Trump 2.0

[Pinball1970]

Nonetheless, there remains the question of what constitutes "improved" discussion.

Is that a serious question?

You actually think you contribute to "improved" discussion? I mean, I assume you are not stupid.

 

[exchemist]

The international with some right-wing views↗ knows what it's about. I mean, I presume he's not stupid.

To the other, what passes for an "ordinary conversation" around here?

For me, the solution is easy enough: Just start other threads about particular aspects of "Trump 2.0".

Nonetheless, there remains the question of what constitutes "improved" discussion.

For instance, I do wonder why people say things like↑ "Why is my input important?" The answer is straightforward: Because it's what he said. There is an easy solution available: Okay, then what he says has no value.

But then, think about it: Three minutes later, that's followed by a separate short post↗, and wouldn't you know it, the best explanation for whatever the hell that post is supposed to mean would be some sort of E&O. And then what reads like a threat↑. And then some more distraction↑. And then flight↑. Five posts in just over ten minutes. At least he stacked up five posts.

Or, to reiterate↑: Whether an algorithm or a vertically-sequential discussion, the main contribution of such noise, in either experience, is to dramatically reduce the significance of the topical subject.

But the thing is, that's not the whole of the point, so it's not quite the summary you want. But if we follow it back↑, we arrive at the prospect that the distraction is the point↑; and remember, this manner of distraction is part of the Trump experience, both how we got here and how it sustains.

An "ordinary conversation" is one in which the parties express themselves clearly and concisely enough to retain the attention of their interlocutors and any other interested readers.

 

[Sarkus]

Please let's not have another diversion about posting style, and let's keep it on topic. So if a person's posting style can be, somehow, related to Trump, than all well and good, I guess. But otherwise, before posting, just think to yourself: "how does what I'm posting relate to Trump/MAGA/downfall-of-democracy-in-the-US?" etc.

Cheers.

 

[Sarkus]

In other news, seems that even the French far-right are thinking things are getting out of hand in the US, notably Bannon's obvious Nazi salute in a recent CPAC speech...

French far-right leader cancels speech after accusing Bannon of 'Nazi gesture'

Former top Trump adviser Steve Bannon denies making Nazi salute at CPAC and says Jordan Bardella is "unworthy to lead France".

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[parmalee]

Please let's not have another diversion about posting style, and let's keep it on topic. So if a person's posting style can be, somehow, related to Trump, than all well and good, I guess. But otherwise, before posting, just think to yourself: "how does what I'm posting relate to Trump/MAGA/downfall-of-democracy-in-the-US?" etc.

Cheers.

Seth Abramson, who's authored an upcoming Elon Musk bio, posits that Musk's IQ is somewhere between 100 and 110:

Attorney, journalist, and Elon Musk biographer Seth Abramson eviscerated both Elon Musk and his “fanboys” who have attempted to use the billionaire’s IQ as an indication of his intellectual prowess in a series of messages shared on X Thursday evening and into Friday. “You are in a cult,” he wrote in one before he later noted Musk “has zero *personal* intellectual achievements.”

“As an Elon Musk biographer, I would peg his IQ as between 100 and 110,” Abramson tweeted Thursday afternoon. “There’s zero evidence in his biography of anything higher. And I want to repeat that now, lest you think it a typo. There’s zero evidence, from his life history, of Musk having anything higher than a 110 IQ.”

Author of Upcoming Elon Musk Biography Says ‘There Is No Evidence’ Billionaire Has Any ‘Intellectual Achievements’

"It does not take intelligence to throw money around and buy a company or buy a politician," Seth Abramson writes The post Author of Upcoming Elon Musk Biography Says ‘There Is No Evidence’ Billionaire Has Any ‘Intellectual Achievements’ appeared first on TheWrap.

www.yahoo.com

I've wondered about this for a while, and I'm disinclined to really look into Musk's bio. His SAT score--on his second attempt--was 1400: not bad, but not especially great either. (Note to non-American readers: A perfect score is 1600. Musk took the test in '88 or '89, so at least it was prior to it's massive recalibration which essentially raised everyone's scores by about 200 points--because the scores were getting lower and lower. I'm convinced that virtually everyone born after about 1990 is pretty much a goddamned idiot, but that's another subject.) Moreover, being a born-rich kid, Musk attended an elite preparatory school--that tends to raise people's scores a fair bit. Beyond this, there's really not a whole lot of evidence that Musk really knows much of anything about anything or has any sort of "natural aptitude" for shit.

So is Musk even smart in any sense? And where did people get the idea that he was? To all indications, he just seems about average.

 

[exchemist]

Seth Abramson, who's authored an upcoming Elon Musk bio, posits that Musk's IQ is somewhere between 100 and 110:

Author of Upcoming Elon Musk Biography Says ‘There Is No Evidence’ Billionaire Has Any ‘Intellectual Achievements’

"It does not take intelligence to throw money around and buy a company or buy a politician," Seth Abramson writes The post Author of Upcoming Elon Musk Biography Says ‘There Is No Evidence’ Billionaire Has Any ‘Intellectual Achievements’ appeared first on TheWrap.

www.yahoo.com

I've wondered about this for a while, and I'm disinclined to really look into Musk's bio. His SAT score--on his second attempt--was 1400: not bad, but not especially great either. (Note to non-American readers: A perfect score is 1600. Musk took the test in '88 or '89, so at least it was prior to it's massive recalibration which essentially raised everyone's scores by about 200 points--because the scores were getting lower and lower. I'm convinced that virtually everyone born after about 1990 is pretty much a goddamned idiot, but that's another subject.) Moreover, being a born-rich kid, Musk attended an elite preparatory school--that tends to raise people's scores a fair bit. Beyond this, there's really not a whole lot of evidence that Musk really knows much of anything about anything or has any sort of "natural aptitude" for shit.

So is Musk even smart in any sense? And where did people get the idea that he was? To all indications, he just seems about average.

I'm not sure the Musk story has ever been about intelligence. But he has had an unusual personality trait that has made him what he is (or was, at least, before he got mad MAGA megalomania). He is clearly highly ambitious and possesses a rare degree of imagination, drive, and no doubt ruthlessness. It is not any old fool that can create these groundbreaking technology-based businesses, even if, as I suspect, the role of luck in business success is a lot greater than businessmen would have you believe.

 

[Pinball1970]

I'm not sure the Musk story has ever been about intelligence. But he has had an unusual personality trait that has made him what he is (or was, at least, before he got mad MAGA megalomania). He is clearly highly ambitious and possesses a rare degree of imagination, drive, and no doubt ruthlessness. It is not any old fool that can create these groundbreaking technology-based businesses, even if, as I suspect, the role of luck in business success is a lot greater than businessmen would have you believe.

Yeah and that is the real shame. He has the money, kit, people to create something amazing.
Continue to create, he has already created.
However, unfortunately all this.

If look you at Bill Gates as a comparison, you can see what real wealth, status and power can achieve.
Strangely, Gates was the centerpiece of a global conspiracy during COVID, something many internet but jobs regurgitated at every opportunity.
The one person on the planet who has single handedly pledged a mission in words and significant dollars to global health and climate change.

Any sane person who has that sort of money would do the same thing.

 

[exchemist]

Yeah and that is the real shame. He has the money, kit, people to create something amazing.
Continue to create, he has already created.
However, unfortunately all this.

If look you at Bill Gates as a comparison, you can see what real wealth, status and power can achieve.
Strangely, Gates was the centerpiece of a global conspiracy during COVID, something many internet but jobs regurgitated at every opportunity.
The one person on the planet who has single handedly pledged a mission in words and significant dollars to global health and climate change.

Any sane person who has that sort of money would do the same thing.

Well I for one won't be buying a Swasticar. There's an amusing piece in today's FT supplement, by Robert Shrimsley in which he describes the liberal middle class angst of those unfortunate enough to have bought one, thinking they were being eco-friendly and even a bit "woke". What do they do now?

In the course of his article he makes the observation that Swasticar's new Cybertruck looks like something a "transformer" would produce if it could defecate. I must say I've always thought it looked a bit fascist: militaristic, like a stealth aircraft, the kind of thing you expect to see in a sci-fi dystopia movie in which a vigilante, gum-chewing hero rides around wasting "bad guys" for sport, among the ruins of a city.

Of course in Musk's case the windows are a bit crap, hahaha. The good news is that I understand that, due its sharp edges, it will never meet the safety standards of the UK or EU. So it will be a USA-only phenomenon, thank God.

 

[Sarkus]

The good news is that I understand that, due its sharp edges, it will never meet the safety standards of the UK or EU. So it will be a USA-only phenomenon, thank God.

Yeah, it's (currently) banned in the UK, and one was only recently seized in Bury because the driver could not produce a Certificate of Conformity.

Tesla Cybertruck Banned And Seized By Police In The U.K.

The Cybertruck has a cult following in the U.S., but safety issues such as excessive size and acceleration and sharp edges make the Tesla illegal on U.K. roads.

www.forbes.com

It's not just the sharp edges, it seems.

 

[Pinball1970]

Well I for one won't be buying a Swasticar. There's an amusing piece in today's FT supplement, by Robert Shrimsley in which he describes the liberal middle class angst of those unfortunate enough to have bought one, thinking they were being eco-friendly and even a bit "woke". What do they do now?

The concept is good, Space X is good, great in fact. We have to separate the man from the technologies.
Clean cars, clean energy is the way forward, even if a complete and utter **** is at the head.

 

[Sarkus]

So is Musk even smart in any sense? And where did people get the idea that he was? To all indications, he just seems about average.

There is likely much that one could example that suggests he's not particularly intelligent, but one needs to be careful that one is not simply ignoring examples that show that he is probably is quite intelligent. There are reports that he is capable of grasping even complex problems quite quickly, at least sufficiently to know to bring in an actual expert in that area.
Everyone who claims his IQ is 155+ seems to peg IQ to business success and to identifying future areas of growth (e.g. EV, AI, private space program etc), whereas I'm not sure there is a particularly strong correlation between IQ and business success, compared to other factors such as perserverance, drive, etc.
Has he just "gotten lucky" and made a name off other people's ideas - such as Edison did? Or is he actually that intelligent?
I'd say the truth likely lies somewhere in the middle. He's clearly an obsessive, committed, driven individual, with a certain charisma, and that, to me, is where the bulk of his success has come from. But I think it has taken something to identify the areas he has, and it takes something to know which people to bring in, which areas to explore/exploit etc.
So, personally, I wouldn't be surprised if his IQ is c.130ish. And I'd think, if anything, it would be more likely to be lower (i.e. toward the 110) than up toward the 155+ range. He is clearly a successful businessman, though, but I don't see the link between that and necessarily a high-IQ.

 

[Pinball1970]

There is likely much that one could example that suggests he's not particularly intelligent, but one needs to be careful that one is not simply ignoring examples that show that he is probably is quite intelligent. There are reports that he is capable of grasping even complex problems quite quickly, at least sufficiently to know to bring in an actual expert in that area.
Everyone who claims his IQ is 155+ seems to peg IQ to business success and to identifying future areas of growth (e.g. EV, AI, private space program etc), whereas I'm not sure there is a particularly strong correlation between IQ and business success, compared to other factors such as perserverance, drive, etc.
Has he just "gotten lucky" and made a name off other people's ideas - such as Edison did? Or is he actually that intelligent?
I'd say the truth likely lies somewhere in the middle. He's clearly an obsessive, committed, driven individual, with a certain charisma, and that, to me, is where the bulk of his success has come from. But I think it has taken something to identify the areas he has, and it takes something to know which people to bring in, which areas to explore/exploit etc.
So, personally, I wouldn't be surprised if his IQ is c.130ish. And I'd think, if anything, it would be more likely to be lower (i.e. toward the 110) than up toward the 155+ range. He is clearly a successful businessman, though, but I don't see the link between that and necessarily a high-IQ.

Seemed to be a smart enough kid if all the wiki bio is accurate. Physics degree but not awarded till 1997? Degrees here are 3 or 4 years and Musk would have been 26 in 97.

 

[Pinball1970]

I'd say the truth likely lies somewhere in the middle. He's clearly an obsessive, committed, driven individual, with a certain charisma, and that, to me, is where the bulk of his success has come from

Yeah that I think. Ever spoken to a good sales man? You think, you are one slimy bastard but I like you.
Musk comes across like that or did before he hit the mental button.

 

[ольга]

Seth Abramson, who's authored an upcoming Elon Musk bio, posits that Musk's IQ is somewhere between 100 and 110:

Author of Upcoming Elon Musk Biography Says ‘There Is No Evidence’ Billionaire Has Any ‘Intellectual Achievements’

"It does not take intelligence to throw money around and buy a company or buy a politician," Seth Abramson writes The post Author of Upcoming Elon Musk Biography Says ‘There Is No Evidence’ Billionaire Has Any ‘Intellectual Achievements’ appeared first on TheWrap.

www.yahoo.com

I've wondered about this for a while, and I'm disinclined to really look into Musk's bio. His SAT score--on his second attempt--was 1400: not bad, but not especially great either. (Note to non-American readers: A perfect score is 1600. Musk took the test in '88 or '89, so at least it was prior to it's massive recalibration which essentially raised everyone's scores by about 200 points--because the scores were getting lower and lower. I'm convinced that virtually everyone born after about 1990 is pretty much a goddamned idiot, but that's another subject.) Moreover, being a born-rich kid, Musk attended an elite preparatory school--that tends to raise people's scores a fair bit. Beyond this, there's really not a whole lot of evidence that Musk really knows much of anything about anything or has any sort of "natural aptitude" for shit.

So is Musk even smart in any sense? And where did people get the idea that he was? To all indications, he just seems about average.

У каждого человека есть свои способности. Кто то способен в науках, кто то в музыке, кто то в спорте, кто то в бизнесе, и т.п. Чтобы много зарабатывать не обязательно быть самым умным и образованным. Я не думаю, что кто то умеющий хорошо бить по мячу, или по чьей то физиономии, обладает какими то выдающимися умственными способностями. Но зарабатывать при этом он может больше чем профессор. У Маска хорошие организаторские способности, поэтому он богат. Его деньги создаёт команда хорошо подобранных специалистов. Он умеет как у нас говорят "попасть в струю", т.е. оказаться в нужное время в нужном месте.
Вообще, кому всё это нужно? Кто будет помнить всех этих Масков, Трампов и им подобных через некоторое время? Многие помнят при каком короле жил например Ньютон? И тем более никто не вспомнит тех богачей, которые были его современниками. Зато все знают Ньютона. Потому что человек оценивается по количеству той реальной пользы, которую он принёс человечеству. Кстати, и Маск, и Трамп это понимают, поэтому и стремятся прославиться, один полётами на Марс, другой стремится стать императором всего мира в современном исполнении.

 

[exchemist]

The concept is good, Space X is good, great in fact. We have to separate the man from the technologies.
Clean cars, clean energy is the way forward, even if a complete and utter **** is at the head.

But there is no need to buy a Swasticar to achieve that. In fact, a Swasticar is a bad choice if you live in Europe, because even their standard saloon cars are too fat to schqueeze down our narrow city streets. There is now, partly thanks to Musk’s pioneering, a huge range of very good EVs to choose from, most of which are far more practical.

 

[exchemist]

Yeah, it's (currently) banned in the UK, and one was only recently seized in Bury because the driver could not produce a Certificate of Conformity.

Tesla Cybertruck Banned And Seized By Police In The U.K.

The Cybertruck has a cult following in the U.S., but safety issues such as excessive size and acceleration and sharp edges make the Tesla illegal on U.K. roads.

www.forbes.com

It's not just the sharp edges, it seems.

F***ing lethal in European cities where cars, cycles and pedestrians mingle.

Of course, yer typical, overweight, all-American technofascist really likes that. He (and it will be he) gets a buzz from being able to kill you unless you get outta the goddam way. Instilling fear feels good to him.

 

[TheVat]

In the course of his article he makes the observation that Swasticar's new Cybertruck looks like something a "transformer" would produce if it could defecate

Har! Perfect.

I am suspicious of any truck that I never see carrying cargo. The ones I've seen around are always empty. That hints to me they are for affluent people who like driving the idea of a truck but really don't get their hands dirty.

 

[geordief]

F***ing lethal in European cities where cars, cycles and pedestrians mingle.

Of course, yer typical, overweight, all-American technofascist really likes that. He (and it will be he) gets a buzz from being able to kill you unless you get outta the goddam way. Instilling fear feels good to him.

The first person I knew who went to US (at school) told me he was attempted to be run down by a car (I supposed) because he had long hair.

Perhaps it was Texas but at any rate when I later hitched through Texas with my then girl friend we were picked up by two trucks .My girlfriend went in the first one and I got in the second.

A short while in my driver turns to me and says if I do anything funny he has a gun.

We get to where they take us and my gf says that nothing unusual happened.

Weird and we gave up hitching in Texas with that and got on a freight train that took us to El Paso where were were warned as nice Europeans that it was dangerous to ride the freight trains along with all the "wet backs"

We left that train in Arizona and hitch hiked on as far as California.

Never felt comfortable and can remember returning over the beautiful green Swiss hills thinking and feeling I was back in "civilisation "

(I had to leave as my visa had expired and I had lost my job in Boston Sheraton)
1973/4?

 

[Kristoffer]

Saw a cyberturd in the wild in June when I visited my girlfriend.
It was parked outside a bar with a big crowd making fun of it loudly.
Ten feet away from the crowd stood a seething owner who thought his friends would be gushing about how cool it was.
It was so cool my phone refused to take a clear photo of it.

My girlfriend and the kids are going to be seeking asylum when they come visit me btw.

 

[Seattle]

Yeah, it's (currently) banned in the UK, and one was only recently seized in Bury because the driver could not produce a Certificate of Conformity.

That sounds like something out of "1984" or "Brave New World". Hold on sir, show us your Certificate of Conformity!