Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter may soon go through

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Silvanus

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Because he’s the type to make himself sound better in any way than he really was. That overflowing safe story is the first glaring clue of his self-aggrandizement.
How does it make him sound better to have "under the table" rights to the output of emerald mines? It doesn't portray him as a hard worker, it doesn't portray him as someone who earned his money.

Elon's story, on the other hand, is entirely self-aggrandising-- making it seem like he built everything he has personally.

Further reinforcing this is how whatever fortune he had has since dwindled while his son’s has done the opposite.
Meaningless. People squander money.
 
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Agema

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Only sentence of that post I disagree with. A Mars settlement could eventually become self sufficient, just not in the sort of time frames you're wanting to think on. It's not limited by impossibility, but by engineering, expense and willingness. It is however far in the range of things that cannot even start to happen under capitalism because it's high expense, high risk and any potential returns are so far down the line as to not be part of the math.
Apologies for not being clearer, but that "never" was meant in the wider temportal context of the post - i.e it's definitely not happening in a timeframe that matters a damn to us. I wouldn't be surprised if a realistic Mars colony is still a pipe dream in 2200 (and even that assuming humanity hasn't set itself back with some self-inflicted catastrophe on Earth, which I'm getting less optimistic about every year that passes).
 
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How does it make him sound better to have "under the table" rights to the output of emerald mines? It doesn't portray him as a hard worker, it doesn't portray him as someone who earned his money.

Elon's story, on the other hand, is entirely self-aggrandising-- making it seem like he built everything he has personally.

Meaningless. People squander money.
Boasting about his wealth in general (ie “Couldn’t close the safe”, etc. Of course he’s not going to incriminate himself with certain undesirable details.

Elon does give his team credit.


His father’s carelessness probably had a strong influence on how he operates.

 

Silvanus

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Boasting about his wealth in general (ie “Couldn’t close the safe”, etc. Of course he’s not going to incriminate himself with certain undesirable details.
His wealth is attested elsewhere as well, of course. Maye said at the time of the divorce that Errol had 2 houses (one of which was one of the largest in Pretoria), a yaught, a private plane, 5 luxury cars etc. His lucrative building contracting work is on public record. Emerald income is attested by Snopes. The seed money for Elon to build Zip2 is attested in Ashlee Vance's book.

Elon does give his team credit.
In a performative sense, very occasionally.

His story-- that he wasn't given any substantial help by the family, and the emerald mine didn't exist-- is crafted to portray himself as a bootstrapping genius. Its not credible.

He acknowledged the emerald income in the past, even, before he decided it would be more beneficial to deny outright. Remember when he posted on Twitter that he would offer money to anyone who could prove the mine existed? Errol responded saying he could, and Elon deleted it...?
 
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Agema

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In a performative sense, very occasionally.
Well, yes, a boss should make sure their team feels appreciated (irrespective of whether the boss truly does appreciate them).

However, whilst I think Musk aggressively curates his own myth and loves to be feted, I haven't seen any clear evidence he withholds credit either. I would point as evidence that although Musk's company's can be shitty employers, many of his closer ex-minions do appear to have a favourable view of him, which suggests he made them feel valued.
 

thebobmaster

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" A man’s character is most evident by how he treats those who are not in a position either to retaliate or reciprocate." Paul Elridge

To put it simply, I would more trust if people who worked for Elon Musk were saying kind things about him after leaving his company, rather than "closer ex-minions" that don't want to upset their very well-off potential buddy.
 
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Agema

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To put it simply, I would more trust if people who worked for Elon Musk were saying kind things about him after leaving his company, rather than "closer ex-minions" that don't want to upset their very well-off potential buddy.
And to be fair, US law is now so comprehensively shitty and sold-out that all his ex-employees will probably be bound by NDAs if they had any criticisms.
 
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His wealth is attested elsewhere as well, of course. Maye said at the time of the divorce that Errol had 2 houses (one of which was one of the largest in Pretoria), a yaught, a private plane, 5 luxury cars etc. His lucrative building contracting work is on public record. Emerald income is attested by Snopes. The seed money for Elon to build Zip2 is attested in Ashlee Vance's book.


In a performative sense, very occasionally.

His story-- that he wasn't given any substantial help by the family, and the emerald mine didn't exist-- is crafted to portray himself as a bootstrapping genius. Its not credible.

He acknowledged the emerald income in the past, even, before he decided it would be more beneficial to deny outright. Remember when he posted on Twitter that he would offer money to anyone who could prove the mine existed? Errol responded saying he could, and Elon deleted it...?


Overall seems to point to the contrary.



Not surprising.
 

Agema

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I mean, that article also attests a stake in a Zambian emerald mine, generating about $400k.
Not only that, but the apparent stake was about 60-70% of his emerald-connected income, so about $600,000 total. Contextually, in 1990, the median salary in the USA was around $20,000 - $25,000: so Errol Musk made over twenty times as much as the average American made in a year just from emerald investments. And of course, he was also earning money from other sources, too.
 
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Chimpzy

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Noooo ooooone's divorced like Elon, abuses kids like Elon!
No one pays more for fake scores in his games like Elon!

As a narcissist he is exemmmplaaaary, gosh what a **** that Elon!
 

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Chimpzy

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Checked Grok's replies on Twitter. For obvious reason I won't be linking anything, but they are currently inundated with guys asking it to edit photos of women into bikinis or lingerie, most of the time explicit enough to trigger the age verification requirement. It also took me only 10 seconds of scrolling to come across a guy asking it to put a girl at most 10yo into a microbikini. Which it of course did.
 

Seanchaidh

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Checked Grok's replies on Twitter. For obvious reason I won't be linking anything, but they are currently inundated with guys asking it to edit photos of women into bikinis or lingerie, most of the time explicit enough to trigger the age verification requirement. It also took me only 10 seconds of scrolling to come across a guy asking it to put a girl at most 10yo into a microbikini. Which it of course did.
and no one is responsible. very convenient.
 

Agema

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Checked Grok's replies on Twitter. For obvious reason I won't be linking anything, but they are currently inundated with guys asking it to edit photos of women into bikinis or lingerie, most of the time explicit enough to trigger the age verification requirement. It also took me only 10 seconds of scrolling to come across a guy asking it to put a girl at most 10yo into a microbikini. Which it of course did.
Seriously, countries need to draft laws to shut a load of this shit down. And bluntly, it needs to be targetted at the companies.

Apparently, robotaxis are operating in a legal grey area too. They cause a traffic violation, who pays the fine? The state can send a charge off to a company, but it appears that legally there's no-one to hold accountable so the companies won't have to pay them.
 
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