1\ Pedantic thread on @elonmusk's brand of Pseudoprofundity.
Musk has a high school freshman's grasp of physics. But since his cult members have an 8th grade grasp of physics, they mistake his babbling for brilliance.
Examples follow:
Musk has a high school freshman's grasp of physics. But since his cult members have an 8th grade grasp of physics, they mistake his babbling for brilliance.
Examples follow:
2\ Here @elonmusk is cribbing from Ludwig Boltzmann in the 1890s, and from Thomas Aquinas in the 1200s. The concept itself is fair enough, which is more than we can say for many Musk bloviations:
3\ This one is bunk. Quantum mechanics does not describe "probabilities", it describes amplitudes in configuration space. Probabilities don't take on negative values, but quantum amplitudes do.
4\ The Planck Length does *not* suggest the "pixelization" of reality, which is the basis for the "rendering" trope. It reflects field interactions being restricted to particular vibrational modes, like harmonics on a guitar string.
5\ A few years ago @elonmusk awed his followers by claiming the Model 3's laughably inconsistent panel gaps would one day be more precise than a measuring tape.
But a piece of metal as large as a car doesn't even HAVE "a length", because length will vary with temperature.
But a piece of metal as large as a car doesn't even HAVE "a length", because length will vary with temperature.
6\ Here @elonmusk forgets about the existence of Ohm's Law. Imagine the resistance on wires going from Arizona to NYC!
7\ Oooh, "Forcing function", a Musk favorite and a sort of nerdy dog whistle that simultaneously evokes images of physics and of climate change.
But what does it mean? In this context, absolutely nothing.
But what does it mean? In this context, absolutely nothing.
8\ This second grade platitude got 45,000 retweets.
9\ Here, Musk shows confusion about what prices are. The concept of absolute value died in economics about 100 years ago (google "Diamonds and water paradox").
Prices reflect relative resource scarcity, they have no preferred level or direction....
Prices reflect relative resource scarcity, they have no preferred level or direction....
10\...and in fact Musk's own mortgages on his houses constitute a short sale of the US dollar. Not very patriotic!
11\ Solar panels on cars! Brilliant. If we lived in a world with no tradeoffs, then of course every man made object would be covered in solar panels. But we don't...
12\ Here Musk plays with the Anthropic Principle and fails to really grasp it. If he really grasped the magnitudes involved, "a billion" would strike him as a tiny number. Real physicists would say 0% or 100% and admit the math is just too slippery to say.
13\ That's enough for today. Of course, all @elonmusk business ventures are extended explorations of economic fallacies, but I've tried to limit my critique to his physics and philosophy nonsense. Maybe I'll extend this thread another day...
@elonmusk 14\ "Order of magnitude" is Musk's favorite phrase. It invites us to believe his intellect ranges so broadly as to have no need of precision
But economics, unlike physics, does NOT have quantities varying over many magnitudes. Maybe this is why all Musk businesses lose money
But economics, unlike physics, does NOT have quantities varying over many magnitudes. Maybe this is why all Musk businesses lose money
@elonmusk 15\ "Brands suck" is a great sound byte for resonating with the masses
And yet brands are a subject that forms deep connections between game theory and the economic analysis of law
The more you learn of the world, the more you appreciate what a brand is
And yet brands are a subject that forms deep connections between game theory and the economic analysis of law
The more you learn of the world, the more you appreciate what a brand is
