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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#244576: Jun 6th 2018 at 3:21:16 AM

If Musk was involved in politics it would be relevant,but it's not

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
Mio Since: Jan, 2001
#244577: Jun 6th 2018 at 3:33:59 AM

@Deathor Cake: Both Social Security and Medicare have their own dedicated funding mechanisms. Historically (at least for Social Security) they have taken in more money then they’ve spent and thus have built up reserves over the years, however with baby boomers retiring and living longer, healthcare cost rising in general, and just a general unwillingness to increase funding for them have left them with dwindling surpluses and eventually having to call on their reserve funds to cover cost which will quickly exhaust them.

And yeah, the growing left-wing in this country has had an uphill battle doing. . . pretty much anything so far. It hasn’t really been helped by the Democratic Party still being quite wary of this new wing for understandable and not so understandable reasons.

The good news is that Left-Wing policies are popular even if their candidates and organizations are not. The current crop of potential presidential nominees endorsing many of these policies is a good sign, but given that the much more centrist Biden still leads on that front, don’t be surprised that ends up being for naught as well.

Hylarn (Don’t ask)
#244578: Jun 6th 2018 at 3:35:55 AM

Ol' Musky is kinda involved in politics, but he leans more to the right than the left, especially economically. I have trouble seeing why right-wingers would want to get rid of him (at least for political reasons)

DrunkenNordmann from Exile Since: May, 2015
#244579: Jun 6th 2018 at 3:37:38 AM

[up]

According to Musk, the United States is "[inarguably] the greatest country that has ever existed on Earth," describing it as "the greatest force for good of any country that's ever been."

Oh dear... where you do even start?

We learn from history that we do not learn from history
RedSavant Since: Jan, 2001
#244580: Jun 6th 2018 at 4:15:26 AM

Oh, Silicon bros and technocrats. Not that surprising, I'd say. Tesla makes some great things, but that doesn't make Musk a messiah like some people think.

It's been fun.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#244581: Jun 6th 2018 at 4:26:17 AM

Musk is a private citizen whose involvement in politics has been somewhat limited, especially compared to the likes of Zuckerberg and Facebook.

And given what others mentioned about him, him being more involved would not really be a good thing.

Musk is an example of what is wrong with Silicon Valley, though he is not the worst of it. There's a recent op-ed going around calling Musk the "Donald Trump of Silicon Valley" for a reason.

edited 6th Jun '18 4:51:11 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#244582: Jun 6th 2018 at 4:50:56 AM

So... Um... Who is Musk again?

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#244583: Jun 6th 2018 at 4:52:17 AM

[up] You know Tesla? Space "X"? Neuralink? He's the CEO and founder / co-founder of all of them.

edited 6th Jun '18 4:53:14 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
Deadbeatloser22 from Disappeared by Space Magic (Great Old One) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
#244584: Jun 6th 2018 at 4:53:52 AM

And apparently is something of a Sacred Cow on the internet. Given that I've seen people get flamed for criticising him or his publicity stunts.

"Yup. That tasted purple."
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#244585: Jun 6th 2018 at 4:54:55 AM

[up] Which is one thing he shares with Trump, according to said op-ed.

How Elon Musk turned into the Donald Trump of Silicon Valley

He is prone to unhinged Twitter eruptions. He can't handle criticism. He scolds the news media for its purported dishonesty and threatens to create a Soviet-like apparatus to keep tabs on it. He suckers people to fork over cash in exchange for promises he hasn't kept. He's a billionaire whose business flirts with bankruptcy. He's sold himself as an establishment-crushing iconoclast when he's really little more than an unusually accomplished BS artist. His legions of devotees are fanatics and, let's face it, a bit stupid.

edited 6th Jun '18 4:55:17 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#244586: Jun 6th 2018 at 5:05:28 AM

I knew he was a scam artist when he began talking of taking people to Mars,one guy visionaries are not to be trusted!

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#244587: Jun 6th 2018 at 5:05:51 AM

[up] You know Tesla? SpaceX? Neuralink? He's the CEO and founder / co-founder of all of them.
No, no, and no.

Though I vaguely remember Tesla as a company name, I know absolutely nothing about it otherwise.

TheWanderer Student of Story from Somewhere in New England (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Student of Story
#244588: Jun 6th 2018 at 5:19:55 AM

Musk was also part of the group that originally founded Paypal, among other projects, and that group's connections to each other has gotten them nicknamed the "Paypal Mafia", essentially making them the original Silicon Valley disruptor tech bros of the Internet era. In the last few years, Musk in particular has been nearly deified by some, both for good things, (putting the source code for some of his green energy innovations open to the world, claiming at least because humanity has to pull itself out of the hole we've dug for ourselves and that is more important than profit, and being the leading man on privatized space travel) the weird things, (lets just say we're not 100% sure that Musk isn't an alien disguised as a human ala Men in Black) and the bad things. (He's had childish tiffs with the press not very different from Agent Orange himself, and recently wanted to create a service to rate the reliability of source... based on the feedback from the general public.)

[up] Tesla is the most notable electric car brand in the Western World. It makes cars that aren't just electric only, but which are high end and have a lot of top of the line features and look nearly indistinguishable from other US high end sedans and luxury cars. Picture of the Tesla Model S

SpaceX (Musk is obsessed with the letter X, btw) is the leader in privatized space travel, and has become the US' go to source for private resupply missions to the International Space Station. It's managed some breathroughs in the last 2 years, such as being able to recollect rockets used for spacecraft to use them again, or getting space rockets to be able to safely reland themselves on the same grounds where they took off from, at least IIRC.

Re California's very important 48th district: results from CNN this morning have the second Republican bumped down to 4th place, and the two Democrats running neck and neck for secon place behind Rohrabacher. (As in, within 200 votes of each other.) As long as there isn't a major treasure trove of red votes out there while they continue counting, (estimates are 93% of the vote is in) then it should be enough to make sure that we do get a Democrat to challenge Putin's favorite congressman.

edited 6th Jun '18 5:27:04 AM by TheWanderer

| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |
MorningStar1337 The Encounter that ended the Dogma from 🤔 Since: Nov, 2012
The Encounter that ended the Dogma
#244589: Jun 6th 2018 at 5:28:51 AM

@M84 I though that the url stood for "shake my head"tongue

More on topic, Musk does seem like the kind of guy that would further the right's goals if he were more involved in politics, and serve as a deflection for the claims of anti-intellectualism ("See, we're not Luddites/technophobes! We elected a genius inventor! a major player in the tech field").

As far as Silicon Valley's issues goes. Are there any left wing rivals with this sector of the tech industry? It seems like part of the issue is that they have an effective monopoly, in that everything tech based in America is placed in that location. And mitigating the effects of SV's culture might be done by introducing an effective competing locale that shares their success but not their culture.

Semi-related question: Has Musk been referenced in Black Mirror? He, his aspirations and his businesses are the kind of thing Cyberpunk and Cyberpunk-esque stories might at least reference.

edited 6th Jun '18 5:36:19 AM by MorningStar1337

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#244590: Jun 6th 2018 at 5:40:22 AM

[up] You'd be hard-pressed to find major players with economically left-wing views in Silicon Valley, for many of the same reasons you'd be hard-pressed to find major players with economically left-wing views in Wall Street. It's big business, first and foremost.

edited 6th Jun '18 5:40:41 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
MorningStar1337 The Encounter that ended the Dogma from 🤔 Since: Nov, 2012
The Encounter that ended the Dogma
#244591: Jun 6th 2018 at 6:02:21 AM

[up] I was speaking more in terms of socially left. (what I heard of Silicon Valley, mostly from this thread had me thinking that they're basically college frat boys with coding degrees, bound to perpetuate any form of bigotry that's Inherent in the System). Economically left positions would likely be easier done from the legislator's side.

Regardless, that they are a minority doesn't mean that don't exist, and forming and concentrating tech businesses that are are left wing (preferably on both, but at least socially left) on one location would be a sizable boon for civil rights and the job market.

edited 6th Jun '18 6:05:01 AM by MorningStar1337

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#244592: Jun 6th 2018 at 6:05:31 AM

[up] Given how much of a struggle women and minorities have to be taken seriously in SV...

Let's put it this way. You know the kind of toxic nerd culture mentality that plagues fandoms and the gamer community? SV is what happens when they go into big business.

Disgusted, but not surprised
TheWanderer Student of Story from Somewhere in New England (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Student of Story
#244593: Jun 6th 2018 at 6:07:30 AM

Well, and the tech bros at the top of the Silicon Valley like to think they know the best about everything, so they're certainly not going to defer to the whims of brainless politicians and bureaucrats who think they can manage money/economic functions better than they can, let alone the idea that the general public should be getting more of a slice of the money that proves they were under-appreciated geniuses all along.

Plus, the old school groups that go way back and always support each other in their interests like the Paypal Mafia all support each other and their protegees, so it can be hard for anyone else to get started. (If a nobody getting into the biz has an idea similar to or disruptive of the idea of someone who made a billion dollars from their own idea 20 years ago, and can call upon the help half a dozen other billionaire friends who broke in with them, then despite the Silicon Valley Cinderella stories, reality is that the nobody is either getting nowhere or getting bought out early.)

Probably the most notable left wing guy, relatively speaking, is Bill Gates, who mostly does it through philanthropy, although I think Trump's election spooked him into becoming slightly more politically active, although I'm just trying to put together half foggy memories, so research it rather than relying on my posting here.

| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#244594: Jun 6th 2018 at 6:08:39 AM

If Wall Street is characterized by rapacious greed first and foremost, Silicon Valley is characterized by a mix of the same rapacious greed and a bit of a technocratic elitist god complex.

edited 6th Jun '18 6:10:46 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#244595: Jun 6th 2018 at 6:45:57 AM

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/06/06/judge-aaron-persky-who-gave-brock-turners-lenient-sentence-sanford-rape-case-recalled/674551002/

The Brock Turner judge is being recalled.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#244597: Jun 6th 2018 at 7:14:36 AM

So all the worry about Democrats being locked out of elections in California was for naught, as so far it appears that every Californian Election will have at least 1 Democrat. Heck, I know for a Fact 3 Elections have locked out Republicans (for Senator, Lieutenant Governor, and State House 76, which was held by a Republican).

The Wave is going to be very strong in blue states, I have always known.

kazuauchiha from Springfield, MO Since: Jul, 2017 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
#244598: Jun 6th 2018 at 7:22:42 AM

I have thought the blue wave would fizzle in blue states. It would be nice to be shown wrong.

CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#244599: Jun 6th 2018 at 7:26:27 AM

Why would the Blue Wave fizzle in Blue States? I mean, have you seen Massachusetts's Republican Party? It's Charlie Baker and two dozen half-dead townies from Worcester.

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
TheWanderer Student of Story from Somewhere in New England (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Student of Story
#244600: Jun 6th 2018 at 7:50:08 AM

Because blue states might have had a saturation of Democrats, while the Republicans that are left in blue states may be safely entrenched and would be used to having to fight off challenges from Democrats.

| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |

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