It doesn't happen every time, but it happens enough times for me to allocate some thoughts searching for explanations. Today, for example, as I shared one picture, an image showing Tesla's stock price crashing and I was reminded-once again: Elon is a genius, and he must know what he's doing.
There are those people who love to remind me of Elon's IQ. I mean, I don't know if that's accurate, but I do know that is the claim. The truth is that I don't care much for what that number says. As far as I can tell, I've met people with high scores that don't seem to effective in life, so I don't know how useful this number is.
That being said, the idea of an IQ score being used as a sort of title is a little worrisome. Imagine me writing my usual rants on this blog and claiming to be correct on my assertions simply because I scored 132 once.
Readers of this blog have shown me how I get things wrong, and if I would have shielded myself from learning using the score of a test I took decades ago, I would be proving how inadequate that score actually is.
There's an old video of Sam Harris debating Deepak Chopra that I've probably watched way too many times in my life. There's a particular part when Deepak truly goes off the deep end, in my opinion, and mixes metaphysics with science in a way that seems purposefully confusing.
I'm sharing this video right at Sam's intervention(min 4:30), right when he puts a stop to the logical train that just got derailed. I would encourage anyone to rewind and listen back to the whole ten minutes for more context, but I hope that snippet makes my point.
When we speak, and this goes for all of us, we must be open to the idea of being wrong. We ought to realize there's a world of knowledge we don't posses and mature enough to change our minds if presented with evidence that contradicts our positions.
To the reason why I'm bringing this up. I've never seen Musk be humble, ever. No matter what subject is being discussed he knows all about it and more than anyone else.
I realize that to Musks' fans, no matter what I present her won't change their mind. But, in the hopes that I can find some fence sitters, allow me to present to you a chain of evidence. Evidence in one single field, that is.
https://x.com/raisini/status/1605533081665945601
As Rod Hilton basically said. Elon doesn't seem to know much about software development either. At least not in it's current form, I should say. Him coding in his younger years doesn't mean he's kept up with the times, to put it plainly.
But, again, he's more focused on keeping the facade solid. He needs for people to believe he's the best coder out there, the best rocket designer, the best car engineer, etc.
I'm not saying that either. I'm not even saying Elon is not smarter than me, to be honest, he probably is. What I'm saying is that he's not Ironman, nor a savior, nor a God, and people need to stop worshiping a simple mortal.
He didn't start Tesla, but he took it to where it is. I mean, he didn't invent a single thing, but through his business acumen, he was able to improve technologies and achieve great things too.
Yes, actually, every single time. But that's a conversation for another day.
We are not dealing with the second coming of Newton here, and nobody should be kissing Elon's feet. We are dealing with a businessman who is good at marketing, and excellent at rigging the system to get what he wants.
To criticize his actions doesn't mean I'm jealous of his success, it means I don't worship humans, and I submit to you that no one should.
The myth of his Newtonian intellect is part of his marketing, and you know what? It worked well, but maybe it won't forever.
MenO
