Even though I'm not an elon fan, pretending to not notice for political reasons (not to mention the insane halving of launches at Vandenberg AFB) is completely insane and damaging to our country.
It's something I constantly wonder about, I strongly believe we should be taxing the absolute shit out of people and working hard to flatten society, but I also worry that we need insane people in power sometimes to get stuff done. Starship (hell, even F9) is an astonishing achievement and there's zero chance that innovation would be possible anywhere except SpaceX or another entity with very strong leadership (Valve or Steve Jobs' Apple if they made rockets)
I'm very curious about this mentality.. Do you beleive that meritocracy leads to better outcomes? Why do you think that the government is better positioned to allocate resources than the people who made the money?
If Elon would have been "Taxed the absolute shit out of" after his sell of Zip 2, he wouldn't have founded paypal. too much tax on the paypal sell, he couldn't invest in Tesla or start SpaceX.
Do you believe that being rich implies merit? I would argue most exceptionally wealthy people are likely to be at or above average intelligence, but the unifying element is luck. Being in the right place at the right time with the right amount of money, and knowing the right people to bring it together.
Very few people have the means to even try to build SpaceX, so it’s hard to say how the average person measures up.
> Why do you think that the government is better positioned to allocate resources than the people who made the money?
I don’t, but I do think letting private citizens fling around “space program” quantities of money is going to end poorly. The state depends on the monopoly on violence to function, and every day we move closer to that monopoly only existing because rich private citizens choose to allow it.
Building a Rods From God platform is not out of Elons reach. I don’t think he would do it, but the potential is concerning to say the least. It would be better to reign that in before it becomes a problem than to wait until it is a problem.
Society devolves to status hierarchies, and the people who climb those most successfully are narcissists and sociopaths.
So there's a default assumption that you have to be that kind of crazy, glib, abusive, exploitative, bullshitter/charlatan to do remarkable things.
Occasionally you get someone who is both narcissistic and exceptionally talented. They get shit done, but they leave a trail of human wreckage behind them.
Sometimes - often - it eventually turns out that it isn't even the right shit.
Meanwhile talent that lacks that narcissistic edge is overlooked and sidelined.
This is cripplingly inefficient, because so much ability is just wasted.
And it's very literally disastrous, because crazy people can't be trusted to have a sane relationship with the physical world or with other humans.
So the problem is engineering effective hierarchies which are reality-based, have enough incentive to reward drive and talent, but exclude - or at least strongly constrain - unhealthy and toxic Cluster B types.
Easy, isn't it?
Hell, let’s do a true meritocracy. Zero inheritance, zero. High quality public schools for all, homeschooling and private schools made illegal. Public and free health insurance, no private options. Keep that line of thought and you might get close to an actual meritocracy.
Musk has not left a trail of human wreckage behind.
Yes.
For example, I've missed at least 4 opportunities to become a billionaire, because I was too stupid to see the obvious in front of my face.
I am the son of a mid-level Air Force officer, and attended public schools. After he passed I sorted through his tax records, and discovered that I made more money my first job out of college than he was making at the time at the end of his career.
Smart people make their own luck. You don't get lucky posting on the internet.
> Very few people have the means to even try to build SpaceX
Musk didn't either - he created a series of companies, each one financed by the success of the previous one.
So for that amount of money, you just killed the startup economy and killed all grand vision projects like SpaceX. Nothing gets off the ground.
Sounds very much like the socialist paradise I live in called Europe. Where the smartest most ambitious people leave for the US.
To some degree, yes. You don't get rich by being incompetent, and even if you get a headstart with an inheritance or endowment you're still going to end up broke if you can't keep making money.
>the unifying element is luck. Being in the right place at the right time with the right amount of money, and knowing the right people to bring it together.
In Japan we say that luck is just another element of your abilities. We also like saying that you don't wait for miracles, you make them yourself.
Considering that Japanese society has a fairly unambitious culture, them saying that should tell you something.
>every day we move closer to that monopoly only existing because rich private citizens choose to allow it.
The US government exists at the pleasure of the people, the US military serves in our interests at our pleasure. Government of the people, by the people, for the people as President Abraham Lincoln once said.
Americans choosing to allow the US government is the system working exactly as intended.
It might not be, mainly because it's corrupt. Secondarily, because popular causes are not always wise. On the flip side though, in theory, government works on consensus, and making money is not the same as merit. Oftentimes, making a lot of money means you took the low road and stole it from a worthy cause, like treating your employees or customers fairly and not swindling them.
In not too many years, the light of human ingenuity will be extinguished. Elon is just in a race against time.
People can be corrupt too - musk redirected Tesla resources to build his glass house
I think we should loosen up those rules so they can, but that does mean some people who aren't rich or sophisticated will lose their money on ill-advised startup investments.
Calling the system of lobbied-for preferences and geographic quotas built into the US immigration system "meritocracy" is...amusing.
P.S. the citizens united ruling in the US opened the floodgates for political corruption on a scale not previously possible. It's been talked about but remains unresolved.
This is a problem statement not a solution. If the stat above is true, then there is obviously something very wrong with that system if they still can't out innovate us.
Modern semiconductor manufacture requires tech from the entire world. China is aiming to replicate pretty much all of it because of sanctions.
While the US and Europe are killing themselves with regulation and DEI, China has been rapidly developing every year and eventually the US is going to get a rude awakening.