Elon Musk and AI are (arguably) the two biggest factors that will be impacting mankind in 2025. I am more optimistic about the impact the former will have, than of the latter's.
Tesla (without which the incumbents would have probably never gathered enough resolve to move away from combustion engines to EV). Space X (dramatically lowered the price of space launches). Twitter (a platform that offers a different angle, whether you agree with it or not). Starlink (resilient Internet). And last but not least, an engaging vision for the future of mankind: colonizing Mars. Something to look forward to, something uplifting to dream of.
Put all these in the balance whenever you stumble upon something he does or says that you disagree with. I personally strongly dislike his re-branding of Twitter as stupid "X" but that is such a minor peeve when all things are considered.
Let that sink in.
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I share your optimism about Musk! Though re. what you wrote to Nauditt, I wouldn't assume these people have merely not considered. I think they're engaging in a dumbified stoking of the fire and war-making of the "us good, him bad" kind. It's the same with Habeck on the cover of Der Spiegel saying hands off our freedom, Mr. Musk. As the general(ly disinterested) public, I don't need to read the contents. It's been made clear from the get-go who the baddie is and though I try to temper a proclivity for conspiracy theories, I do think these so-called good guys are the underlings of the very powerful people Musk himself appears to be challenging..
So, have they considered Musk is trying to save Europe? Yes, I'd say. Maybe that's why they're fighting him so hard. 🤔
Just a thought. Thanks for the sink-smile. :D Happy New Year, Sorin!
Happy New Year to you and to all my readers!
When I look around, there are so many mediocre, shortsighted people, that I tend to think that rather than a group of "very powerful people" acting consciously and with determination, we are under the spell of a self-reinforcing system where everybody acts according to impulses harking back to deep human nature and looks after their own best interest. In this system of ours some people have more power than others and they work relentlessly to maintain and increase their power. The result is a Europe that is going down the drain, and a western civilization that is fraying and splintering.
As often in history, to change tack it's useful to have "larger-than-nature" strong willed men: Gilgamesh, Ramses III, Alexander the Great, Caesar, Napoleon, Churchill ... and today Musk
I don't buy into the theory that everything is controlled by a small group of very smart, very rich people either (I think we're too chaotic for that and there's too much room for error), but I do think there are those who have wiggled enough power to control some others towards their own selfish needs and desires and that people thinking they're doing good and walking the righteous path risk falling under their sway. I think some of these politicians opposing Musk genuinely believe they're doing good, but I think they're like us only human and may be influenced by people knowingly doing evil.
I also think it's a strong selling point for politicians to take an anti-Musk stance since a lot of young people seem to think he's the Devil incarnate for some reason or another (mostly propaganda imo) so there must be some short-sighted as you said public figures thinking less in terms of "will this benefit the greater good of our Europe" and more "will this make me popular".
He's certainly one of a kind and the next four years promise to be very interesting, indeed. Something to be optimistic about, for sure, that such people do manage to reach such high places .
He is also big in the AI game through xAI. And he was there from the beginning as a co-founder (and funder) of OpenAI, before he and Altman had different opinions and went on separate ways.