Nobody wants him. He just stares at the world.
August 21, 2023 9:02 AM Subscribe
Elon Musk’s Shadow Rule: How the U.S. government came to rely on the tech billionaire—and is now struggling to rein him in. The meddling of oligarchs and other monied interests in the fate of nations is not new....But Musk’s influence is more brazen and expansive. There is little precedent for a civilian’s becoming the arbiter of a war between nations in such a granular way, or for the degree of dependency that the U.S. now has on Musk in a variety of fields, from the future of energy and transportation to the exploration of space.
An article by Ronan Farrow for The New Yorker. Farrow is best known for the Harvey Weinstein expose (along with being Mia Farrow and Woody Allen's son).
An article by Ronan Farrow for The New Yorker. Farrow is best known for the Harvey Weinstein expose (along with being Mia Farrow and Woody Allen's son).
One of the best definitions of power, in human sense not energy, is: the ability to command the labor of others.
There's all sorts of ways that people can command the labor of others, but money is one of the simplest in our modern world. You can get people to do more or less anything if you have the money they want in payment.
And that's why billionaires are a threat to democracy.
Because they've got enormous power, and they're almost totally unchecked in its use.
Musk delanda est, sure. But more generally billionaires need to be taxed until they aren't billionaires anymore. No one should have that much power and no accountability.
The fact that Musk is an impulsive, egomaniacal, arguably actively evil, and a jackass to boot makes him stand out more. But we aren't safe as long as anyone is a billionaire.
posted by sotonohito at 9:11 AM on August 21, 2023 [126 favorites]
There's all sorts of ways that people can command the labor of others, but money is one of the simplest in our modern world. You can get people to do more or less anything if you have the money they want in payment.
And that's why billionaires are a threat to democracy.
Because they've got enormous power, and they're almost totally unchecked in its use.
Musk delanda est, sure. But more generally billionaires need to be taxed until they aren't billionaires anymore. No one should have that much power and no accountability.
The fact that Musk is an impulsive, egomaniacal, arguably actively evil, and a jackass to boot makes him stand out more. But we aren't safe as long as anyone is a billionaire.
posted by sotonohito at 9:11 AM on August 21, 2023 [126 favorites]
> Of all Musk’s enterprises, SpaceX may be the one that most fundamentally reflects his appetite for risk.
People who had rich parents never risk anything.
posted by AlSweigart at 9:16 AM on August 21, 2023 [87 favorites]
People who had rich parents never risk anything.
posted by AlSweigart at 9:16 AM on August 21, 2023 [87 favorites]
Can we nationize large segments of his business? Should we?
I mean, taking X away from him and reducing the stupidity level would help a lot of things.
posted by mephron at 9:19 AM on August 21, 2023 [5 favorites]
I mean, taking X away from him and reducing the stupidity level would help a lot of things.
posted by mephron at 9:19 AM on August 21, 2023 [5 favorites]
I mean, taking X away from him and reducing the stupidity level would help a lot of things.
Twitter is quickly going bankrupt. If we're going to be nationalizing core infrastructure the communication satellites and the car charger network are better choices.
posted by mhoye at 9:22 AM on August 21, 2023 [43 favorites]
Twitter is quickly going bankrupt. If we're going to be nationalizing core infrastructure the communication satellites and the car charger network are better choices.
posted by mhoye at 9:22 AM on August 21, 2023 [43 favorites]
This article is fantastic and I hope we have some discussion about what it says, not just generic opinions on Musk. There's no major new revelations in it but Farrow has a lot of detail from his research that is new information.
I'm most interested in the lead part of the article, about Starlink in Ukraine. I'm a Starlink user (and TBH, a fan of the service) and have been fascinated by what it's meant in the battlefield. Also horrified at Musk's public antics about it, up to embracing Putin's goals in the war.
A particular sticking point is the popular opinion that SpaceX or Musk himself were funding the program out of the goodness of their hearts. Absolutely not and the article details both some of the other funding and the tragedy of Starlink severing service as leverage to get more payments from the US government.
posted by Nelson at 9:24 AM on August 21, 2023 [15 favorites]
I'm most interested in the lead part of the article, about Starlink in Ukraine. I'm a Starlink user (and TBH, a fan of the service) and have been fascinated by what it's meant in the battlefield. Also horrified at Musk's public antics about it, up to embracing Putin's goals in the war.
A particular sticking point is the popular opinion that SpaceX or Musk himself were funding the program out of the goodness of their hearts. Absolutely not and the article details both some of the other funding and the tragedy of Starlink severing service as leverage to get more payments from the US government.
In the ensuing months, fund-raising in Silicon Valley’s Ukrainian community, contracts with the U.S. Agency for International Development and with European governments, and pro-bono contributions from SpaceX facilitated the transfer of thousands of Starlink units to Ukraine.What's not mentioned there is various NGOs also contributed significant funding. SpaceX has contributed too, it's not nothing. But it's definitely not all of it.
posted by Nelson at 9:24 AM on August 21, 2023 [15 favorites]
having rich family members that don't like you put you at risk.
posted by MonsieurPEB at 9:26 AM on August 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by MonsieurPEB at 9:26 AM on August 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
Of all Musk’s enterprises, SpaceX may be the one that most fundamentally reflects his appetite for risk.
It's easy to take extremely risky positions when it's someone else's money. Musk's sole talent is the ability to soak up billions in government spending.
posted by Dark Messiah at 9:33 AM on August 21, 2023 [15 favorites]
It's easy to take extremely risky positions when it's someone else's money. Musk's sole talent is the ability to soak up billions in government spending.
posted by Dark Messiah at 9:33 AM on August 21, 2023 [15 favorites]
If we're going to be nationalizing core infrastructure the communication satellites and the car charger network are better choices.
I figure if we take X away from him and he doesn't whine too much, then we can forcibly divest him of StarLink and the Tesla Network.
Considering there's reports of people who pay outright for their cars getting them repossessed because the business unit is such a bunch of nitwits they can't mark them as "fully paid" properly, taking the car company and the space company away from him is probably for the best, too.
posted by mephron at 9:40 AM on August 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
I figure if we take X away from him and he doesn't whine too much, then we can forcibly divest him of StarLink and the Tesla Network.
Considering there's reports of people who pay outright for their cars getting them repossessed because the business unit is such a bunch of nitwits they can't mark them as "fully paid" properly, taking the car company and the space company away from him is probably for the best, too.
posted by mephron at 9:40 AM on August 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
Billionaires conduct their business affairs in the United States with our implied consent, which is unfortunately often freely given. (Or subsidized by us, but leave that for a moment.)
Musk's assets are war materiel, at least those portions supporting a conflict between nation-states, however indirect or "unofficial". If we're serious about taking on the threat of Russia, and about protecting the lives involved in that fight, we would put a hard squeeze on Musk's various economic interests and not treat him with kid gloves, if he gets in the way of conducting that mission.
Similarly with Zuckerberg, whose Facebook company is withholding its services in Canada, because he does not want to pay news outlets to license their content. This leaves people evacuating fire-afflicted areas in western and northern Canada with fewer abilities to share critical life-saving information. Facebook operates in Canada and other countries only because we allow them to.
We can rein in the Musks and the Zuckerbergs; they are not indispensable in the operation of their respective companies. But it will take will and courage to face existential threats (climate crisis, war, etc.) with the seriousness those challenges present, and to deal appropriately with racketeers who impede fights against those threats.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 9:45 AM on August 21, 2023 [14 favorites]
Musk's assets are war materiel, at least those portions supporting a conflict between nation-states, however indirect or "unofficial". If we're serious about taking on the threat of Russia, and about protecting the lives involved in that fight, we would put a hard squeeze on Musk's various economic interests and not treat him with kid gloves, if he gets in the way of conducting that mission.
Similarly with Zuckerberg, whose Facebook company is withholding its services in Canada, because he does not want to pay news outlets to license their content. This leaves people evacuating fire-afflicted areas in western and northern Canada with fewer abilities to share critical life-saving information. Facebook operates in Canada and other countries only because we allow them to.
We can rein in the Musks and the Zuckerbergs; they are not indispensable in the operation of their respective companies. But it will take will and courage to face existential threats (climate crisis, war, etc.) with the seriousness those challenges present, and to deal appropriately with racketeers who impede fights against those threats.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 9:45 AM on August 21, 2023 [14 favorites]
Musk's sole talent is the ability to soak up billions in government spending.While successfully marketing himself as some libertarian hero out of a 90s sci-fi novel backstory. This touches on the way he’s getting credit for helping Ukraine as some kind of philanthropist rather than being a government contractor, and the same is true of Tesla’s heavy reliance on government clean energy programs.
posted by adamsc at 9:59 AM on August 21, 2023 [8 favorites]
This leaves people evacuating fire-afflicted areas in western and northern Canada with fewer abilities to share critical life-saving information. Facebook operates in Canada and other countries only because we allow them to.
Part of the problem is having life-critical things tied to a system that was not designed with life criticality in mind.
Using the wrong tool isn't the fault of The Zuck.
We can rein in the Musks and the Zuckerbergs; they are not indispensable in the operation of their respective companies.
Changing the head of abusive corps doesn't change they are abusive corps.
The direction of low visibility hands will make sure the abuse happens.
posted by rough ashlar at 10:21 AM on August 21, 2023 [5 favorites]
Part of the problem is having life-critical things tied to a system that was not designed with life criticality in mind.
Using the wrong tool isn't the fault of The Zuck.
We can rein in the Musks and the Zuckerbergs; they are not indispensable in the operation of their respective companies.
Changing the head of abusive corps doesn't change they are abusive corps.
The direction of low visibility hands will make sure the abuse happens.
posted by rough ashlar at 10:21 AM on August 21, 2023 [5 favorites]
I guess I don't really buy the framing of the article. You're telling me that the US military and intelligence complex, with all of its vast and terrible power and historically-proven willingness to use that power to get what it wants, has no recourse but to politely go hat in hand to a single rich guy for critical national security needs? I feel like this is just the public story they have to tell the press while they keep a sniper laser sight trained on Musk at all times. Even without that kind of coercion, as noted above he's just as tied to the US government as the US government is to him. I don't see how he's not being pulled aside and being told to cooperate or the funding is over and every regulatory and investigative agency in the universe is going to come down on him and his enterprises like a nuclear strike.
posted by star gentle uterus at 10:40 AM on August 21, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by star gentle uterus at 10:40 AM on August 21, 2023 [9 favorites]
Part of the problem is having life-critical things tied to a system that was not designed with life criticality in mind.
Maybe, but social networks are built on a system that was initially designed for life-critical information sharing (initially ARPANET and then later the "Internets"). And even if the backbone is largely privatized, that doesn't necessarily need to remain the case, or we can set up "grey areas" where some private companies are given license to operate in exchange for providing important public services, like telcoms that are legally mandated to provide 911 emergency services.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:47 AM on August 21, 2023 [6 favorites]
Maybe, but social networks are built on a system that was initially designed for life-critical information sharing (initially ARPANET and then later the "Internets"). And even if the backbone is largely privatized, that doesn't necessarily need to remain the case, or we can set up "grey areas" where some private companies are given license to operate in exchange for providing important public services, like telcoms that are legally mandated to provide 911 emergency services.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:47 AM on August 21, 2023 [6 favorites]
You're telling me that the US military and intelligence complex, with all of its vast and terrible power and historically-proven willingness to use that power to get what it wants, has no recourse but to politely go hat in hand to a single rich guy for critical national security needs?
It's a gray enough area that the government probably feels that given the particular asshole involved, the kids glove approach is the easiest/least painful. But I think the response should have been to tell him that Starlink was now official defense infrastructure.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:53 AM on August 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
It's a gray enough area that the government probably feels that given the particular asshole involved, the kids glove approach is the easiest/least painful. But I think the response should have been to tell him that Starlink was now official defense infrastructure.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:53 AM on August 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
Now do Bill Gates.
posted by notned at 10:56 AM on August 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by notned at 10:56 AM on August 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
Gates has historically been much more adept at hiring the Designated Asshole instead of conspicuously being that.
posted by flabdablet at 11:05 AM on August 21, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by flabdablet at 11:05 AM on August 21, 2023 [4 favorites]
"He later transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with degrees in economics and physics."
I swear I remember reading a debunking of the physics degree story back around the time he bought Twitter. Like, he likes to claim he has one but he doesn't.
posted by dnash at 12:06 PM on August 21, 2023 [7 favorites]
I swear I remember reading a debunking of the physics degree story back around the time he bought Twitter. Like, he likes to claim he has one but he doesn't.
posted by dnash at 12:06 PM on August 21, 2023 [7 favorites]
The Biden folks and the Pentagon are being too nice. They should have sent in an army of lawyers to tell Musk how he doesn’t have any power here.
posted by interogative mood at 12:17 PM on August 21, 2023
posted by interogative mood at 12:17 PM on August 21, 2023
It is like the Pentagon official hasn’t heard of the Logan Act or the Defense Production Act.
posted by interogative mood at 12:20 PM on August 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by interogative mood at 12:20 PM on August 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
You're telling me that the US military and intelligence complex, with all of its vast and terrible power and historically-proven willingness to use that power to get what it wants, has no recourse but to politely go hat in hand to a single rich guy for critical national security needs?
I'd be willing to say that. Yes, the military has bombs the average person can't get, and vehicles to carry specialized equipment that can outperform the civilian sector, and it has trained manpower available, but telecom/mapping/internet infrastructure? Nah. it's lesser than the civilian sector, and that's why it's generally requested when using federal money to build civilian access, or they sign contracts with private groups to get either preferential access or at least shared access.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:17 PM on August 21, 2023
I'd be willing to say that. Yes, the military has bombs the average person can't get, and vehicles to carry specialized equipment that can outperform the civilian sector, and it has trained manpower available, but telecom/mapping/internet infrastructure? Nah. it's lesser than the civilian sector, and that's why it's generally requested when using federal money to build civilian access, or they sign contracts with private groups to get either preferential access or at least shared access.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:17 PM on August 21, 2023
noticed (editor of newsletter NextDraft) Dave Pell's take:
(This is a really interesting article, but I quibble with the title. Even though Musk loves to throw shade, none of this is happening in the shadows. For a person with these personality traits who has become the poster child for people who can’t stop posting, that would take the fun out of it. No, Musk is a power broker make for our era—one who operates not in the shadows but while taking a never-ending selfie.)
..although many of us SpaceX fans would rather some of the x's (hmm "tweets" worked better) were sent to the bitbucket.
posted by sammyo at 1:21 PM on August 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
(This is a really interesting article, but I quibble with the title. Even though Musk loves to throw shade, none of this is happening in the shadows. For a person with these personality traits who has become the poster child for people who can’t stop posting, that would take the fun out of it. No, Musk is a power broker make for our era—one who operates not in the shadows but while taking a never-ending selfie.)
..although many of us SpaceX fans would rather some of the x's (hmm "tweets" worked better) were sent to the bitbucket.
posted by sammyo at 1:21 PM on August 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
It is like the Pentagon official hasn’t heard of the Logan Act or the Defense Production Act.
That would work to puncture the myth of 'space isn't for da war'n' and how the US of A isn't a fascist state via the blending of corporate/government power as has been attributed to Mussolini. It wouid also dispel the myth about how corps are not under the control of the government like in them other less superior nations.
The very cozy relationship of Government to Corporations is the corps gather data, sell it to whomever and one of the parties with a checkbook is the government thus avoiding all kinds of Constitutional issues. To take the big stick of Government and wack, say, Elon can upset this wink and a nod which goes on so don't expect much of a change.
posted by rough ashlar at 1:31 PM on August 21, 2023
That would work to puncture the myth of 'space isn't for da war'n' and how the US of A isn't a fascist state via the blending of corporate/government power as has been attributed to Mussolini. It wouid also dispel the myth about how corps are not under the control of the government like in them other less superior nations.
The very cozy relationship of Government to Corporations is the corps gather data, sell it to whomever and one of the parties with a checkbook is the government thus avoiding all kinds of Constitutional issues. To take the big stick of Government and wack, say, Elon can upset this wink and a nod which goes on so don't expect much of a change.
posted by rough ashlar at 1:31 PM on August 21, 2023
The Logan Act prohibits private citizens from conducting independent foreign policy. It has nothing to do with fascism. It goes back to 1798 act. You also seem confused on the US position regarding the military in space. We’ve long used it for military purposes focused on communications and remote observation. We have a whole branch of the military for it now. We have only agreed that we won’t put nukes or other WMD’s up there.
posted by interogative mood at 2:07 PM on August 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by interogative mood at 2:07 PM on August 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
Christ, what an asshole.
posted by obloquy at 2:09 PM on August 21, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by obloquy at 2:09 PM on August 21, 2023 [8 favorites]
Please don't nationalize Twitter. I don't think any of the problems with it get better if it becomes undeniably a State Actor.
posted by Navelgazer at 2:30 PM on August 21, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by Navelgazer at 2:30 PM on August 21, 2023 [4 favorites]
The discussion of Starlink was particularly interesting and Ronan Farrow tried to do a balanced assessment and I could kinda see it if I squinted very hard until the quote from someone willing to be quoted who said that Musk genuinely wants to save the world (by going to Mars? wut?) but he (Musk) wants to be the only person in charge making all of the decisions. As someone noted above, not in the shadows but in broad daylight. There were some new things I didn't know about his behavior during the Starlink-I'm-gonna-take-it away debacle; no unelected person should have that kind of power. He's a megalomaniac with technology that is his alone, and hates government regulation but is perfectly content to take money from the government to fund everything he does.
posted by bluesky43 at 2:34 PM on August 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by bluesky43 at 2:34 PM on August 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
PlanetLabs' imaging constellation has also been important to Ukraine's defense, and they managed to navigate that without making headlines over whether or not they got paid for it or which uses it could be put to.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 2:38 PM on August 21, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 2:38 PM on August 21, 2023 [6 favorites]
If anyone is looking for a drag name, let me suggest "Sissy SpaceX."
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:16 PM on August 21, 2023 [26 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:16 PM on August 21, 2023 [26 favorites]
Please don't nationalize Twitter. I don't think any of the problems with it get better if it becomes undeniably a State Actor.
Alternative approach: encourage government and educational bodies to set up their own federated social media instances.
posted by Artw at 3:27 PM on August 21, 2023 [6 favorites]
Alternative approach: encourage government and educational bodies to set up their own federated social media instances.
posted by Artw at 3:27 PM on August 21, 2023 [6 favorites]
For those interested in the Starlink / Ukraine stuff, NYT's The Daily did an episode on it that's worth a listen.
posted by dobbs at 3:33 PM on August 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by dobbs at 3:33 PM on August 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
some of the x's (hmm "tweets" worked better)
I think just keeping on calling Twitter Twitter and tweets tweets will work fine for the foreseeable future.
Suppose they gave a rebranding and nobody came?
posted by flabdablet at 11:02 PM on August 21, 2023 [9 favorites]
I think just keeping on calling Twitter Twitter and tweets tweets will work fine for the foreseeable future.
Suppose they gave a rebranding and nobody came?
posted by flabdablet at 11:02 PM on August 21, 2023 [9 favorites]
"He later transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with degrees in economics and physics."
I swear I remember reading a debunking of the physics degree story back around the time he bought Twitter. Like, he likes to claim he has one but he doesn't.--dnash
It is all very confusing, and I won't go down that rathole, but in the end, the University of Pennsylvania is saying that they did award him a physics degree. You can check Snopes for some details.
posted by eye of newt at 11:09 PM on August 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
I swear I remember reading a debunking of the physics degree story back around the time he bought Twitter. Like, he likes to claim he has one but he doesn't.--dnash
It is all very confusing, and I won't go down that rathole, but in the end, the University of Pennsylvania is saying that they did award him a physics degree. You can check Snopes for some details.
posted by eye of newt at 11:09 PM on August 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
I think just keeping on calling Twitter Twitter and tweets tweets will work fine for the foreseeable
For sure.
There is only one X•COM I recognize and it supports it’s engineering staff (in making plasma guns to shoot aliens).
posted by Artw at 6:32 AM on August 22, 2023 [5 favorites]
For sure.
There is only one X•COM I recognize and it supports it’s engineering staff (in making plasma guns to shoot aliens).
posted by Artw at 6:32 AM on August 22, 2023 [5 favorites]
I won't go down that rathole
I will. Here's the original Xitter thread showing that he does not in fact have a printed and signed degree that says "physics" on it. He has an economics BS and a BA which does not specifiy the field study.
He'd actually left University of Pennsylvia in 1995 and had been in California for 2 years when his University of Pennsylvania degrees were awarded. He says it's because he hadn't fulfilled a couple of gen ed requrements, but that those requirements were later dropped. It also seems like he would have needed those degrees, though, to get an H-1B visa to stay in the US, and that between 1995 and 1997 he did not have the degrees. So it kinda seems like he could not really have been in the US legally, not being a student anymore, and not qualifying for an H-1B. He also could not have started a PhD program at Stanford in 1995 (as he has claimed) without having gotten those degrees... So he may not be telling the truth about having enrolled there and dropped out.
Snopes says:
He (now) has a physics degree because the university says that he does, but he himself acknowledges that some of the requirements were waived, not met. And it's still not clear to me whether the university considered that BA to be a physics BA back in 1997, or only decided that's what it was years later, after he'd made some generous donations. Some of those requirements may have been waived even more than two years after the fact.
posted by OnceUponATime at 6:45 AM on August 22, 2023 [8 favorites]
I will. Here's the original Xitter thread showing that he does not in fact have a printed and signed degree that says "physics" on it. He has an economics BS and a BA which does not specifiy the field study.
He'd actually left University of Pennsylvia in 1995 and had been in California for 2 years when his University of Pennsylvania degrees were awarded. He says it's because he hadn't fulfilled a couple of gen ed requrements, but that those requirements were later dropped. It also seems like he would have needed those degrees, though, to get an H-1B visa to stay in the US, and that between 1995 and 1997 he did not have the degrees. So it kinda seems like he could not really have been in the US legally, not being a student anymore, and not qualifying for an H-1B. He also could not have started a PhD program at Stanford in 1995 (as he has claimed) without having gotten those degrees... So he may not be telling the truth about having enrolled there and dropped out.
Snopes says:
The university's public affairs office stated that: 'Elon Musk earned a B.A. in physics and a B.S. in economics (concentrations: finance and entrepreneurial management) from the University of Pennsylvania. The degrees were awarded on May 19, 1997.'So he has definitely at least lied about when he got his degrees, which may have impacted his immigration status and enrollment history.
Musk's past statements about his educational background, however, have been, at best, imprecise. He has claimed on several occasions to have received a physics degree in 1995 — a claim that was never fully true but which may have aided Musk's early business career.
He (now) has a physics degree because the university says that he does, but he himself acknowledges that some of the requirements were waived, not met. And it's still not clear to me whether the university considered that BA to be a physics BA back in 1997, or only decided that's what it was years later, after he'd made some generous donations. Some of those requirements may have been waived even more than two years after the fact.
posted by OnceUponATime at 6:45 AM on August 22, 2023 [8 favorites]
For those that think nationalizing Twitter is a good idea, I hope you like your social media with an extra helping of pro-Nazi content. Twitter the privately held corporation can censor the Nazis, and it's not a freedom of speech issue, no matter how much the MAGA crowd claims otherwise. However, they'll have a very valid point if it's the government censoring the pro-Nazi content.
posted by COD at 8:12 AM on August 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by COD at 8:12 AM on August 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
'Elon Musk earned a B.A. in physics and a B.S. in economics (concentrations: finance and entrepreneurial management) from the University of Pennsylvania. The degrees were awarded on May 19, 1997.’Yet another example of why we need more humanities education. This manchild seems to have no sense at all of the arc of history or of the complexities of humanity. Everything he “knows” about humanity seems to come from sort of half-absorbed sci-fi atmosphere. sigh.
posted by nothing.especially.clever at 9:40 AM on August 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
TBH I think most degrees granted to people from inherited wealth can probably just be ignored as indicators of merit.
posted by Artw at 9:43 AM on August 22, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Artw at 9:43 AM on August 22, 2023 [6 favorites]
China is launching its own Starlink competitor. I think the US should build its own national system or nationalize Starlink.
posted by interogative mood at 10:42 AM on August 22, 2023
posted by interogative mood at 10:42 AM on August 22, 2023
China is launching its own Starlink competitor
So's Amazon
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 12:01 PM on August 22, 2023
So's Amazon
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 12:01 PM on August 22, 2023
With these Starlink competitors it's worth focusing on "launching" as the operative word. Neither is, in fact, launching service nor even satellites yet. Amazon's Project Kuiper keeps getting delayed. CASIC, the Chinese company, may start launching VLEO satellites for this service in December. OneWeb is the competitor closest to having a real service. They had a long delay after the unfortunate choice of relying on Russian launch services. But they finally started launching a few satellites on SpaceX rockets. They're not operational yet and are only providing backhaul to large companies, not individual users like Starlink does.
All this discussion of the US nationalizing Musk's enterprises is well and good but isn't acknowledging that the US preferred path these days is private development. And that decision is looking pretty good in the case of SpaceX, no one thinks the old NASA system could produce this volume of rocket launches at this price. Lots of tradeoffs in that decision but it's really a different way. It's a shame the guy in charge of SpaceX is an awful person often at odds with US strategic goals.
posted by Nelson at 12:26 PM on August 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
All this discussion of the US nationalizing Musk's enterprises is well and good but isn't acknowledging that the US preferred path these days is private development. And that decision is looking pretty good in the case of SpaceX, no one thinks the old NASA system could produce this volume of rocket launches at this price. Lots of tradeoffs in that decision but it's really a different way. It's a shame the guy in charge of SpaceX is an awful person often at odds with US strategic goals.
posted by Nelson at 12:26 PM on August 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
Oh and NASA is giving him a bunch of money to fly stuff (and people?) to the moon on his exploding rocket, once he’s devastated enough wetlands to get it right.
posted by Artw at 12:36 PM on August 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 12:36 PM on August 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
Apparently even his own cars don't like him as an FSD Tesla tries to drive into oncoming traffic with Musk 'behind the wheel'.
posted by NoxAeternum at 3:33 PM on August 28, 2023
posted by NoxAeternum at 3:33 PM on August 28, 2023
And in scumbaggery today, Musk calls for boycotting a law firm for having the temerity to argue that the homeless are people who have rights:
posted by NoxAeternum at 7:43 AM on August 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
“Let’s ask our companies to cease all work with @lathamwatkins,” Musk tweeted in reply to Tan on Friday.Just...what the fuck?
“They want war? Let’s give it to them. We cannot let these snakes win or San Francisco will end up like Detroit,” Musk tweeted in a separate reply to Tan on Saturday.
posted by NoxAeternum at 7:43 AM on August 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
Yesterday Musk also endorsed this Tucker Carlson interview with Viktor Orban where they causally discuss Hungary's ethnofascist policies. Specifically Orban's efforts to ensure an ethnically pure Hungary. All tied back to Musk's obsession with birth rates of white people.
(I feel like pointing out all the awful things Musk says is a never ending, thankless task. The Augean Stables of Internet commentary. But here we are.)
posted by Nelson at 8:20 AM on August 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
(I feel like pointing out all the awful things Musk says is a never ending, thankless task. The Augean Stables of Internet commentary. But here we are.)
posted by Nelson at 8:20 AM on August 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
Every so often someone tries to argue it’s not so bad, or it’s ignorable, or you can’t *really* call him far right or he’s only occasionally accidentally racist, so it remains worth pointing these things out.
posted by Artw at 8:25 AM on August 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by Artw at 8:25 AM on August 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
Another way to look at that is that Musk is angry that Latham and Watkins successfully argued on behalf of a non-profit to blocked San Fransisco from enforcing its street scape ordinances against some poor people. Just a few days after he himself got busted for breaking the street scape ordinances. Pathetic.
posted by interogative mood at 12:16 PM on August 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by interogative mood at 12:16 PM on August 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
Also, Walter Issacson, Musk's personal biographer, has out a excerpt from his Musk biography where he deadnames Musk's daughter.
posted by NoxAeternum at 12:32 PM on August 31, 2023
posted by NoxAeternum at 12:32 PM on August 31, 2023
Just...what the fuck?
Today, the accelerating de-education of humanity has reached a point where the market for pseudophilosophy is vanishing; it is, as The Kids Say These Days, tl;dr. All that is left is the core proposition itself — backed up, no longer by misdirection and sophistry, but by violence.posted by flabdablet at 9:21 PM on August 31, 2023
So anyway… Elon Musk Wades Deeper into Antisemitic Propaganda
posted by Artw at 4:17 PM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 4:17 PM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
What are these mouthbreathers going to do when the 93 year old Soros dies? Who gets to be their next supervillain? Zuck?
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:13 PM on September 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:13 PM on September 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
Won't be Zuck. Elon wouldn't be frightened of getting in a MMA cage with Soros.
posted by flabdablet at 1:40 AM on September 2, 2023
posted by flabdablet at 1:40 AM on September 2, 2023
snuffleupagus My bet is they just find another Jewish billionaire and just start blaming everything on him. Antiesmitism isn't very creative.
posted by sotonohito at 5:01 AM on September 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by sotonohito at 5:01 AM on September 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
It’ll probably take a decade or more for them to acknowledge he’s actually dead.
posted by Artw at 7:09 AM on September 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 7:09 AM on September 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
Musk is apparently going to take a vote on whether the Anti-Defamation League is allowed on his free speech platform. In a followup tweet he shares the news that you will soon have to pay to be able to vote on Twitter.
All of this voting stuff may turn out to be a lie, like before. But the idea of putting a Jewish group to a public vote of people who paid $8 is just monstrous.
posted by Nelson at 7:43 AM on September 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
All of this voting stuff may turn out to be a lie, like before. But the idea of putting a Jewish group to a public vote of people who paid $8 is just monstrous.
posted by Nelson at 7:43 AM on September 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
New Musk biography offers fresh details about the billionaire’s Ukraine dilemma
posted by Nelson at 8:54 AM on September 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
Elon Musk secretly ordered his engineers to turn off his company’s Starlink satellite communications network near the Crimean coast last year to disrupt a Ukrainian sneak attack on the Russian naval fleet, according to an excerpt adapted from Walter Isaacson’s new biography of the eccentric billionaire titled “Elon Musk.”That is seriously fucked up.
As Ukrainian submarine drones strapped with explosives approached the Russian fleet, they “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly,” Isaacson writes.
Musk’s decision, which left Ukrainian officials begging him to turn the satellites back on, was driven by an acute fear that Russia would respond to a Ukrainian attack on Crimea with nuclear weapons, a fear driven home by Musk’s conversations with senior Russian officials, according to Isaacson, whose new book is set to be released by Simon & Schuster on September 12.
posted by Nelson at 8:54 AM on September 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
Elon Musk secretly ordered his engineers to turn off his company’s Starlink satellite communications network near the Crimean coast last year to disrupt a Ukrainian sneak attack on the Russian naval fleet, according to an excerpt adapted from Walter Isaacson’s new biography of the eccentric billionaire titled “Elon Musk.”
posted by Artw at 8:55 AM on September 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 8:55 AM on September 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
Ah, I see we have that.
posted by Artw at 8:56 AM on September 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 8:56 AM on September 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
Musk’s decision [...] was driven by an acute fear that Russia would respond to a Ukrainian attack on Crimea with nuclear weapons, a fear driven home by Musk’s conversations with senior Russian officials
So it seems like at minimum, either:
1) Russian intelligence managed to successfully psyop Musk (who they no doubt profiled as an easily-manipulated mark with delusions of grandeur) into sabotaging Ukraine's operation by sending him nuclear threats via some public communications channel
OR
2) Musk's been talking to Moscow through some unspecified channel the whole time he's been supplying internet to Ukraine.
I feel like this is a strong argument for immediately nationalizing Starlink, and getting Musk on record as to exactly what kind of information was going back and forth between him and his Russian interlocutors.
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:07 AM on September 7, 2023 [6 favorites]
So it seems like at minimum, either:
1) Russian intelligence managed to successfully psyop Musk (who they no doubt profiled as an easily-manipulated mark with delusions of grandeur) into sabotaging Ukraine's operation by sending him nuclear threats via some public communications channel
OR
2) Musk's been talking to Moscow through some unspecified channel the whole time he's been supplying internet to Ukraine.
I feel like this is a strong argument for immediately nationalizing Starlink, and getting Musk on record as to exactly what kind of information was going back and forth between him and his Russian interlocutors.
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:07 AM on September 7, 2023 [6 favorites]
This was about the time last year when Musk was reportedly talking directly to Putin. One result of that was Musk casually suggesting that if Ukraine just handed over a bunch of its territory, maybe Russia would be nice and stop attacking their civilians.
The Logan Act becomes relevant here.
posted by Nelson at 11:25 AM on September 7, 2023 [6 favorites]
The Logan Act becomes relevant here.
posted by Nelson at 11:25 AM on September 7, 2023 [6 favorites]
Fiona Hill called it almost a year ago:
posted by Strange Interlude at 12:34 PM on September 7, 2023 [5 favorites]
“Putin plays the egos of big men, gives them a sense that they can play a role. But in reality, they’re just direct transmitters of messages from Vladimir Putin,” Hill says.(article found via this reply on Mastodon)
posted by Strange Interlude at 12:34 PM on September 7, 2023 [5 favorites]
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posted by snuffleupagus at 9:07 AM on August 21, 2023 [1 favorite]