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Originally Posted by JSH
OK, so he successfully ran 1 company. Good for him. That doesn't make him a business genius. I don't have anything against successful people, I just haven't fallen into the cult of Musk. The future of EVs doesn't rest on his shoulders and they will do fine whether Tesla succeeds of fails.
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Just to be clear, I've never claimed he was a business genius (my claim of genius is in a general sense) or claimed to be a fan, though I do find him interesting and inspiring (and a jerk). You've got a point about the cult-like following of Musk, but they are the harmless variety. They aren't drinking special CoolAid even if their hopes and dreams are placed on less than stable ground.
Nothing has ever rested on the shoulders of any single individual. We didn't need Einstein to figure things out, as someone was bound to make his discoveries shortly after, anyhow. We didn't need Isaac Newton, Galileo, or anyone else. They were merely the first to make major discoveries, not the only capable ones.
Besides all that, Musk never claimed to be the EV messiah. From the beginning his mission statement was to accelerate the rate at which EVs are developed and brought into mainstream; an end to which he seems to have accomplished.
OK, so we shouldn't be inspired by people because their discoveries were inevitable. What do you propose, we all mope about living out our fatalistic lives? Why even bother?
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His behavior also doesn't help. Pretty much everyone agrees he is a self-absorbed jerk. Some forgive those basic character flaws because he is CEO of a company they want to succeed. I'm not one of them. The man is a jerk and he is dragging down Tesla. Maybe it is time for him to sail off on a yacht and let professionals try to save his company.
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Tesla doesn't exist without Musk. Nobody else could have done it when he did, and the evidence is that nobody
did do what he did. As I've said, we basically have Tesla because of Musks positive and negative traits. That's no excuse for poor behavior, but he can help himself as much as anyone else, which is to say not at all. What else can explain his behavior besides genetics and environment, neither of which he chose?
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Originally Posted by jamesqf
You're welcome to your opinion. I found it utterly disgusting. If he couldn't have launched some useful exploration mission, the least he could have done is to have given the car away to someone who'd appreciate it. Or FTM keep driving it...
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Yeah, but then what is useful? Was Sputnik useful? Is GPS useful? I mean, we don't need GPS to live. Is the Statue of Liberty useful? Are non-productive members of society useful?
There are plenty of things that serve no apparent need, or are used in a manner not consistent with their design, yet still inspire. People need inspiration as much as they need oxygen; it's just a less immediate need.