is Elon Musk surrounded by "Yes-Men" ?
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- Опубліковано 8 чер 2024
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Xisuma looks at the reasons of why Elon Musk thinks he can fix Twitter like he fixes rockets.
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Edited by @SkyfighterZX
0:00 Intro
1:07 Elon's visionary thinking
3:46 Changing political views
4:52 Elon's echo chamber
6:02 Twitter is NOT rocket science
7:43 Let that sink in...
8:25 Join the conversation
#xisumasays #elonmusk #twitter
References:
Elon Musk Answers All Your Questions at Tesla's 2022 Shareholder Meeting | CNET Highlights
• Elon Musk Answers All ...
Elon Musk says Twitter Blue is a piece of sh** | Tesla Owners Silicon Valley
• Elon Musk says Twitter...
Elon Musk shows up at Twitter HQ: 'Let that sink in' | news.com.au
• Elon Musk shows up at ...
SpaceX Starman - Elon Musk Put a Car in Space | Wonder World
• SpaceX Starman - Elon ...
Elon Musk Explains SpaceX's Merlin Engine! | Everyday Astronaut
• Elon Musk Explains Spa...
Elon Musk hits back at suggestions he should have donated billions to charity | Sky News Australia
• Elon Musk hits back at...
[2022] Elon Musk Explains Updates To Starship And Starbase! | Everyday Astronaut
• [2022] Elon Musk Expla...
SpaceX Falcon Heavy- Elon Musk's Engineering Masterpiece | Spaceflight TV
• SpaceX Falcon Heavy- E...
Elon Musk's Last Warning About Artificial Intelligence | Elon Musk Viral Videos
• Video
Elon Musk decoding himself | TED
• Elon Musk decoding him...
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I do really like your take on this issue, although I'm more convinced that Elon Musks support for the right wing comes from a personal interest in keeping the free market™ as healthy as possible so he can keep as much money as possible. His handling of the twitter takeover makes a bit more sense with your ideas here.
One thing though. Is this blinkist thing paid promotion? It seems a lot like it and I'm having a hard time finding any mention of a sponsorship. The rules are pretty strict for you UA-camrs so if it is paid then you probably want to declare that properly.
@@lukasreher1732 there is a cupon code, so yeah, it is indeed a sponsorship
@@imibuks-replit very clearly, but I don't think he ever explicitly declared that. Although I'd imagine xisuma knows what he's doing
When you have as much money as Elon, Zuck, or Bezoz has, then you’ll be surrounded by yes-men
This is true behind any well-known or influential person. When you could have nearly anybody who would love to hang out with you due to your fame, it takes conscious effort to surround yourself with people unafraid to disagree with you.
@@lasagnasux4934 Which makes it all the more clear how little conscious effort Elon has taken as of recent
Not really but when you fire anyone who disagrees with you, you will be left with people who only say what you want them to say. This makes your team full of useless yes man people who never question anything Elon does. This is terrible leadership.
Musk uses men who have the knowledge he needs to run a successful company. You hire people with the same goals and ideas. Of course they agree but Musks also listens to those who disagree but he is owner and he has the right to take it to where he wants the company to go. His vision. His goals.
@@lasagnasux4934 The whole purpose is to have people who do agree with you. If there's constant disagreements you won't get anything done or make a good product and profit. It's starts with the owners vision of what he wants the company to be and he hires people to make it happen.
Honestly, I used to be a huge supporter of Elon, but as a few up and began to learn about the world, politics, philosophy, and so on, I began to realize that Elon wasn't even primarily a scientist. He's a salesman. I don't doubt he had a good grasp of engineering, but his key to the success he's had is his ability to create an aesthetic of "futurism"
the key to sucess is probably that he is working 20 hours a day?
@@zeeke5687 if by working you mean stealing memes on Twitter... sure?
why are you so defensive of this guy it's like he's your friend lol
@@pezvonpez ahahh if you becine the richest man by stealing memes why arent you then😂😂🤣
@@zeeke5687 congratulations, you have now lost all credibility
@@zeeke5687 maybe the key is having parents who own an emerald mine
Musk doesn't seem to have much tolerance for critics or people who don't 100% completely agree with him, even when they have a valid point. I first really noticed this when he began to publicly clash with Vernon Unsworth, a rescue diver who scoffed at Musk's idea of using a minisub during the rescue of the kids stuck in an underwater cave in Thailand... I was like "why are they fighting, just help the dang kids!" And Eric Frohnhoefer is a great recent example of this -- Musk made an assertation about how Twitter functioned, Eric corrected him and (after Musk asked him to explain it) politely explained how the system functioned... and Musk then fired him via a tweet. So yeah, I'd say he's completely surrounded by yes-men, whether they actually agree with him or not, because they want to keep their jobs and that seems to be the only way to do it with Musk.
Oh yeah I forgot that one. I think it was my first w. t. .f on his parts.
I'd say yes, maybe it's not intentional, but being a powerful rich person with companies and such is very likely that people feel pressured to agree with him, even if he tries to encourage them to be honest
Elon got pissy when an Android engineer corrected him on something he said, so no he does not encourage criticism
@@sierra1513 I think the issue was that the complaint was made public. You don’t exactly do that to your boss, unless you want to get fired.
@@DrakusLuthos that was but one example, there are countless allegations of similar things happening behind closed doors in his companies
@@sierra1513 I’d say the way he treats his employees is such that he forms a multibillion dollar company, multiple times throughout his life. So really it doesn’t matter because it’s the way all of us should be treating our employees if we ever had a company we normal folk started.
The fact you even think Elon is a capable engineer just shows how much he's put into constructing the fiction of himself he likes to show the world
It's quite a complex question. My instinct says Elon would never be where he is today if he was surrounded by "Yes-People". But this might have changed over the years.
Another point is that buying Twitter is complex on its own. Take Microsoft and Mojang (or a bunch of other MS-bought game studios). MS looked at them and decided it's a good investment (financial and/or PR). But Elon bought Twitter because he wanted to change it. And that's why we see massive layoffs and a whole lot of other instability. It's quite possible that in a couple of months, once the dust settles, we'll start seeing some meaningful changes but until then let's enjoy this (very expensive) show.
I love your stuff Xisuma, but, even if I agree with what your saying, something gets annoyed with these videos. Maybe its the slow talking that makes me suspicious of if you are holding your tongue, idk.
I agree with this video, but this makes him sound smarter than he is. Maybe Im wrong, but there were lots of moments where Elon, before the controversy (big ones at least) was still making stupid decisions and out there remarks. Like the kids stuck in the mine, he called a guy a pedo with no evidence, just to be inflammatory.
Musk was never particularly clever. A lot of folks, myself included, see him as part of (or at least close) to our nerdy 'tribe'... There's an affinity. But Musk just got lucky (by birth and then right-place at the right-time with PayPal). He used that to buy into stuff which seems cool... Again something a lot of us feel affinity for.
But... All along he's also been playing a hype game, combined with what is arguably just fraud in some cases.
I'm about the same age and had friends in the same university to tech-startup world. Some of the folks I know are legit geniuses. Musk really isn't. He's more of a frat boy than someone who is actually technically minded.
I don't know if Musk is delusional (excessively optimistic to sugar coat it) or knows he is lying, but I really don't think it matters much to him.
sorry but I fundamentally disagree with the assumption that elon is somehow a genius. He isnt a rocket scientist, he isnt an electrical car engineer. He is a CEO who by all accounts has to be managed around because his day to day management is so counterproductive to actually having a business.
Engineer here, and I agree completely. Elon's also a CEO who got a BA in physics and act's like he's qualified. Guy desperately wants to see himself as an engineer and it's hilarious.
@@ccaagg only looking at his hyper loop bullshit already says enough about how not qualified to talk about that stuff he is
@@CodjHD Yep. And that nonsensical hyperexpensive underground traffic lane.
@@ccaagg oh yeah lets du Underground trains but worse xD
@@CodjHD It's really strange how many people think 'CEO of a company in field x = expert in field x' idea. They're the chief _executive_ officer - not technical. By definition, their job description is making critical business decisions. A CTO will almost always, invariably, be more skilled in the field than a CEO.
Love this. While I don’t fully agree with X here and his assessment, I really appreciate the way he approaches discussion around controversial topics like this and others. Engaging in conversations like this in a respectful and intentional manner is something important and X nails it every time he addresses something challenging
Was also awed early on about his push for alternate energy and space exploration, but as he became more and more public, and as more of his interactions with others came up, the more it's become apparent that he's not what I first thought. His treatment of employees is bad enough, but he exchanges with his inner circle (from the text dump back in Q3) bothered me a lot.
In my opinion Elon is surrounded by yes-people, however in Twitter's case it's not only that he's surrounded by yes-men but because no one in Twitter has the power to oppose his ideas brought on to the platform. As far as I know, the only people who were capable of opposing his ideas because they had the power to do so were the board of directors and the former CEOs, both of which were fired when he took over. Right now, people working for him are very likely to agree with what he says due to the power dynamic between them and their CEO who has shown he is willing to fire them on the spot with the addition that nobody with equal power can comfortably tell him no because those people don't exist as it currently stands.
don't forget that the same board filed lawsuit to force the purchase, then promptly to 20+million dollar severance packages they had written into their contracts before hand.
- 5:10 Not only are his yes-men laughing at his "jokes" and agreeing with him, they're wearing Tesla shirts. 😒
- He's not just surrounded by yes-men, he's surrounded by simps. The kind of people who aggressively attack thunderf00t for criticizing him whenever Phil points out the problems with Elon's claims.
- 7:55 Musk hasn't actually done anything at all, all his "accomplishments" were things he did with other people (even the stuff at the start before he just paid people to do everything), he didn't actually do much himself, just like how Steve Jobs never really did any actual tech work, that was Woz.
Well at the very least Jobs wasn't purposefully destroying lives on institutional level. At least as much.
(I'm referring to him doing things against public transport, worker unions, and safety regulations)
I've always tried to be careful with my conclusions since we have literally no way of knowing what's going on in other person's head or in their life. Is Elon surrounded by "yes people"? I don't know, never had a chance of working with him! I thought that this lack of confidence is a weakness, but seeing all the hatred both of the sides are showing now is far more disgusting. But still one of the hardest questions for me remains: is it better to stay neutral and just let everything go its way or to pick a side and fight for your beliefs so you have an opportunity to influence at least anything? I'm not talking only about current situation with twitter, this choice comes often in many forms throughout life.
But as always, thank you for your sound opinion, Xisuma! I feel like more of theese could really help at such a time
I'm quite the same. In my opinion it's not worth sticking to a belief and fighting to the death with it. Other people have different beliefs not always because someone is right and someone is wrong, but because reality is complicated, and ultimately all we can know about it is how we as individuals percieve it. With that in mind, running with an opinion and deafening yourself to everyone who disagrees (cough, twitter cough) is a fools endeavour. Especially when the amount of effort it takes for an individual to make even a nigh insignificant amount of change is way more than it's worth - but hey maybe I'm just lazy.
@@femboygaming64 Exactly my thoughts! But maybe it depends on the subject? Like this twitter issue doesn't seem that important to me personally, but, for example, if we talk about injustice keeping silent often makes things way worse
I mean, if you pick a side, you won't be "fighting for your beliefs". You'll just fight with people on the internet like a child and ruin your mental health. So anyway I'm on the side that says he's a bad guy :)
Yeah, uh, I'm trying to stay objective. I wish elon just didn't do this. Everything was fine before. Or well no, everything still sucked but now it's 10 times worse. Everyone is angry, the platform is going to shit, and... yeah.
I think elon is objectively a terrible person. And kind of a fraud too. It's hard to tell if what he says is because he's genuinely stupid, or he just... I dunno, has some secret masterplan with all of this?
Like, here's something he said that is completely idiotic: that the point of the new verification system is to empower the truth, to destroy misinformation. Uhm... how will a pay-to-be-seen system not HELP bad actors? If I wanted to, I could just buy a check and suddenly my lies are at the top of everyone's feeds. He has to know this, right? Then why is he lying that it'll help stop disinformation? Does he think his audience is that dumb? Is HE that dumb and DOESNT actually know this!? I just don't understand.
But no matter the intentions, here is what he did. Reinstated anti-minority accounts which have gotten people killed and will get more killed. Empowered disinformation. Mocked (and fired) any who disagree with him, instead of having a discussion. That's all I can think of from the top of my head. Outside of Twitter, he has contributed to car dependency intentionally. He has halted high speed rail projects, intentionally. He treats his employees like shit. His wealth came from an emerald farm in Africa owned by his father.
I see elon as a profound manchild, an evil piece of filth that gets people killed, and a fraud. He isn't "the man of the future", he is actively holding us back and preventing progress. I have no respect for him.
indeed it is crutial to educate ourselves on our belief system and learn to accept doubt, but the next step to learn probably is to still act in doubt. I aim to be as open minded and rational in my judgment of facts and ideas in my life but if I am then unsure about everything but still believe that inaction is not a good path, acting is hard but necessary. And that's how i end up looking up psychology papers on how to incitate action (instead of acting sure but..) or roll a dice about a decision.
I'm honestly not too excited or fussed about what Elon Musk has done with Twitter so far because it hasn't really changed much. For example, hateful speech is still being algorithmically supressed. If Elon Musk empowered users with more tools such as custom algorithms, block lists, and niche abilities like being able to mute people who follow those you've blocked, I think having free speech on Twitter would actually be feasible and marketable. Otherwise, I don't blame him for not allowing every form of speech that would be protected by the First Amendment.
Slight gripe with what youre saying at 2:54 here;
Elon isnt a rocket engineer, he is an obscenely wealthy ... person... who pays a bunch of rocket engineers, and who couldve absolutely done the same thing to help improve the food and housing circumstances of literal millions of people.
Instead he runs whats perhaps the most dangerous car factory to work at in the world and works against unionization efforts wherever he can, because then hed have to pay his employees a decent wage, which would also help alleviate poverty for at least those people.
While simultaneously working to hinder actual solutions to both transportation and climate issues because functional public transport would threaten his profit margins as a car salesman.
He doesnt build a thing, he just has money.
I have a friend that works for Tesla, the wages are not bad. He doesn't like syndicate so the workers have correct conditions/ working hours and such. He couldn't micro-manage with it as well. Mandatory overtime/total control over everything is what he doesn't want to loose.
I think that taking words at how they literally are isn’t healthy. Saying “yes men” will upset people because it says “men” may be true but it shouldn’t. It’s not specific to men, it’s a broad term. I’ll never forget when I was a cashier and after checking a couple out (clearly male female) I said “ you guys have a nice night”. The male got angry at me and felt the need to point out his partner was a girl. Since when have broad all inclusive words started to have their meanings changed?
Don't be bothered too much by that situation, you didn't have bad intentions. Frictions like that are a common thing since we all talk in our own way and sometimes what one person means is not what another gets. And then you have people very particular with language like Xisuma I guess but also people that don't care too much and are occupied by other things in life. I have frictions all the time but I'm not really well spoken. I never intentionally hurt anyone though. People are dickheads. Ones take offence too quickly, others are reckless with speech.
Dont worry about it. You're not beholden to how others see themselves.
It is probably something like that.
There is a video called How Elon Musk Got Rich ft. Second Thought, It's a good video and is pretty relevant. It looks like he has a history of making himself look better than he is.
Fun fact: Einstein learned to play the violin as a child and continued playing into his adulthood. So while he may not be a true musical genius, he's definitely not a slouch! :D
Love your content, you should definitely take your xisumasays audio and publish them as a podcast on Spotify, I would love to be able to listen to your stuff from here on that platform
I know this is tangential but it really rubs me the wrong way when people credit musk for "getting rockets into space" etc. He is just an investor, not an inventor. The engineers he pays are the ones who got the rockets into space.
He's the head engineer at space X
Based on the way he runs his companies, it’s no surprise that there’s only yes-people left. In 2020, he required Tesla worker to resign if they wouldn’t work in person full time (40h). He told Twitter workers that if they couldn’t commit to rebuilding twitter, which meant “working long hours at high intensity’ to quit. Any Twitter employees that criticized him were promptly fired. He call’s himself an alpha, and believes the only way to succeed is by dominating. Anyone who doesn’t bend to his will is either fired or forced to resign.
I've heard that if you meet Elon in person (e.g. EveryDay Astronaut doing the Starbase Tours) you get a set of rules from his team on how to behave beforehand - e.g. not criticise him. That would suggest there is a lack of criticism and other opinions reaching him.
Then again, if his employees were only to do what he says spacex and Tesla wouldn't be where they are today - pretty sure he knows when to listen to ideas of his lead engineers etc.
It's pretty rare that a person doesn't exist in an echo chamber these days with social media being so present in everyone's lives. The only people who don't live in one are those who either don't engage with social media or those who actively try to see outside of it. It's not just how humans tend to work, it's how social media works. It's a lack of balance either way, and if you don't listen to your opposition you have no right to be opposed. Meaning, you can't say you disagree with something if you don't know what you're disagreeing with.
I think it was a lack of fair opposition on the platform that made him want to buy Twitter in the first place. But I don't know I don't have Twitter.
I largely agree with you on this X, people who are born into money and have a personality type which drives them build multinational corporations don't tend to be big on disagreement. The money and the power attract the types of yes people you discussed and Elon's personality is likely to drive away anyone who disagrees with him.
Interesting times ahead. I don't think he is the right person to run a social media company, but then I don't really subscribe to for profit corporations having that kind of power over how people communicate, think or engage with each other.
I don't really subscribe to for profit companies existing, profit necessitates inefficiency
If anything you’re giving him too much credit.
I never thought I'd see Armin Laschet in a video of xisuma 🤣🤣🤣
for some reason (maybe related to mumbo stopping) i’ve stopped watching hermit craft stuff and thus your channel but content like this is awesome and will definitely keep an eye on this channel.
I certainly think a lot of his followers are so die-hard that they will defend anything and everything he does. This is naturally going to massively inflate his ego. On the other hand, his biggest detractors will criticise everything he does, even if he were to do good. I include myself in the last group, though I try not to be. It’s all about not judging, but especially not prejudging, which is one of the key aspects of Buddhism. I’ve definitely found meditation helps you see when you’re prejudging, but obviously I’ve still a long way to go myself
I agree with pretty much everything you said. I'm like you, kind of in the last group but trying not to be.
It sucks, because the people we get our info from are usually as biased as us. So they influence us. I wish news had to be 100% factual, and 100% neutral. Like Wikipedia!
Someone with so much power requires a proportional amount of criticism
At the end of the day, Elon Musk is just an ideas guy with a lot of money. He inherited his wealth from his parents and their African emerald mines. He did not develop PayPal or Tesla on his own, he bought in early to capitalize on profits. Lately it seems his ego has massively inflated for some reason, though it'll be interesting to see how well he can keep face with Twitter hemorrhaging money he borrowed from the Saudis and Tesla stocks plummeting.
I dunno, he just seems kind of clueless in some senses. Like the other day when Trent Reznor said he was gonna quit Twitter because he didn't like the idea of it being controlled by the world's wealthiest man, and Elon called him a "crybaby 🤣🤣". Then all the Elon fans come out and say dumb stuff like "crazy how these old rockers are all pro-establishment now, not like Kid Rock and Ted Nugent!", as if Trent Reznor of all people sucks up to the government. It's just, I dunno man. Get a clue.
My biggest issue with all social media platforms is that they are mainly run by software developers and IT specialists with very little background on sociology or cultural studies. It's one expertise to create a perfectly running website with millions of users, but it requires a different kind of expertise to create systems catered to how humans in the masses operate. In the end this line of work is often managed by the business and marketing department of their team which prioritizes time spent in their apps and ads instead of creating a condusive environment for discourse and information sharing. So far Elon is merely doubling down on those faulty systems instead of creating a social media site that puts the user experience first.
a person who questioned him since the beginning is Thunderf00t, if you wanna dig deeper in Elon Musk's flaws, i'd suggest to give him a watch
I got to ask: Are you really spitballing these videos or do you prepare with notes? Because some of the points I would not be able to come up with at the spot at all
Similar to my music blog writings, I listen to records and ruminate on the feelings. As I listen to podcasts and news I these topics I do the same thing, then It just comes together in my mind and I write.
Coming back here a few days after he fired an engineer when he told Elon his interactions were down because he wasn't the focus of attention any more
my opinion of Elon has shifted from highly favorable to highly highly unfavorable as the years go on. Firstly, he 100% surrounds himself with yes-men, and I disagree with the notion a few comments have made that it "may not be intentional" seeing as he is currently firing everyone who slightly disagrees with him or criticizes him. He aligns himself with dangerous right-wing conspiracy theorists and uses ablest and offensive language to talk about past employees, and all of this is just within the past few weeks with Twitter.
X, I think your idea of "his fans have become more diehard" is too tame. Essentially every Elon fanboy I run into online for the past year or so will defend his every single possible move without hesitation, and will call you something along the lines of "snowflake libtard" for even having the notion that he might have done something wrong. There's no good faith arguments or genuine discourse; just name calling and dismissive whataboutisms.
yep, it's the cult mentality.
In my experience with people who are the main financial support for an entire group (whether it be a family, company, or friend group) people often act like yes-people around them to earn their favor and this only feeds the fire in their egos and makes them want to deliberately create an environment of all yes-people by pushing away people who disagree with them and keeping close those who are closer in line with their own opinions.
I think there's a very easy answer to this question that's been missed.
Yes, Elon is definitely surrounded by Yes-people, because he creates an environment that encourages such behavior.
Elon has a long history of not handling criticism well: He has gone so far as to personally fire employees for contradicting him or voicing concerns, and has verbally attacked and even threatened to sue journalists for criticizing him in the past. Or anyone else, really, the "p*do guy" situation is a pretty good example of this behavior.
An environment where you fear your boss might fire you if you voice any kind of disagreement is one where yes-men thrive, and that is the environment that Elon has created for himself.
I’m happy to see somebody really questioning Elon Musk, as most people idolize him simply because he has money.
You’re a thoughtful person, Xisuma.
It's funny, I abhor him for precisely that reason, there are plenty of people critisising musk, try Georg Rockall Schmidt or The Karvernacle
I promise you, there are plenty of people who despise the guy, you just gotta look in the correct corners of youtube.
And its not like there arent plenty of good reasons to dislike him either.
@@TheSpeep Yep he does have some very nice accomplishement but has a very bad track on human/worker rights. He has a great vision, he just seems to have lost himelf a little with Twitter. His addiction got too far ?
I think he is surrounded by yes people, but honestly I think he is doing it on purpose. There have been a couple instances that woke me up to this idea in the last few weeks, including Elon firing one of his developers after they gave a long thought critique on the platform and it’s structure. This leads me to believe that Elon will only surround himself with the people that support and enable specifically his vision of the future.
Betteridge's Law: "Any headline that ends with a question mark can be answered 'no'."
not really a Headline, it's a video, and most of the time that rule is not true, It is however when someone try to spin something that has no conext with the situation. We see Carlson do that all the time. Just phrase as you say something without saying it.
I do think its an interesting subject that I didn't really think about but some of his actions and attitude he presents online can certainly give an impression he is very much stuck in his echo chamber of ideas without anyone really there to challenge him. I do really agree he isn't particularly handling it with a proper social approach and more like an engineering project to a degree. It feels like he is more talking about how it effects engagement of the platform talking about how the usage of twitter is at all time high or haphazardly throwing out changes to see what sticks without really thinking of the reaction those actions bring.
On a more personal note it would certainly be a bit more pleasant if he stopped trying to be so hip with the kids and throwing around memes because to me it just kind of makes him look really immature and that he isn't really taking anything seriously...
He's a billionaire, why should he take anything seriously? He can just take another loan out and buy the consequences out of existence
7:50
Einstein was a really good violinist!
Wait for real?
Thats actually kinda cool!
Had to google this. National Geographic says he was and a particular fan of Mozart sonatas. So very neat!! Thanks for sharing this gem. Music and art can be very mathematical. I love quilting for that very reason!
I personally think that Elon musk is going to ruin twitter, but I also think that Elon often promises, or makes it seem like he promises, more than he can deliver
Or maybe, just maybe, he's not as smart as he purports himself to be. He's an idea man. There are actual engineers and actual scientists behind Tesla and Space X. He just takes credit.
He's definitely in an echo chamber and he's showing us exactly who he really is.
Lmao sounds like you're in an echo chamber, do you even know why you hate him? Why the left loved him and praised him so much until he said he was a republican?
I think this is a good point because people kinda forget that the dude is rich. Was born rich even.
When you're that rich you could throw a lot of things at the wall and see what sticks. I don't think it's farfetched to surmise there's a lot of prototypes for things he's thought of but failed.
And because of that I don't want to call him a genius exactly. Sure you can have an idea and then hand it over to engineers to adapt and change for the better but we can't act like the person went into the lap and worked tirelessly to create said thing into perfection.
The best comparison I can think of is winning the lotto and then giving all your cash to a well renowned investor. You aren't a genius for choosing to do the optimal thing and stay wealthy.
I watched a lot of interviews of him and he comes off as very good at the economics of engineering. He knows how to cut down production costs to the essentials. If I were an engineer I could see myself appreciating someone relatively specialized like that rather than some CEO with a generic business skillset.
He is smart, just not remarkably so. I mean, he's created a structure that heavily relies on his own input while simultaneously starving himself of time to self-reflect. Seems to me he's driven himself into a corner.
@@dant1239 lol sure, ok.
I dislike him because he over promises, under delivers. He throws wild ideas and accusations out causally. I dislike him because of how he treats employees, how he treats anyone he regards as "under him". I dislike his cavalier attitude to adding yet more space junk in near earth orbit or the fact that it's incredibly reflective and ruining earth based astrophotography. By all accounts he's a terrible father, so that's another ding. I don't even have to go in to the lies about his upbringing or schooling. And I won't go into the issues from where his family money even comes from.
I use to admire him, I use to believe he was what he said and put himself out to be. But just the smallest amount of digging into his past, his family, his education and you'll see it's a bunch of smoke and mirrors. He's not a dumb man, by any means, but he's not a genius either.
@@dant1239 I'm not sure where you got this "the left loved him" from.
As far as I know, being firmly on the left, the left has hated the guy for years.
I honestly have little to no experience with Twitter so it is hard to have a strong opinion but I understand him trying to buy it so that people can voice their opinions again. I think voicing opinions can sometimes be harmful but it kind of seems like as soon as people learned about his political views that's when the stronger opinions about Elon came out.
If a whole group of people who worship the flying spaghetti monster want to start sharing their opinions who are we to stop them? I understand the reasons for blocking Kanye and Trump but the truth is it doesn't stop anything. Their opinions are silly sometimes and all rational people see that so I don't see a point to block them because irrational people will just find something else to follow
hey, just saying that man is not an engineer, but a businessman
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. One of the things I really like about these is how you strive to be as unbiased and impartial as someone can be when citing your own opinions. I also enjoy the nod towards your own changing opinions and feelings on the subjects you talk about. You are a very conscientious man who considers what you say very carefully because of what influence you have to your audience.
Regarding the topic at hand, I confess that I don't know much about Musk or care for his existence in the grand scheme of things. He is another person on this planet who exists, that's about it. What I do know about him is that he's influential and has the power and money to make his voice and opinions heard, and in the recent weeks, the power to make thousands of people unemployed on a whim. While he touts and speaks about free speech, you have the alleged reports that he is sacking people who have criticised him internally at twitter, and on that particular note, I would agree whole-heartedly that Musk wants to surround himself with Yes people, because there would be, in theory, little attempt to undermine him and show a united front as he goes about his business "restructuring" twitter. Dissenters cause problems, and what better way to get rid of them then chase them out or sack them?
I remember once hearing a saying: you become more Conservative as you get older. While I don't believe it's a given or 100%, I wonder if Musk has surrounded himself with people who spout this rhetoric, or spent time in the company of these people and as he's aged, what they say makes more and more sense.
Add to that his status as a billionaire/the richest man on the planet. Much like the politicians that run our countries, and in the UK I'm sure you're aware enough of the disconnect between politicians and the people, I think that very much applies to Musk. I think that to a point, he must live in some reality where he thinks that he is right, and what he does is good and true and just - that he is benefitting humankind instead of what looks like a sad man clutching on to power like Gollum and the ring, or Smaug and all his wealth.
When he wanted to make twitter a place for freedom of speech, he's seemingly fallen into the pitfall most, but not all, folk do of equating freedom of speech with freedom from consequences. This is a problem across the political spectrum, of course, but with Musk and other vocal right wing speakers, especially dangerous because of the positions of power, influence, and money they have at their disposal. Over the last decade from an observational standpoint, its felt as if the meaning of freedom of speech has become "freedom to cause offence and not face repercussions", with the offence aimed squarely at minority groups or general groups. As soon as the dominant groups have that same language aimed at them, suddenly there is a problem and toys are tossed with the velocity of a hotguy at the offending groups from this metaphoric pram. Musk feels like he fits that camp, because it also feels that he can't admit that he has it wrong, and so will die on the hill he stands on by trying to make us all believe that freedom of speech means you can call someone something racist or a diver a paedophile, if I recall a few years ago.
Yes. Yes. Yes. His own echo chamber.
Is Elon musk surrounded by yes men? I lean towards yes. I mean I am not their personally but where there is immense wealth and power there will always be people willing to do anything to get a piece of it.
It is also very interesting that situations where twitter employees who have been critical of Elon musk have been fired almost instantly. Eric Frohnhoefer being a key example.
men used to refer to people in general not just males , which is what the term yes men is prob originating from so technically its not gendered
I mostly say min in place of men/man in words like Yes-men because when I was 9 I thought the word admin was said like Add man and when I realized that it was admin I just started using it for other things.
It's kinda hard to notice if you aren't looking for it.
Also, for more about Elon Musk: I recommend 2 channels on UA-cam.
Thunderf00t
And
Common Sense Skeptic
From my experience watching execs in startups I’ve worked in, I can say that it’s almost certainly yes. L
People who decided to start companies have to be self-assured and delusional to some degree. To be a CEO you have to present everything in a positive light, either to get funding, or to keep workers calm in time of turmoil. In my experience what starts as presenting everything in a positive light can easily morph into a fragile self-delusion, built around the idea that they can do no wrong.
Their success further reinforces the notion that they know best, thus reinforcing this self-delusion. Eventually resulting in the vicious removal of people that disagree with them and the promotion of those that further protect this self-delusion and their image. Humans are incredibly bad at figuring out what led to our success and while hard work is usually needed, there’s a whole host of environmental reasons, and blind luck we either don’t see or don’t want to see.
Reporting in the media doesn’t really help either. Elon didn’t build and design every rocket himself, there’s 100s if not 1000s of engineers working in his companies that actually make the product. We attribute far too much credit and blame to CEOs for everything that happens because it’s easy.
Is Musk an engineer trying to address social issues, or is he a businessman changing the course of a newly acquired firm? I don’t ask this question in defense of Musk; businesspeople are a class I’m almost never impressed by.
Elon's had some crazy ideas. Living on Mars? The air there is wayyy too toxic to breathe. I went to a summer camp thing to figure out how to idealize how to live on mars because no one had any actual good ideas. Not even the man himself
It's difficult to say regarding 'ethical AI' group - as a programmer myself I feel like it's possible to give people or entire teams fancy titles which justify what they do (or don't) actually do. It seems as plausible to me that the outside perspective of a new managerial structure identified some serious deficiencies in the division and/or lack of direction and results which drew them to the conclusion that it was better to wipe the slate, and even rethink what they are doing and trying to achieve with this team. Honestly, compared to other divisions of an IT corporate, doing "ethical AI" research seems extremely vague and difficult to justify when you're looking at the bottom line. It almost seems to me like the entire team could be construed as a knee-jerk reaction to terminator syndrome, especially when mixed with other buzzwords like AI. At the end of the day, "AI" is just a computer algorithm, written by (often flawed) human programmers. We have been writing flawed and iteratively improving algorithms for decades. I hope that in time once the dust has settled, they might see the need for, and come up with, something better defined and measurably useful for the platform, users, and society as a whole.
Agreed.
Here is my take. Elon is a businessman. He wants to make money for himself but also for those who work for him (in using “work” I truly mean labor to the best of their abilities to make the company successful/profitable.) Twitter was a struggling business-growing too big, too fast, which Jack Dorsey admitted was his fault. Elon had to do some major triage stepping in. He has taken it to bare bones and once it stabilizes, he will be to grow it again. It is a process done in the business world. It’s a painful process to those involved, as there is a lot of pruning, but needed for a struggling business to survive and even thrive in the future. Now once Twitter is stabilized, that’s when I think things will get interesting. Will Elon stay on as CEO?- he said at first that is not his plan. Will Twitter survive if it doesn’t fulfill the needs of its users? No. Without users, there will be no ad revenue and Twitter will fail. Hopefully he can build a team that can address all these needs. But right now, it’s triage/pruning time just to keep it alive.
Iirc he was forced to buy twitter, and now people complain when he does whatever he wants with it.
he did put himself in that situation. He is the sole responsible for the situation. Will it end in better Twitter ? We can only hope. ATM he reinstate lors of troll (left and rigth) and ban everyone mocking him. So far not a great start on that front. But he does have some nice ideas for the plateform. We'll see if he can pull it.
Thank you for the nuanced take
the thing is none of the firms really come from him tesla was funded by someone else paypal he baught himself in also he has nothing to do with the creations of his companys as he has little to do with them and has shown multiple times in his speaches that he doesnt know what he is talking about.
since after all he himself is not an actual scientist but a business man
2:40 Part of the problem people have with Elon Musk is this notion that he himself is a rocket engineer because he owns spaceX, a communications expert because he owns Twitter etc. I get where you are coming from and agree: people do have different areas of expertise. But to say that Elon Musk is a genius of engineering or whatever is really not his locus of talent. I agree he is talented in some ways, but his primary talent is leveraging businesses and assets already in his control to expand and develop upon them. Of course, this Twitter fiasco is proving that maybe he's not even good at that. But I think we need to set aside the idea of Musk as "rocket engineer." He is a guy who hires people to build rockets.
Yes, I think that the text messages that were leaked showed there were several "yes ppl" (mostly men lol) who wanted to be in his Twitter orbit.
I am suprised, that you write "Yes-men" in the title, but then take a stance, that it's better to say "Yes-people".
Why not shape language and put it in the title too?
Besides that, a well written essay. I don't think we can have an opinion on the question, just a guess.
He is or is not surrounded by them, it's a fact. So our opinion can not influence this fact.
I just notice, that I'm again, talking about language here xD
I don’t know if Elon thought he was the “right” person to do it but simply noticed that something needed done and no one else was in a position or had the courage to even attempt. Twitter was terrible. Now suddenly it is growing and with no banning on either side (previously it had been a complete silencing of one half of the political aisle). Now everyone has an equal opportunity to discuss and debate. Elon is doing so much better than I could have ever imagined. He brings so much needed life back to twitter. He has made it clear that even though he has bias (everyone does) he wants everyone, even those he disagrees with, to have the freedom to let their voice be heard. That’s what it’s all about.
Maybe some people do follows the flow 'cause of making more money for them selfs, even though they don't agree on the flows' ideas. Sometimes people do odd things for money.
dont agree with most of this video to be honest.
Thanks for that enlightening insight... You really explain very well why you don't agree.
@@scalpingsnake hehe
How about No ..because.of ..yes ...and..yes because of ..no ..both are right.
damn this was a thoughtful take.
Excellent video
Well of course he is. Why do you think he's wasting all that $$ on colonizing mars? Ever hear the phrase " foolish endeavor"
Hello there👋
I think Elon sees a lot of opposition and bad press, so when he does organise a publicly available discussion, it's with yes-men.
If I was in his position I might do the same.
What about a follow up video X?
Now that it has calmed down a bit what’s up with the whole thing?
Elon is for sure one of the most important people of today. But everybody has faults and has to learn. The twitter episode is for sure a learning curve for him. But that doesn’t make his other accomplishments and plans less great.
What are your thoughts compared to Tesla right now wich he steers through the Inflation despite all other company’s struggling.
It’s complex for sure.
Thanks for your ear and have a great day man ❤
love it
Not seeing anything in the top comments about this so I'm just gonna add that I believe yes-people to be a far better word than yes-men
Seeing the title t did encourage slightly my tendency to think of groups as male
Yes-People also makes it sound far more like a group to me, which is fitting in this context (for singular it'd then be yes-person)
In german there's the word 'jasager', roughly translating to 'yes-sayer'
In contrast to the english default it is ambigous in gender and in count, which seems like a good optimum for such a word as it isn't about how many yes-sayers you have or which gender they are. but about them being there (and if these parameters are important they should be noticeable from other content)
to be honest yes his specialty is in engineering but even his products on that side have plenty of issues of their own. maybe he should focus on fixing those issues than making a fool of himself with twitter
xishuamy, never change. (or change as needed)
Maybe Musk has the skills to get rockets off the ground, but he also has the money to deeply affect, if not end altogether, starvation and poverty in addition to (note, NOT instead of) his other goals. Sure, we can praise him for his long term visions (although given the quality issues plaguing Tesla products, I think that praise is a bit misplaced) but he has the kind of wealth that would allow him to act in those long term ways and still invest in shorter term problems that would alleviate present suffering. Instead, he hoards wealth or uses it on social media projects.
Yes.
'Yes Folks'
I’d say the answer is « yes »😉 ?
His ego outgrew his skills. I guess when you are richest man in the world you might be inclined to think that it translates into being the smartest. This then leads to his constant public opinions about absolutely anything and then into disregarding other ppl opinions. He must've had some people in the past he listened to, I mean he's no engineer. But his success seems to got into his head.
Hello, I just wanted to say this video is great.
I like your funny words magic man.
xisuma uses a lot of apple computer stock images :)
The problem with wealth is mostly not the individuals who hold it but the systems in place that allow them to exist require the exploitation and subjugation of working class and minorities, Elon is but the lastest and most popular example of this
Well, yes and no.
Yes, the systems are the problem, but not in small part precisely because they reward such behaviour.
You just dont become a billionaire without being at least kind of a sociopath. People like Musk may only be a symptom of the problem, but the symptoms are what makes a disease a problem.
If tumors didnt kill people, we might not consider cancer such an issue either. But, kinda like billionaires, they do, so we have to cut them out.
@@TheSpeep Yes well, symptom management is an important part of healthcare especially for cancer, however anyone in any field would tell you it is always better to prevent the illness in the first place than to try to treat it later
@@sierra1513 I agree, absolutely.
The problem is that billionaires already exist, and many people already cant afford rent or food because of it.
I too would prefer they didnt, but in the meantime some symptom management might do us all good.
Edit: I do realize my tone mightve been a bit more combative than intended, just to clarify, I do agree.
I don't even have to watch this to know the answer is yes. He's rich, was born into it, presents as self made, and likes when people do yes him. Of course you want to be on someone like that's good side.
5:20 these people weren’t tesla employees. please do some research
Lets the fruitcake wars begin
Some people have said that elon didnt even want to buy twitter as he expected them to turn him down as he believed twitter was run by left leaning media, but now he has bought it he needs to pretend it was all part of the plan.
I dont think elon has ever had an employee that didnt want to appease him or at least keep elon happy, at least an employee that didnt like elon didnt stay for very long
I am not personally upset by your usage of "yes people" but I thought I would just give my opinion because why not. It is nothing too special or important but it exists. (Before I start I do want to say that I am a Christian female) when I hear the term "yes men" it makes me envision men in suits all blindly agreeing and being very full of themselves. They probably go to a sports bar after work to celebrate the decisions made. When I hear "yes people" it makes me envision a political figure addressing a crowd. "Yes, people I will enact...." I don't know why this is but it just is. If I were to hear the phrase "yes women" I don't think I would envision anything. I do think that the way things are worded can definitely skew how the listener interprets. When I try to talk to my mom we have quite a bit of issues because we both use language very differently. I don't know if I feel either term gives quite the right effect but that certainly isn't your fault. Sometimes the words used to describe concepts just don't give the right (for lack of better term) vibe. And I get that. But then again, my brain is kinda weird. Have a blessed week everyone! God loves us all so much:)
Edit: also I think this video is just realy well done. Most of your videos are, just wanted to say it :)
I will say, recently more than ever, his long term thinking with electric cars and space (even though his solutions in those areas may not be the solutions we need (gas cars < electric cars < public transportation), and their quality of solutions are in question (tesla cars turning off autopilot before crashes to avoid lawsuits, stupid idea, like saying that I wasn't responsible for a wreck cause I bailed from my car beforehand) have transition to just make money. Especially the way he treats workers and stuff like that.
My main disagreement in the video, is that last line. "Dialogue with his peers", anyone Elon could talk to as another social media owner, is heavily biased themselves, Meta, Alphabet, and even smaller sites all have their own solutions, which historically have stepped on creative ability, like on UA-cam and in more recent years, journalistic articles, stories, and reports (looking at you Facebook, banning the Hunter Laptop story during the Presidential Election cycle even though that as of last week NYPost corroborated in it's truthfulness. Suppressing a true story even if at the time you had no idea if it was real is one of the worst things an organization can do).
In the end however, Elon may be surrounded by people that agree with him, but that may not always just be because they are agreeing with Elon Musk. I find there is a difference between agreement and parroting, and in that example video about Twitter Blue (pre-buyout) it seems they are just agreeing that buying it actually slows down Twitter as an app.
Nuance is very important, and you are very much nuanced. I enjoyed the video X.
Yes
If the AI algoritm research is so important why aren't any of our Universities doing the research they should a better place to do indepent research. Why would a for profit organisation do it they might use the thing they've learned in the most horrible way, by making people more addicted to the social media platform. Keep in mind that his distrust for the current democrats has some good reasoning, there was EV summit in the White House and Tesla wasn't invited.
I'm not Elon's biggest fan, and I like a lot of the points made here, but for the sake of discussion, let me try and poke some holes in your thinking:
Even if the people working for him are 'yes men' as you put it, he's had a lot of critics outside of that who he has interacted with. You're not the first to ask this question, about whether or not he has the skill-set for twitter. Many have claimed that the 'rocket and electric cars guy' is going to fail at running an internet-based business. (somehow forgetting he started paypal and other internet-based businesses, which were highly successful while he owned them)
How will he do with a social network? That remains to be seen. This *is* his first time, so we don't know what's going to happen for sure until it does. But any lack of experience doesn't guarantee failure - quite the opposite, it means he's likely to see opportunities that others with experience in this space would likely ignore, and he does already have highly trained staff that can handle the technical & legal challenges at the very least.
Also, if there really is no one right answer to social network issues, or even no 'best' answer, then there's no truly wrong answers either. It becomes, then, not about right or wrong, but about change - and whether or not the changes he makes will result in the platform he envisions, and whether or not that platform will continue to survive and turn a profit.
Many nay-sayers want to make it out like he has nowhere to go but down. Like there's no way to succeed at this. But if that were true, then twitter was doomed even without his involvement.
Maybe it was. Maybe social media in general is reaching an era of change as we know it. Other social networks are also struggling right now, and not just a little either.
But then again, eras of change also mean lots of innovation, and that's something Elon is *quite* good at. In fact, his track record at innovating and pivoting old ideas in new ways is phenomenal. That's what I hope is happening at twitter right now - evolution.
But that's not what I expect. I expect flames and glorious fireworks as the whole thing burns to the ground. And we're likely going to get some of that even if he does eventually succeed, so for now just sit back and enjoy the show. 🤣
I think Elon just hired a bunch of smart engineers and that is why his tech companies have been successful. In my opinion he does not deserve the credit for anything more than the ideas all the actual work was not done by him. In the case of Twitter it seems he is much more hands on and all the decisions come from him. Hopefully this experiment with Twitter will take his ego down a few notches after losing billions on it.
I want to add something to my original comment. Even Tesla and SpaceX are not the best ideas despite them being successful. If you do some research on cars for example, even electric cars are not the solution to transportation. A simple train that you see in many European countries can transport more people for less environmental impact, cost, and with a much smaller footprint.
the switch in language was quite nice, thank you for that
I think he’s 100% surrounded by yes-people. When you accumulate that much wealth, people are bound to agree with everything in hopes they can get a mote of those riches.
You can even see it at the level of how fanatical his fans are. I have a friend who refuses to believe or debate anything that remotely criticizes him, and proclaims himself a “free thinker” but just parrots what comes out of Elon’s mouth/Twitter. Even when I’m coming from a grey area, I don’t 100% hate or like Elon, but anything critical I say is met with denial that Elon has ever done anything wrong in his life.
It’s very weird.
he 100% is
Stephan pinker