Elon Musk - the world's "greatest" spiv?

[Cloud Strife]

There’s a few quotes in Fight Club that sound quite prescient now, about the generation of young men brought up by women (due to the much higher divorce rates/ single parent families in recent decades)… guys growing up without a father figure, looking for some “authority” in their lives

I can believe in this. By education, I'm a teacher, and it is *very* apparent when a child is mostly brought up by a single parent, usually a woman. It doesn't even have to be the result of divorce, it can be enough for the parent to be simply absent through excessive working hours. This mostly manifests itself in the way that you mention with boys, with girls attention-seeking in a different (but equally destructive) way.

I think that the comparison with Musk fanboys is very valid (albeit I don’t know enough about Peterson as a person to know what he’d think of the calibre of fans he has)

From what I understand about Peterson, while he's a wreck, he's also intelligent enough to understand the value of the 'brand'. All his claims (like eating only beef) are plainly ridiculous, yet we can't argue with the way that he's successfully commercialised himself. Most of what he says about himself is very deliberately designed to be shared on social media as well, and you can see this in the way he speaks when he's being interviewed.

Yes, I did have the possibility of that happening in my mind. If it did, then that would likely result in it being forcibly shut down.

This is exactly why it's so important to have an experienced content management team who have a grasp on technical matters. If these people leave, then it will be very, very hard to replace them.

Surely people have always had idols - sports people, musicians etc - and this is just a different manifestation of it?

They do, but I think the difference is in how toxic they are. All fandoms are toxic to varying degrees, but Musk, Peterson and others openly encourage their fans to be toxic with their behaviour and statements.

I think partially, it's because of the faux-intellect that surrounds them. A rock star throwing a TV through a window on a drug and alcohol fuelled binge isn't pretending to be some sort of higher being, he's just being an idiot with more money than sense.

But again: these people always existed and that Musk is just the current fashion. Once tech stops being sexy (and it will), then the Musks of the world will be gone as well.

 

[nw1]

Musk's Twitter poll on reinstating Trump closes tonight and is currently in favour of him returning by 52-48% (well 52.1%). Where have we seen that before?

The anti-Trumpists are just "libmoaners" and must be silenced, ridiculed and ignored.

 

[Busaholic]

Whenever I can’t quite make up my mind about someone I always look at their fan base to decide. Musk’s fans are sycophantic, mediocre and dull. It’s pathetic.

'By their friends you shall know them' - a very good starting point I've always found.

 

[lyndhurst25]

Pardon me for being extremely thick, but how does Twitter make money? This isn’t me being sarcastic or anything like that, I’m genuinely interested.

Given the amount that Musk for the company, I doubt that he will ever make a profit. But I doubt that profit is his motive. He wants to use the platform to influence incumbent governments and to swing elections to his own ends. The man is a true Bond villain.

 

[dgl]

Given the amount that Musk for the company, I doubt that he will ever make a profit. But I doubt that profit is his motive. He wants to use the platform to influence incumbent governments and to swing elections to his own ends. The man is a true Bond villain.

He can't make money, supposedly he needs $1bn just for the interest on the debt, I can't see him owing Twitter for very long as the financiers will want their money and won't be afraid to kick him out if necessary.

 

[birchesgreen]

Its rumoured in another place that he intends to use twitter as the basis of an everything app (ala wechat) including the backbone of a new crypto based currency to bypass the world economic system.

44 billion might only be the start of the losses.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Its rumoured in another place that he intends to use twitter as the basis of an everything app (ala wechat) including the backbone of a new crypto based currency to bypass the world economic system.

44 billion might only be the start of the losses.

I think this calls for a classic Internet response....

hahahahahahahahahahahahHahahahahahahHahahahahahahahahaha

No chance, he is delusional. It would actually be easier to start that sort of thing from scratch, based on a more Whatsapp like architecture, not a microblogging site.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Its rumoured in another place that he intends to use twitter as the basis of an everything app (ala wechat) including the backbone of a new crypto based currency to bypass the world economic system.

Which would pretty much be instantly shut down by the bankers that financed the transaction in the first place.

Moving to a wechat system to allow micropayments isn't a terrible idea, and there's a very real point that it could challenge the Visa/Mastercard duopoly, but it's not going to happen when he's gutted Twitter.

 

[philthetube]

He can't make money, supposedly he needs $1bn just for the interest on the debt, I can't see him owing Twitter for very long as the financiers will want their money and won't be afraid to kick him out if necessary.

I think the financiers will already be writing off their money.

 

[43096]

I think the financiers will already be writing off their money.

And consulting the lawyers.

 

[brad465]

Looks like Musk is getting restless regarding Trump:

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1594470952187805696

Meme showing Family Guy's Lois tempted by pills, to portray Trump as being tense regarding whether to tweet again or not

 

[TheEdge]

Looks like Musk is getting restless regarding Trump:

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1594470952187805696

One of the creators of Cyanide and Happiness has replied quite the suitable response to that...

you spent 44 billion to unban trmup and he's not even posting, lol. historic L.

 

[birchesgreen]

Other people are saying Elon seems to be begging Trump to come back. Like a sad puppy in the window.

He has also posted a picture of a priest fighting temptation and a prostitute with "Trump" written over the priest and twitter's logo on the prostitute's backside. What a time to be alive.

 

[brad465]

Other people are saying Elon seems to be begging Trump to come back. Like a sad puppy in the window.

He has also posted a picture of a priest fighting temptation and a prostitute with "Trump" written over the priest and twitter's logo on the prostitute's backside. What a time to be alive.

I think he's hoping Trump will bring increased user traffic that in turn generates more revenue through more ad viewing.

Apparently the the man responsible for some key Apple services has pulled his Twitter account (although Apple itself is still on it):

https://twitter.com/cbouzy/status/1594709630193647618

Wow... Phil Schiller deactivated his Twitter account. Phil is responsible for the Apple App Store and Apple Events. If Apple pulls Twitter from the App Store, Twitter is done.

Musk has also been losing it (even more than usual) with some graphic/strong tweets, including one I (and other Christians) would consider blasphemous, and mocking CBS in a Brokeback Mountain themed meme.

 

[jon0844]

Over the weekend, a lot of people I follow that use Twitter commercially to promote themselves or their services, have been giving details of their new Mastodon accounts - and have not just joined, but established themselves on there 'properly' with the clear intention of using it simultaneously.

It seems to be snowballing, and if enough people move and start engaging elsewhere, Twitter may actually be doomed. I think we're far from that right now, but if too many people perceive Twitter as dead then they will help make it happen.

If something should cause Twitter to offline for any period of time, that might just be it - people will decide enough is enough and just stop posting anything.

Then it becomes nothing but Elon fans, and right-wing loons saying how Elon is a genius for sacking overpaid workers who didn't do any work and expected free meals, paid leave etc.

Surely at some point someone at Tesla or SpaceX will call Elon up and ask for him to come back? Oh, wait, no - they're probably loving the freedom.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Then it becomes nothing but Elon fans, and right-wing loons

And at that point, it's over. While we don't know the real numbers, Musk's latest posts suggest that he's in deep, deep denial about what's happening on there. If he loses control of Twitter because the banks call the loans in, then SpaceX will follow quickly, and Tesla's share price will plummet.

 

[jon0844]

Not letting Alex Jones back on (which is the right thing to do) isn't going down well.

 

[Kite159]

I've noticed the volume of spam accounts seems to have increased in the last week.

 

[brad465]

I've noticed the volume of spam accounts seems to have increased in the last week.

Which is ironic considering how Musk tried to pull out of the purchase by claiming bot account proportion was not properly disclosed. I have also noticed more new follower notifications from what appear to be spam/bot accounts.

This might explain some of Musk's erratic behaviour recently:

Elon Musk's 2022 Wealth Loss Exceeds $100 Billion for First Time

Tesla co-founder’s fortune has plunged as shares of the electric-car maker tumble.

www.bloomberg.com

Elon Musk's 2022 Wealth Loss Exceeds $100 Billion for First Time​

Elon Musk’s losses for 2022 topped $100 billion as shares of Tesla Inc. dropped to the lowest level in two years.

The Tesla co-founder is still the world's richest person with a fortune of $169.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, even after seeing his net worth shrink by $8.6 billion on Monday. He’s down $100.5 billion this year — the most of anyone on the wealth index...

Next week things could get spicy, Musk did another poll with an overwhelming majority of "users" voting in favour of amnesty for all suspended accounts as long as they didn't break the law. How this plays out could be what decides who stays and who goes.

 

[MikeWM]

Next week things could get spicy, Musk did another poll with an overwhelming majority of "users" voting in favour of amnesty for all suspended accounts as long as they didn't break the law. How this plays out could be what decides who stays and who goes.

I found it very interesting that this poll only attracted about a quarter of the votes the Trump poll got the previous week. Had there been a clamp-down on bots? Or maybe there was an army of bots sitting there waiting for the word 'Trump' to be posted by someone notable, and they weren't triggered by this new poll.

Anyway, I voted in favour and look forward to seeing the results, especially if those who were banned due to covid 'misinformation' are allowed back. I think some people will try to go elsewhere but I expect that to be as successful as the various migrations that have been attempted by right-wingers over the past couple of years to Parler, Gab, Gettr, and the like - ie. not very.

 

[brad465]

I found it very interesting that this poll only attracted about a quarter of the votes the Trump poll got the previous week. Had there been a clamp-down on bots? Or maybe there was an army of bots sitting there waiting for the word 'Trump' to be posted by someone notable, and they weren't triggered by this new poll.

Anyway, I voted in favour and look forward to seeing the results, especially if those who were banned due to covid 'misinformation' are allowed back. I think some people will try to go elsewhere but I expect that to be as successful as the various migrations that have been attempted by right-wingers over the past couple of years to Parler, Gab, Gettr, and the like - ie. not very.

I didn't vote as I never saw it while active, which if replicated on a larger scale might explain the fewer votes.

I wouldn't have a problem with covid sceptics being allowed back, but accounts that incite terror would be a problem (then again, the Russian Embassy UK account is active so some of them never went away).

 

[MikeWM]

I didn't vote as I never saw it while active, which if replicated on a larger scale might explain the fewer votes.

I wouldn't have a problem with covid sceptics being allowed back, but accounts that incite terror would be a problem (then again, the Russian Embassy UK account is active so some of them never went away).

It did show up less often than the Trump one for me too, but a couple of people that I follow were plugging it so I saw it that way. Maybe there is a massive US-bias to who sees Musk's tweets and they were too busy doing Thanksgiving?!

I think even the most hard-core free-speech advocate - and I guess I'm fairly hard-core on this issue - draws the line at direct incitement to violence. 'Terror' is more debateable - should Eric Fengl-Ding and the like be banned for their neverending attempts to terrify the people that some awful variant of covid (or monkeypox) is imminently going to kill everyone, for example? (Of course my answer would be 'no', tempting though it is to advocate!)

 

[birchesgreen]

I wonder if Elon will also unban the accounts of people he banned recently who were mean about him?

 

[jon0844]

He's been challenged to make his own smartphone and, given how he operates, he'll probably do it.

He's fearful of Google and Apple removing Twitter from its stores, so he'd need to build his own store too.

Another crazy right winger tried the same a while back, creating a phone for patriots. It ran Android and was made in China as a white label phone, and it obviously flopped.

Is Elon smart enough to realise he couldn't do it? Are his fans smart enough to realise he also can't buy Google or Apple (which is another thing they've suggested to him).

He isn't that rich, and getting poorer by the day.

 

[birchesgreen]

Sure i hope he does go ahead and try and develop his own smartphone, mobile OS and app store ecoculture, it'll burn up another 40 billion or so.

I'm looking forward to seeing the return of the banned users. Can't wait to see retweeted and promoted posts by holocaust deniers, racists, MRA fascists and libertarian dudes who want to be allowed to have sex with 14 year old girls back in my timeline.

 

[brad465]

Sure i hope he does go ahead and try and develop his own smartphone, mobile OS and app store ecoculture, it'll burn up another 40 billion or so.

I'm looking forward to seeing the return of the banned users. Can't wait to see retweeted and promoted posts by holocaust deniers, racists, MRA fascists and libertarian dudes who want to be allowed to have sex with 14 year old girls back in my timeline.

Airport security will have to ban his smartphones from going on planes, as if they are like his cars, they'll just explode spontaneously.






Musk is going to war with Apple on Twitter (while also sending tweets from an iphone).

 

[jon0844]

I am not sure there's any evidence yet that Apple is considering banning the Twitter app, but it's clever that Elon and his closest fanboys are suggesting it - because not only does it give more support to making his own phone, but his fans are now actively attacking Apple for not allowing free speech, and lots of people already saying they're going to sell their iPhone/never buy another iPhone. This in turn makes Twitter look like the saviour of free speech, when it is anything but.

I do think Elon is trolling at this point, but like when he fiddled the markets to manipulate crypto values, I think he loves being able to see how much power Twitter is giving him. It's just like Trump on Truth Social, even if that platform is considerably smaller.

At least Twitter will only continue to shrink, despite Elon posting slides to suggest otherwise.

 

[JohnMcL7]

There were suggestions before Elon mentioned it that Twitter could be removed from the app store and it's certainly not clever for him to be suggesting it since it would be do even more damage to Twitter. Apple and Google both removed Parler from the app store when they didn't think the moderation on the app was good enough and both Apple and Google were also quick to remove Fortnite when Epic Games tried to get around the cut the app stores take which is something Musk has also been criticising. At the moment a temporary suspension doesn't seem at all outwith the realms of possibility not just through Musk's choice of what's being allowed on the platform but also that the content moderation teams have been cut back which limits what actions can be taken on the platform.

 

[jon0844]

I wouldn't be surprised if Elon keeps attacking Apple and goads them into taking some sort of action, and then Elon will talk more about making his own phone - or joking that maybe he should buy Apple (of course he can't; Apple is worth trillions).. all with the hope of hitting Apple's stock value. If enough fans are already hating on Apple, that shouldn't be hard.

Elon would likely then buy stock and seek to make peace with Apple, thus pocketing a small fortune in the process. He's got loads of form for doing this.

 

[MikeWM]

Maybe I'm being a bit old-school here, but I don't see what the big deal is with the app anyway. I use all websites through a browser, not through an app. I'm sure most people could adjust to that if the Twitter app was removed from app stores.

While this was an issue for Parler, they actually had a far bigger issue in that they relied on Amazon Web Services, and Amazon then stopped them using from using it. There's a message here about not relying on other companies for your critical infrastructure.