This constant hagiographic view of Musk and others like him is grotesque.

I mean he single handedly pulled the future forward in two different industries so far. Just because he is not "well adjusted" on twitter doesn't mean he cannot get shit done.

> I mean he single handedly pulled the future forward in two different industries so far.

This is the single bizarrest and most literally inaccurate use of the phrase “single-handedly” I have ever seen.

You talk about him like he split the atom. He bought into a good idea -- for his finances, that is -- by acquiring Tesla… big whoop!

Single-handedly is when Louis Slotin improved nuclear research safety for all time with the consequence of his failed screwdriver stunt.

What Tesla and SpaceX have done are enormous human undertakings. He did not single-handedly do it by any rational interpretation. The delusional self-confidence he used to get investors to pay for those undertakings is what's about to destroy Twitter.

I think it's obvious that Elon Musk didn't single handedly pull the future forward. He cannot do this without his employees, especially since we know SpaceX is actually mostly ran by the COO Gwyne Shotwell.

I wish people would stop referring to these narcissistic a(*) who were born lucky as semi-gods.

Particularly on the eve of thousands losing their job and arguably having a hard time to find a new one in this market.

Not referring to him as a semi god. Merely stating he has done what one would consider the realms of governments in the past. And one could only do that with a brash non rule following attitude. He went to Russia to buy an ICBM for God's sake. So if anyone can turn twitter around, it's him.

> He went to Russia to buy an ICBM for God's sake. So if anyone can turn twitter around, it's him.

How is this not a mindless non sequitur. What the hell does trying to buy ICBMs have to do with “turning around twitter”.

It’s genuinely insane. I feel like I’m in the presence of a cult.

Exactly what "A-players" do you think want to be a part of this shitshow? This isn't building electric cars or rockets, where the cutting-edge engineering work might make up for having to work with someone like Musk. Trying to figure out how to monetize a shitty, declining social network is a whole other kind of problem, and not one that I'm sure justifies a chaotic, toxic workplace run by a notoriously unstable psychopath.

Anecdotal, but I spend a lot of time on a lot of tech forums, and the vastly prevailing opinion among the folks there is "I wouldn't work at Twitter right now for any amount of money."

> He is Elon. Without him we wouldn't have rockets landing back.

The man is a moron. His engineers probably would've developed it anyway, just elsewhere.

It’s like HN discounts all his other successes and can’t believe he can attract high performing employees. He clearly solved much harder problems than short-form blog posting so it’s not a stretch to think he can flip Twitter back to an IPO quickly.

Its not luke hyperloop and the boring comosny were major failures and he was late for every deadline he has ever set.

Past performance does indicate future success. Nothing about this twitter story, from waving due dilligence, to trying to pull of a signed deal, to treatnent of employees, indicates competent management

> He clearly solved much harder problems than short-form blog posting

Right but that isn't the problem here, Twitter already solved that. What they haven't been able to do is make a short-form blog posting service that's profitable. Everything Musk has announced so far suggests he doesn't really understand how to change that.

What they are doing is not profitable, he is changing that.

what changes, if not these, would make Twitter profitable?

he is going to change ut from unprofitable to disasterous. Have you seen the interest payment that must be serviced on that loan? The whole enterprise is dead, you just dont know it yet

Culture presents much harder problems than science when it comes to social media. Though I agree it’s not a stretch to think he can add Twitter to his successes.