Tony Stark after him?
Iron Man the character was created in 1963.
Elon Musk was born in 1971.
The actor of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) did say in 2011 he was inspired in part by Elon Musk when developing his character, but that was 7 years ago now and certainly predates some of Elon Musk's more notorious antics.
We all certainly cross the line and should be forgiven for it, but the standards are different when you're a public leader.
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?
Agreed. She always seems to me to be far more interested in herself than in the person she's interviewing. Previously I thought it was runaway narcissism, but I think you may have nailed it in saying she doesn't do her research. Perhaps everything is phrased as "Well when I did this...how does that relate to you", because she didn't prepare and is just vamping. (Good old Hanlon's Razor...)
I'll never forget the train wreck the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs interview was. She kept interrupting them and adding nonsensical meta commentary ("oh that was sweet"). You can see in their faces that both were uncomfortable with her poor professionalism. At the end Jobs seemed to be ignoring her fully. One small example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76mVGGlFGRA
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.
I personally think both of the RECODE interviewers (don't know their names) try to be a little too cool for school when interviewing these once-a-generation people.
Your reaction is understandable. It's obvious Kara prides herself on being a grouch and a hard-ass. I remember thinking the same during the D5 interview with Steve Jobs, where she mouthed off to the point that Mossberg shushed her.
In retrospect, I've changed my mind. It isn't healthy for an industry to only have reporters who softball every interview, who just parrot crap from press releases. In tech, that's close to what we have. It's allowed companies to get away with a lot of shady nonsense.
So these days I'm really thankful that tech has a Kara Swisher.
Agreed, I used to listen to her podcast but she can be very agenda-pushing and condescending if someone even remotely has a different belief than her.
I mean, if you want to do that that's fine be like Adam Carolla, a comedian, and market yourself as such, but if you're doing it as a 'journalist' you need to be impartial.
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!
I think I understand what 'ProAm' meant. Elon Musk is irresistible to nerds and geeks. He's the ultimate expression of the technical mind. And one wants Elon to be right all the time. He's like an addiction. You want to stop but it's not easy.
Trump isn't the first person to talk about having a military presence in space, that was pretty much the main reason for the budget going into NASA early on. And, well, aside from the bias Elon would have where he's developing what will likely become the most successful for-profit space business in history - which I'm sure he's aware of that bias, it definitely is a good idea to be prepared to defend against bad actors who may use space as an attack vector; safety and security is clearly a concern of Elon's especially when it comes to the potential that AI has for devastating humanity.
>that was pretty much the main reason for the budget going into NASA early on
Sputnik inspired NACA to transition to NASA out of fear.
>And, well, aside from the bias Elon would have where he's developing what will likely become the most successful for-profit space business in history - which I'm sure he's aware of that bias, it definitely is a good idea to be prepared to defend against bad actors who may use space as an attack vector; safety and security is clearly a concern of Elon's especially when it comes to the potential that AI has for devastating humanity.
Elon thinks it's a good idea because he likes subsidies. A "Space Invasion" doesn't make sense. A "Space Army" doesn't make sense. "Coastal Defense" doesn't make sense. ICBM missiles changed the entire meaning of war and defense.
Having the ability to quickly knockout a potential bad actor's communication satellites etc certainly makes sense. Having the ability to launch satellites into space 10x faster and a larger quantity could be an advantage, if it came to that - whether launching unknown space-to-surface weapons or for countering attack vectors a bad actor has or is launching into space.
Re: Subsidies - As I said, Elon obviously has a bias, and the government isn't shy of subsidizing many industries and infrastructure. Likewise, if I or you want to use anecdotes as argument points, why not just saw war and fear doesn't make sense - so we shouldn't do anything proactively in the name of defense/protection?
>Trump isn't the first person to talk about having a military presence in space
The U.S. even researched (and in some cases developed prototype) weapons for space, not just SDI/Star Wars stuff either.
Stuff out of the Future Weapons Office, some of which can be found in the declassified "The Meanderings of a Weapon Oriented Mind When Applied in a Vacuum Such as on the Moon" like 'a spin stabilized micro gun', 'spin/fin stabilized sausage gun', 'sausage gun #2', 'directed gas weapon for close in fighting', 'spring propelled spherical projectile', 'gas cartidge gun', 'gas operated needle gun'.
The Soviets even sent conventional firearms into space like the triple-barreled TP-82, 2 barrels in 28 gauge and a rifled barrel in 5.45x39mm, although this was more for survival upon re-entry in remote Russia. HOWEVER they did develop a prototype laser pistol in the 80's that used a pyrotechnic flashbulb for disabling optical sensors on spacecraft, basically let a cosmonaut out for an EVA, get within 20 meters of the sensor and fire.
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.
Self made is a stretch but he definitely earned billions from risky debt financing. Musk doesn't like media that disagrees with him, just look at what he said in this interview about the WSJ article.
Both Musk and Trump are great at playing to what their base wants and have made themselves look like heroes to their supporters.
Self-made is a stretch for whom? Trump, definitely it's a stretch. Elon isn't a stretch to say he's a self-made billionaire.
Likewise, risk is relative - it depends on if the people with the money find it too risky to invest or not, so clearly they didn't think it was too risky, nor did Elon for him to be willing to take it.
Re: Interview - I didn't watch the interview, what are you referencing that he referenced in the WSJ article? My guess is it wasn't accurate or clear enough in his mind, meaning it was a "half truth" and too open to interpretation.
Once again your further attempt to compare Elon and Trump is unreasonably loose. Trump plays his base with lies, Elon isn't playing any game - he's having fun certainly when he does things like throwing shade on the SEC for things relating to what he disagrees with like short sellers, and with things like selling not-a-flamethrowers, however he doesn't blatantly lie constantly - and I'd like you to reference with a reliable source even a single confirmed lie that Elon has said?
First, nothing was proven - it wasn't proven a lie - them (Elon and company) not admitting to guilt and SEC making allegations isn't the same thing as a proven lie, and that puts a lot of doubt as to whether that could be considered a lie, or if the SEC could even prove it; essentially there would have been some short sellers that were pissed and putting pressure on the SEC, so the SEC responded and then both sides settled quickly - because $40mm is relatively nothing (it's like a $40 parking ticket for most of us) and likely not worth their or their attorneys' time and attention.
Question for you. Do you have good credit where you could go to a bank and get a credit card, if you don't already have one? That bank would have access to your credit score, and you probably know based on your credit score what amount of credit you'd be able to secure, right? I could have used a different word than secure, however secure fits for this example. It's reasonable to believe similarly that the people who he had spoken to multiple times (and who we know have the available capital to invest) - who he trusted and whom trusted him - could have said they would provide whatever money necessary to take Tesla private. There's no proof contrary to that - and if there was proof of this then the SEC could have extracted a shitload more money than $40mm for the losses some short sellers would have had. Or we could just reference an article that doesn't have any proof (even though you're referencing it as proof) and pretend it's proof. So, so far you're not shown Elon has lied at all - and it's probably safe to say Trump lies daily about something - or more safely to say 90% of days he lies.
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.