Gregory's Server@rodhilton
To get why Musk looked remarkable you have to go back to the 2000s.
In the 2000s it was widely believed that EVs were a pipe dream and that oil depletion would halt all modern civilization. Remember “the oil drum” or dieoff.org?
Space was the same. Economical launch was impossible. There’ll never be a space age.
Then Musk bursts out with practical EVs and reusable rockets. It seems magical, superhuman, like he was some kind of savior. I definitely felt that way.
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@rodhilton That being said I do still give him some credit for maybe even helping end the little dark age of stagnation in areas like transportation and energy that began in the 1970s. I think when people saw EVs beat Lamborghinis and rockets land themselves a lot of people realized they needed to just ignore the pessimists who said such things were impossible. The pessimists really took over the narrative in the 70s and seem to be losing it now. Keep your eye on fusion! |
@rodhilton I think Musk looks less remarkable now for two reasons. One is that he has definitely declined on a personal cognitive level. He’s always been a bit of an ass and mercurial but this level of irrationality is new. Secondly the world seems less bleak today in the specific area or real world innovation. More people are really doing stuff like space and fusion and EVs and such today than were doing so back in the 2000s.