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Tim Bray on Grokipedia

(www.tbray.org)
175 points Bogdanp | 2 comments | 31 Oct 25 21:41 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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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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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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1. 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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2. exe34 ◴[31 Oct 25 22:27 UTC] No.45777383[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."