Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Two ways to fail
Vaguely related to previous item on success vs failure, and closely related to experts who know less than we do.
In the usual discussion of Lord Elon vs Reality, one of the Elonites quotes Michael Jordan:
Ben (and $TSLAQ) do not understand the value of "failure". "I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life." -M. Jordan
Giant disclaimer: Sports is EMPHATICALLY NOT MY DEPARTMENT, but I might understand what Jordan is saying.
Here's the important difference between Jordan's failure and Elon's failure:
Jordan is using skills that he has practiced millions of times, which were built on the training of millions of previous athletes who practiced trillions of times. When he fails, it's NOT because he's trying to do something stupid that can't possibly work. He fails because other athletes, equally talented and practiced, happen to perform better during this game.
When Elon fails, it's because he is INTENTIONALLY IGNORING all previous skills and knowledge. He is turning untested theories into fantasies, most of which don't even reach the prototype stage.
The "cave submarine" is the perfect example. Anyone who has been in a real cave knows IMMEDIATELY that the metal tube won't work and can't work. Elon had never been in a real cave, so he went ahead and built a thing that was GUARANTEED to fail in a real cave. He tested it in a swimming pool, which proved that it was watertight and nothing else. When the real cavers told him it wouldn't work, HE HAD NO FUCKING IDEA WHAT THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT. He assumed they were just enemies and short-sellers.
Labels: $TSLAQ
¶ 11:01 AM
