21 Comments
Dec 30, 2022Liked by John Birmingham

Quite like the electric Volvos (Polestar) but really its something more 'fun' and I dont think we will see anything like that here mass market, how about a restomod, you can get a nice GRP Porsche 356 Gabba way and get it electrified in Springwood, that sounds more fun! However try driving one at a steady speed in one of the tunnels- bet you cant as there is no engine noise so it will keep the government happy with extra revenue.

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Apart from Space Karen's ongoing mask off moment on Twitter tanking the Tesla stock price, the legacy car makers are also playing catch up in the EV space. Not only do they have decades of experience in building functional vehicles, they've got the economy of scale to convert entire model ranges to electric and retire ICE cars completely, as many of them have committed to doing over the next decade.

It does make you wonder how much of Tesla's early success was being a novelty first mover in a non existent market? And what's going to happen to them when the legacy marques catch up and possibly overtake them on EVs.

I very much wanted a Telsa a while ago, but now I could not possibly justify one even if I could afford it, purely on moral/ethical grounds.

This video is just perfect: https://twitter.com/ian_kung/status/1605670400041824256?s=20&t=RzczCTiZOMZK0RebeCZIhQ

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author

It's brilliant.

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Dec 23, 2022Liked by John Birmingham

"Oh baby, those were slaves." 🤣

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Whoa. That was funny. BTW, done with Twitter.

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that's fantastic. Thank you for the bday laugh.

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The sooner the Muskster takes up residence on his Mars colony, the better.

As an aside, his electric semi trailer prime mover, the part up front where the driver sits, quotes a lot of figures spruiking the benefits, one figure he hasn't been given is the Tare weight of the prime mover, the heavier the weight of the PM the less pay load that can be legally carried, meaning less profit.

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I'm concerned that all the good stuff he has done with SpaceX (reusable boosters, lowering the cost of getting mass into orbit etc.) will be undone by his personality unravelling.

I think there's even a clue in the fact that he named the autonomous maritime landing pad platforms after Culture ships in Banks' novels. Doesn't calling something after the GCU Of Course I'll Still Love You imply strongly that someone is going to get fvcked in the future?

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We are witnessing the bonfire of the tech bros in real time- Elon and Twitter, Zuckerberg and Meta, SBF and FTX. All purported to be geniuses, all grenading in spectacular fashion.

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I dunno about the genius thing, they always seemed to be achieving stuff that anyone, given the vast opportunities, resources and privilege that these tech bros started with, could have achieved, although a woman, person of colour, trans person or any combination of these would never be lauded as a genius for doing it.

The fact that they're all imploding quite spectacularly speaks of them being found out as the over entitled man children they always were, now that their behaviour has become so egregious the shield of "genius" has been stripped from them.

Which is not to disagree with your point on any level! 😅

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Please note my use of the term "purported." Re: man children. Yes. The lack of emotional intelligence is striking. A good example. SBF playing video games during conferences. Some took this behavior as a sign of maverick genius. I understand this as a lack of seriousness and respect.

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YES! The excuse making for these assholes is mind boggling. And the astonishment at how badly run his exchange was when it collapsed… how did no one see it coming if this dickhead was playing video games in business meetings FFS. Can you imagine the reaction if anyone other than a privileged white man child did it?

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Yeah, it's been a sad thing seeing what's happened with the Twits. I am mystified by Musk's deep (and very public) dive into crazyland- he is directly appealing to the diesel dually Dodge Ram, Stars and Bars crowd while his customer base sits on the opposite end of the lifestyle/beliefs spectrum. And what of Space X? A company that routinely does the amazing and has broken Boeing's sclerotic hold over the space industry? How are his utterances helping his chief money maker out? Do you really think the Biden administration will feel motivated, for example, to fast-track an environmental review for his shiny new spaceport? A CEO can hold whatever private viewpoints they want, but they are public figures, and they need to have the discipline and common sense to realize that driving away seventy percent of the population/political support is a really bad idea for their bottom line. This is really dumb behavior for a guy who is supposed to be a genius.

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The video I linked to really nails it with the "I called a guy a pedophile and it all went downhill from there." bit. Musk's attempt at white knighting the Thai cave rescue was the first mask off moment, and it should have all ended for him then except for his "genius white boy" armour shielding him until now.

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i'm can't really remember when i did it but muting/blocking the words Elon and Musk improved my experience there for quite a while before i cut that drug off completely. I stood as an outsider watching the bin fire acquisition period and everything that happened before that in 2022.

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Elon Musk is the Scott Morrison of silicon Valley.

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Well not many Musk fans here. One thing I will say . His releasing the emails to Tailibi and Weiss was brilliant . And sadly it has revealed the infiltration of social media by the FBI and CIA and DHS. Twitter is and was a private company and can do whatever it likes as far as censoring . But the gov’t involvement in censoring and suppressing speech is unacceptable and unconstitutional and should concern anyone who champions free speech

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Actually, I am quite a fan of Tesla and Space X. However; Musk is guilty of overreach with Twitter. Expertise in one or multiple fields does not extend to expertise across the board. There is a word for this- hubris. Also, there is such a thing as unprotected speech under the First Amendment, which is not absolute. See Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), Hess vs. Indiana (1973), and Stewart vs. McCoy (2002). Incitement to imminent lawless action is not covered speech; the alphabet soup agencies you mention have every right and an obligation to monitor potential violent threats- especially when posted to a public forum such as Twitter.

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That’s not what they were doing. I agree that speech is not absolute . But I’d suggest you read Tailibi or Bari Weiss here on substack about what these agencies were doing.

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Enjoy yours as well

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Fair enough. And please enjoy your holiday.

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