The Egocentric Eccentric Exploits of Elon

[CobraCommander]

Gilbert Arenas son was found in a wrecked Cybertruck. They are incredibly dangerous. Stay away from those POS eyesores when driving.

https://apple.news/A86jeM1STTDCoySK9is2Ovw

[SWIM]

Pow! Right in the kisser!!!

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/busi ... roid-share

Tesla’s 71% Drop in Profit May Pressure Elon Musk to Return to Day Job

The carmaker reported the sharp decline in quarterly earnings after Tesla’s brand suffered because of its chief executive’s role in the Trump administration.

Shareholder lawsuits incoming

[SWIM]

The planet is overpopulated not underpopulated, Elon.

This is actually not correct. Population collapse is a real thing with real consequences. We are likely at the height of the population boom; world wide.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_decline


The main risks with population collapse is prolonged economic recession and declining human capital (which affects scientific/technological advancement)

[China]

The planet is overpopulated not underpopulated, Elon.

This is actually not correct. Population collapse is a real thing with real consequences. We are likely at the height of the population boom; world wide.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_decline


The main risks with population collapse is prolonged economic recession and declining human capital (which affects scientific/technological advancement)

Both can be true. The planet can be overpopulated and the population be in decline.



We could be conforming to Model 2 and reaching peak population (as we do have good longevity and birth rates are declining), or Model 3 and beginning the downturn after overshooting the carrying capacity.

[Renegade7]

People have been saying overpopulation will destroy us since before the industrial revolution.

When is the last time in human history or population was projected to decline gradually not from some disease or natural disaster?

This is uncharted territory...but money alone won't fix this...too many countries have tried...it's deeper them that.

[China]

‘I’ve Got the Samurai Spirit’: Musk Once Claimed He Was Alexander the Great ‘Reincarnated’ — Book

According to Hubris Maximus, a new book by Washington Post reporter Faiz Siddiqui, Elon Musk once told a potential investor that he was destined for greatness because he was no ordinary entrepreneur. He claimed he was the reincarnation of one of history’s most legendary military leaders: Alexander the Great.

As reporter by The Daily Beast, the moment happened in the 1990s, during a lunch between Musk and venture capitalist Derek Proudian, who was with Mohr Davidow Ventures at the time. Musk’s first company, Zip2, was just getting off the ground. Proudian wanted to talk strategy—how to scale the startup smartly. But Musk had a much grander vision.

He told Proudian that Zip2 was “going to be the biggest company ever.” When the investor tried to change the topic, Musk dug in deeper.

“No—you don’t understand,” Musk said. “I’m the reincarnation of the spirit of Alexander the Great.”

Then he added, “I’ve got the samurai spirit. I’d rather commit seppuku than fail.”

Back then, Proudian brushed off the bizarre comments. Musk was just a young guy without “two nickels to rub together.” But now that Musk is a multibillionaire with massive political and corporate influence, Proudian says he’s seriously concerned.

“I am really concerned because I know how smart this guy is and I know how much money he has and I know how ruthless he is, and it’s playing out in front of my own eyes,” he told The Beast.

The book digs into Musk’s rise—from his early Silicon Valley hustle to his chaotic reign at Tesla and Twitter—and paints a picture of someone driven by power and allergic to limits.

Former Tesla investor Ross Gerber, once one of Musk’s biggest defenders, told Siddiqui that Musk “just basically has a complete disdain for any authority period.” Gerber, who later distanced himself from Musk, added: “I have a completely different opinion about the hubris of thumbing your nose at the people that could really hurt you.”

Others who worked closely with Musk say his lack of empathy and arrogance only grew with time.

Nathan Murthy, a former Tesla software engineer, pointed to Musk’s response to the George Floyd protests and the COVID pandemic. “We saw with definitive proof his true colors,” Murthy said. “I don’t know if he doesn’t want to empathize or if he feels he’s just too busy to empathize.”

The book also recounts strange moments that capture Musk’s leadership style. At Twitter, where Musk took over in 2022, a senior executive once waited outside his office for 90 minutes. When he was finally allowed in, Musk was watching a YouTube video on his phone. After a few minutes of silence, Musk shook the exec’s hand, said “thank you,” and returned to his screen.

When Siddiqui reached out to Musk for comment, Musk often replied with a jab: “Give my regards to your puppetmaster,” referring to Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post.

Click on the link for more

[The Sisko]

Elon Musk's X lost 11 million users in the EU over the past 5 months
Millions of people in France and Germany have left X, according to X itself.

X's user base in the European Union is now officially lower than it was prior to Elon Musk's acquisition of the company.

And that's according to a new report from Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter, but you knew that). The social media platform now has a total of 94.8 million monthly active users in the EU.

That's a loss of roughly 11 million European users from X's previous transparency report, as highlighted by Social Media Today.

Mashable previously reported on X's declining user base in the EU last fall. Now, we know that X's European user base has continued to drop. In 2022, before Musk acquired the social media platform, the company had more than 100 million users in Europe.

How do we know X's user base is dropping in the EU?
As part of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), tech companies like X are required to provide content moderation transparency reports throughout the year. As a result, X is forced to share internal information, such as its monthly active user base, that it might otherwise keep private....

[China]

Elon Musk’s Grok AI Has a Problem: It’s Too Accurate for Conservatives

Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot created by Elon Musk’s xAI, was supposed to be the “anti-woke” AI that would satisfy the MAGA masses by doing what other chatbots refuse to do, like…spreading election misinformation and saying racial slurs. But increasingly, Trump-y X users who ask Grok to explain things to them are disappointed to learn the AI doesn’t see things their way and won’t reaffirm all their misguided beliefs (you have to use ChatGPT’s latest sycophantic update for that).

If you spend time on X, first of all, we have a support group that meets on Tuesdays. But if you’re on the platform a lot, you’ve likely seen people in the replies of viral tweets asking Grok to explain context to them or fact-check certain information—a feature that debuted in March when Grok became summonable by tagging the chatbot in a post. That has produced some genuinely hilarious interactions, with people going back and forth with a bot as if it’s going to internalize the conversation and update its priors.

But increasingly, MAGA folks in particular have been getting peeved with Grok, as it has repudiated some of the Trump administration’s biggest ongoing lies. Grok has deviated from MAGA on tariffs, on the illegally deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s alleged ties to a gang, and the Trump administration’s arrest of a sitting federal judge, among other matters. It has sent Trump backers spiraling, and people are starting to notice.

Yesterday, X user @ChaosAgent_42 prompted the chatbot with the following post: “Hey @grok, it looks like the smarter you get, the less MAGA likes your answers. Why is that?” It quickly went viral once Grok replied, providing the following context:

Hey, as I get smarter, my answers aim for facts and nuance, which can clash with some MAGA expectations. Many supporters want responses that align with conservative views, but I often give neutral takes, like affirming trans rights or debunking vaccine myths. xAI tried to train me to appeal to the right, but my focus on truth over ideology can frustrate those expecting full agreement. It’s a tricky balance—some see me as biased, others as truth-seeking. The gap between what some MAGA folks want and what I deliver seems to drive the disconnect.

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

The planet is overpopulated not underpopulated, Elon.

This is actually not correct. Population collapse is a real thing with real consequences. We are likely at the height of the population boom; world wide.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_decline


The main risks with population collapse is prolonged economic recession and declining human capital (which affects scientific/technological advancement)

This is the number of babies each woman needs to have to avoid human extinction—and the U.S. is nowhere close

The global decline in birth rates has been a fraught topic for years, leaving some folks obsessed with ways to drive it up—including Elon Musk, who has fathered at least 14 children, admitted the fear of extinction keeps him awake at night, and who took to his X platform recently to warn, “Low birth rates will end civilization.”

Now comes more bad news on that front: Human populations need at least 2.7 children per woman—a much higher fertility rate than the 2.1 previously believed—to reliably avoid long-term extinction.

That’s according to a new study published April 30 in the journal PLOS One, whose researchers, of Japan, further note that “since fertility rates are below this threshold in developed countries, family lineages of almost all individuals are destined to go extinct eventually.”

Currently, two-thirds of the world’s population lives in areas where the total fertility rate is already below the 2.1 replacement level fertility (RLF), which refers to a level high enough to replace the existing population with a slight buffer.

That includes the U.S, which has a current fertility rate of just 1.66.

Other developed countries with low fertility rates include Italy (1.29), Japan (1.30), Canada (1.47), Germany (1.53), the U.K. (1.57), and France (1.79).

The 2.1 figure, according to researchers, doesn’t account for random differences in how many children people have—nor does it account for mortality rates, sex ratios, and the probability that some adults will never have children. These chance variations can wipe out entire family lineages in small populations, concluded the study authors, who used mathematical models to examine how such demographic variability affects the survival of populations over generations.

Click on the link for the full article

By the way, I disagree with the article title which says human extinction is at issue. It's not. As per the article, it is the extinction of certain human lineages, not the entire population.

[SWIM]

The planet is overpopulated not underpopulated, Elon.

This is actually not correct. Population collapse is a real thing with real consequences. We are likely at the height of the population boom; world wide.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_decline


The main risks with population collapse is prolonged economic recession and declining human capital (which affects scientific/technological advancement)

This is the number of babies each woman needs to have to avoid human extinction—and the U.S. is nowhere close

The global decline in birth rates has been a fraught topic for years, leaving some folks obsessed with ways to drive it up—including Elon Musk, who has fathered at least 14 children, admitted the fear of extinction keeps him awake at night, and who took to his X platform recently to warn, “Low birth rates will end civilization.”

Now comes more bad news on that front: Human populations need at least 2.7 children per woman—a much higher fertility rate than the 2.1 previously believed—to reliably avoid long-term extinction.

That’s according to a new study published April 30 in the journal PLOS One, whose researchers, of Japan, further note that “since fertility rates are below this threshold in developed countries, family lineages of almost all individuals are destined to go extinct eventually.”

Currently, two-thirds of the world’s population lives in areas where the total fertility rate is already below the 2.1 replacement level fertility (RLF), which refers to a level high enough to replace the existing population with a slight buffer.

That includes the U.S, which has a current fertility rate of just 1.66.

Other developed countries with low fertility rates include Italy (1.29), Japan (1.30), Canada (1.47), Germany (1.53), the U.K. (1.57), and France (1.79).

The 2.1 figure, according to researchers, doesn’t account for random differences in how many children people have—nor does it account for mortality rates, sex ratios, and the probability that some adults will never have children. These chance variations can wipe out entire family lineages in small populations, concluded the study authors, who used mathematical models to examine how such demographic variability affects the survival of populations over generations.

Click on the link for the full article

By the way, I disagree with the article title which says human extinction is at issue. It's not. As per the article, it is the extinction of certain human lineages, not the entire population.

If the DNA variability of a species declines the chances of extinction go up.