I see a lot of resentment and "hate" on HN about Elon and quite honestly I don't understand where it is coming from. Where are the facts that Elon/Tesla is one gigantic fraud? Where is the scientific proof?
For me, personally, I strongly dislike the Hyperloop and Loop proposals. I can provide lots of details about why these systems suck as public transit options (and I've done so in the past several times), but there has tended to be an annoying cohort that rejects any and all criticism, no matter how reasoned it is. While I don't particularly pay attention to Tesla and Space X, I've noticed that there is similarly a very vocal cohort that responds to criticism by attacking detractors as shills for short sellers/Big Oil/Big Auto/Big Space, which certainly fuels schadenfreude for me and make me want to root against Tesla just to see that vocal cohort shut up.
It should also be pointed out that there was recently a very public revelation about a Silicon Valley startup that made big noise about disrupting a stagnant industry whose technology was accused as being impossible which turned out to be a massive fraud. Tesla is a company which has certainly failed to meet many of its projected milestones, and whose public stature is partially based on a major technology which has failed to deliver so far (Autopilot). Undoubtedly, many people are liable to find the comparison too similar for comfort.
Personally speaking I’ve been a fan of Musk’s endeavors simply because they tend to actually move where other options creep along painstakingly slowly, get stalled, or are canned entirely.
Focusing on the loop stuff specifically, even if it’s not the optimal transport solution it’s better than the alternative “better” solution that will be in a state of decay by the time it’s finished or never see the light of day at all. Musk doesn’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good and I think that’s important in an age where it’s more normal for major infrastructure projects to collapse on themselves or otherwise get gummed up indefinitely than it is for them to succeed.
I don’t endorse his behavior on Twitter lately but I do feel that the efforts of his companies have merit.
I'm not at all interested in the Musk cult factor, but I think that all the critics are far too easily blinded by their own position and fail to see the incredible results that have already been attained, in spite of incredible odds against.
Musk may tweak peoples jealousy buttons - and I truly think that jealousy of him personally is behind a lot of the criticism - but on the other hand, there is so much progress behind him that its almost ridiculous to hear the critics pulling hard on whatever loose strings they can find.
I mean, the criticism may be warranted - but I think a great deal of respect and honest attribution is warranted, too. The statistics as to what has been accomplished as a result of Musks' crazy ideals demonstrate that, sometimes it seems, to push the human species forward you have to be a little crazy, outside the norms of the collective. ITT, people who haven't yet recognised this fact ..
> Undoubtedly, many people are liable to find the comparison too similar for comfort.
That seems a very strained comparison. Theranos lied about how their core technology worked. Tesla has already designed, manufactured and shipped multiple models of cars, and we're really discussing whether they can hit quarterly shipping goals, not whether they can delivery a specific product. This is just a matter of scale (and thus to some degree price), not a matter of whether their product is vaporware.
Autopilot is the closest to being somewhat related to the Theranos debacle, but it's not the most compelling portion of Tesla by far (as evidenced by how popular they were before it was released). That said, it also is actually released, and it's just a matter of how well it functions, not whether it functions. It's not like Tesla hired a bunch of people to remotely control cars as drones when autopilot is used and then represented that as some form of self-driving.
There are valid criticisms to be leveled at Tesla and Musk, but likening it to Theranos, whose CEO is now facing criminal charges, is not one of them (at least yet), so I hope there aren't too many people doing so.
The media's opinion of Elon has turned sour lately due to his criticism of bloggers and tabloid articles (ie Daily Beast). That is starting to shape the minds of those who follow the media very closely.
Just because the media has turned doesn't mean his criticism of them is invalid or incorrect. Negatively in news is at absurd levels... Peddling outrage sells.
