Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX - Lex Luthor or Tony Stark?

[RevolverRob]

SpaceX officially launched and recovered a reused rocket yesterday. http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/19/technology/spacex-launch-space-center/?iid=EL Elon Musk reiterated his desire to send people to the moon next year and to Mars by 2020.

It's all very cool...but I can't help but wonder - is Elon Musk more Lex Luthor or more Tony Stark? On the surface it seems very Tony Stark...clean energy, transportation, pragmatic, and philanthropic...but I can't help but wonder if he has a secret volcano lair somewhere, where he is plotting how to take over the world.

Discuss.

[PNWTO]

SpaceX officially launched and recovered a reused rocket yesterday. [url]

It's all very cool...but I can't help but wonder - is Elon Musk more Lex Luthor or more Tony Stark? On the surface it seems very Tony Stark...clean energy, transportation, pragmatic, and philanthropic...but I can't help but wonder if he has a secret volcano lair somewhere, where he is plotting how to take over the world.

Discuss.

I really an enamored and support his goal for our species and I think Space-X is awesome. I would say he is more Stark right now, until he gets the opportunity to build a Martian volcano lair. Of course, I would happily go mad with power if I had such a thing as well.

[hufnagel]

Lex Stark, or Tony Luthor. :D

[GuanoLoco]

Dr. Insufferable Ego

[Wondering Beard]

Embrace the power of "and"

Hmm, twice today.

[Totem Polar]

Years ago, I was having great difficulty finding a work-related product that met my needs, so I convinced one company in particular to design around my specs to produce a superior product, thus solving my personal, small-time problem—which was good for me. However, that one product went on to win awards, critical acclaim, and acceptance/adoption among some very big names in my area of endeavor. The company got a great product line, and I got to move on in life with a tool that met my needs at the time (and I guess a bunch of other people's too, but that was not my initial motivation...).

I mention this because I'm not sure Elon Musk is either character. I think he's a lot closer to, say, the guys from South Park who just make up shit to crack themselves up, and it also happens to sell extremely well.

Put differently, if EM somehow became convinced that he himself needed a reliable, cheap, compact single-stack, 9mm striker fired semiauto pistol with no hinged safety on the trigger, and the best pull on earth, we'd quickly see the rise of a giant to compete with Gaston, and the Pincuses and Hudsons wouldn't even be in the running. Market share would never enter the initial equation, because he knows that he can drive the market towards his own personal whims with bulk force.

Or not. I dunno... just spitballing, but it's a thread about comic characters relations to some rich guy, so there it is. :D

[Default.mp3]

One of my fellow students at a class was a fairly high level person at NASA. They claimed that they had met Musk on multiple occasions in which he as obviously intoxicated, despite these occasions being official meetings.

The guy talks the talk, but given how much of his funding comes from taxpayers, I'm pretty ambivalent about the Musk himself. I'll also note that Stark is often characterized a raging asshole, anyway.

[PNWTO]

One of my fellow students at a class was a fairly high level person at NASA. They claimed that they had met Musk on multiple occasions in which he as obviously intoxicated, despite these occasions being official meetings.

He has a pretty vetted reputation as a party animal, so that makes sense.

[Totem Polar]

To be fair, if I was worth big dollars and wasn't concerned about contract renewal, there are *a lot* of meetings I've been to over the last decade where I would have gladly prefunked, myself.

[Default.mp3]

To be fair, if I was worth big dollars and wasn't concerned about contract renewal, there are *a lot* of meetings I've been to over the last decade where I would have gladly prefunked, myself.To be clear, they were fairly certain that it wasn't intoxication via alcohol, but most likely through other, less legal chemical means. Which strikes me as being a poor idea, if you're going to be going into a meeting with government officials.

[Totem Polar]

^^^point taken. Say it together P-F boys and girls: always prefunction legally.

[Stephanie B]

One of my fellow students at a class was a fairly high level person at NASA. They claimed that they had met Musk on multiple occasions in which he as obviously intoxicated, despite these occasions being official meetings.

Then maybe TPTB should send him a few cases of his favorite adult beverage. Making reusable rockets is a very big deal. IMO.

[voodoo_man]

To be clear, they were fairly certain that it wasn't intoxication via alcohol, but most likely through other, less legal chemical means. Which strikes me as being a poor idea, if you're going to be going into a meeting with government officials.

"fairly certain" either means they, themselves had experience to which they could compare/contrast off of or have seen others numerous times under such a state.

Depending on the level at which this guy operates (in terms of lack of sleep/constant motion) that may just be his standard, eccentric, method of being when out in public.

Sometimes very smart people are just fucking weird.

[Peally]

He's almost guaranteed to be batshit nuts on some level, and likely has his vices. He's also very likely going to put motherflippin people on motherflippin Mars, so it balances out a little.

I only hope that he doesn't make any stupid life decisions that impact the mission.

[JSGlock34]

https://images7.alphacoders.com/322/322143.jpg

[BaiHu]

One of my fellow students at a class was a fairly high level person at NASA. They claimed that they had met Musk on multiple occasions in which he as obviously intoxicated, despite these occasions being official meetings.

The guy talks the talk, but given how much of his funding comes from taxpayers, I'm pretty ambivalent about the Musk himself. I'll also note that Stark is often characterized a raging asshole, anyway.
Musk reminds me of 2 adages:

1. It's better to be lucky than good.
2. If you put 100 monkeys and 100 type writers in the same room, you'll get Shakespeare.

Musk is smart, yes, but even better, he's been lucky to stumble into PayPal and then Obama's good graces. If it wasn't for a tech boom that he narrowly avoided walking away as just another unremarkable dot com and then a taxpayer funded, playboy, wet-dream idea during a recession, Tesla et al wouldn't have survived and EM wouldn't be a household name.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html

In short, he's more like Seth Rogen's Green Hornet.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[Kanye Wyoming]

I was down in North Carolina for business about 4 years ago, and the company president dropped me off at the airport. On the way we were in a philosophical discussion about something or other, and he was quite smitten with Elon Musk. I’d heard the name, knew it had something to do with Tesla and maybe space, and thought it would be a great name for a line of men’s cologne. But that’s about it. Since then, I’ve come to understand that this guy is indeed pretty damned smart and pretty uniquely unique, mostly in a very appealing way. He has now also reached the summit of the mountain when it comes to piquant trolling.

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