smart people are famously never evil - ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

niedermeyer.online • 67 days ago

smart people are famously never evil

Reposted from No Sunk Costs

This has got to be one of the stupidest things ever posted on the internet

Comments

bronxriverdigital.com•67 days ago

Is this the new version of “corporations would never do anything that would harm their customers?”

jauntywk.bsky.social•67 days ago

the most charitable graham interpretation I can cook up is, "he's just very very very stupid"

doriantaylor.com•67 days ago

he should have stuck to writing common lisp books

kurtweldon.bsky.social•66 days ago

I'm assuming that the English woman was surprised that anyone could be this big a doofus. Although given the current state of this country, no one should be surprised by that. Ever.

niedermeyer.online•67 days ago

anyway, very cool of Paul to so vividly illustrate the balance of priors vs evidence in his reasoning

spencerwindes.bsky.social•67 days ago

It’s especially funny in that Elon’s specialty is as a hype man, that particular kind of start-up CEO who is there to bring in attention and money but doesn’t really get the details or have management skills. It’s a job made for people with Borderline/Narcissistic Personality Disorder like Elon.

alanpx.bsky.social•67 days ago

Somebody said he’s a 21st Century PT Barnum.

spencerwindes.bsky.social•67 days ago

I worked for someone with the same disorder and watched him build then destroy a billion dollar business. It’s a recognizable pattern: narcissist hypes business into existence, surrounds himself with validating yes men while sidelining the pros, realizes negative attention still fills his needs.

nigel63.bsky.social•67 days ago

Remembering that Thiel & Co. had the uncommon sense to kick him off of the PayPal Board for that very trajectory.

(And they did it while Musk, and his new bride, were mid-Atlantic, flying to Paris for a honeymoon).

spencerwindes.bsky.social•67 days ago

The only real hope for Tesla long term is firing Musk. But it seems he has them pretty buttoned up.

gabegraziani.bsky.social•67 days ago

Or greedy?

icassassin.bsky.social•66 days ago

We sure this isn’t Paul just trying to say he’s not evil on account of him being so goddamn stupid.

jashead.bsky.social•67 days ago

Is this guy one of those VC's people and how did he get out of the yard?

margueriteathome.bsky.social•66 days ago

Hence the tag Evil Genius.

barleyblue.bsky.social•66 days ago

If you look closely at the long list of those who were formerly with Tesla, you will find a lot of smart people who left Elon because he was evil and impossible to work with.

alyssaharad.bsky.social•67 days ago

“Very surprised Englishwoman” = person trying desperately not to laugh in his face out of politeness

karennotakaren.bsky.social•66 days ago

I wonder what the English woman said in reply and did it include the word “wanker”

rdg.bsky.social•67 days ago

Right. That’s why there isn’t an “Evil Genius” trope… nobody would believe it.

ceekayhere.bsky.social•66 days ago

I’m sure the rather surprised English woman just loved Paul’s stupid mansplaining.🤣

troutgirl.bsky.social•67 days ago

Anyone who has been through the VC meat grinder knows that they specifically select for founders who are somewhat evil. They call it something else, like risk-taking or operationally aggressive or boundary-pushing or whatever but it means "the right kind of evil for us".

troutgirl.bsky.social•67 days ago

It's one of the reasons women and PoC have a harder time making it in the VC funded world -- because we are less likely to have learned to push those boundaries because we get fewer chances to do so before the hammer comes down.

troutgirl.bsky.social•67 days ago

Paul's org specifically trains baby entrepreneurs on how to push boundaries, and they allegedly punish those who won't or can't learn to play that game. Lying about your company's numbers is table stakes.

vegetablegremlin.bsky.social•67 days ago

there's a particular sort of stupid available only to the Very Smart™

niedermeyer.online•67 days ago

and a very particular sort of evil!

vegetablegremlin.bsky.social•67 days ago

now im thinking about vices that we succumb to in our passions and weakness vs the bloodless reduction of people to ledger items practiced by husks

lylescout.bsky.social•67 days ago

ahem...

*cough* (Hitler's rocket scientists) *cough*

mark504.bsky.social•66 days ago

It's a question of how much evil and abuse smart people will accept in exchange for stock options. I think Wall Street demonstrated the outcome of that equation long before silicon valley

jcassidyskylark.bsky.social•67 days ago

“Actually” evil? How about definitely, utterly , profoundly …ad infinitum

frozzbot.bsky.social•67 days ago

Fun to imagine that woman's 'surprised' expression as he lays it out for her.

ypsidoodle.bsky.social•66 days ago

What he missed is that the woman was surprised at how incredibly stupid he is.

bryyyyguy.bsky.social•67 days ago

I could be charitable to Paul if we're talking Elon 10+ years ago and we're splitting hairs between "evil" and more run of the mill business psycho behavior but come on.

He's clearly using his obscene amounts of money now in purely vindictive ways and many other billionaires will follow suit.