- cross-posted to:
- 4chan@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- 4chan@lemmy.world
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None of them are geniuses, it’s just really hard to lose at capitalism when you have capital.
Its a human blind spot. A lot of people confuse wealth for intelligence. In lower socio-economic levels, succeeding involves a lot of intelligence. Its a fucking struggle. Lots of fish trying to eat each other and take what little resources we have. One fuck up and it’s all over. So anyone that is succeeding is also someone that with enough intelligence to foresee pitfalls and avoid them or escape with their wealth.
Those values are used to evaluate the people at the top which are swimming in a whole different pond. The neopotism and safety nets built into the upper crust of society is not part of the calculation that a lot of people use to factor into how they see these people. They still apply the same dog eat dog mentality to the upper crust of society.
honestly wealth at any level requires luck… intelligence barely factors into it. it’s less that 1 fuck up and it’s all over, and more that 1 fuck up without someone to cover it up or bail you out and it’s all over… the wealthier you are, the bigger the fuck up before you or someone else can bail you out:
poor? it’s an unexpected car issue
rich? it’s that you fucked over literally an entire country for years on end in a very public way that gained you very little
A lot of people confuse wealth for intelligence.
Smart people who make good products that people want will have the invisible hand distribute them wealth. Dumb people who make bad products that no one wants will go backrupt. This is the core philosophy behind why capitalism “works.” It is a system that conflates wealth with virtue, by design.
You’re right to point out that it is incorrect logic, but no one is confusing anything. The entirety of our Western world is build around this idea and reinforces it to its people at every single opportunity. They’re making the judgements that they have been told are correct. Can we really say people are confused when they’re confidently acting exactly as they’ve been taught from birth?
Look I don’t like Musk either but even starting off wealthy becoming the richest man in the world takes some doing. He was way ahead of the curve on reusable rockets and EVs and succeed there where a bunch of people failed. I think where he fails is when it comes to protecting his image and maintaining relationships. He’s a thin-skinned narcissist who thinks he’s humanity’s savoir and eventually that got to him.
I guess Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning were just hapless chaps stumbling around in the dark, until Elon lighted their way with his genius vision of how to build an EV. /s
So much so I had to google their names because even I can’t remember them.
Yeah pretty much haha
Nobody has done more to disprove the “Rich people are smarter than everyone else” idea.
Remember a decade ago when he was being lauded as our time’s Einstein?
… Hahahahahahaha
Common Disco L.
Yeah by his own PR team, mostly, but it was a pretty easy fascade to see through when you actually listened to the man speak. Still don’t forgive Dan Harmon for letting him shit on R&M with the eLoN tUsK bullshit. Or Star Trek Discovery for that matter, which happened much later after he had already shown his true face to the world. I know Harmon got paid because he’s talked about it, but I would really like to know how much he spent on getting a passing reference in the least popular ST show of all time.
A friend of mine has head canoned that the guy from Star Trek was joking about being from Elon Musk University and that it’s the old “Adolf Hitler School for Friendship and Tolerance” gag but in space.
I’m just gonna go with that because fuck it’s the equivalent of listing Deepak Chopra as one of the greatest philosophers of the 21st century in your hard sci-fi setting.
See also: Iron Man 2
The one where Tony blew him off and made him look a fool?
I would really like to know how much he spent on getting a passing reference in the least popular ST show of all time.
From what I have heard, that part of the line was not even scripted. The actor ad libbed it in hopes that it might lead to him being gifted a free Tesla vehicle.
EDIT: There was also the completely unrelated reference in a later episode, in which a character mentioned having gone to Musk Junior High School. That may have been a paid reference.
Damn, that’s somehow so much worse!
Forgot about the Musk jr high 🤦🤦🤦
My head canon is that in universe Musk Jr. High isn’t a real school and it’s just an edgy joke… the space version of saying you went to the “Adolf Hitler School for Tolerance and Friendship”
You say it for a laugh when you’re 14 or acting like it on Space 4Chan
Ah, the Terri Schiavo Academy. I love it.
There was also an episode of Young Sheldon where Sheldon had sent equations for reusable rockets to NASA, and at the end of the episode it showed Elon buying the equations from NASA.
He was also in South Park, and Rick & Morty. He had a great PR team considering what they were working with behind the scenes. They dressed him up real nice.
Then he fired them, because he didn’t like having to wear anything in public. Metaphorically-speaking.
I still cringe at him being mentioned in Star Trek Discovery…
And I am proud to have called bullshit on it from day one.
Whoever leads us to the promised land isn’t going to have a for profit LLC
Well done. I’m like most people in that I didn’t spot it until he started talking about a subject I knew about. The first Tesla Roadster looked amazing1, and then the hyperloop sounded like a cool idea2, and then oh wait what’s he saying about software development now?
1 because its body was made by Lotus
2 except it doesn’t work
It wasn’t anything specific, it’s just… the idea of this guy being the real life Tony Stark didn’t pass the smell test. Not because he didn’t seem bright, but because I couldn’t believe ANYONE lived up to the hype that Elon had.
That and… well… the idea of the Private Corporation coming to save the day and guide us into a Utopia sounded way too much like a Libertarian Fantasy.
Yeah, he’s like LLMs in that regard. Sounds plausible until it’s a subject you don’t have much knowledge of, then suddenly turns into a dribbling twat when it’s one you do understand.
Then you realise he was an idiot all along.
Literally had someone saying that earlier today. Something along the lines of “you don’t become the richest person in the world without some competency.” Just ignore the fact he started on third base…
I don’t know exactly how much his parents were worth, but his net worth has increased by many thousands of times. That’s not “third base”, saying he got where he is by luck and nepotism is just wilfully ignorant.
Trump, on the other hand, would have done better if he just left his money in a savings account.
I dunno, man, we could probably get into an entire dissertation about this, but I’m not totally convinced that most of these fabulously wealthy people didn’t just fail upwards by throwing the spaghetti plate at the wall; the only difference between them and us is that, often, they start with a lot more spaghetti to throw
Pretty much all of the three digit billions crowd are in tech of some description. There’s definitely an element of being in the right place at the right time, but there’s also a lot of business skills as well.
A lot of their success seems to be recognising an opportunity before anyone else, whether that’s luck or skill is difficult to know.
A lot of their success seems to be recognising an opportunity before anyone else
Pretty much everyone in the world has at some point in their lives had some idea or spotted some gap in the market that could be a successful product, but 99% of us don’t get to act on that because the rent is due and will be due again next month.
I largely agree with what you’re saying, but he’s been in the right place at the right time 3 times, and made good on the potential. Maybe he was just really lucky, maybe he had dozens of things going and those 3 are the ones that panned out, maybe he was a genius that destroyed his talents with hubris and drugs. Certainly, having the financial security to take those chances was a big factor in his success, as much as apparently believing that success was all due to his inborn talent was a big factor on his continuing fall from grace.
Most of their success comes from knowing when to fuck over other people
They hire people to do that for them, don’t they?
How do they know who’s full of shit and who knows what they’re talking about though?
Recomendations from others?
I mean, yeah he had a lot of advantage, but he did have to do something right to become the richest man. But making some good gambles doesn’t make you a good person nor does it mean you’re great at everything.
Maybe he was good at finding companies at the right time to invest, but that means jack about any economic or political acumen. Same reason why we don’t want businessmen in politics, being good at one thing does not mean you’re good at everything.
He’s a modern day Wilbur Ross, with some edits on background and rich-parent launchpad thrown in.
I genuinely think he’s had some sort of cognitive decline.
He went from being merely wealthy to the richest man in the world, and nearly everyone thinking he’s a genius, to being hated by nearly everyone and losing money fast.
Think is, he never was a genius - actually quite far off from it
He is just a spoiled boy having luck with gambling the money he got
Looks more like too much Ketamine to me.
Genuine retard, it always was genuine retard
Don’t forget completely mismanaging Twitter, and turning it into even more of a cesspool.
that may have been entirely or mostly intentional, because it’s now 100% a right-wing propaganda machine and it got Trump elected
Don’t forget the lying. He always always lies to sell his shit, always has for decades now, and it works, people always lapped yo every dumb bullshit that came out of his mouth
I had to look it up. Pajeet is a racial slur in SE Asia, apparently.
Leave it to 4chan to import all the slurs from around the world
Is it actually a slur, or just a stereotypical sounding name? Because if its the second isn’t it just like Barry eating his 3rd pie and chips of the afternoon with a pint of wife beater?
Not the point.
If all you have is intellectual dishonesty, you’re finally out of ideas and cornered
He collected data on all Americans from multiple government agencies, successfully killed multiple investigations into several of his companies, and secured additional government contracts for those companies. Is that what we’re calling nothing these days?
And Trump is now threatening to cancel those government contracts. So he’s blown everything he’s gained (and then some) from his little fling with Trump.
That’s what trump does. He threatens. Then in the majority of times he gets distracted or backs down. Those contracts aren’t cancelled until they are cancelled.
Musk learned the hard way why other billionaires don’t get directly involved in politics, and buy politicians instead. That way they get what they want, but let the politicians take the heat for pushing through the billionaires agendas.
The problem for Musk is that his ego wouldn’t allow him to sit quietly on the sidelines calling the shots. He had to prove how smart he was, and how he was the only one who could fix the government. Now, he’s pissed off almost everyone, has lost various large foreign contracts for his companies, drove sales of Tesla into the ground, and is watching Trump undo the “brilliant” governmental cost cutting that he did.
And, his ego still won’t let it go, as now he’s suggested he’ll start his own political party. You just know the other billionaires are looking at him and going “What a dumbass!”
He already has fuck you money so he doesn’t give any fucks.
For now, he does have that yes, but his wealth is for a significant portion a house of cards built on the value of tesla stock. If the value of that stock falls far enough, lenders who gave him loans with tesla stock as collateral could margin call him, essentially asking for more collateral. That could make him the poorest person in the world quite quickly, i.e. billions in debt.
While you’re absolutely correct, even if Musk lost 99.7% percent of his wealth he would still be a billionaire (depending on whose net worth number you choose to use). I wouldn’t hold out seeing him in a bread line or starting a gofundme.
The real question is whether the collapse of his house of cards will lead to a 99.7% loss of wealth or >100% loss. He won’t be a billionaire anymore if it’s the latter.
Are you serious? He wants people to think he’s cool SO bad it’s genuinely so pathetic lol. All the other billionaires you could say that. But Elon is so desperate for people to think he’s this funny cool based guy it’s hilarious
That is partly true, but also he’s a strong narcissist. They make up their own stories. They’ll play up the feud to take eyes off of other bad shit.
Don’t think for a second he lost or he’s gone or it’s all over for him. He doesn’t see it that way.
I swear I have seen a comment very similar to this, not word for word, but pretty much similar structure and words and points describing Kanye.
Kanye is also rich, crazy, and a nazi
Next stop: Build an underwater city.
Hey, you need a taxi?
I wish more billionaires would get on those… and visit WW1 era military shipwrecks…
spoiler
The reason why that is a terrible idea is because during WW1, many naval artillery shells used picric acid as an explosive filler, picric acid reacts readily with metals to form highly sensitive picrate salts that are very sensitive to detonation upon being disturbed. Meaning messing with them even slightly has a significant risk of a massive underwater explosion happening. WW1 era military shipwrecks are strictly off limits to divers for that very reason.
Somehow nobody has mentioned the drugs? And obvious signs of mental illness? Obviously high functioning, but that does not make the decisions less nuts.
Has anybody seen the Johnny Harris video on musk? It was all fun and games until the drugs came out to play.
Peter Thiel also does a shit ton of drugs and you don’t see him spiralling this hard
I’m convinced that Thiel is spared this fate solely by his homosexuality and shame in it. He understands the value of keeping some things close to the chest and the risks of being the face of anything. He just came to it in a sad and fucked up way.
Comparatively, Musk thinks himself a glorious hero who should be the face of everything.
Thiel rarely puts himself in any spotlight unless he’s either curated it, or drugged up, freaked out, and kinda losing it.
Did you read the interview with his former fixer / event manager / third? Very interesting.
No I haven’t. Could you link it?
Oh, yeah that’s really hard to find. There’s a bit in this Intercept articles about Jeff Thomas’s death but I’m pretty sure it was a much longer article I read.
Death of Peter Thiel Romantic Partner Investigated as Suicide - https://theintercept.com/2023/03/23/peter-thiel-jeff-thomas/
Oh jeez that’s not great
Genuinely a retard and yes that is the correct word and stop trying to police it.
No. If you use a slur about disabled people to insult anyone, you’re just an asshole. No matter what a disgusting piece of shit anyone is, using that word to insult is just awful.
Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 was about people like you.
Also, your comment is offensive to fecalphiliacs
Are you serious? Like, someone says “please don’t use shitty slurs that discriminating disabled people” and your instinctive reaction is “THEY SILENCE ME AND CRIMINALIZE KNOWLEDGE”. That’s just pathetic. You can be an asshole, but get over being called one then.
And unrelated, but Fahrenheit is an awful book lol. Good dystopias are 1984, Brave New World or We. Fahrenheit 451 is just the author mad about television and saying that it’s so stupid and will ruin everyone’s brain. While the thought itself of knowledge being forbidden can be interesting and is an element in other dystopias, Fahrenheit is mainly based on the pure belief that books are a better medium than television, which is beyond ridiculous.
TIL you haven’t read Fahrenheit 451
Fuck you. Pajeet is a slur. You’re just as bad a racist as Elon.
Have you never read a grentext before? Probably best to block the community then
Didn’t you know? Context doesn’t matter, if that word hadn’t been there racism would have stopped immediately. Tribalism, social sorting and human stupidity aren’t the reasons for most of our problems.
I wonder if the trump cult also now hates him after saying he was the goat for the last 6 months.
What’s worse, democrats are already forming a line to kiss his nazi ass.
Who is? I know this is the narrative on Fox News, but I’ve yet to see any major Dems doing this.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/05/elon-musk-democrats-donald-trump-00389961
centrist democrats oppose progressives and kiss nazi elon’s ass.
Your “durr everyone to my left is all the way to my right” shit makes me wonder where you are in the queue.
centrist Democrat. singular. one.
“tHe DeMoCrAtS LoVe ElOn” is a bullshit propaganda talking point. this is how propaganda works, and yall be falling for it.
I counted two in the article.
In addition to a few downplaying it in this thread.
No one in your linked article is a leader in the party - just a lot of conjecture there to make the Dems the bad guys and reinforce the “both parties are the same” narrative that your ilk like to spread.
No one in your linked article is a leader in the party
I didn’t say they were. They seem to be choosing a leader who is in line with centrist values. Which is to say, he has money and is a reprehensible piece of shit.
- just a lot of conjecture there to make the Dems the bad guys
Conjecture doesn’t typically involve direct quotes from sitting legislators.
and reinforce the “both parties are the same” narrative that your ilk like to spread.
You are fine with your party kissing nazi ass. Just not anyone pointing it out. I’d tell you to demand better, but it’s clear that you think you’re getting it already.
Just admit it - no leaders or even major legislators in the Dem party is kissing Nazi ass. The article has non specific quotes from guys I’ve never heard of. Just more right wing misinformation for Lemmings such as yourself.
Just admit it - no leaders or even major legislators in the Dem party is kissing Nazi ass.
I never made that assertion. Elon is the leader the democrats in the article (and those in this thread minimizing this) have chosen.
Just more right wing misinformation for Lemmings such as yourself.
Everyone to the left of your boy elon is “right wing” to you.
*Rep Ro Khanna is trying to kiss his Nazi ass
The only other Dem mentioned in the article that you can try pinning that statement on simply said that he’s “a believer in redemption”, but that’s it really.
Do you believe in the redemption of elon musk?
Because I’m seeing the party that spent a whole assed year ignoring the Leahy law in order to sell weapons for genocide looking at a nazi and being like “you know, he’s not that bad.”
I believe that people have the capability of committing wrong-doings, even atrocities, only to come around later and realize that they were in the wrong and can attempt to make up for it in life.
Do I believe that Elon Musk has redeemed himself? No. I do believe he has the capability to do so though, eventually. Do I believe that he should receive punishment for his wrongdoings? Yes. Same for Trump.
In regards to the statement about Dems siding with Nazis, don’t use labels to throw everyone under the same blanket and judge them all equally harshly. Everyone is an individual, and their actions should be judged as such. If there’s a Democrat that acted in such a way, by all means call them out and we’ll all hate on them together.
In regards to the statement about Dems siding with Nazis, don’t use labels to throw everyone under the same blanket and judge them all equally harshly.
I will judge anyone who sides with nazis harshly. Minimizing it like you’re doing just gives others cover to also side with nazis.
Do I even want to know what a pajeet is?
Anti-South Asian/antisemitic ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory term
You probably don’t.
I looked it up after not hearing the term before.
Tap for spoiler
It’s a slur for South Asians. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pajeet
It’s actually a name. Pajeet is a genuine Hindu name. It’s a pejorative, in the same way “Paddy” is both an Irish name and used as a slur for Irish people.
Sadly I assumed correctly
It’s an Indian, from India. Not Native American.
