A poll about Elon Musk

[gonealookin]

Besides Tesla, part of Musk's portfolio that is at least peripherally related to this forum is the wonderfully-named The Boring Company.  Their principal project so far has been work on a subterranean transit system around the Las Vegas Convention Center, which could eventually reach out to other parts of the area.

[kkt]

I never hear anything about the guy outside the road community.

The rock you live under is the most impressive I've seen.

Seconded. I hardly consider myself up to date on the latest and greatest pop culture, but the guy has been everywhere the last year or so. To the point where Tesla or SpaceX are no longer the things that come to mind when hearing his name. I miss those days. Remember the Hyperloop?

Remember the cheap tunneling he said he could do?  That would have really helped some road projects.  Too bad it turned out to be as substantive as cotton candy.

Anybody knows if the Tesla auto brand is named after the electrician Nikola Telsa?

Electrician?  Doesn't even cover it.  Tesla was a physicist, researcher, and engineer.

[adventurernumber1]

I never hear anything about the guy outside the road community.

The rock you live under is the most impressive I've seen.

Seconded. I hardly consider myself up to date on the latest and greatest pop culture, but the guy has been everywhere the last year or so. To the point where Tesla or SpaceX are no longer the things that come to mind when hearing his name. I miss those days. Remember the Hyperloop?

I can't say that I spend really much if any time consuming current world news outside of sports and maybe infrastructure in California.

Well, there you have it.  The rock is quite substantial and one you've pulled over yourself.  So, your ignorance of Elon Musk isn't due to the fact that media only mentions him now and then (quite the opposite), but rather your own desire to stay away from news almost altogether.

To be fair, media in last few years is like eating at Golden Corral: it's all you can eat until you're sick, it lacks substance, it goes stale quickly, and very little of it is good for you. And darned if you don't have to take it with more than a grain of salt.

I've found over the years that if something in world events is actually truly important then I am likely to get a brief on it through work.  I don't see the value in fretting over Elon Musk-like figures when essentially are a non-factor in my day to day life.  To me it just seems like unnecessary mental baggage to get worked up over narcissistic famous people and what they may be up to.

That's all fine and dandy, but when you stated that Elon Musk was only mentioned in narrow slivers of the media, it was based upon the narrow slivers you consume rather than real exposure to anything close to representative.

You're missing part of the point I'm going for.  I'm also questioning by proxy how much of this mainstream media consumption so many people are involved in is really necessary?  Mass/mainstream media sure seems to bring a lot of people who are active in this forum a lot of misery.  I recall a great many people on this forum (on and off it) getting wound up about other recent world events also that didn't include Elon Musk. 

Maybe it's just me, but what's the point of consuming a media that actively makes a person consistently unhappy and/or stresses them out?  Seems like Elon Musk and possibly Twitter (which I assume this thread is about) fall into the category. 

It seems like The Washington Post gives every bit of his Twitter escapades front-page billing. Maybe they're an outlier, but I don't really consider them to to be a particularly obscure or fringe outfit.

Perhaps the question I should be asking is what makes Elon Musk and Twitter so noteworthy to begin with?  I'm obviously not seeing something that a lot you guys think has weight to it.

I have to hand it to you, I'd be a lot more happy if I wasn't perpetually reminded of how screwed up politics, corporate affairs, and the world at large is. That sounds like much more bliss focusing on your hobbies and things you enjoy and that matter to you, instead of what might provide unnecessary stress or discontentment. I try to do the same, and I am indeed much more happy when I'm spending time with my hobbies and interests rather than pondering on current and developing events. But many people (between my friends, family, and acquaintances) discuss these current events so it is not possible to ignore it, but I do not intend to completely ignore it so I remain informed and can, when necessary, speak up about what I myself believe in. Things are constantly happening and changing as history gradually unravels day after day, so there's always something going on, and much of it is awful. I was never awfully active on Twitter, and I deleted the app the day Elon Musk took over, I was already even seeing a distasteful change in notifications that I was getting, it didn't take me long to get rid of it after that. I'd imagine this would be a larger deal to people that are actually very active on Twitter or have accounts on there that they have dedicated time and effort to over years, and fortunately I never was active on Twitter so it was easy for me to shut it out. I really haven't even touched Facebook in a decade at this point, and the past several years definitely hasn't given me any incentive to return. My main presence has remained Instagram since 2013, and even then I'm not ridiculously active (I'm much more active on this forum). So hopefully no unhinged billionaires mess up Instagram anytime soon.     

[Max Rockatansky]

I get that you quit Twitter over Elon Musk.  All the same, what reason were you on Twitter in the first place, or rather what was the attraction?  As you state, you weren't really active on Twitter but got rid of your account only when Elon Musk became involved.  Fair enough, but what was the actual change in Twitter before and after Elon Musk's involvement?

Regarding current world events, I guess it's just one of those things I don't find to be a worthwhile investment or time.  Likewise I've long quit other time consuming activities that became a mental drag.  Another example would be quitting new videos games circa 2008-09.  Letting go is hard habits and hobbies is hard, but it becomes easier and easier as time goes on. 

Edit: To follow up on yesterday, I did ask my wife and mother in law if they knew who Elon Musk was.  Neither of them did. 

[Scott5114]

You're missing part of the point I'm going for.  I'm also questioning by proxy how much of this mainstream media consumption so many people are involved in is really necessary?  Mass/mainstream media sure seems to bring a lot of people who are active in this forum a lot of misery.  I recall a great many people on this forum (on and off it) getting wound up about other recent world events also that didn't include Elon Musk. 

Maybe it's just me, but what's the point of consuming a media that actively makes a person consistently unhappy and/or stresses them out?  Seems like Elon Musk and possibly Twitter (which I assume this thread is about) fall into the category. 

Personally, I keep up with political news because it affects pretty much every aspect of one's life, whether one is paying attention or not: "You may not do politics, but it is going to do you regardless." I may not be able to effect much change myself (I have never missed a state or federal general election since I have turned 18, but I recognize that merely voting in a one-party state while not being a member of that party doesn't amount to much), but I find myself feeling more secure at least knowing who the various players in the arena are.

That being said, I do not follow sports or celebrity gossip because those truly do not affect me in any way, shape, or form.

It seems like The Washington Post gives every bit of his Twitter escapades front-page billing. Maybe they're an outlier, but I don't really consider them to to be a particularly obscure or fringe outfit.

Perhaps the question I should be asking is what makes Elon Musk and Twitter so noteworthy to begin with?  I'm obviously not seeing something that a lot you guys think has weight to it.  So many road people have brought the guy up as of late I'm curious to find out what his significance is as an outsider.

The problem is that Twitter is the primary way that a depressingly large percentage of the population interacts with the world. More alarmingly, that's how a lot of traditional journalists interact with the world (i.e. they find out what they want to write about from Twitter). Thus, any change in policy that Musk enacts changes the entire world for these people. If Musk makes changes that make it easier for hatefulness to spread throughout Twitter, that's likely to spill over into the real world. If you're of the intelligence level to have your primary news source be a site that only allows 280 characters per post, you're likely to blindly parrot whatever you read there in real life too.

I don't have a Twitter account anymore (I deleted it on November 19 after years of disuse), but I am a little concerned about what Musk is doing with the site because of the effect it may have on the real world. I am hoping he runs the thing into the ground quickly before it can be much more of a net negative to the world than it already is.

[Max Rockatansky]

Thanks, that's the clearest explanation I've gotten from anyone about what Twitter is and what relevancy Elon Musk has to it.  As an outsider it seems strange to me that so many people would flock to a privately owned company as their speaking/news platform.  That seems like the sort of thing that can just be changed or taken away easily at the whims of an individual or investors (which could easily apply to any social media platform).

As an aside, I've been a government employee most of my adult life.  I don't really necessarily share the same sentiment that governance affects every aspect of life (or at least mine).  I do vote, I haven't missed an election cycle either since turning 18.  Perhaps my perspective is different given the largely nomadic mode of life I've led as an adult really hasn't tied me to a place enough to be very effected by day to day governance aside from nominal ways? 

[hotdogPi]

but I recognize that merely voting in a one-party state while not being a member of that party doesn't amount to much

If you do not live within the boundary listed below, your state House district is quite competitive.

SH 9
24th Ave SW
W Main St
N Berry Rd
W Robinson St
W/E Rock Creek Rd
12th Ave SE/Classen Blvd

[Scott5114]

but I recognize that merely voting in a one-party state while not being a member of that party doesn't amount to much

If you do not live within the boundary listed below, your state House district is quite competitive.

SH 9
24th Ave SW
W Main St
N Berry Rd
W Robinson St
W/E Rock Creek Rd
12th Ave SE/Classen Blvd

I live just outside of that boundary, but the winner in my district won by seven points, which I wouldn't classify as particularly competitive. It is not as though it makes much of a difference anyway, as in the last Legislature the state House had an 82-19 majority. It's hard to see how a one-seat swing would really do a whole lot there. I vote anyway out of spite.

[kkt]

I never tweeted on Twitter, but I made an account so I could follow links people posted to particular messages there.  For one thing, Mt Rainier National Park's method of posting the most current road conditions is on Twitter, not their own web site.  (Don't ask me why they don't use their own web site.)

In particular, I don't depend on Twitter for news at all, and I can't really imagine using such a total free-for-all site for actual news.

I don't specially like Musk.  He seems to be enfatuated with a new project every year or so, then abandons them.  Hyperloop, his tunneling company that was the low bid on a few projects.  Nothing came of them, Musk was talking without actually appreciating that if it was as easy as he was saying someone else would have done it already.  Marching into Twitter and firing half the staff was just stupid.  Getting rid of the team responsible for compliance with court settlements is going to get Twitter in major hot water.  The people who work for a company are its biggest asset.  They have expertise, they know how things have been done before and why.  If you don't want the people who work there, you might as well not buy the company and just form a new one of your own.  Anyway, he is going to get just as bored with Twitter and abandon it for something else in a few months or a year.

[kphoger]

After reading this thread, I voted "YES" to the question "Should Alex & Andy (proprietors of AAroads) invite Elon Musk to take part in this forum".  But I must admit, I just want to see the explosion that would ensue.  I'm quite sure |NE2| would flip the f*** out of his mind.

[Bruce]

Besides Tesla, part of Musk's portfolio that is at least peripherally related to this forum is the wonderfully-named The Boring Company.  Their principal project so far has been work on a subterranean transit system around the Las Vegas Convention Center, which could eventually reach out to other parts of the area.

I tried it a few months ago and it was as underwhelming as expected. Bumpy surface, cramped width, and awful hours of operation. I almost got stuck because my return trip failed to show up a whole 30 minutes before the posted closing time...of 4 pm. In Vegas!

[zachary_amaryllis]

He can stay on Twitter

I'm all over twitter, but to be truthful, haven't seen any of the mayhem that's supposedly going on. I'm not a huge account (and apoligies if anyone's ever visited it) so I might just be under the radar.

[formulanone]

After reading this thread, I voted "YES" to the question "Should Alex & Andy (proprietors of AAroads) invite Elon Musk to take part in this forum".  But I must admit, I just want to see the explosion that would ensue.  I'm quite sure |NE2| would flip the f*** out of his mind.

For a paltry sum of $40 billion, I think Alex and Andy might consider letting the forum go.

[hbelkins]

It seems like The Washington Post gives every bit of his Twitter escapades front-page billing. Maybe they're an outlier, but I don't really consider them to to be a particularly obscure or fringe outfit.

Someone has to keep Taylor Lorenz's diapers changed. 

As for Musk himself, I still maintain the posture that I did when I posted about his acquisition of Twitter in a since-locked thread.

If you do not like what someone says/writes/posts, you have the individual freedom to block them. You shouldn't try to silence them completely. The antidote for speech with which you disagree is more speech, not less speech.

If I was starting a social media platform, I'd make it more like Usenet than like Facebook or even Twitter 2.0. I'd probably prohibit libel/slander, illegal activities, and possibly a few other things, but other than that, it would be "anything goes" with the idea that users are responsible for their own content, not the platform. I also wouldn't log IP addresses of users.

[kphoger]

If you do not like what someone says/writes/posts, you have the individual freedom to block them. You shouldn't try to silence them completely. The antidote for speech with which you disagree is more speech, not less speech.

The problem, as has been pointed out, is that a lot of our news gets filtered through Twitter, even if we don't personally use Twitter.  Of course it's terrible that that's true to begin with, but that doesn't make it untrue.

[abefroman329]

If you do not like what someone says/writes/posts, you have the individual freedom to block them. You shouldn't try to silence them completely. The antidote for speech with which you disagree is more speech, not less speech.

The problem, as has been pointed out, is that a lot of our news gets filtered through Twitter, even if we don't personally use Twitter.  Of course it's terrible that that's true to begin with, but that doesn't make it untrue.

Yeah - if anything, Twitter has proven that the free market is no more capable of solving issues around disinformation campaigns than it is capable of solving anything else.

[skluth]

I joined Twitter years ago because my agency would post snow closings and other important work-related info. I don't feel the need to be up-to-the-minute on anything politically or sports-related, so I don't get notifications or use it for much of anything else since retiring. The only thing I've noticed about Twitter the last few years (thanks to following a few friends) is a lot of free porn suddenly appeared on Twitter. I'm gay so I have no idea how much straight porn is on Twitter. But when I say there is a lot of gay porn I mean that most of the gay porn producers formerly on Tumblr (before they got all moral) migrated to Twitter. Personally, I find the entire Twitter debacle hysterical but don't really care because if Twitter disappeared tomorrow it wouldn't change my life whatsoever. But from my POV, Twitter is for porn.

[CoreySamson]

^
Hasn't Elon been cracking down on that sort of thing? I know he is prioritizing eliminating sex trafficking from Twitter. I may be mistaken.

[J N Winkler]

Personally, I find the entire Twitter debacle hysterical but don't really care because if Twitter disappeared tomorrow it wouldn't change my life whatsoever. But from my POV, Twitter is for porn.

I stopped using Twitter actively in 2016 and never really saw much porn on it, but the company has never turned an operating profit and porn is one mechanism for doing so that is actively under consideration.  I think it's a bad idea, not because I am opposed to porn in principle, but because with Musk having fired half of Twitter's staff, the company is even less prepared to walk into the same buzzsaw with nonconsensually produced content that established porn sources like Pornhub have had to confront.

[abefroman329]

All I'm going to say about Twitter and Elon Musk running it is this: If Twitter is going to allow the world's corporations to use their function for customer service and tech support, then Twitter is just as much a common carrier as the Verizon/ATT/TMobile/other cell phone service which a customer used to call that corporation for customer service and tech support. After all, if you can't ban a neo-Nazi from having cell phone service (and the mobile data that comes with that service)...you know the rest.

Except Twitter, FB, et al. most certainly do not want to be common carriers, because their obligations to do certain things would go well beyond being required to give an account to anyone and everyone. Which I'm not even sure is true, because I'm pretty sure you could, for example, get your phone line disconnected if you made one too many obscene phone calls to the operator.

[JoePCool14]

Personally, I find the entire Twitter debacle hysterical but don't really care because if Twitter disappeared tomorrow it wouldn't change my life whatsoever. But from my POV, Twitter is for porn.

I stopped using Twitter actively in 2016 and never really saw much porn on it, but the company has never turned an operating profit and porn is one mechanism for doing so that is actively under consideration.  I think it's a bad idea, not because I am opposed to porn in principle, but because with Musk having fired half of Twitter's staff, the company is even less prepared to walk into the same buzzsaw with nonconsensually produced content that established porn sources like Pornhub have had to confront.

If Twitter has to turn to serving porn to turn a profit, then let the site go down. Without going into too much detail here, porn is a vice that ruins lives on both production and consumption ends.

Regardless of how you feel about Elon's changes to Twitter, hopefully we can all agree that cracking down on rampant child trafficking is a good thing.

[abefroman329]

porn is a vice that ruins lives on both production and consumption ends

So does every other vice, yet we haven't banned alcohol, tobacco, unhealthy foods, gambling, or shopping.

hopefully we can all agree that cracking down on rampant child trafficking is a good thing.

I agree that cracking down on rampant child trafficking is a good thing. 

[JoePCool14]

porn is a vice that ruins lives on both production and consumption ends

So does every other vice, yet we haven't banned alcohol, tobacco, unhealthy foods, gambling, or shopping.

Different vices have different effects. They aren't equal.

That being said, banning most things doesn't make them go away. It just pushes them underground, so a "porn ban" wouldn't work in practice. But that doesn't mean I'll can't advocate for staying away from it.

I'll leave it there since I don't want to derail the thread.

[triplemultiplex]

I would consider Twitter itself a vice.  Information porn.  But like useless information.
Woo, look at me, I heard about someone's divorce three minutes before everyone else, aren't I special?!

[J N Winkler]

Regardless of how you feel about Elon's changes to Twitter, hopefully we can all agree that cracking down on rampant child trafficking is a good thing.

I would agree, if that were what he is actually doing.  I think he is just saying he is, since he has gutted the team that is responsible for child safety.