Is Elon Musk the greatest visionary or the greatest snake oil salesman of our age?

[DotCommunist]

Really? Is there a name for that particular belief (I mean specifically what you described, not "narcissism" or something)?

would solipsism fit

 

[8ball]

would solipsism fit

It's a lot closer, but doesn't quite capture the idea of the fakeness of other people and also their purely existing as a benefit.
Just wondered whether there was a word specifically for that.

When I was very young I had a theory that me, my Nan and my cat were the only truly sentient and autonomous beings in the universe, with my parents seeming to be partly autonomous and partly script-driven and everyone else completely script-driven. I didn't have the words to describe this at the time.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Really? Is there a name for that particular belief (I mean specifically what you described, not "narcissism" or something)?

Solipsism?

Solipsism and the Problem of Other Minds | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

iep.utm.edu

It also shows up in schizophrenia.

 

[8ball]

Solipsism?

Solipsism and the Problem of Other Minds | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

iep.utm.edu

See above.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Really? Is there a name for that particular belief (I mean specifically what you described, not "narcissism" or something)?

Being rich, especially brought up rich

 

[Red Cat]

It's a lot closer, but doesn't quite capture the idea of the fakeness of other people and also their purely existing as a benefit.
Just wondered whether there was a word specifically for that.

When I was very young I had a theory that me, my Nan and my cat were the only truly sentient and autonomous beings in the universe, with my parents seeming to be partly autonomous and partly script-driven and everyone else completely script-driven. I didn't have the words to describe this at the time.

Without wanting to generalise too much, do you think this is an autistic thing? I think you're talking about when you were very young, but some autistic young people are very sensitive to feeling that social norms are meaningless and fake and part of some system that doesn't make sense, which sounds like an intellectual analysis, but its more 'felt' than that.

 

[8ball]

Without wanting to generalise too much, do you think this is an autistic thing? I think you're talking about when you were very young, but some autistic young people are very sensitive to feeling that social norms are meaningless and fake and part of some system that doesn't make sense, which sounds like an intellectual analysis, but its more 'felt' than that.

Yeah, I think this is definitely part of it. Everyone seemed obsessed with rituals I could make no sense of, and my parents were obsessed with preparing me for dealing with these rituals, and thus many of my interactions with them would come round to them wanting me to do things that I didn't want to do and which made no sense.

My cat and my Nan were like me in that they paid these rituals no mind. Also, some of the people on TV (the Open University ones in particular), seemed to be interested in a fascinating world that had nothing to do with any of these rituals, so there was something going on there too, but I wasn't able to talk to them directly.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Without wanting to generalise too much, do you think this is an autistic thing? I think you're talking about when you were very young, but some autistic young people are very sensitive to feeling that social norms are meaningless and fake and part of some system that doesn't make sense, which sounds like an intellectual analysis, but its more 'felt' than that.

Jesus this hits me hard.

 

[Rimbaud]

Without wanting to generalise too much, do you think this is an autistic thing? I think you're talking about when you were very young, but some autistic young people are very sensitive to feeling that social norms are meaningless and fake and part of some system that doesn't make sense, which sounds like an intellectual analysis, but its more 'felt' than that.

I remember feeling just like that when I was a kid. I don't think I'm autistic though, but I guess I must have some similar traits.

 

[Red Cat]

I remember feeling just like that when I was a kid. I don't think I'm autistic though, but I guess I must have some similar traits.

I'm sure plenty of sensitive and thoughtful kids have similar experiences.

 

[rutabowa]

I once had the thought that the whole purpose of the universe was to make me walk in a certain lift in covent garden at exactly the right time and everything else was just incidental and leading up to that ie all the industrial revolution was just to have the technology to make the lift, and all human socialisation was to make sure that they started living in cities in order that the underground network would be needed so someone would make the lift etc. I'm sure everyone has thought something similar at one time or other.

 

[DaveCinzano]

I once had the thought that the whole purpose of the universe was to make me walk in a certain lift in covent garden at exactly the right time and everything else was just incidental and leading up to that ie all the industrial revolution was just to have the technology to make the lift, and all human socialisation was to make sure that they started living in cities in order that the underground network would be needed so someone would make the lift etc.

And then you wrote Sliding Doors and scored a global movie smash?

 

[rutabowa]

No this was kind of the opposite of that, this wasn't to do with the future effects of getting in the lift or not... it was that me getting in the lift was the entire mysterious purpose of the universe, everything before was leading towards it then everything after was just random meaningless debris like the aftershock of a nuclear bomb.

 

[Crispy]

And then you come round and find yourself on the floor at a squat rave with a deflated balloon gripped tightly in your fingers?
I know exactly what you mean.

 

[a_chap]

Something's definitely up with Twitter this last day or so: the same posts keep appearing over and over in my timeline. Also the number of notifications keeps disappearing, then a few screens later reappears.

Most odd.

 

[two sheds]

You could always contact the Communications Department to check what's .... oh wait

 

[Puddy_Tat]

the same posts keep appearing over and over in my timeline

i get that if i don't select 'latest tweets'

 

[Dogsauce]

In the US all tolls are cashless via the appallingly named E-ZPass system now. You pay with a credit card triggered by a transponder in the vehicle.

Portugal has had a similar system for years for toll roads, which also works in quite a lot of car parks and airport drop-off points etc.

 

[story]

Something's definitely up with Twitter this last day or so: the same posts keep appearing over and over in my timeline. Also the number of notifications keeps disappearing, then a few screens later reappears.

Most odd.

Glitch in the matrix mate.

It‘s happening more and more…. the machine stops….

 

[Gerry1time]

Something's definitely up with Twitter this last day or so: the same posts keep appearing over and over in my timeline. Also the number of notifications keeps disappearing, then a few screens later reappears.

Most odd.

 

[Nylock]

What the hell is “near infinite mass” supposed to mean?

Well, it's bollocks isn't it. I mean an exotic variant of a neutron star or a black hole may have "near infinite mass" and I'd be interested in seeing that angular bag of shite attempt to tow one...

That's about the same as Ford F150:


From https://www.cars.com/articles/breaking-down-the-2021-ford-f-150s-towing-capacities-433112/

The Tesla website has very little detail.

If I were in the market for an electric pickup, the F150 lightning would definitely win out over the Tesla truck...

 

[Superdupastupor]

Portugal has had a similar system for years for toll roads, which also works in quite a lot of car parks and airport drop-off points etc.

ViaVerde. Directly linked to your tax return and NI number.

Borrow money from the EBC, fuck knows how many €/km/per mirror highways there are.

I'm not under the boot

 

[Red Cat]

I once had the thought that the whole purpose of the universe was to make me walk in a certain lift in covent garden at exactly the right time and everything else was just incidental and leading up to that ie all the industrial revolution was just to have the technology to make the lift, and all human socialisation was to make sure that they started living in cities in order that the underground network would be needed so someone would make the lift etc. I'm sure everyone has thought something similar at one time or other.

That's not the same as a constant feeling of alienation from something that doesn't feel quite real. I'm talking about a kind of state of mind not a momentary fantasy.

 

[Dystopiary]

Well, it's bollocks isn't it. I mean an exotic variant of a neutron star or a black hole may have "near infinite mass" and I'd be interested in seeing that angular bag of shite attempt to tow one...

This is the best post of the year so far.

 

[2hats]

Well, it's bollocks isn't it. I mean an exotic variant of a neutron star or a black hole may have "near infinite mass" and I'd be interested in seeing that angular bag of shite attempt to tow one...

The upper limit for neutron stars is just over 2 solar masses, M☉.
DOI:10.3847/2041-8213/aaa401

(The upper limit for ultra massive black holes is probably just under 1e11 M☉.
DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13864.x)

 

[Nylock]

The upper limit for neutron stars is just over 2 solar masses, M☉.
DOI:10.3847/2041-8213/aaa401

(The upper limit for ultra massive black holes is probably just under 1e11 M☉.
DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13864.x)

If Tesla can be hyperbolic, so can I (hence the scare quotes)

But yeah, not scientifically accurate in the least on my part tbf....

 

[Cid]

Without wanting to generalise too much, do you think this is an autistic thing? I think you're talking about when you were very young, but some autistic young people are very sensitive to feeling that social norms are meaningless and fake and part of some system that doesn't make sense, which sounds like an intellectual analysis, but its more 'felt' than that.

I mean everyone with autistic traits has been there... it would take a really self-centred individual with little respect for those around him and a high level of insulation from day-to-day troubles for those thoughts to- oh, right.

But honestly not sure it's wise to overthink the ND aspect - at least in respect of someone like Musk. Of course there are traits that can be identified and made to to fit external appearances. But the reality is that presentation and coping for those traits vary vastly relative to any number of factors. Those same feelings in me, and many others with the same traits, manifest in a profound sense of how these systems create and perpetuate injustice/inequality (I mean even if it's getting your knife/fork in the 'correct' hands). Other people appearing to be aliens may never entirely go away, but y'know, not super hard to at least get a rational perspective on why that might be.

 

[Cid]

If Tesla can be hyperbolic, so can I (hence the scare quotes)

But yeah, not scientifically accurate in the least on my part tbf....

To be fair the more accurate 'approaching infinitely dense' does also have a place in discussion of Musk.

 

[kabbes]

To state the blindingly obvious: no matter how big a positive number you can imagine, there is always a finite positive amount smaller than it but an infinite amount bigger than it. Any given number is always in an infinitesimal ratio to infinity.

 

[Red Cat]

I mean everyone with autistic traits has been there... it would take a really self-centred individual with little respect for those around him and a high level of insulation from day-to-day troubles for those thoughts to- oh, right.

But honestly not sure it's wise to overthink the ND aspect - at least in respect of someone like Musk. Of course there are traits that can be identified and made to to fit external appearances. But the reality is that presentation and coping for those traits vary vastly relative to any number of factors. Those same feelings in me, and many others with the same traits, manifest in a profound sense of how these systems create and perpetuate injustice/inequality (I mean even if it's getting your knife/fork in the 'correct' hands). Other people appearing to be aliens may never entirely go away, but y'know, not super hard to at least get a rational perspective on why that might be.

I wasn't really talking about musk, it was in response to 8ball questioning a specific idea with reference to his own experience. I didn't say anything about politics either.

But there are a lot of autistic young people in mental health services due to profound feelings of alienation. Like you, at one time, in respect of myself, I also explained this politically, from the left, eventually, but I don't so much these days. I met with a 14 year old the other day who spoke in a way that was just so like me, I'd forgotten the intensity of that experience as it's faded as I've aged.