Elon Musk: Always A Douche

[Valmy]

I think The Founder is actually pretty good on this - and possibly The Master too

Heh. You got that right. So many of the people in those companies talk about their founder like Scientologists talk about L Ron Hubbard.

I worked at Dell for about 10 months and I would get kind of weirded out by how Michael Dell was talked about. I was like, man he just sells computers he didn't cure cancer or anything.

[grumbler]

I don't think that anyone is arguing that there haven't been industry-transformational assholes throughout history.  Crassus was one.

I simply think that people are vastly overestimating the number of those types alive today.  Purdue Pharma is not transformational, nor is Inditex, Bloomberg, nor, arguably, Apple.  Sergei Brin doesn't seem to be an asshole, nor Larry Page or Jack Dorsey. Sam Walton hasn't even alive for the last 30 years.

[The Brain]

Musk also created the "3D graphics ca 1996" car, an achievement that wasn't expected by humanity.

[Eddie Teach]

I don't think that anyone is arguing that there haven't been industry-transformational assholes throughout history.  Crassus was one.

The protection racket industry?

[HVC]

I don't think that anyone is arguing that there haven't been industry-transformational assholes throughout history.  Crassus was one.

The protection racket industry?

Private fire brigade/arson squad was pretty ingenious.

[crazy canuck]

I don't think that anyone is arguing that there haven't been industry-transformational assholes throughout history.  Crassus was one.

I simply think that people are vastly overestimating the number of those types alive today.  Purdue Pharma is not transformational, nor is Inditex, Bloomberg, nor, arguably, Apple.  Sergei Brin doesn't seem to be an asshole, nor Larry Page or Jack Dorsey. Sam Walton hasn't even alive for the last 30 years.

Purdue transformed our society into one that has a large number of drug dependent citizens.  If Apple is not transformative, then Musk isn't even worth talking about.

[The Brain]

Crassus also managed to reach a solution to the Spartacus problem.

[crazy canuck]

Crassus also managed to reach a solution to the Spartacus problem.

And he made the mistake of thinking he could win against a real army.  Grumbler tried to warn him, but would he listen...

[Barrister]

I don't think that anyone is arguing that there haven't been industry-transformational assholes throughout history.  Crassus was one.

I simply think that people are vastly overestimating the number of those types alive today.  Purdue Pharma is not transformational, nor is Inditex, Bloomberg, nor, arguably, Apple.  Sergei Brin doesn't seem to be an asshole, nor Larry Page or Jack Dorsey. Sam Walton hasn't even alive for the last 30 years.

Purdue Pharma - transformational but in all the wrong ways.
Inditex - don't downplay it because it's fashion.  Being able to get new clothing lines into stores within days was huge as I understand it.
Bloomberg - it's media ventures have been pretty ordinary (albeit successful), but the original Bloomberg terminal was revolutionary as I understand it.
Apple - you're just trolling me.  From helping start the personal computer revolution, to inventing the modern smartphone, it's been transformational.

Brin and Page - they're really kind of reclusive.  Page in the few public speeches he's given does sound deeply weird, but hard to say he's a total asshole.

Dorsey - I don't think Twitter is transformational.

Sam Walton - hey if we're bringing u Carnegie or Ford, he counts.  But I don't really know much about him.

[Jacob]

I don't think that anyone is arguing that there haven't been industry-transformational assholes throughout history.  Crassus was one.

I simply think that people are vastly overestimating the number of those types alive today.  Purdue Pharma is not transformational, nor is Inditex, Bloomberg, nor, arguably, Apple.  Sergei Brin doesn't seem to be an asshole, nor Larry Page or Jack Dorsey. Sam Walton hasn't even alive for the last 30 years.

I think the opioid crisis is pretty transformational... but I guess I can accept it as being arguable, depending on how your define transformational.

Personally I think fast fashion was absolutely an industry transformation, which is why I put Inditex down. If someone  else did fast fashion before that, then I credited it wrongly to Inditex though.

I may be wrong - it's not my area of expertise - but I believe Bloomberg significantly changed how (especially the speed) our financial markets work, which I'd rate as transformational.

Apple are, IMO, responsible for ubiquotous personal device touch screens and the app-economy. Much as I'm not a fan of Apple, I find it hard to argue that's not transformational.

That said... I guess it comes down what we mean by "transformational". What criteria do we use?

[Valmy]

Crassus also managed to reach a solution to the Spartacus problem.

Yeah but he let Pompey take the credit.

[Valmy]

If it weren't for the visionary genius of Sam Walton we would have to shop at K-Mart and Sears instead of Walmart. Or maybe there would just be more Targets. What a radically different world that would be.

[Admiral Yi]

Ray Kroc of McDonalds belongs on the asshole list.

I dispute that Bill Gates is an asshole.

Less known, Jack Bogel invented the ETF and did not come across as an asshole in the interviews I watched.

[Sheilbh]

I think the opioid crisis is pretty transformational... but I guess I can accept it as being arguable, depending on how your define transformational.

Also my understanding is that Arthur Sackler more or less invented the whole pharma advertising/marketing business.

[Barrister]

I dispute that Bill Gates is an asshole.

Also, it hasn't been brought up much yet, but the number of these guys who have had extra-martial affairs / divorces is really, really high.  Including Gates.