Attorney, journalist, and Elon Musk biographer Seth Abramson eviscerated both Elon Musk and his ā€œfanboysā€ who have attempted to use the billionaireā€™s IQ as an indication of his intellectual prowess in a series of messages shared on X Thursday evening and into Friday.

  • Dr. Moose@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    I feel like Musk was a symptom of Americans really wanting a genius billionaire to be a real thing as it reinforces this American dream everyoneā€™s dreaming about.

    Reading the CPAC transcript clearly shows that heā€™s currently below average intelligence if anything.

    • faythofdragons@slrpnk.net
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      7 hours ago

      Well yeah, thatā€™s the American Dream right? That if youā€™re smart and work hard, youā€™ll be rich?

    • JaymesRS@literature.cafe
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      8 hours ago

      My feelings are that Steve Jobs was the quintessential cultural personality CEO and his early death sent a lot of people desperately looking for the next one, who ended up being Elon.

      The difference was that Jobs actually had taste and a good vision for the future. He could build a smart team and let them drive progress then motivate to go further without making things up like Elon. So the media papered over Elonā€™s wild confabulation, instead of showing him in a true light.

      • halowpeano@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        Most of thatā€™s false though. He couldnā€™t build a good smart team, Wozniak could. He was very good at screwing others out of ownership in the company they helped build though. He was also very good at one thing, envisioning a computer in every home, and a computer in every pocket. That was his one true talent.

        But he was not ā€œsmartā€. He died to cancer detected early enough to heal with modern medicine, but chose quack treatments instead. There really isnā€™t any such thing as general intelligence. Everyoneā€™s got very specialized knowledge in some topic, and are idiots in everything else.

      • yarr@feddit.nl
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        8 hours ago

        Time has been kind to Mr. Jobs. Read about his early years at Appleā€¦ he was famous for skewering anyone that disagreed with him. He also had lovely habits like parking his sports car in handicapped spots so he didnā€™t have to walk as far. You canā€™t disagree with his talent for running a company that did an awful lot of innovation, but he wasnā€™t a nice guy. He named one of his first products, the Lisa after his daughter, but didnā€™t treat the actual daughter that well.

        • jj4211@lemmy.world
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          7 hours ago

          For a ā€œsmartā€ person, his death was quite possibly a very unintelligent way to go. He basically decided to give all kinds of ā€œholisticā€ crap a chance to treat his cancer and avoided medical intervention for almost a year. If he had gone with the medical path from the onset, he might still be alive today.

          But he did have his moments. Like how he basically told the music industry to cut out the DRM, because it just made the ecosystem impossible. Or one time when someone was picking at him over abandoning OpenDoc in favor of Java (Java didnā€™t work out either, but his response was on point, without being dismissive of the person).

      • burgerpocalyse@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        steve didnt take SHOWERS. he stunk up the office and his employees had to beg him to clean himself before meetings with potential investors and customers