• nomecks@lemmy.wtf
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    9 days ago

    He invested heavily in EVs before everyone else. He got into working satellite internet before everyone else. He built a successful private rocket company before everyone else. How was he not a visionary?

    He may have swindled and stole and exploited and kicked out orignal founders, but that’s the asshole part to a tee.

    • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 days ago

      Every one of those already had an engineering base that was flourishing, he just dumped capital into them and then PR’ed the shit out of his own idiocy to make it seem like each company’s idea was his own.

      • BillyClark@piefed.social
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        9 days ago

        I’m going to say one good thing about Musk below. It’s probably the only good thing I will ever say about him going forward.

        The American car industry is a cesspool led by some of the biggest villains who exist. The existing car manufacturers were not heavily investing in EV. They liked the status quo. Also, the barrier to entry for any new car company is extremely high, as well. For example, a lot of states have laws passed requiring car manufacturers to sell from traditional dealerships, which is specifically to stop new small car companies from succeeding.

        Because of this massive corruption in America, I fully expected that any EV developments would start internationally. You’d have to be a complete moron who was also flush with money to try to fight them. And then Elon Musk came onto the scene. He was a complete moron who was flush with money.

        I don’t know that Musk pushed the EV industry forward, but he certainly pushed the American EV industry forward. If Musk had been smarter, he’d have tried something more reliable with his money, and he wouldn’t have started an impossible fight. I know Tesla has almost bankrupt at least once since he took over. His luck stat must be off the charts.

        • Clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works
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          8 days ago

          This is my take as well. Tesla wouldn’t have succeeded without his money and absurd hype, and they have pushed electrification and batteries and solar with them, at least in the U.S.

          He’s a horrible person who mostly makes bad decisions, and when he makes good decisions it seems to be for the wrong reasons, but it’s unfair to say he hasn’t had any positive impact.

          I just threw up in my mouth a bit.

    • 18107@aussie.zone
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      9 days ago

      He threw around his father’s illegal emerald money and got praised when some of it came back.

      If you have that much money and invest randomly, you have a good chance of making more. You also didn’t hear about all the people who tried the same and failed, so there is some amount of selection/survivorship bias.

      Elon Musk has proven himself to be an idiot who only makes things worse when he overrules the engineers. The engineers are the smart ones, Elon just takes the credit.