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1106 points sama | 5 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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tehchromic ◴[] No.12508886[source]
What's interesting about a savant is how they can end up defined by what they don't see. I have nothing but respect for Elon, however I think he is working on the wrong problems. That's not his fault and he is most definitely making his best effort. However he's the paragon of a paradigm of a European culture which is as unsustainable as it is powerful.
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1. hx87 ◴[] No.12509028[source]
So what are the right problems to work on, and what paradigms are more sustainable than European culture?
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2. Plough_Jogger ◴[] No.12511642[source]
Also, worth noting that he was born in South Africa.
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3. tehchromic ◴[] No.12515935[source]
I am not sure that all European cultural paradigms are unsustainable, but I said that the one Elon is working under seems to me to be. I think Elon is doing the best he can working on the problems that are available for him to work on.

To me, one wrong problem is anything that perpetuates the automobile/road system as is. I think the whole thing needs to be completely rebuilt.

To me the enormity of our problems from a sustainability standpoint are so great that anything but a massive mobilization and shift in our way of life is arranging deck chairs on the titanic.

I think that religion was a science of mobilizing public opinion, and I think science has replaced it, and has yet to do as good a job, and has yet to recognize that fact.

I think the right problem is how to manage mass social/cultural change in a very brief period of time.

I'll say again, Elon is doing a fantastic job within the paradigm of our current industrialized cultural norms, which says that we can keep on with business as usual and make some adjustments to our systems ... but I think it's not enough by an order of magnitude, and so that's why I think minds like Elon's should be working on manufacturing a social/cultural reality that prepares us for a huge change in lifestyle.

To me that's a problem of social engineering, same as religion, and same as building a company, and Elon excels at it.

4. tehchromic ◴[] No.12515942[source]
A perfect example of unsustainable European cultural paradigm!
5. tehchromic ◴[] No.12516163[source]
More to the point: if I had Elon's advantages and talent, I would have begun with a more humble product and system, and taken on trains - not hyperloop, but freight and communter. Our trains are a system that's ripe for a revolution, and really potentially paradigm shifting.

However none of what I say makes sense if you've been stuffed with all the typical narratives and have not developed your imagination or your sense of history.