Ha! Yeah right. So there's obviously zero reason to understand who did what and
who achieved what. So we would be equally effective giving a trillion bucks to
Dr. Phil as we would Musk, because it doesn't matter who did what. Why care
about who gets the credit? Why care who did what? Just pass out the assets
willy nilly. Yeah, that's the ticket. While we're at it, we should defund
historians and burn all the books. No point in storing any of that. We can give
all the resources we burn tracking that junk to Musk and he'll dole it out
appropriately.
On 1/28/22 10:05, Marcus Daniels wrote:
The world isn't fair, yep.
--
It's amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit --
Harry Truman
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* Friam <friam-boun...@redfish.com> on behalf of glen
<geprope...@gmail.com>
*Sent:* Friday, January 28, 2022 11:03 AM
*To:* friam@redfish.com <friam@redfish.com>
*Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Cautionary Tales: CliFi
Right. That's my point. The companies (actually the people in those companies) have
accomplished things. And to whatever extent Musk puts aside his celebrity and does actual
work, he gets credit for that *work*. But it's no different from Winfrey, Paltrow, and
Mercola ... or the anti-vax, vax guy Malone. All these celebrities do both good and bad.
What they have in common is the accumulation of wealth and then the spending of that
wealth in a persnickety and privatized way. As you said, "the government is
dead". So why weren't you facilitating the storming of the capitol? If you feel the
Musks, Trumps, and Winfreys of the world do a better job than agencies like NASA, then
you're in good company with the MAGA crowd. Musk 2024!
On 1/28/22 09:53, Marcus Daniels wrote:
But Musk's companies have accomplished things. Tesla has built great electric
cars with a vast charging network, is doing advanced applied machine learning
work, and developing advanced computing systems. Space X created a cheap
orbital launch capability. You saw the part about them landing rockets? I
think Space X probably really will mass produce reusable massive lift vehicles
and use them to put infrastructure on Mars. I would rather see more Teslas
than GMs.
He's not like Holmes. Sure, for some reason he bought some earth boring
equipment. That one is weird! And he has incomprehensible, probably
nonsensical, politics.
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*From:* Friam <friam-boun...@redfish.com> on behalf of glen
<geprope...@gmail.com>
*Sent:* Friday, January 28, 2022 10:24 AM
*To:* friam@redfish.com <friam@redfish.com>
*Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Cautionary Tales: CliFi
Well, I can't speak for scientists or engineers. But the reason he (and his
kind) are irritating to me is because they amass their wealth spouting bullshit
that dupes people into giving them money. Then, of course, when you spend a
hell of a lot of money, *something* good will come of it. It's like all the
spinoff tech from the Star Wars program.
Citing "Musk" all the time is just more celebrity business networker marketing
nonsense. The good that comes from amassing and spending lots of money comes from the
people who execute, not the celebrity. The celebrity that conned people out of the money
in the first place might be given some credit. But then how do we distinguish between
Musk and, say, Gwyneth Paltrow? Or worse, Musk and quacks like Joseph Mercola? Paltrow
and Mercola have done just as much good for the world as Musk has. Tech dorks simply
deify Musk over Mercola because of their focus on tech. But it's all snake oil. Oprah
Winfrey is a better example, I guess. We can see her conman offspring in Dr. Oz and Dr.
Phil. And the good that's come from that wealth accumulation is, perhaps, clearer than
that from the Star Wars program. But there's plenty of bad there, too. I feel sorry for
those who identify the good that's done with the celebrity, then refuse to identify the
bad that's done with that celebrity.
On 1/28/22 09:05, Marcus Daniels wrote:
I can sort of see why Musk is annoying to scientists because he tends to use
ideas and technology that already exist.
So, what is he really adding? Neuralink is in this category. That company
is making the technology work at a larger scale and at lower power and making
the surgery repeatable. The company (not him) is making it practical and
approaching it like a product. Some scientists are prone to thinking that
engineering is a not a thing or that a product mindset is just superficial.
Or even that money doesn't matter.
I'm less enamored with Musk's futurism than I am appalled at tunnel vision,
overspecialization, and risk aversion of so many others. The annoyance people
have at Musk can only be because they must acknowledge his influence. And
seeing that influence they conclude he is somehow responsible for the world
in the way that, say, Joe Biden is responsible for the world. Or as Feynman
put it, “You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you
ought to accomplish. I have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be.
It's their mistake, not my failing.” What would be the point of being a
billionaire if you couldn't at least be the dork you want to be?
Before Space X had customers and a track record, there were all the NASA old
fogies saying he'd be killing people and he could not possibly do it. Am I
glad to see them so wrong? Yes. It is not because he is the best or some Tony
Stark. It is because they are the worst.
--
glen
Theorem 3. There exists a double master function.
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