• Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    30
    ·
    6 days ago

    What gets me is that he has the means to become the most beloved man in history pretty much on a whim. I can’t even begin to comprehend the amount of good he could do by dumping half his fortune into good causes, which would still leave him with orders of magnitude more money than he’d need to buy/do whatever the fuck he wants with.

    The attention he craves is right there. But he chooses instead to be a villain. Why?? Be a fucking superhero - even if it’s for completely selfish reasons, humanity won’t give shit.

    I don’t get it.

    If I randomly obtained a billion dollars, let alone hundreds of billions, I’d spend the rest of my life riding a warm-and-fuzzy high. Helping people feels good!

    • Geetnerd@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      16
      ·
      edit-2
      6 days ago

      From what I understand, Musk was under investigation from multiple federal US agencies for malfeasance, I don’t know for what, but he got involved to make those investigations go away. Then he got addicted to being in charge after buying The Presidency.

      Because, as we all know, narcissists love being in charge, and adulation.

      And why is he being an asshole, when he could be generous and beneficent, and get the adulation he craves? Because he thinks he’s superior, and like he said, empathy is weakness, He is unable to understand, or feel empathy.

    • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      edit-2
      5 days ago

      He had that aura when he was building Tesla and solar city and the gigafactory. Become a billionaire and fight climate change? Go Elon.

      Go to Mars? Bit of a stretch goal, but helping Nasa and science is good. Go Elon.

      Save kids trapped underground? Go Elon.

      What? Called him a pedophile? Maybe he has some inside knowledge. Anyway.

      Shout about doge coin? Bit weird. Ok he’s just having fun.

      Sell a consumer grade flamethrower? What?

      Pay 44bn for Twitter? What? Where’s the value? This doesn’t save the world.

      And down and down.

      • futatorius@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        4 days ago

        He had that aura when he was building Tesla

        Tesla was a going concern (with excellent product quality) when Musk bought it. The product roadmap was already there. The only big things Musk has influenced are underfunding quality during scale-up and rolling out the Dumpsterwagen. Well, that and lying about self-driving.

        • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          4 days ago

          I was addressing the downward trajectory of his outside perception, not his actual skills.

          Musk is willing to risk his capital, and does seem to be able to identify talented engineers and individuals. He used to be able to attract them too.

      • Woht24@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        5 days ago

        In comparison to his wealth, that’s so small time that it’s not even worth mentioning.

        • Geetnerd@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          5 days ago

          Yeah, because doing anything altruistic is “virtue signaling.” No one really cares about anyone but themselves. How do I know? Because I don’t.