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Elon Musk on How to Build the Future

(www.ycombinator.com)
1106 points sama | 3 comments | 15 Sep 16 18:05 UTC | HN request time: 0.648s | source
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iMuzz ◴[15 Sep 16 18:20 UTC] No.12508474[source]▶
Question/Answer I found interesting:

Sama> How should someone figure out how they should be useful?

Elon> Whatever this thing is you are trying to create.. What would be the utility delta compared to the current state of the art times how many people it would affect?

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Paul_S ◴[15 Sep 16 22:31 UTC] No.12510398[source]▶
What about all the people working in marketing, software patent lawyers, drug dealers? You want them to quit their jobs?

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Let me make my point in a less obtuse way. Most people make decisions about their careers based on opportunity and maximising profit. No one becomes a footballer to make the world a better place. This would all be fine as long as the capitalist market rewarded choices that make the world a better place. Obviously it does not and it's not the fault of a footballer that we as a civilisation choose to channel our available resources their way and not towards frivolous play like space exploration.

If anyone ever figures out a way to make the free market choose the greater good they will win all the Nobel prizes forever (we won't need Nobel prizes after that).

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jimbokun ◴[15 Sep 16 23:53 UTC] No.12510866[source]▶
"No one becomes a footballer to make the world a better place."

Maybe not, but Messi increases the happiness delta a lot for many, many people. I think the world is a much better place with him as a footballer than an accountant or something.

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colin725 ◴[15 Sep 16 23:59 UTC] No.12510900[source]▶
Are you sure the net happiness from football was really raised by Messi or did he simply shift it to his county and teams he plays for? If you take away his great play doesn't it just make other players stick out more, and fans would derive happiness from other players?
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jimbokun ◴[16 Sep 16 01:58 UTC] No.12511412[source]▶
He raises the net happiness. He does things no one else does and is a joy to watch. It's like saying if a great musician never lived people would just listen to different music. Sure, but there would be a certain joy and pleasure people never would have experienced, and never realized they were missing.
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1. WWKong ◴[16 Sep 16 04:59 UTC] No.12511942[source]▶
If they never realized they were missing something, then nothing was lost. Net happiness = same level.
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2. canicode ◴[16 Sep 16 12:19 UTC] No.12513483[source]▶
You could say that for just about anything, including Tesla...
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3. Theodores ◴[16 Sep 16 16:50 UTC] No.12515334[source]▶
Tesla make a lot of people happy but there must be accountants at Jaguar, BMW etc. who have not enjoyed losing sales to the California start up. However there are many happy Tesla customers and only a small handful of motor company accountants. Obviously there are sales staff too plus suits in the oil companies who have been pained by Tesla, but still the balance is a net happy one. Compare with Tony Blair, makes his business cronies happy but inflicts more misery.

Footballers do have a connection with their fans and it is their admiration that is sought far more than money. So they are very much in it to bring happiness to the world, to put on the show. I don't see them working for free though.