I listened to a podcast about him and how frustrated any journalist that covers him get to be. There's this thing they jokingly call the "Elon effect" that experts in various fields commonly experience. It's when Elon starts talking about your field and making wild claims about something you actually know about and you start to realize what a fraud he is. And only then do you go online and you find out experts in all these other various fields have had the same experience but this clown world keeps turning and talking about him like he's some kind of visionary when he usually has no idea what he's talking about
what i keep hearing it called is "debate bro" culture.
a few of the characteristics that really concern me are:
1) they either don't realize or they refuse to admit what they don't know.
2) they try to convince everyone that what matters is how you say something. they believe the aesthetics of how you say something should matter more than the content.
3) depth and nuance is bad, someone may be trying to confuse you.
4) context removal. they want to pretend that wider context doesn't matter.
5) every random persons thoughts on an issue should hold the same weight as even an expert in every topic.
i definitely see elon engage in this constantly, but its absolutely not limited to him. its wild how wide this has spread.
He ruined something beautiful in Twitter and knowing HN, there will be people who defend him.