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Elon Musk on How to Build the Future

(www.ycombinator.com)
1106 points sama | 1 comments | 15 Sep 16 18:05 UTC | HN request time: 0.238s | source
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djcooley ◴[15 Sep 16 21:09 UTC] No.12509856[source]▶
I have all the respect in the world for what Mr. Musk has accomplished, but it has come at an amazing cost to the people around him.

He is worshiped from afar but reviled by many the closer you get to his inner circle. Go read "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future."

The question I always ask myself with the people who move mountains is what cost did that progress come at? What would someone's spouse, kids, friends, etc. say about the person?

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rwallace ◴[15 Sep 16 23:55 UTC] No.12510876[source]▶
There are any number of people who are far more toxic to those around them without having accomplished any significant progress in the process, so Elon Musk is a poor choice of target for that criticism.
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projektir ◴[16 Sep 16 00:11 UTC] No.12510978[source]▶
I don't know about that, Musk has that effect on some of the best people, and his effect, due to his status, is very strong.

I'm actually highly concerned about Musk's overall effect on society, specifically due to the kind of people he'll have that effect on.

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1. rwallace ◴[16 Sep 16 12:09 UTC] No.12513426[source]▶
Well okay, but there are more constructive ways to put it than the comment I responded to. How about something like, 'while celebrating Musk's achievements, we shouldn't forget that not everything a great man does is worth emulating, e.g. let's not copy the working conditions of SpaceX.'