Summary

Bill Gates criticized Elon Musk for his support of far-right politicians, including the UK’s Tommy Robinson and Germany’s AfD party, calling it “insane shit” and accusing Musk of destabilizing political systems.

Gates questioned Musk’s focus on divisive politics while managing global businesses like Tesla and SpaceX.

Gates also expressed concern about wealthy individuals influencing foreign elections.

Musk has faced backlash for controversial actions, including a Nazi salute.

  • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I always forget Gates is one of the elite. Then I remember how ruthless and savage he was in the 80s.

    Then I remember.

  • goodthanks@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I have to question the judgement of Bill Gates when he calls Musk “super-smart”. Maybe if Musk started out with no money, that would be fair in some sense. I think he was just lucky and unencumbered by ethics or self-doubt.

    • Siegfried@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Maybe if Musk started out with no money, that would be fair in some sense.

      Why is this american obsession on weighting the value of men with the money they made? Musk is an idiot regardless of his money or how he made it.

      • goodthanks@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        I’m not sure what you mean. I’m not American, and I don’t place much value on enormous wealth accumulation. I’m just acknowledging that there is a difference between gaining enormous wealth with a hefty leg up from family wealth versus doing it from scratch, like growing up in poverty for example.

      • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
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        4 months ago

        Quite a lot of americans equate money with success and ability. Elon musk must be the smartest guy because dumb people dont make money like that.

        I think its reverse engineering though, americans see his worth, and work backwards claiming all his choices are genius and well thought out.

      • ansiz@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Americans equal money with power, the more power you have, the more value, etc. That is basically it.

        • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
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          4 months ago

          Its not just power, its ego and success. If McDonalds started paying 30$ an hour it would suddenly be a job that signaled success, despite nothing changing about the job duties.

          Thats what’s happening here, elon is rich so he must be smart, and now people are jealous and emulate him. The OP is right though, money or not he’s an idiot.

    • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Bill Gates has also been riding an unearned “genius” appellation for decades. He didn’t make DOS. (His charitable work on vaccination is also questionable - iirc there were concerns over intellectual property rights)

      The tide is turning against billionaires, and he’s just recognizing that Musk is making them all look bad.

      • merc@sh.itjust.works
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        4 months ago

        Gates had two lawyers for parents, one of whom served on a board of directors with the CEO of IBM. IBM had been continually fighting an antitrust suit with the government for years, so they knew they had to tread carefully with the operating system for their first personal computers. It’s no surprise they hired Gates to do that work. Also, because of the antitrust case, they directed Gates to buy QDOS instead of buying it themselves. As for the contract that gave Gates a very sweet deal when it came to selling DOS to for non-IBM computers… I wonder if his two lawyer parents might have been involved in that contract.

  • ansiz@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    The insane shit is probably Musk’s obsession with trying to impress gamers with his (pretend) gaming skills. Having characters in Diablo 4 or PoE2 being clearly played by other people, while acting like this is his work alone.

    • d00ery@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      If he’s so desperate to impress about something as inconsequential as gaming, what kind of lies is he saying about everything else …

      • Dasus@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Like if anyone ever screamed “overcompensating for a small dick”…

        Like we probably don’t have the scientific equipment to actually locate Musk’s cock if it’s size is relative to how much he’s overcompensating.

    • rustydrd@sh.itjust.works
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      4 months ago

      I for one wouldn’t rule out that, when Musk talks about working 12-hour days, what he really does is to let others work, while he sits on his ass tweeting and playing video games like the pathetic fraud that he is.

    • spooky2092@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      4 months ago

      Did he do that for D4? I thought I heard he could actually play that, but he just absolutely n00bed up the PoE2 play.

      • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        When you see him playing in video’s he’s playing.

        He just uses other people to help level him up. I wouldn’t really say that using someone to grind for you means you can’t play. Him not being able to play would be him getting destroyed in the videos where he shows himself playing.

        He just cheats to get his characters to a high level.

        Edit: Another way to think of it… lets say he did this with Dota 2, and he gets up to the 2nd highest tier through his own play, and with cheating by others grinding his ranks. Then, he plays matches at that tier and consistently wins (and self performs) as much as you’d expect anyone at that tier. Can he play Dota 2? I’d say yes. Did he cheat? Yes.

    • ms.lane@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      “A bunch of pretentious old men playing at running the world, but the world left them behind long ago. We are the future!”

      • Incredibly Evil Man
  • crystalmerchant@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    It’s not insane at all. It sucks but it’s completely logical. Musk is just protecting his capital as best he can within a global capitalist system.

    It’s like corporate “greedflation” during Covid. Of course they jacked up prices and lied about wholesale costs, thereby wildly inflating profits, because profit motives are what drive our world.

    • a9cx34udP4ZZ0@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      It’s not insane at all. It sucks but it’s completely logical. Musk is just protecting his capital as best he can within a global capitalist system.

      No, it’s absolutely insane, and short sighted. You know how much his capital will be in the event of WWIII? We won’t be spending money on overpriced EVs or sending rockets to outer space on scientific missions to study the universe. Assuming he doesn’t get himself assassinated first by people that actually care about democracy. The absolute BEST thing to protect his capital is a strong spending class in the US, which would require the economy to not collapse. You gut social services, there is exactly one logical outcome and it is social unrest followed by either class war or civil war.

  • MyDogLovesMe@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Reminds me of comments made when Colin Powell resigned (ie “…bunch of fucking Crazies!”) [referring to the republican administration atvthe time].

    • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Colin Powell was one of the two Republicans I respected. Then he went on TV and lied to the nation to start Iraq 2.

  • biofaust@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    He is probably just envious he didn’t get to do it himself. Or that it doesn’t fit his made-up persona.