Thread by @sqiouyilu

I think more people need to realize that elon fanboys don’t see him as a public figure, elon fanboys see him as a christlike savior in a new martian prosperity gospel, and logic does not work against christ

https://twitter.com/pervocracy/status/1588170649595351040

actually after learning that elon wants to turn twitter into a protocol, I have MORE respect for him, and even less respect for his fanboys who don’t even understand what their christ’s missions are

the metaphor goes all the way down to the “jesus christ had some decent ideas, but his fans are insufferable” level

I think it’s so funny that elon fanboys who’d jump in to call you a pronoun for saying gender is socially constructed have little to no awareness that economics & currency are also socially constructed, and crypto is not so much a tech revolution as it is a social revolution

elon isn’t actually developing tech, he undertakes massive social engineering experiments and they end up working, like how we all rely on paypal even though it’s shit and everyone jizzes their pants for tesla electric cars whose doors fail when their batteries die

the entire point being that like it or not, elon musk has been wildly successful at one very specific thing, and that is creating a cult of personality: a mythos, and dogma that enables him to have supporters no matter what, bc whether or not his projects work is irrelevant

I mean, from a step back, I actually think it’s fascinating that one private individual has leverage against the entire fragile ecosystem of global nationbuilding myths

I just, once again, wish it were not some “u mad bro?” milquetoast dressing up capitalism with LEDs

I think everyone focusing on whether elon’s tech works is completely missing the point that I keep repeating of: we have exited the information age; we are now in a curation age

elon musk’s role is a natural extension of the influencer class, and social engineering is curation

we have far too much information for any one individual to process. we have always needed guides & mentors, but now we need them even more with the sheer amount of information we encounter daily

it’s just that now, the barrier to entry to be a guide/mentor is nearly nonexistent

this lowering of the barrier to entry is good, because it allows people who have traditionally been barred from accessing spaces and tools the opportunity to do so

it also simultaneously lets in people who abuse and exploit others

the issue is not that such people exist: that’s just humanity

the issue is we think it’s inevitable that people will act badly, when it’s more that moderation & curation have not reached sophistication yet bc few people realize how core they are to our current age

anyway, I would say that this shift started happening when social networks started moving away from calling connections “friends” and turning them into “followers”

now what was a living room becomes a podium in a global amphitheater

so it’s very fitting that martian prosperity gospel jesus christ has decided to take over a social media platform where follower count and visibility are especially important. twitter is a social tool more than it is “technology”

anyway, I don’t call elon musk a “cult” because the term is too loaded and derogatory to allow for any kind of meaningful discourse. what I WILL say, however, is that elon musk is wildly, wildly successful at creating a cosmological framework that people follow

background on cosmological frameworks here: strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/ev…

the whole reason I wrote this essay was to provide a methodology on how to pick apart social engineering for its underlying assumptions

elon musk has created:

• a cosmological framework: the role humans have in the world, the value (or lack thereof) of people

• an epistemological framework: what’s true or “fake news” and how to determine that

• an ethical framework: what is right & wrong

and even

• an eschatological framework: a vision for humanity’s destiny, in this case his whole mars thing

THIS is why he is so influential and powerful. not because of money per se, but because he has constructed a way to see the world that others can share

you will argue an elon musk fanboy out of muskism with about the same rate of success as you would argue an evangelical christian into denouncing christ

it’s a futile mission. don’t lose focus, channel your energy into maintaining community and yourself

here is the big picture analysis that is informing a lot of my interpretation: davetroy.medium.com/no-elon-and-ja…

I’m less familiar with the tech, business, and politics sides, but as a sociolinguist I’m sensitive to how people construct identity, group membership, and power

in fact @davetroy has been refuting a lot of the shallow elon takes that have been popping up everywhere, I admit I’m curious whether my analysis checks out or not

if you read this thread and would like to check out more of my work, you can visit my site s.qiouyi.lu

I also have a patreon at patreon.com/sqiouyilu

my current novella project #RazingBabel is about how empire is constructed and how we might stop its machinations