Elon Musk now owns 9.2% of twitter...update.. will soon be the sole owner as Board of Directors accepts his purchase offer

Page 133 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

Fenixgoon

Lifer
Jun 30, 2003
32,156
11,025
136
Silver linings: If a huge part of the R demographic did NOT believe in the “narrative”, there is a good chance you would not have taken the Senate right now. As the old pirate saying goes, dead men tell no tales… and definitely dont vote.
Surely someone has done or is doing an analysis on COVID deaths and voting to see if it could have made a difference in the outcome
 
  • Like
Reactions: cytg111

cytg111

Lifer
Mar 17, 2008
24,027
13,536
136
I think I’ve found a narrative that satisfies my own curiosity a bit and a bleak outlook for the poor millionaire. For what its worth.
Elons approach to risk correlates to the Asperger diagnosis. Go in, find the person with the best idea to upset an industry, assess what it would take, is the odds 50/50 or there abouts? Go all in. He has rolled black on the roulette a few times and doubled up each time(relatively) . But its only cause he doesnt see money like everyone else. Its just paper. It explains why he is willing to so carelessly throw 40+ billion at Twitter, but this time his motivation is not that of entrepreneurship, its one of vanity, and its why he will grind himself to death at twitter. Elon has made friends, perhaps for the first time in his life, he’s felt like a real boy, other rich guys padding him on the back, inviting him to parties, yachts, made him feel special, part of a club. Elon will do everything he can to not lose that membership. Everything. He is deeply emotional involved with twitter at a level he probably dont understand himself.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,165
30,117
146
I think I’ve found a narrative that satisfies my own curiosity a bit and a bleak outlook for the poor millionaire. For what its worth.
Elons approach to risk correlates to the Asperger diagnosis. Go in, find the person with the best idea to upset an industry, assess what it would take, is the odds 50/50 or there abouts? Go all in. He has rolled black on the roulette a few times and doubled up each time(relatively) . But its only cause he doesnt see money like everyone else. Its just paper. It explains why he is willing to so carelessly throw 40+ billion at Twitter, but this time his motivation is not that of entrepreneurship, its one of vanity, and its why he will grind himself to death at twitter. Elon has made friends, perhaps for the first time in his life, he’s felt like a real boy, other rich guys padding him on the back, inviting him to parties, yachts, made him feel special, part of a club. Elon will do everything he can to not lose that membership. Everything. He is deeply emotional involved with twitter at a level he probably dont understand himself.

I'm still not sold on Elon actually having asbergers. All we have is his claim on this, and it's certainly possible that he's just using it as an excuse to be a colossal dick to try and say and do whatever he wants.

I don't think it stretches the imagination too much to think that he just play-acts in public every once in a while to convince enough people that it's probably true. He's gambling that not enough people will significantly challenge him on this.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pmv and Leeea

Vic

Elite Member
Jun 12, 2001
50,422
14,336
136
The blue check mark is the only thing that differentiates twitter from any other social media and justifies its $44b price tag. By having the check mark, public officials, agencies, news outlets, businesses, celebrities, etc can use twitter to make official announcements and such. Which makes twitter like a modern-day newswire, but accessible to everyone.
Without the credibility of the blue check mark, twitter is just another social media site, and not a particularly good one.

So "genius" Musk makes his largest acquisition (highly leveraged as always) and promptly proposes to wreck its single most valuable feature, solely for the purpose of generating some immediate cashflow.
 

Vic

Elite Member
Jun 12, 2001
50,422
14,336
136
They just want half your stuff. Similar idea as the Russian Bride thing. Though some might also try to get information to scam you, I never engaged with one so not really sure their true intent.
Dude.. no one is interested in spending years of time and effort in a complicated fake marriage scheme just to get half of your stuff.

They're phishing quick hit-and-run romance scams to get your personal info, account credentials, and/or for you to buy them a new smartphone or similar.
 
Mar 11, 2004
23,285
5,724
146
Yes... Those "people" are looking to date...

Bless your heart.

He really is just so damned dumb.

Not sure which is dumber, that he compared Musk being a jackass to a global pandemic where literally millions of people died, or that he thinks no one cared about people losing jobs during COVID. Like, just how damn insulated from reality is he?
 
  • Like
Reactions: iRONic and Zorba
Mar 11, 2004
23,285
5,724
146
Dude.. no one is interested in spending years of time and effort in a complicated fake marriage scheme just to get half of your stuff.

They're phishing quick hit-and-run romance scams to get your personal info, account credentials, and/or for you to buy them a new smartphone or similar.

Wait, is he seriously trying to argue that DMs he's getting to "hook up" on Twitter are legit? Oh god, imagine how much of a hit his ego is gonna take once the bots stop hitting him up to bang.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
68,531
12,647
126
www.anyf.ca
Dude.. no one is interested in spending years of time and effort in a complicated fake marriage scheme just to get half of your stuff.

They're phishing quick hit-and-run romance scams to get your personal info, account credentials, and/or for you to buy them a new smartphone or similar.

Which is what I said in my 3rd sentence. Like I said, I never actually engaged one so I was just guessing, but I know damn well it's some sort of scam.

I need to actually go through all my followers and just block the bots but I'm honestly too lazy to do it so I just ignore the DMs. I have like over 100 DMs alone. I imagine the high profile people have a ridiculous amount so it is a problem that will hopefully get fixed.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: iRONic

NWRMidnight

Diamond Member
Jun 18, 2001
3,048
2,654
136
Which is what I said in my 3rd sentence. Like I said, I never actually engaged one so I was just guessing, but I know damn well it's some sort of scam.

I need to actually go through all my followers and just block the bots but I'm honestly too lazy to do it so I just ignore the DMs. I have like over 100 DMs alone. I imagine the high profile people have a ridiculous amount so it is a problem that will hopefully get fixed.
There is an easier way... just delete your account.... Or are you to lazy for that?
 

HomerJS

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
36,764
28,977
136
Elon buys Twitter so he can convert a cesspool to a hellhole

If traffic is up likely the racists and anti Semites
 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
15,282
10,879
136
I'm still not sold on Elon actually having asbergers. All we have is his claim on this, and it's certainly possible that he's just using it as an excuse to be a colossal dick to try and say and do whatever he wants.

I don't think it stretches the imagination too much to think that he just play-acts in public every once in a while to convince enough people that it's probably true. He's gambling that not enough people will significantly challenge him on this.
I had a 30 minute interviewed with him in 2009, it was the most awkward interview I've ever had (and I did get the job offer). So I have no problem believing he is on the spectrum.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cytg111

pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
13,674
8,578
136
I had a 30 minute interviewed with him in 2009, it was the most awkward interview I've ever had (and I did get the job offer). So I have no problem believing he is on the spectrum.


What does that mean, though? What is "Aspergers" other than just a label applied to those with Musk's personality traits? There seems to be an assumption that it is necessarily neurological and thus not under the individual's control, so they can't be judged for it - but, given that, as far as I can see, it's almost always diagnosed _from_ those behavioural symptoms (rather than from, say, a brain scan), how can it be said for sure that that is the case in every such person?

I'm a bit suspicious that it gets used as an excuse for bad behaviour in middle-class white guys, with the smuggled-in assumption that it's biological/neurological in origin and thus they can't be expected to change. Especially when it's self-diagnosed or claimed without any evidence beyond the very behaviour traits being explained.
 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
15,282
10,879
136
What does that mean, though? What is "Aspergers" other than just a label applied to those with Musk's personality traits? There seems to be an assumption that it is necessarily neurological and thus not under the individual's control, so they can't be judged for it - but, given that, as far as I can see, it's almost always diagnosed _from_ those behavioural symptoms (rather than from, say, a brain scan), how can it be said for sure that that is the case in every such person?

I'm a bit suspicious that it gets used as an excuse for bad behaviour in middle-class white guys, with the smuggled-in assumption that it's biological/neurological in origin and thus they can't be expected to change. Especially when it's self-diagnosed or claimed without any evidence beyond the very behaviour traits being explained.
I don't know what it means. Just saying he didn't interact with me like you would normally expect in that situation. Regardless, it doesn't excuse him from being an asshole. Just like you can talk about how hard someone's childhood was without excusing their adult crimes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: KMFJD

pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
13,674
8,578
136
I don't know what it means. Just saying he didn't interact with me like you would normally expect in that situation. Regardless, it doesn't excuse him from being an asshole. Just like you can talk about how hard someone's childhood was without excusing their adult crimes.

Yeah, not picking an argument with you particularly, just I have a general issue with the way aspergers is talked about (that I always hesitate about getting into for fear I've got the issue all wrong, and am being the bad guy).

I could claim to be "neuroatypical" myself, just with a condition that needed a brain scan to diagnose, unlike autism. And it strikes me as odd that autism is considered 'neurological' yet doesn't require a neurological test to diagnose it. Because it's diagnosed from its symptoms the diagnosis 'explains' those symptoms, but in a way that seems to me to be slightly circular.

And in practice, unlike the tough childhood issue, autism gets used as an 'excuse' (rightly or wrongly). A tough childhood can lead to personality disorders, and one thing I wonder about is how a PD diagnosis is treated very differently to an autism/Aspergers one, when it comes to ideas about agency and moral responsibility.

(There's also the little point that Asperger himself was an actual old-school Nazi.)
 

Heartbreaker

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2006
4,340
5,464
136
It just occurred to me this morning, that no Tech workers are more incentivized to unionize than Twitter employees.

Tech workers usually don't care about this stuff, because they usually have good pay, bonuses, stock options, perks, flexible working hours, work from home options.

But Elon has done so much to make their lives hell, that I think you would see one of the most one side pro-union votes anywhere.

I can just imagine Musk's head exploding if Twitter unionized... :D
 

cytg111

Lifer
Mar 17, 2008
24,027
13,536
136
What does that mean, though? What is "Aspergers" other than just a label applied to those with Musk's personality traits?(1) There seems to be an assumption that it is necessarily neurological and thus not under the individual's control(2) so they can't be judged for it - but, given that, as far as I can see, it's almost always diagnosed _from_ those behavioural symptoms (rather than from, say, a brain scan)(3), how can it be said for sure that that is the case in every such person?

I'm a bit suspicious that it gets used as an excuse for bad behaviour in middle-class white guys, with the smuggled-in assumption that it's biological/neurological in origin and thus they can't be expected to change. Especially when it's self-diagnosed or claimed without any evidence beyond the very behaviour traits being explained.

1. A lifelong affinity for computers programming and logic allows to deduce that you believe Musk defines Asperger's and not the other way around. Obviously Musk did not invent Asperger's
2. To the extent that you can walk off a broken leg, sure.
3. That is generally how psychiatry works.

4. This is borderline, on the wrong side of the border, ignorant.
 

uclaLabrat

Diamond Member
Aug 2, 2007
5,586
2,946
136
Aspergers has distinct negative connotations for several reasons, primarily that current thinking of austism spectrum disorders and grouping by "functioning", i.e. language and social skills, etc. Is gauche and outdated. Not incidentally it has historical connotations given that asperger (as mentioned above) was a fucking nazi and did his work under the guise of essentially who was functional enough to be worked to death as a slave vs sent to death camps or otherwise immediately executed.

So yeah. Enough about aspergers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Brainonska511