Post

Scott Hanselman 🌼
@scott.hanselman.com

This is such a great point because here we have the world’s richest man and the president of the United States and they’re both idiots, and there’s a cognitive dissonance where one can argue “they can’t be idiots, look what they’ve accomplished.” But yet still they are idiots

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez@aoc.bsky.social

They need him to be a genius because they cannot handle what it means for them to be tricked by a fool.

76 reposts435 likes

Martin Vindahl
@mvindahl.com

Musk at CPAC is basically Badger at Jesse’s house party in Breaking Bad. Plenty of similar data points. Was he smart at some point to accumulate his wealth or mostly lucky? Dunno. Is his brain fried at this point? Evidently.

Luca Cestola
@lucacestola.bsky.social

We often dismiss certain figures as idiots but power doesn’t need wisdom, just effectiveness. Whether there’s a master plan or not their decisions will deeply affect millions. Maybe they’re not just foolish, maybe they’re dangerous.

aequanimitas
@id10terror.bsky.social

Power and extreme wealth are poisonous to humans. If wealth is obtained power is coveted. If power is obtained the desire for wealth follows. When power and wealth are consolidated immortality is desired. All of this is further down the path of insanity. These things poison the human spirit.

Robert - DevOpsBob
@ruzitschka.at

I think we need to accept that humans are complicated and can have orthogonal traits: you can be a good business man (not a people manager, though!) and an fascist asshole at the same time. You can be very clever but a mean person. But you can‘t be an asshole and a good father. Qed.

Colin Bowern
@colinbowern.com

Not sure what you define as good business but all I see is businesses that be in trouble if the cult celebrity, subsidies disappeared, or appropriate regulation were applied.

Robert - DevOpsBob
@ruzitschka.at

Totally agree. There are aspects of SpaceX that are really great: iterative approach, fast learning cycles, accept failures even if stakes are high. I can‘t comment on toxic culture, don‘t know but would agree that it kills a company medium term. And you can‘t manage government like this!

Colin Bowern
@colinbowern.com

So far the path appears to be pure destruction of the public apparatus. Not a sign of a Napoleon style mix of dictatorship and society building. For example: historycrumbs.com/napoleons-ed...

historycrumbs.comNapoleon's Educational Reforms: The Emperor's Lesser-Known LegacyWhen we think of Napoleon Bonaparte, images of military conquests and political power often come to mind. But there's another side to the French emperor that deserves attention - his role in