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by oxplot·4y ago·view on hn ↗
> Lol, you make it sounds like we're about to lose Einstein due to overwork.

If I had to make a choice b/w Musk and Einstein, I'd pick Musk 100:1 in Musk's favor. Musk moves things forward with whatever tech/science is available right now. Likes of Einstein are absolutely needed but we have way more tech than we make efficient use of right now.

> Musk is an opportunistic man-baby

Name call all you want — he's changing our world for the better today and for your kids and their kids like no one else has. or ever will.

> not the second coming, let him burn out...

I'd give my money to keep him healthy, alive and kicking long before spending a cent on any charity, as do many others who don't have their heads up their asses.

3 comments
Einstein's work in photoelectric effect and quantum mechanics paved the way to modern electronics, transistors, sensors, semiconductor tech. The revolution he brought about could eventually give us quantum computers, his general relativity for interstellar, inter-galactic travel...
Meh! Those "revolutions" by a single person are way too overrated. Oftentimes, things happen in science because other things that happen make it possible to happen. As long as enough people are working on these things, they are inevitable.

Same is true for enterpreneurship... however, I believe Musk is one of the few who has built companies like Tesla, SpaceX, Boring etc. which nobody else would even want to get into because they thought they were not worth doing for making money. In fact, people like Bill Gates are still shorting Tesla because they don't believe it has value.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativity_priority_dispute

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_relativity_priority_...

> Oftentimes, things happen in science because other things that happen make it possible to happen.

Just like in business. Electric cars were pushed by Musk, yes, but they were helped by rapidly increasing battery capacity and demand through the increasing sentiment against ICE cars.

SpaceX is definitely also cool, but by now every billionaire seems to have it's own space company. SpaceX is still pushing for Mars like nobody else, but it's not like the field is deserted.

> I believe Musk is one of the few who has built companies [...] which nobody else would even want to get into because they thought they were not worth doing for making money.

Given how many insanely valued companies we have who's business model is basically to spend VC money (see, for example, Uber), I highly doubt this. There are also a lot of small-time car manufacturers, with quite a few specializing on electric vehicles even. There's definitely money to be made in this space.

> In fact, people like Bill Gates are still shorting Tesla because they don't believe it has value.

There's definitely a way where you can believe both, that a) Tesla really fast-forwarded the adoption of electric vehicles and did something good and b) that Tesla being the most valuable car company on the planet is insane.

I'm not saying Elon achievements are not impressive, they definitely are and his net impact is positive. But just like Einstein, if it wouldn't have been for Elon, there would most likely be another company filling this space right now.

> rapidly increasing battery capacity and demand

That is solely and utterly because of Tesla. The reason for the demand was to build electric cars which Tesla and only Tesla, building butt load of BEVs required. Everybody else before Tesla showed up was either making hybrids with minuscule capacity requirement or low range BEVs in low volumes.

> There are also a lot of small-time car manufacturers, with quite a few specializing on electric vehicles even.

Again, all because or Tesla. They are all riding on Tesla’s success. Why do you think Rivian IPO was greater than century old car makers marker cap making multi million number of vehicles a year where Rivian made none?!! Tesla.

> there would most likely be another company filling this space right now

That is a pointless statement you can say about anyone at any time in history which is to say nothing. You can’t go back in time and let this play out by someone else. Elon is the one who did all this and we’re stuck with this history.

> That is solely and utterly because of Tesla. The reason for the demand was to build electric cars which Tesla and only Tesla, building butt load of BEVs required. Everybody else before Tesla showed up was either making hybrids with minuscule capacity requirement or low range BEVs in low volumes.

And so did Tesla with it's roadster. The model S was/is also a lower-volume, high price luxury car; it's only the model 3 that really changed this. Also, the increased demand was relating to BEVs; some of which is surely due to Teslas offering, but a lot definitely came from recent trends against ICE cars and increasing prices.

> Again, all because or Tesla. They are all riding on Tesla’s success.

Hard disagree. The Nissan Leaf has been around since 2010, and so have manufacturers like BYD. Just take a look at the list of production BEVs [0] (the smaller manufacturers are actually missing from there, since they're not production vehicles). Tesla wasn't the first to market and didn't create it on its own. I'm not disagreeing that they pushed the field or that they generated a lot of hype, but the market would exist with or without Tesla.

Also, sidenote:

> Why do you think Rivian IPO was greater than century old car makers marker cap making multi million number of vehicles a year where Rivian made none?!! Tesla.

Hype and market insanity, really.

> That is a pointless statement you can say about anyone at any time in history which is to say nothing. You can’t go back in time and let this play out by someone else. Elon is the one who did all this and we’re stuck with this history.

Which is completely fine. Having Elon is surely a net positive. But attributing all progress in the BEV space and space sector just to him is simply wrong.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_production_battery_ele...

He didn't even found Tesla, he acquired a ready-made idea / plan and just poured his (daddy's African mine) money. I'm very concerned with this cult of Elon...
> He didn't even found Tesla

What's your point? Any dimwit with a couple thousand dollars can found a company and register a trademark.

> he acquired a ready-made idea / plan

Plans and ideas are aplenty. If I got a dime for every time someone said they had an idea for an app at a dinner party, I'd be a billionaire by now.

> just poured his (daddy's African mine) money.

He poured all the money he had made from PayPal in which he had poured the money he had made from Zip2. His "daddy" gave him b/w $20K-$30K. Anyone with half decent credit history can get a loan multiple of that. I don't see millions of Elon Musks out there. And all of the above is less than $400 mil. At the time, Bill Gates, and others had dozens of billions in cash (ie orders of magnitude more money) than Elon.

> I'm very concerned with this cult of Elon...

I'm very concerned that people don't seem to be able to do a dozen Google searches and get their facts straight and just repeat junk they hear.

>I'd give my money to keep him healthy, alive and kicking long before spending a cent on any charity

hahahahah what

You should probably learn about Elon Musk a little bit more before you finish building your shrine of him. He's a conman at best.

>Musk moves things forward with whatever tech/science is available right now.

Are you saying that Einstein didn't do that? I'm confused, do you have any idea how much of the tech that Elon is using is reliant upon the findings of Einstein? Genuinely awe-struck reading your comment, also he isn't even improving the planet, the lithium in all those batteries has to come from somewhere. Oh and the lithium batteries can burn for hours at extreme temperatures when they combust, and in some cases when this happens the Tesla's "advanced AI" will initiate the door locks, trapping you inside :) but it's okay, cause Elon is a cool guy on twitter :)

> He's a conman at best.

Disagree. He’s a clown at best!

seriously? you’d pick a clown over someone who literally revolutionized physics? GPS, lasers, photovoltaic cells, spacetime to name the biggest things.
> you’d pick a clown over someone who literally revolutionized physics?

Seriously? Clowns in your town start revolutions in manufacturing, energy, space travel, worldwide comms, etc.? Well if you consider how many things he's juggling at a time, he may actually be a circus performer. A darn good one - the best perhaps, given that he has also created jobs for 100K+ people in the world.

you need to step out of your bubble and critically examine what his contribution was.

Revolutions? Really? Revolutions?