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

[Crispy]

Falcon Heavy (first flight end of this year/start of next) will see three of them all landing in quick succession next to each other

 

[NoXion]

Well to be fair it's the only sensible way I can think of to land a rocket.

 

[tim]

Ironic you should mention Branston in the OP, because Branson's Virgin invests in Hyperloop One

The idea of shoving Branson into a low pressure tube and have him sucked cross country at 192 miles an hour appeals, particularly given his luck with balloons and bicycles

 

[tim]

Well to be fair it's the only sensible way I can think of to land a rocket.

 

[weltweit]

Branston lacks the outright ambition and general engineering knowledge of Musk.

 

[ferrelhadley]

Well to be fair it's the only sensible way I can think of to land a rocket.

Wings and parachutes have been used successfully in the past many times.

 

[doodlelogic]

It says a lot about the difference in British and US tastes in investment that Branson never really got investment from UK equity markets, while Musk has a queue of funders willing to support his cash burn in multiple companies. Paypal was his big cash cow but he wasn't really behind the tech there. You have to give a lot more disclosure in a UK listed company.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

It says a lot about the difference in British and US tastes in investment that Branson never really got investment from UK equity markets, while Musk has a queue of funders willing to support his cash burn in multiple companies. Paypal was his big cash cow but he wasn't really behind the tech there. You have to give a lot more disclosure in a UK listed company.

Tesla seems to have a bit of a cult following.

 

[tim]

Branston lacks the outright ambition and general engineering knowledge of Musk.

And the hubris, rather tall rocket man will crash and burn sooner or later, and I shall rejoice.

 

[weltweit]

And the hubris, rather tall rocket man will crash and burn sooner or later, and I shall rejoice.

Why do you dislike Musk so much?

 

[tim]

Tesla seems to have a bit of a cult following.

And there are few hairier cults than Branson

 

[tim]

Why do you dislike Musk so much?

He's going to colonise Mars; he has plans for long distance tubes to suck folk across continents at high speed; at the same time he will be blasting other folk across the same continents in reusable Jetson rockets; more folk will make those journeys in self-driven electric cars;our cities will be crisscrossed with low-cost tunnels enabling us to jump into pods and pop up wherever we want;meanwhile robots will mine asteroids. No doubt he'd at home as I type thinking up yet another wizard wheeze.

It's quite possible that he has more engineering knowledge than Branson, but even so I can't help feeling a little skeptical about his being to pull off all of the above.

And even if he did, he'd be still be a tedious self-promoting bore, and a rapacious capitalist to boot.

 

[NoXion]

Wings and parachutes have been used successfully in the past many times.

True, but I was thinking of a powered landing like wot those old-timey rocket ships did. Plus those things require an atmosphere to work.

 

[NoXion]

That would be lithobraking rather than landing under power.

 

[tim]

That would be lithobraking rather than landing under power.

Surely, you mean tyrobraking.

tyro-, tyr-; turo-, tur- + - Word Information

 

[weltweit]

He's going to colonise Mars; he has plans for long distance tubes to suck folk across continents at high speed; at the same time he will be blasting other folk across the same continents in reusable Jetson rockets; more folk will make those journeys in self-driven electric cars;our cities will be crisscrossed with low-cost tunnels enabling us to jump into pods and pop up wherever we want;meanwhile robots will mine asteroids. No doubt he'd at home as I type thinking up yet another wizard wheeze.

It's quite possible that he has more engineering knowledge than Branson, but even so I can't help feeling a little skeptical about his being to pull off all of the above.

And even if he did, he'd be still be a tedious self-promoting bore, and a rapacious capitalist to boot.

So it is envy rather than hate! I thought as much.

 

[tim]

So it is envy rather than hate! I thought as much.

I envy his dream of suckling Richard Branson to smithereens

 

[weltweit]

I envy his dream of suckling Richard Branson to smithereens

Not a vision I want in my head thanks.

 

[urbanspaceman]

So it is envy rather than hate! I thought as much.

I find the venom with which some men speak about Musk quite interesting; it's quite a widespread thing. He's singlehandedly upsetting the automotive, energy and space industries, and has plenty more plans beyond that. He's a one-in-a-billion (literally) achiever. Does his remarkable success disturb men who feel like failures in comparison ?

 

[weltweit]

I find the venom with which some men speak about Musk quite interesting; it's quite a widespread thing. He's singlehandedly upsetting the automotive, energy and space industries, and has plenty more plans beyond that. He's a one-in-a-billion (literally) achiever. Does his remarkable success disturb men who feel like failures in comparison ?

I also find it hard to understand why many hate Musk, He is a capitalist, which is enough for many but he is doing exciting things which shake up the status quo and are I think to be welcomed, I would like to see a base on the moon, a base on Mars and enabling technologies to permit green energy to really take hold down here on earth.

 

[tim]

I find the venom with which some men speak about Musk quite interesting; it's quite a widespread thing. He's singlehandedly upsetting the automotive, energy and space industries, and has plenty more plans beyond that. He's a one-in-a-billion (literally) achiever. Does his remarkable success disturb men who feel like failures in comparison ?

Bilge!

He's not the Messiah; he's merely a slick-tongued smoothie. It's the remarkable credulity of clods like you that disturbs me, with your one in a billion (literally) bollocks. Do you really believe he's going to achieve all he claims?

 

[tim]

A Base on Mars! The cunt's got more chance of building a base on my arse.

 

[DotCommunist]

he's part of a peculiar set in silicon valley of the very very tech wealthy and I suspect is a randist who wants to build the land of the clever on mars. Thats why he doesn't like AI, AI might take over his dreamed of land of alphas. He's mates with that shady fucker theil I recon is secretly working on longevity gene therapy to sell to the ultra wealthy thus creating a horrifying gentocracy of the ultra wealthy.

possibly.

 

[EastEnder]

He's going to colonise Mars; he has plans for long distance tubes to suck folk across continents at high speed; at the same time he will be blasting other folk across the same continents in reusable Jetson rockets; more folk will make those journeys in self-driven electric cars;our cities will be crisscrossed with low-cost tunnels enabling us to jump into pods and pop up wherever we want;meanwhile robots will mine asteroids. No doubt he'd at home as I type thinking up yet another wizard wheeze.

It's quite possible that he has more engineering knowledge than Branson, but even so I can't help feeling a little skeptical about his being to pull off all of the above.

And even if he did, he'd be still be a tedious self-promoting bore, and a rapacious capitalist to boot.

I'm a little less scathing than tim, but I do share some of the scepticism.

I really hope all his shenanigans come to fruition, but extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I would love to see him achieve the goal of colonising Mars, but I suspect I will not see it happen in my lifetime. And when people make such grandiose claims, when they've yet to match what NASA could do in the 60's, my cynical side sees it as more of a publicity stunt than a viable, near-term proposition.

I eagerly wait to be proved wrong, but I'll happily accept any wager that it will not happen within the next 30 years.

 

[Poi E]

Cars and rockets, but when's the vacuum cleaner coming?

 

[doodlelogic]

Why do you dislike Musk so much?

Its not about dislike, businesses that suck in debt and equity investment for years need eventually to produce cash. Much of the cash keeping Musk afloat comes from government now.

 

[weltweit]

Its not about dislike, businesses that suck in debt and equity investment for years need eventually to produce cash. Much of the cash keeping Musk afloat comes from government now.

I don't know his financials but Tesla is now selling cars though its valuation is just silly, and the battery business is delivering batteries if South Australia is anything to go by, isn't SpaceX earning from every payload launch?

 

[T & P]

He's going to colonise Mars; he has plans for long distance tubes to suck folk across continents at high speed; at the same time he will be blasting other folk across the same continents in reusable Jetson rockets; more folk will make those journeys in self-driven electric cars;our cities will be crisscrossed with low-cost tunnels enabling us to jump into pods and pop up wherever we want;meanwhile robots will mine asteroids. No doubt he'd at home as I type thinking up yet another wizard wheeze.

It's quite possible that he has more engineering knowledge than Branson, but even so I can't help feeling a little skeptical about his being to pull off all of the above.

And even if he did, he'd be still be a tedious self-promoting bore, and a rapacious capitalist to boot.

Clearly a fan of Futurama at any rate...

 

[MrSpikey]

Branston lacks the outright ambition and general engineering knowledge of Musk.

True. But Musk's knowledge of the pickling process is apparently very poor, so swings and roundabouts, I guess...

 

[fishfinger]

Oh well, I suppose time will tell.
I know he made the offer but do we know that South Australia took him up on it?

He managed it in 60 days!

Elon Musk wins bet, finishing massive battery installation in 100 days