"... over the summer. Since then, he has been on a diet. At Fonda San Miguel... he... orders a frozen margarita (he calls it a slushy with alcohol).... Musk is telling me that companies are like children when the first plates land on the table: the lamb chops in a pepper sauce, and shrimp with cheese and jalapeños.... Musk is capricious, but he sees himself as a problem solver, and the problem is everything from the potential end of life on Earth to climate change and even traffic.... Recently, he has dreamt up his own (rather unhelpful) peace plan for ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.... Musk is very exercised about population decline.... Some friends, he reveals, have indeed suggested he should have 500 kids, but that would be a 'bit weird.'... [H]e predicts that 'the current trend for most countries is that civilisation will not die with a bang, it will die with a whimper in adult diapers.' But he says ageing should not be solved. 'It’s important that people die. How long would you have liked Stalin to live?'... Musk has a dystopian view of the left’s influence on America, which helps explain his wild pursuit of Twitter to liberate free speech. He blames the fact that his teenage daughter no longer wants to be associated with him on the supposed takeover of elite schools and universities by neo-Marxists. 'It’s full-on communism . . . and a general sentiment that if you’re rich, you’re evil,' says Musk. 'It [the relationship] may change, but I have very good relationships with all the others [children]. Can’t win them all.'"
From "Elon Musk: ‘Aren’t you entertained?’/The Tesla chief talks to Roula Khalaf about moving to Mars, saving free speech via Twitter — and why ageing is one ‘problem’ that should not be solved" (Financial Times).
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I reckon he can afford to send his favorite foods to Mars in a separate rocket if need be. The Shrimp and Slushy Express.
It's interesting to see what writers include in these profile pieces.
He sounds like the regular comment section of this and many other blogs.
Just to be clear, his "daughter" is actually his son who is transitioning.
He blames the fact that his teenage daughter no longer wants to be associated with him on the supposed takeover of elite schools and universities by neo-Marxists. 'It’s full-on communism . . . and a general sentiment that if you’re rich, you’re evil,' says Musk. 'It [the relationship] may change, but I have very good relationships with all the others [children]. Can’t win them all.'"
That's a healthy mental attitude ("can't win them all"). My father taught me something similar ("you can't make everybody happy"). People can and do use emotion to manipulate. I think there's a French idea, "the person who loves the least controls the relationship."
But it's also kind of awful to think about a relationship where both people strive to be "in control" and so both love less and less and less. That's War of the Roses stuff. (Very funny movie, although it is dark humor and not for everybody).
Instead of attacking his daughter for being a brainwashed Commie, it would be probably be better to go the Herschel Walker route. "I love my child" goes a long way, even if your child is saying hateful things about you.
more thoughts on the "lost child"
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’
Is it possible that he is pulling our collective legs on much of this?
No wonder they want him stopped. Pro free speech & anti-Communist. He's out of control!
I used to be a regular reader of the FT, first on paper and then online. It I started around 2005, dropped it around 2015 and came back in 2019. The first time around it was witty,, funny and the coverage was generally good. A reasonably balanced different perspective. Some good long form writing.
The second time around was shocking. Possibly another institution Trump and Brexit had broken. Shrill. It actually made the NYT look like a serious balanced paper. I dropped it after a year.
I did learn one thing from it though and that was from the comments section. Brits and Europeans hate the US. They are smug and confident despite their misunderstanding and lack of knowledge of us. Almost everything they know about us is wrong.
The only thing that holds the EU together is a common hatred/jealousy of us. Musk is way too complicated a character for the FT to understand.. they would try to infantilize him like they do the US.
Just to be clear.. His teenaged daughter STILL wants to associate with his money. right?
i mean; right?
This reads like some absurdist 1970s Bartheleme story.
Or maybe that's what Musk's life and today's world are like.
Journalists are a plague.
Engage with them at your own risk.
"Musk is very exercised about population decline.... "
Population decline is a myth and a lie. Spread by the elites.
So Musk was fat shamed into an eating disorder? If he was a woman (and an obedient dem) he would be "brave" and "courageous" to go to the beach in an unperfect body.
Not a fan, especially, but he is our time's Edison.
Or Ford. Didn't those two used to live next door to each other in Ft. Myers? Musk has characteristics of both. Maybe he was bred in the lab behind the garage.....
I would find him a charming iconoclast if not for his habit of impregnating women and walking away.
I completely understand Musk's concern for population implosion, since it's already well underway, when you look at it. Even in the underdeveloped countries. It looks like William Gibson's prophetic 'Jackpot' is unfolding, with curious differences and similarities.
As for his diet, well, we already knew Musk is subject to normal human vanities and susceptibility to pressure. Look at the amount of money and effort he's put into re-colonizing his scalp.
"he sees himself as a problem solver"
And he is. He solved the problem of how to garner the most tax subsidies for producing toys for the rich.
Anyway, the strength and the weakness of very smart people is that they have lots of ideas. They all need editing, in science or the market. Musk is at the very tail end and can edit himself to some extent, but not always.
Every once in a while I drive on I-130 past the Tesla factory in Austin. It is big. Really, really big. I've also seen his space center on TV. It, too, is big. Really, really big.
Say what you want about the man and his waistline and his family dynamics, his manufacturing enterprises are significant and impressive.
You know who else wanted to go to Mars? Hitler!!!!
Kai,
Ford and Edison were lifelong friends. As a young man, Ford was superintendent of Edison's Detroit electric plant. It was Edison, around 1900 who advised Ford to focus on gas rather than electric cars.
In later life they would go camping together.
John stop fascism vote republican Henry
Kai,
Ford and Edison were lifelong friends. As a young man, Ford was superintendent of Edison's Detroit electric plant. It was Edison, around 1900 who advised Ford to focus on gas rather than electric cars.
In later life they would go camping together.
John stop fascism vote republican Henry
“he sees himself as a problem solver”
And he is. He solved the problem of how to garner the most tax subsidies for producing toys for the rich.
Ha ha! Garbage! Rather it's Musk these days who's granting “subsidies” (via far lower orbital launch charges) to the Federal government. As for “toys for the rich” indictment, airplanes and airlines were once exclusively “toys for the rich,” but now anybody and everybody can and does use them for simple basic travel.
In the meantime, internationally, Musk's company SpaceX over the last half-dozen years has almost completely destroyed the heretofore-competitive Russian space launch business — and is proceeding now to do much the same to the European (ESA) launch business. (Europe's latest on the drawing board — the Ariane-6 rocket — can't even compete with SpaceX's many years old now, reusable workhorse, the Falcon 9 — much less provide a competitive answer SpaceX's latest, far along in development, dubbed “Starship.”)
It wasn't “tax subsidies” from the U.S. government that accomplished that! Compare with, e.g., the United Launch Alliance or Boeing — which have gotten even greater Federal subsidies all along, but accomplished little over decades of time with it.
Musk gets flak for tax subsidies for the tesla and tesla buyers.
Do they get more or less tax benefits than buyers of other American battery cars? (Ford, gm, BMW, Mercedes, Honda et al) Proportionally, that is. Percent of sales or price or other appropriate metric.
In the past 120 years we have had pehaps 500 automakers come and go. Probably 50 brands have disappeared since ww2. What Musk has accomplished, starting and succeeding with a new car brand from scratch is one of the major accomplishments of the 20th and 21st centuries. That he had to invent a new technology(s) to do it makes it even more amazing.
I wish he didn't take people's money at gunpoint. But I wish gm et al didn't do it either. It's the rules the pols established. I don't see that he has a choice in the matter.
Michael, I was going to post on SpaceX but you beat me to it
A couple additional points
1 starship cost to orbit will be $10/kg compared to a couple thousand currently. A hell of a "subsidy" to the us and the entire world
2 starlink brings high speed internet anywhere in the world for less than cable internet.
3 cell service will eventually be part of thus. You can already use starlink. for Skype calling. Judging by the No Agenda podcast, where Adam uses it for his side, it works very well. But not pocket size yet. He has shown a prototype though called Pi and it looks nice.
4 I predict that a long range goal is utility scale solar power beamed down from space to power the world's electric grid. (pure speculation on my part at this time)
John stop fascism vote republican Henry
Michael, I was going to post on SpaceX but you beat me to it
A couple additional points
1 starship cost to orbit will be $10/kg compared to a couple thousand currently. A hell of a "subsidy" to the us and the entire world
2 starlink brings high speed internet anywhere in the world for less than cable internet.
3 cell service will eventually be part of thus. You can already use starlink. for Skype calling. Judging by the No Agenda podcast, where Adam uses it for his side, it works very well. But not pocket size yet. He has shown a prototype though called Pi and it looks nice.
4 I predict that a long range goal is utility scale solar power beamed down from space to power the world's electric grid. (pure speculation on my part at this time)
John stop fascism vote republican Henry
I would find him a charming iconoclast if not for his habit of impregnating women and walking away.
We are talking about Elon, not Hunter. Elon hasn't walked away from any of his children (one has walked away from him) and I'm pretty sure it was his wives and girl friends who walked away, with fat bank accounts.
Jefferson's Revenge: "Brits and Europeans hate the US. They are smug and confident despite their misunderstanding and lack of knowledge of us. Almost everything they know about us is wrong."
Only the elites. Typical Brits and Europeans think we're noisy and somewhat rude, but they are charmed by our outgoing openness.
If you want an experience, take a European to the Minnesota State Fair. It's a big fat slice of Americana in one long day. Trust me, not one of them has seen an animal born live, but they will at the fair. If you want drama, sit behind the mother of a kid showing livestock. Watch her chew her nails to the first knuckle. Walk up machinery hill and see everything from an old coal-fired reciprocating engine to a massive bigger-than-a-truck tractor, and talk to the 12-year old who can operate all of them.
Blogger Yancey Ward said...
"You know who else wanted to go to Mars? Hitler!!!!"
Thanks. I LOL'ed at this.
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