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Tim Bray on Grokipedia

(www.tbray.org)
175 points Bogdanp | 15 comments | 31 Oct 25 21:41 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
1. falleng0d ◴[31 Oct 25 22:01 UTC] No.45777175[source]▶
We may joke about it, but the fact is that it's releasing dumb ideas like this that you sometimes get masterpieces. Maybe this one is really just one of the bad ones, but eventually Elon will have some good ones just like he already has.

And a lot of us would be better off releasing our dumb ideas too. The world has a lot of issues and if all you do is talk down and don't try to fix anything yourself. Maybe it's time to get off the web a little and do something else.

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2. tokai ◴[31 Oct 25 22:07 UTC] No.45777219[source]▶
Not even being snarky, but I can't recall a single good idea he had.
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3. happytoexplain ◴[31 Oct 25 22:08 UTC] No.45777229[source]▶
I know the world sucks, but "fuck it, let's make it worse" is a tough sell for anybody not already onboard. You're better off just doing it, rather than trying to convince others to also do it.
4. pavlov ◴[31 Oct 25 22:09 UTC] No.45777231[source]▶
> “Maybe it's time to get off the web a little and do something else.”

One wishes Musk would take this advice: leave the web alone, forget for a few months about the social media popularity contest that seems to occupy his mind 24/7, and focus on rekindling his passion for rockets or roadsters or whatever middle-aged pursuit comes next.

5. podgietaru ◴[31 Oct 25 22:09 UTC] No.45777235[source]▶
He stole a lot of good ideas, does that count?
6. tene80i ◴[31 Oct 25 22:09 UTC] No.45777243[source]▶
Which of Elon’s dumb ideas are masterpieces?
7. pstuart ◴[31 Oct 25 22:11 UTC] No.45777257[source]▶
Perhaps I'm working of a false narrative, but SpaceX and the methodology it uses (simplify everything and fail fast) seems to be coming directly from Elon.

He's a horrible human being but has had a couple worthy ideas.

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8. mlmonkey ◴[31 Oct 25 22:20 UTC] No.45777314[source]▶
Believe it or not, me (not white, did not grow up in the West, had the faintest clue about Nazism) used to do what you would consider a "Nazi salute" when I'd see friends and wave to them from a distance. I don't know how I picked that up but it happened.

I'm not saying that Musk is doing the same; but that one can be charitable and say he probably did not mean that. I mean, what does he stand to gain from doing so? He's a businessman.

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9. exe34 ◴[31 Oct 25 22:24 UTC] No.45777337[source]▶
he bought them.
10. judah ◴[31 Oct 25 22:24 UTC] No.45777344[source]▶
The ADL, the left-wing Jewish human rights group not aligned with Musk in the slightest, called out that Musk's gesture was merely an awkward salutation, not a Nazi seig heil[0].

[0]: https://www.jta.org/2025/01/21/politics/how-did-the-adl-conc...

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11. exe34 ◴[31 Oct 25 22:27 UTC] No.45777383{3}[source]▶
I initially believed his early videos about how he applies the scientific process, with a spreadsheet of the BOM, optimising for specific questions and failing early and all that.

Given his later attitude when it came to careful thought, I'm no longer under the impression that these earlier expositions were his ideas at all. I suspect he got it from the engineers and used it to burnish his image. I know that certain companies, e.g Apple, Dyson, etc have a culture of "all ideas came from the big man at the top, no matter who thought of it."

12. Take8435 ◴[31 Oct 25 22:28 UTC] No.45777388{3}[source]▶
> had the faintest clue about Nazism

Whew lad. This tells me all we need to know. "I don't know nothing but folks gotta listen to my opinion!"

13. exe34 ◴[31 Oct 25 22:29 UTC] No.45777403{3}[source]▶
The left wing Jewish human rights group isn't the arbiter of what a nazi salute is. Actual Nazis around the world took it as a nod towards their ideology, and he's desperately trying to start a civil war in the UK, so I would say it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck.
14. iterateoften ◴[31 Oct 25 22:35 UTC] No.45777453{3}[source]▶
At the time he was acting as the one of the largest political activists and donors for the Republican party, not as a businessman.
15. throw-qqqqq ◴[31 Oct 25 22:41 UTC] No.45777509{3}[source]▶
> I mean, what does he stand to gain from doing so? He's a businessman.

I can only guess at his motives, but the salute is not an isolated case. Steve Bannon has given the same salute multiple times, so it seems coordinated.

Musk has tweeted “Only AfD can save Germany”. The founder of AfD, Björn Höcke, is a convicted nazi. The German domestic intelligence agency, BfV, says AfD is an extreme-right organization with anti-democratic ideals (“proven far-right extremist entity”)

Musk also tweeted “Free Tommy Robinson”, a UK far-right extremist activist and convicted criminal.

Musk has a history of supporting people and organizations that most other businessmen would not.