• Welcome to League Of Reason Forums! Please read the rules before posting.
    If you are willing and able please consider making a donation to help with site overheads.
    Donations can be made via here

Elon Musk, genius or idiot?

  • Thread starter Deleted member 42253
  • Start date
arg-fallbackName="*SD*"/>
I like his sciency (apparently that's not a word but I'm going to use it anyway) videos. When he's making something, or doing some sort of experiment, or debunking some idea or other. The self filling water bottle was my favourite because for some unknown reason I already knew what peltier devices were and how they worked (I don't know why I knew that, though).

Other than that sort of video I don't really follow his content much, he sort of lost the plot over the Brexit referendum and generally failed to understand anything about it, that was off putting.

He should do more glass blowing videos, those are interesting.
 
arg-fallbackName="Sparhafoc"/>
I loved his sciency stuff too - he was one of the first content creators I ever subscribed to and interacted with - I loved what he was doing, and was totally in support of it.

Then there was the VenomFangX stuff, which I wasn't really on board with despite agreeing with TF's science-based rejection of Creationism. No question, VFX was a moron, but he was also just a kid.... and it felt like TF was punching way below his weight, as if parity in YT viewers made him fair game. The fallout of that escapade was kind of sad more than anything, and honestly I thought at that point that TF was going to return to science stuff - I believe he made a video to that effect. But then he latched onto one new drama after the next, and his audience changed dramatically. I don't know how many hours of videos he made inciting anger against Sarkeesian, but by about the 5th video, it was already too dark for me.

It's hard to reconcile the 2 sides for me. I remember enjoying his excitement at experimentation and his reasoned skepticism of pseudoscientific claims - inspirational! But the other stuff... man, if you'd seen it, I think you'd understand what I mean. It's the kind of thing you can't unsee.
 
arg-fallbackName="Deleted member 619"/>
I like his sciency (apparently that's not a word but I'm going to use it anyway) videos.
It absolutely is a word, whether it was before you uttered it or not. And not just a word, but a perfectly good one that needs no semantic unpacking, because it conveyed the idea perfectly.
 
arg-fallbackName="Deleted member 619"/>
Then there was the VenomFangX stuff, which I wasn't really on board with despite agreeing with TF's science-based rejection of Creationism. No question, VFX was a moron, but he was also just a kid....
I actually was on board with it at the time but, looking back on it, not so much. I pretty brutal in those days, you'll recall. I like to think I've mellowed.
and it felt like TF was punching way below his weight,
That, I definitely agree with. I also think the sneering persona became his default, and that was beneath him. I know I've done my fair share of sneering, but I have always, I think, been a bit more complex than that.
 
arg-fallbackName="Deleted member 42253"/>
Nevermind that one small hole will completly compromise the whole loop.
I think there are much more obvious things even an amateur can spot though. Like Musk wanting to create a tunnel system under California, which is mainly sandstone. Tunneling through sandstone is simply an idiotic idea, especially on a massive scale.
In that regard Musk is American to the bone, cities build on sand, wooden sheds where tornados roam, cities in swamps, villas in the ocean, data centers and farms in the desert ...
 
arg-fallbackName="Deleted member 619"/>
Not to mention tunnelling that close to a major tectonic shear line.
 
arg-fallbackName="Led Zeppelin"/>
Then he started with the pedophile accusations. For example, here in Thailand when the kids got trapped in the cave, and one of the rescuers who risked his own life to help those kids got called a pedophile on a Twitter account with hundreds of thousands of viewers
Ahh I remember that now! You are right, he is a tool.
 
arg-fallbackName="Sparhafoc"/>
I saw the guy's interview on Thai tv the day after Musk sent that Tweet - the guy was clearly shell-shocked, face drained of all colour, and not even able to muster any anger. While you might secretly anticipate some accolades for saving children, I don't think anyone would expect to be called a sexual predator of children for doing so.
 
arg-fallbackName="Deleted member 42253"/>
Meanwhile, the solution would have been, to just lay a pipe through the submerged parts, pump the water out of it and let the children crawl to safety.
Could even have added LEDs to make is less claustrophic.
 
Back
Top