African Musk: Not a Fragrance

[Fitzcarraldo]

I just didn't get it, let's leave it at that.

I only responded to your comments about it. If you don't comment about it further, I'm done.

[filghy2]

What was the joke? Playing with people's lives is not funny.

Have you never heard of black humour? I guess you must really hate Dr Strangelove.

[broncofan]

Have you never heard of black humour? I guess you must really hate Dr Strangelove.

Lol he actually does!

[filghy2]

Ironically, the man who is now implanting chips in people's brains once made a post supporting the conspiracy theory that Bill Gates was financing 'mind-control' vaccines.
https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-m...e-mind-control
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bi...f-cia-in-2005/

Just imagine the right-wing frenzy if Gates was financing this brain chip project.

[filghy2]

Lol he actually does!

Yes, I remember now that he dismissed Kubrick's films. Welcome back, even if it's only a brief visit.
http://www.hungangels.com/vboard/sho...of-Great-Films

[Stavros]

Lol he actually does!

Thanks, for the memory...true. This is not the place to demolish the reputation of Kubrick. I used to know someone who worked with Stanley on 2001: A Space Odyssey, only to discover after all the work she did that her scene was cut out of the film.

Kubrick could make a dazzling film about Musk, it would look fantastic of course, but would not be able to disguise the mendacious, auto-pomposity of a man who doesn't really know what to do with all that money and power: a perfect example of Kubrick's cynical dismissal of humanity. There is no 'black humour' in his films, just a tedious repetition of the cod anthropology of the kind found in William Golding's Lord of the Flies -humans cannot change their essential nature: greedy and violent.

[Fitzcarraldo]

cod anthropology

Your analysis sounds fishy.

[filghy2]

Kubrick could make a dazzling film about Musk, it would look fantastic of course, but would not be able to disguise the mendacious, auto-pomposity of a man who doesn't really know what to do with all that money and power: a perfect example of Kubrick's cynical dismissal of humanity.

Citizen Musk? Would you prefer a film that disguised his mendacious auto-pomposity?

[Stavros]

Citizen Musk? Would you prefer a film that disguised his mendacious auto-pomposity?

I think we can now separate a debate on films, from real life.

Consider in its American context, the difference between one man, William Randolph Hearst, who became rich through his media business, and Andrew Carnegie, who made a fortune in steel, and then gave a lot of it away, with Carnegie Hall probably his most famous legacy. Yes, Carnegie was one of the Robber Barons, but historians have tied themselves in knots trying to decide if there is a moral case to answer, while having to acknowledge that the last quarter of the 19th century was a transforming time, and that the 'big industrialists' helped to shape modern America as an industrial leader of the world.
Robber baron (industrialist) - Wikipedia

A comparison can be made with Bill Gates, who with a relatively small team at first, has helped transform the world of personal communication that was beyond most people's imagination when I was born. I am sure Gates has his flaws, but he has used a lot of his wealth for the public good, notably with regard to global public health projects.

And yes, Musk is a cutting edge kind of guy, he is intent on making space travel common, which I think is a really long shot, and if there is anything in his neural technology than can benefit people with severe disabilities, he will be worthy of a mention in the history books.

The odium comes with his personal views, his behaviour as a CEO which is shall we say unconventional, but sadly typical of a man with so much money and power he believes his own propaganda. The link below delves into the issues around the pay dispute that was the subject of a court case in Delaware, but is mostly interesting not for any social benefits derived from his business, but the roster of family and friends who have been instrumental in awarding Musk financial rewards that they themselves have also profited from.
Judge Voids Elon Musk’s Tesla Pay Package In Rare Victory For Shareholders (yahoo.com)

Edward Heath, former Prime Minister of the UK once remarked on the 'unacceptable face of Capitalism', and one can lump Musk in with Rupert Murdoch as villains of our age, even as Murdoch was also a transformative influence in the media (in my view in a negative way).

Thus, we have reached an age when in the UK, Russia and the US there are Billionaires who seem, like Fafner, to sit on their wealth, rather than invest it in people. The consequence in Russia is that a country of some importance and fabulous wealth is incapable of producing its own computer chips, having decided that when the option is 'make or buy' they buy, a similar problem for the oil-rich monarchies of Arabia.

In the UK it means we have underfunded social services, but also a chronic lack of investment in jobs and industry, whatever the future might be. Buying and selling property seems to be more satisfactory than investing in people.

In the US, Musk would prefer to house rich people on Mars than the poor in San Francisco. If the top 100 US billionaires loved their country more than they love their money, there would be no homeless people living on the streets; there would be adequate facilities for asylum seekers and immigrants, and children would be attending well funded schools preparing them for life in the 21st century with the curriculum it demands.

If Musk is too self-absorbed to give away his money, ditto all the others, the time has come to take it away from them.

I think there might be a film in there somewhere, but you wouldn't want losers like Kubrick or David Lynch to make it.

[broncofan]

Yes, I remember now that he dismissed Kubrick's films. Welcome back, even if it's only a brief visit.
http://www.hungangels.com/vboard/sho...of-Great-Films

Thanks. I will be back for sure but I've taken some time off just bc i've had a lot going on at work. Then i thought i was probably spending too much time staring at a screen anyway. But I still read the threads here on my phone during the day.