Elon Musk

cool monorail bro

lol

i have a plan for a train that goes from boston to atlanta in 10mins, its called lasertrain and ill give you some cool drawings of it in a couple weeks, its ridiculous no one is building it btw it only costs $10

im not gonna build it tho cause im kinda busy

even i can afford that

unveiling this while CA is deep in the hole with it's bullet-train project (something I support wholeheartedly btw) is pretty arrogant

isn't his point that hyperloop would be fraction of the cost and twice as fast?

the douchey thing is that he made a big ol deal abt something thats not at all real

Which is how 70% of architecture and urban planning works.

sure 70% that sounds totally realistic too

I meant 94% sorry.

To me, it really sounds like a kickstarter project... but from a billionaire.

i mean who knows maybe its revolutionary technology but its so preliminary its p comical to call a press conference abt it

maybe this is the best way to convince someone else to give it a shot idk

LOL "elon musk"

This should keep us occupied for a while: http://www.spacex.com/hyperloop

markers, here are some of the people that were entertainingly scathing: kalebhorton, quartzcity, tcarmody, mikesonn

I wasn't scathing about Musk (I am about futurism in general) - if anything, he has a good track record on quixotic tech quests. I hope he's successful with this. I also hope there's a state left that can use it.

unveiling this while CA is deep in the hole with it's bullet-train project (something I support wholeheartedly btw) is pretty arrogant

Knowing how CA politics works (and the CA rail projects are amazingly political), how would you expect a non-arrogant to even get traction with this?

I have no doubt that Musk will solve the Hyperloop technical issues. I very much have doubts about him navigating Sacramento.

I was describing this to my wife today and kept calling it Supertube.

Bad connotations...

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/supertrain-1_7696.jpg

lol @ the "open source" pdf proposal. build a section of the thing and then get back to us when you have it working.

Musk says the Hyperloop is best for distances of 900 miles. Beyond 900 miles, he thinks you're better off in a supersonic jet.

Lol

I never use my supersonic jet anymore as parking is always a total bitch

I have to say I rather like Elon Musk. He's made a massive pile of money and rather than sitting on it or managing it in mundane ways; he's making risky bets on thinks he's passionate about: Cars, Rockets, vacuum tubes.

Hyperloop seems a bit ridiculous to me, vacuum tube powered trains and trains in evacuated tubes are an old chestnut, almost as old as railways themselves. However, he's built a commercially viable private space programme and a car company* in the last ten years so anything is possible.

*Tesla isn't really a car company it's a power train company and if it is still making cars in 5 years I'll be surprised.

ya i'm kinda ll for crackpot genius billionaires actually doing interesting stuff, up until they become str8 up supervillains obv

lol @ the "open source" pdf proposal. build a section of the thing and then get back to us when you have it working.

― wk, Tuesday, August 13, 2013 2:23 AM

he might do this

is this dude one of the crazy silicon valley libertarian types or is he just beloved by them?

iirc he has liberal tendencies mixed in w the libertarianism

xp I heard him speak and he seemed not crazy and to have some kind of social or at least environmental conscience, unlike the usual libertarian types, but maybe he's just better at hiding it

(I like him too fwiw and right now he seems one of the most likely "crackpot genius billionaires" to solve some hard problems which are overdue for solving, so I hope he carries on with that. Also hoping that one day I'll get to see/read his computer game that appeared in some 8-bit micro type-in listings mag in the 80s)

he's not as bad as some of the other silicon valley libtards, I'll give him that.

nonetheless, this is a stupid proposal

do tell

curious to read a critique that amounts to more than 'hyperlol'

I think it's dumb that he's throwing around numbers when he doesn't even have a working prototype. It just seems like he's hoping to derail the other project. I also think the "open source" thing is pretty silly since it's not like code where an individual can make some kind of improvement and test it out to see if it works. I guess an open source design is an interesting idea after the fact if he actually gets it working and other people want to build his design, but it still seems basically irrelevant.

Didn't he make his fortune with Peter thiel?
I don't know if that is "guilt by association" or "looking better by comparison"

It just seems like he's hoping to derail the other project

^^^

A key part of his criticism of the other rail plan is that it's "more expensive to operate (if unsubsidized)." I'd like to see some more detailed numbers on that though. Why would we count the cost of unsubsidized rail against air travel which is heavily subsidized? All that really matters is cost to the traveller, and unlike airlines, I'm assuming the high speed rail system is not going to be run as a for-profit business. He also makes no comparison of the environmental costs of air flight vs. the planned high speed rail system.

markers, here are some of the people that were entertainingly scathing: kalebhorton, quartzcity, tcarmody, mikesonn

― eris bueller (lukas), Monday, August 12, 2013 11:24 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm generally contemptuous of futurists, primarily because they seem to think energy and climate change problems will just sort themselves out, but a mass transit system that relies on solar power and transports people across one of the busiest stretches of highway in America is a good thing. I looked at the first two feeds you suggested and they seemed to just be saying this is just a toy for rich people, which is afaict completely unsupported by his proposal. He's not suggesting a magic carpet for billionaires; it's mass transit that uses solar power. This is a good thing! Maybe it's completely impossible hogwash, but I'd like to see actual engineering criticism of it instead of casual dismissals based on suspicion of ideas from rich people.

the main challenges are not engineering-related, their political

anybody who is over the age of 25, has lived in a city for any length of time, and paid a modicum of attention to the world around them knows that these kinds of massive public works projects tend to be underbid by shady contractors and then they go wildly over the original schedule and budget. so the fact that he's coming in saying he can do it so much cheaper with a totally new and untested technology is a huge red flag. to me it immediately suggests that the whole thing is not serious.

if he honestly thinks this is a feasible plan he should raise some funding and build a private line from LA to Vegas.

It's transparently unserious in that he doesn't want to do it himself and "regrets even mentioning it"

right, that aspect has been p funny

haha, I missed that part

ya seems like he said something offhandedly then realized abt his celebrity

a mass transit system that relies on solar power and transports people across one of the busiest stretches of highway in America is a good thing.

people don't commute the LA to SF corridor though. i have a hard time believing a transit system would fill the role of the 5 freeway. it's mostly trucks anyway.

You know what would do really well in transportation corridors like that? Plain old freight trains.

I swear, the interstate highway system and the fact it's mostly used for semi truck freight is the biggest money hole in our post-WW2 car-dependent wonderland

there already are freight trains

people don't commute the LA to SF corridor though.

?! they most certainly do. there are these things called commuter flights, they are booked solid all the time.

there are a lot more trucks xp

what exactly are you proposing?

a solar powered superhighway paved with bitcoins duh

that we subsidize more public transport of freight in addition to passengers? or at least reallocate money away from interstate highways

idk, iatee and his ideas about gas prices to thread

HOOS otm

obsession w/

Musk and Marvel movies occupy exactly the same cognitive space for me. I don’t think it’s that much of an insult to either since each is the shittest thing possible.

otm

Uh oh

Big news to start the morning via my BN colleagues @danahull @EdLudlow: @Tesla to cut workforce by 10% globally. Check out the piece 👇🏻 https://t.co/fHs4qqeeI9

— Corey Cantor🌕 (@CoreyBCantor) April 15, 2024

"There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done.”

Imagine how terrible the situation must be there for someone to successfully convince Musk to do anything sensible.

Musk: Now is the perfect time to launch our self-flying car!
Exec: Elon, that was just a picture one of your kids doodled.
Musk: My child is a genius, like me. Start production now!
Exec: But Elon, there is no product.
Musk: Well, sell down-payments on my future flying car, let the people reserve one. How long until we can get one operational?
Exec: Back of the envelope ... 20 years?
Musk: Let's aim for 2026! How much will it cost?
Exec: We would need to hire thousands of people, and develop technology that does not exist yet.
Musk: Great, this is what I do! How much will that cost?
Exec: Magnitudes more than what we have. We can't even offload these Cybertrucks.
Musk: Hmm. What if we made the Cybertruck fly?
Exec: We just can't do that.
Musk: You're fired. You!
Exec 2: Me?
Musk: Can we make a flying Cybertruck?
Exec 2: Yes?
Musk: That is the can-do attitude we need! You get a big raise. I will transfer you novelty crypto.
Exec 2: I was looking at the books, Elon. And we're kind of in the red.
Musk: Red is cool!
Exec 2: Um, no, Elon, red is not cool. Black is cool.
Elon: That sounds woke. You're fired. Who else is here to say yes. Actually, never mind, fire 10% of everyone. We need to cut costs. And start work on the flying Cybertruck now!!!! And make it run on crypto! And have it emit fart sounds from the clouds! And use a stronger glue on the parts this time. And make it cost half as much, but make twice as much money. And send it to Mars! And make it submersible. But also AI, like KITT. And have it solve crimes, too. Not mine, but other crimes. Woke crimes. And do it now!

https://img.gifglobe.com/grabs/peepshow/S06E04/S06E04-hCdpVXbN-subtitled.jpg

https://img.gifglobe.com/grabs/peepshow/S06E04/S06E04-zEzmz2yj-subtitled.jpg

In Tesla news today - the Cybertruck's accelerator pedal falls off and gets stuck
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/04/tesla-stops-cybertruck-deliveries-accelerator-pedal-may-be-to-blame/

thankfully they haven't sold that many so the recall will be easy to deal with

Elon: Can't we just deliver this fix via software?

a good gas pedal that doesnt fly off your foot while youre driving

just stick it back on with some gum

funny thing about quoting the ITYSL sketch is that steering wheels have fallen off of Teslas too

also the fact that Elon truly has no good car ideas

drive them through tunnels isn't a good idea?

The sliding gas pedal is extra dumb on the Cybertruck - if any vehicle's design would justify some exposed rivets and bolts it's that monstrosity.

Tesla's senior vice president of powertrain and energy engineering, Drew Baglino, is leaving after 18 years at the auto-maker, he said in a post on social media site X on Monday. Tesla's vice president of public policy and business development, Rohan Patel, has also left the carmaker, according to a post on X by a Bloomberg News reporter.

It's almost like Elon put the whole Tesla Corporation into the cargo bed of a cybertruck and then decided to test his claims about the cybertruck's amphibious abilities.

>Image of cybertruck jumping off canyon cliff thelma and louse style<

I always wonder about guys like this how much *actual* money they have, like not company stock or corporate valuations but money in the bank or easily accessible low risk funds, blue chip stocks etc

Isn’t Elon basically homeless

Lives in a Cybertruck down by the river, IIRC.

I always wonder about guys like this how much *actual* money they have

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, April 15, 2024 8:53 PM (thirty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

they have credit lines

i don't understand money stuff really

you pay less in interest on a line of credit than you would by paying taxes so all of your assets aren’t really liquid. the most common thing a normal person would get is a home equity line of credit, secured against your home’s accrued value. imagine that, but the security is *waves hands* all your assets

he did sell off Tesla stock to contribute $27B to the twitter sale but the bank loans were secured by the company, not him (https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/10/28/how-elon-musk-financed-his-twitter-takeover). so if twitter goes bust, it’s the other investors and the banks that take a bath. he already did his twitter money deal and if he runs it into the ground he can probably write it off as a loss on his taxes for the next decade

https://i.imgur.com/ORKd96p.jpeg

Tesla's senior vice president of powertrain and energy engineering, Drew Baglino, is leaving after 18 years at the auto-maker, he said in a post on social media site X on Monday. Tesla's vice president of public policy and business development, Rohan Patel, has also left the carmaker, according to a post on X by a Bloomberg News reporter.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, April 15, 2024 6:20 PM (four hours ago)

18 years, that's crazy. his net worth is probably in the 9 figures. hard to feel sorry for him

what the fuck is he talking about

This guy is the dumbest motherfucker on earth pic.twitter.com/zhxfAHvqST

— evan loves worf (@esjesjesj) April 16, 2024

like he's invented a scenario in which AI is killing millions of people and the thing that terrifies him is that it'll kill too many white people

the ai designed and implemented a genetic engineering program so that now there are babbies with 13 or 14 or more fingers

Would be more forceful if the (correct) Elon critic wasn’t paying Elon for exposure.