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non_radical_centrist  1yr ago (astralcodexten.com)   2453 thread views

Book Review: Elon Musk[Scott Alexander]

astralcodexten.com

Scott Alexander’s review of a 2015 biography of Elon Musk. Elon Musk, to me, is one of the world’s most confusing people. He’s simultaneously both one of the smartest people in the world, creating billions of dollars of value in companies like Tesla and SpaceX, and one of the dumbest, in burning billions on Twitter. Scott’s review I think is a good explanation of what’s up with Musk.

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Obviously Musk disagrees (otherwise he wouldn't buy Twitter)

I think Musk was mistaken about what would happen when he would buy Twitter. He was expecting it to not drop in value, and it did. If it was possible to get a refund on his purchase, I expect he 100% would. That is what makes him dumb in this context imo.

Maybe I’m wrong about Musk’s internal beliefs and values, I’m not an expert in Musk’s psyche. But it’s the conclusion I’ve drawn from what I’ve seen.

It dropped a lot (mostly?) before he bought it, at the same time Meta and everyone else did -- this is why he rather notably wanted to either get out of the deal or negotiate a price discount during due diligence.

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