16 hours ago, PJPom said:

Does anyone else see a similarity between Musk and Steve Jobs, both highly inspirational, both having antisocial attitudes, but both having the ability to create great changes in society.

 

are you saying the old Tesla charger won't fit the new Tesla?

On 9/9/2018 at 11:47 AM, dcpo said:

Leaving aside his recent behaviour, he's done nothing to suggest he's more intelligent than the typical person who gets a place a grad school place at Stanford in physics. He's obviously smart, but his initial business success can be attributed to having a decent idea and being in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. While he is certainly visionary in his ambitions, it's not clear to what extent he is personally involved in technical development in any of the programs his companies are involved with, and his ambitions are currently far from being realized anyway. As businesses his companies are not successful by the usual yardsticks by which companies are judged.    

Are we talking about Elon Musk? The one you said, " . . . he's done nothing to suggest he's more intelligent than the typical person who gets a place a grad school place at Stanford in physics . . . He's obviously smart, but his initial business success can be attributed to having a decent idea and being in exactly the right place at exactly the right time . . ."

 

Well, the Elon Musk I know left Stanford in the first semester and founded Zip2, which sold for $304 million four years later. I'd say most of those other typical persons who won a place at Stanford were may be not yet graduated--PhD programs and their requisite dissertations--theses to Brits--can take several years to complete. And, ". . . being in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. . ." 

Yeah, that is what it takes. I'd say most of those other typical persons who won a place at Stanford were may be not yet in exactly that position and probably never will be.

 

Somehow Musk found the time to secure patents on web-based phone calls and location-specific web searches which are still used in web-based call and search applications. Then Musk founded X.com which became PayPal and he made another few hundred million on its sale to eBay. Then he developed SpaceX and its Falcon and Dragon space vehicles, which now has lucrative contracts with NASA. He then went on to SolarCity, which is the second-largest provider of solar-power systems in the US. And, oh yeah, Tesla Motors' electric cars and trucks.

 

Of course there are his future endeavors, like Hyperloop, a proposed rapid transport system between LA and SF; Electric Jet, a rather self-explanatory airliner concept; and I'd wager others he has not told us about.

 

You say, " . . .it's not clear to what extent he is personally involved in technical development in any of the programs his companies are involved with . . ."

 

Since he is known to be a workaholic, has been called the 21st Century's Edison and has been  developing technology-based applications since he was a kid; I don't doubt he is technically involved in his businesses. Musk says he spends about 80% of his time (his average is 80-100 hours a week) on engineering and design.  However, even if he was not involved technically, does that mean his entrepreneur's efforts can be demeaned?

 

Then you say, " . . . and his ambitions are currently far from being realized anyway . . ." Well, I guess I should tell Hewlett-Packard, which still owns Zip2; the hundreds of vendors of the US second-largest solar system, SolarCity; NASA would want to know, before it drops a few more hundreds of millions in contracts; and I had better tell my cousin that too, he has done quite well with his Tesla stock and he loves driving his Tesla.

 

Finally, you say, " . . . his companies are not successful by the usual yardsticks by which companies are judged . . ." I don't know the length of your yardstick, but MUSK is worth some $20 Billion and he has vowed to not take any money out of Tesla for ten years, but only if its market value is $650 Billion.

Not a genius or even an inventor, the ideas are all old, but he seems to have a knack for getting projects off the ground when others have been dragging their feet for decades.

On 9/9/2018 at 8:16 AM, PJPom said:

Does anyone else see a similarity between Musk and Steve Jobs, both highly inspirational, both having antisocial attitudes, but both having the ability to create great changes in society.

 

When you see millions of young people walking around  /sitting in public / stewing at home totally absorbed by rubbish on their 'smart phone'  you have to wonder how great it is. I remember being in Laos in 2003 just before mobiles took them over - happy smiling faces , wide-eyed chatting with friends and family a world long gone now and never coming back , or a Valentine's day meal in a pizza restaurant in Lad Prao where nearly every couple was on their phone photoing the food course by course and reacting to the phone feedback - for all of the evening , barely talking to their squeeze sitting opposite.   A world long lost now sadly - #riseoftherobots.