Elon Musk

Elon Musk deletes tweets critical of Twitter after weekend barrage
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/11/elon-musk-deletes-tweets-critical-of-twitter-after-weekend-barrage.html

Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter for $43 billion, so it can be 'transformed as private company'
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/14/elon-musk-offers-to-buy-twitter-for-54point20-a-share-saying-it-needs-to-be-transformed-as-private-company.html

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1514603808638177290 tweeted:
"Wow I can't believe that Elon Musk is going to be the founder of Twitter."

Not sure I want Elon owning "free speech". :|

On that note, I haven't been able to make thru entire eps of the TWiT podcast (they're too long and I have not enough time) but starting at ~6:10 into https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/870?autostart=false and for maybe 10 minutes, they talk about Elon's stake in Twitter before he made an offer for the whole company.

You can use the gear to speed up playback.

Robert Reich said it better than I ever could.

Make no mistake: This is not about freedom. It’s about power. In Musk’s vision of Twitter and the Internet, he’d be the wizard behind the curtain — projecting on the world’s screen a fake image of a brave new world empowering everyone. In reality, that world would be dominated by the richest and most powerful people in the world, who wouldn’t be accountable to anyone for facts, truth, science, or the common good. That’s Musk’s dream. And Trump’s. And Putin’s. And the dream of every dictator, strongman, demagogue, and modern-day robber baron on earth. For the rest of us, it would be a brave new nightmare.

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/why-elon-musk-blocked-me-on-twitter?r=sue44&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

goldbrick said:

Robert Reich said it better than I ever could.

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Musk blocked Reich on Twitter for good reasons a few years ago, and Reich is still annoyed at it. Reich is a leech on the economy.

jlv said:

goldbrick said:

Robert Reich said it better than I ever could.

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Musk blocked Reich on Twitter for good reasons. Reich is a leech on the economy.

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So cancel Reich. That's good. Only the very rich should have a voice, by buying Twitter and only allowing the voices you like.

Of course, this is not "cancel culture".

jlv said:

Reich is a leech on the economy.

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How so?

WetEV said:

jlv said:

goldbrick said:

Robert Reich said it better than I ever could.

Click to expand...

Musk blocked Reich on Twitter for good reasons. Reich is a leech on the economy.

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So cancel Reich. That's good. Only the very rich should have a voice, by buying Twitter and only allowing the voices you like.

Of course, this is not "cancel culture".

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Last time I checked , Twitter was a privately owned company owned by a bunch of rich people. Is your objection about private ownership or just that Musk might own it? Do you advocate for government ownership instead?

As a private company, Twitter can censor whomever they like. If you don't like that idea, don't use their service.

I don't use Twitter or Facebook, but I recognize that they have become privately owned public forums that have largely replaced what used to be called the Commons. I think that this is a case where 'They own it, so they can do as they like' could use a bit of modification. Public utilities that are owned by private companies are regulated; it's time that quasi-commons like Twitter and Facebook were as well.

johnlocke said:

As a private company, Twitter can censor whomever they like. If you don't like that idea, don't use their service.

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True, but in this case Twitter is not censoring anyone in this case. That would be like saying the owner of this forum is censoring one user because another user put the first one on their foe list.

Musk *blocked* Reich from viewing or responding to Musk's tweets. He did this because Reich made an a bunch of comments implying things that were not true. For this Reich now attacks Musk about free speech.

I'd be interested in reading some of the things that Reich wrote that were untrue. I think that we've all seen some examples of things that Musk wrote that weren't true; has Reich been a lot worse?

We just need a law making it illegal for rich people and politicians to lie. And then a constitutional change to make it legal. Problem solved.
:lol:


Actually, that isn't such a bad idea for politicians. I don't think the constitution was ever meant to allow your own Gov to lie to you. Faith in your leaders is especially important in a democracy. Yes, this would force both democrats and republicans to face difficult truths.

Just look at McCarthy caught in a lie over the weekend. And people wonder we we have extremism flourishing? You keep selling lies to your base...

Why should any lie from your government be tolerated?

danrjones said:

We just need a law making it illegal for rich people and politicians to lie. And then a constitutional change to make it legal. Problem solved.
:lol:


Actually, that isn't such a bad idea for politicians. I don't think the constitution was ever meant to allow your own Gov to lie to you. Faith in your leaders is especially important in a democracy. Yes, this would force both democrats and republicans to face difficult truths.

Just look at McCarthy caught in a lie over the weekend. And people wonder we we have extremism flourishing? You keep selling lies to your base...

Why should any lie from your government be tolerated?

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"The Truth Machine" (James Halperin) - an interesting read.

Nubo said:

danrjones said:

We just need a law making it illegal for rich people and politicians to lie. And then a constitutional change to make it legal. Problem solved.
:lol:


Actually, that isn't such a bad idea for politicians. I don't think the constitution was ever meant to allow your own Gov to lie to you. Faith in your leaders is especially important in a democracy. Yes, this would force both democrats and republicans to face difficult truths.

Just look at McCarthy caught in a lie over the weekend. And people wonder we we have extremism flourishing? You keep selling lies to your base...

Why should any lie from your government be tolerated?

Click to expand...

"The Truth Machine" (James Halperin) - an interesting read.

Click to expand...

I love a good read, I'll check it out. Thanks!

I probably wouldn't execute them, just automatically kick out and ban any Politian caught in a lie. Yes, it would be difficult to prove intent. Just watch what's her name Greene sit there and say she doesn't recall anything, over and over.

Asking politicians not to lie is like asking sharks to not swim or contractors not to build. Democracy depends on free speech and the ability to tell truth from lies. Unfortunately, the people we used to rely on to help us sort fact from fiction are being overwhelmed by media blitzes and slander. "News organizations" which are actually propaganda machines instead of neutral parties muddy the waters and spew garbage to distort and distract us. I realize that no news organization is completely unbiased but I do expect them to stick to the facts and not repeat lies.

Musk to Tesla and SpaceX workers: Be in the office 40 hours a week or quit
Musk memo: "If you don't show up, we will assume you have resigned."
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/06/musk-to-tesla-and-spacex-workers-be-in-the-office-40-hours-a-week-or-quit/

cwerdna said:

Musk to Tesla and SpaceX workers: Be in the office 40 hours a week or quit
Musk memo: "If you don't show up, we will assume you have resigned."
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/06/musk-to-tesla-and-spacex-workers-be-in-the-office-40-hours-a-week-or-quit/

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I see his point although the 40 hours bar seems a bit high. Might as well phrase it like this: "If you put in a full work week in the office we'll let you work from home too".

I think one day per week from home is reasonable and offers useful flexibility. More than that can lead to drift, in my experience.

This is one of the very rare recent times I agree with Elon.
I've never been a fan of work from home, minus a few career fields where it makes sense.

I've seen way too many employees who check their email, log into Teams (or whatever platform the company is using), post a couple items, and that's all they did for the day. Getting distracted by home life, home improvement projects, and your fuzzy cat is just too easy at home. And there are many things you really can't work on from home (again, depending on your career field).

Elon is mostly nuts these days, to the point I'm seeing a CA senator candidate run adds against his full self driving feature - but this once I agree with Elon.

Side note: Go back a few years and imagine a Democrat CA senator running his campaign on a promise to be Anti-Elon. Times have changed.

cwerdna said:

Musk to Tesla and SpaceX workers: Be in the office 40 hours a week or quit
Musk memo: "If you don't show up, we will assume you have resigned."
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/06/musk-to-tesla-and-spacex-workers-be-in-the-office-40-hours-a-week-or-quit/

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My guess?

8-12% will not show up

People do well when they think they have "some" control over their lives. Ultimatums rarely succeed and this one won't. Although I predict some will resign, the greatest likelihood is Musk will simply change his tune like he changes his shirts along with most other things he does,