On the one hand, https://youtu.be/B6K0-7oj_38
is a disgusting panegyric for a billionaire Mover and Shaker and propaganda for his private company that fills the vacuum left behind by a government space agency systematically rendered ineffective …
on the other hand, the propaganda works on me, even though I'd prefer a much more technical narrative.
🇳🇱
@tatzelbrumm A good friend of mine is fairly close friends with Elon. While I am not really "friends" with Elon directly myself.
With that said, everything I ever hear about Elon from my friend suggests to me he is an excellent person.
Being a billionaire doesnt make you evil.
@freemo I've only met a few SpaceX people superficially, and have been very impressed.
So I come to the conclusion that Elon Musk is excellent indeed.
Nonetheless, every billionaire is a policy failure. Even Elon Musk.
Being a billionaire allows you to hide your evil sides behind a facade of excellence built by others.
@tatzelbrumm I striongly disagree. There is nothing wrong with billionaires. Nor does it imply a failure in policy. Some are surely evil, just as many are surely good. In no greater proportion than the rest of society. Nor are the handful of evil billionaires in the world any more harmful than the billions of middle class evil people in the world. All in all the evil between the two classes balances out with numbers.
Money is not a pie, some people having more doesnt mean others have less, its economy 101. Thinking of money as a fixed shared resource, or more generally (and accurately) wealth is a fallacy that anyone who has studied the science of economies must quickly realize.
@tatzelbrumm Not sure a billionaire implies the existence of an HR department anymore than a small business owner would. I've seen the necessity of HR departments in companies of all size.
As for a persons personal image, and the need for HR there. That has much more to do with fame than how much money they have. It is just that sometimes having a lot of money can be the cause of that fame.
While I can certainly find being motivated by ones reputation can be harmful in some situations I'm not sure its a universal cause of anything evil per se.
@freemo Billionaires imply the existence of social hierarchies with HR departments,
which in turn make potential collaborators commit the ultimate betrayal of using the argument "I don't want to work with you, because I need to pay attention to my reputation".
That is evil.
See also "Un-Word of the Century", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Un-word_of_the_year#List_of_Un-words_of_the_year_since_1991