I'm not sure if the most prominent longtermist has ever tied the cause directly to his biggest financial gambit, but yesterday Elon Musk said the following: Twitter was destroying humanity, and it was his duty to stop that before the process of colonizing Mars was complete. Is this something we agree with? I can see the logic, but I think the thinking is somewhat faulty for someone who claims to share our values and commitment to rationality. If fostering right-wing (libertarian/racist) hate speech, conspiracy theories, anti-democratic movements, and incitations to violence against individuals in vulnerable classes is really necessary to preserve our long-term prospects as a species, I'm curious how it fits into the rubric of longtermist rationality and quant. Or should we disown this particular public intellectual and foreswear any of his money? Do we stand with or against the factions of society he's aligned with? Seeking honest answers from both sides. 

-28

0
0

Reactions

0
0
Comments2
Sorted by Click to highlight new comments since:

I don't think the article or your description/title accurately reflect Musks's tweet. I don't think Musk sees his actions as destroying twitter.

 

Elon Musk

@elonmusk

Social media in general, especially Twitter, were eroding civilization. If civilization collapses before Mars becomes self-sustaining, then nothing else matters. Human consciousness is gone.

OK, "doing whatever he's doing to Twitter" then. History will show whether that is destroying it or not. Maybe your outlook on that differs from the public consensus. 

Curated and popular this week
Relevant opportunities