The Open Window

Any time two people build something together, there is a certain kind of person who cannot help but


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Comments

  1. While a short note, the links that I clicked through reminded me of the depth of content and how much I have learned and then forgotten along the way. Thank you for packing in so much that I read the note three times before I had organized my thoughts. The most impactful insight was within the Even When I Lie note from 2018:

    But here’s something that does matter: If 40% of us believe that the other 40% is irredeemably hateful and bigoted, and that 40% of us believe the other 40% hates us, our country and its values, we have no country. As well-intentioned and well-founded as our Greater Truths may be, if we press ahead with our willingness to pursue fundamentally dishonest strategies with one another in support of those Greater Truths, we have no country. Or, as Thucydides put it:

    There can never be any solid friendship between individuals, or union between communities that is worth the name, unless the parties be persuaded of each other’s honesty.

    Unfortunately, I think we’re beyond that. Could you really be persuaded? Could I? No. The question for those who still want to be a country together is this: What must I do to convince you of my honesty?

    Whatever happens in two weeks, both campaigns have left us with little that convinces us of their honesty.

  2. I don’t think the Open Window works for large groups of people. I think it works with smaller groups, because for it to work, you need to surrender the ego. You have to let go of being right and proving someone wrong. I think there is a lot of trust that is required, and it takes time to develop that trust, therefore works best in person.

    I think this forum is the closest thing to the Open Window online.

    For political parties, I wonder if the open door is in there best interest, but I need to think about that.

  3. Avatar for jrs jrs says:

    I’m all for us getting off this rock. Who do we think is the next most credible person/organization after Musk to support here?

  4. My favorite trick that Elon has pulled is convincing a large portion of people that he is this generation’s Tesla, while I think a more apt comparison would be that he is this generation’s Alexander Bell.

  5. Re: Musk, I think it raises an interesting question: At what point does a person’s negative actions outweigh his contributions?

    See also Chappelle’s “He saved more than he raped!” take on Bill Cosby (more here).

    For someone near the end of his career / life like Cosby, who has a limited window to do anything to tip the scales, the awfulness of his crimes probably makes the decision easy for most people. For Musk, it’s a little more complicated, since he has many years ahead to act and for his influence to compound, and obviously hasn’t done anything remotely as bad as Cosby (AFAIK). The “casual cruelty” comment about Musk from Ben a while back sticks with me, but I think it’s pretty clear Musk is a net benefit to the world.

    Do I diminish myself by supporting people who act in ways I find reprehensible, even if they do way more good than harm in the world? Does it matter when those actions took place? What about something a lot more relevant - like my own pack - can I get along with mostly good people who occasionally do things I find to be wrong? Should I? For me, these often aren’t easy questions to answer.

  6. As much as people hate it Musk is 1 of 1 in this situation. The only theoretically operational alternative is Boeing and those guys can’t build planes that hold together, and their space program left astronauts stranded on their first flight. They’re the Washington Generals of aerospace in 2024.

    Outside the US what are the options? The European continent is still generally flummoxed by the concept of air conditioning, openly hostile to innovation, and their wealthiest inhabitant is in the high tech industry of…selling purses. I would not be placing any bets on their capabilities at this point. China is limited by what they can steal, so breakthroughs seem unlikely.

    Musk is what we’ve got, which makes his foray into politics and culture wars all the more frustrating.

  7. Such live and tersely language in this one. As a fellow engineer, building real things is a messy process. I’ve always struggled to bridge the gap between enduring the individual hardship, and frankly insanity, which comes from failing, retrying, and failing again, and communicating with other collaborators about the process. It’s like, the messiness of the building is challenging enough, but then collaborating via language further exacerbates the messiness. It’s all so exhausting. But I can say confidently, the whole ordeal has made me a more forgiving soul. So yeah, when Elon says something downright annoying, my initial reaction is to scoff, but after a breath (or TWO), I try to understand. I’m still finding my footing, and thank you for opening this one to the pack @rguinn

  8. We prefer our sociopaths to be well dressed and spoken. Musk meets none of that criteria.

    Rusty wants a non conformist to escape Earth’s gravity well, since no social/financial/political conformist seems to be stepping up to the plate, but Rusty doesn’t like the blatant stupidity non conforming genius sometimes exhibits.

    Sorry Rusty, but you can’t have your cake and eat it to. Generational genius flirts with insanity, let alone stupidity. May the force be with Musk…at least until we are safely off planet.

  9. Avatar for rguinn rguinn says:

    Alas, this is my view, too.

    I think it’s impossible to weigh goods and bads. Certainly there are some kinds of human interactions (e.g. do I trust them in a business deal? do I leave my kids with them for a few hours?) where we have to try, but I think there are others where we can try to treat them as orthogonally as possible. I think Elon Musk is both a very good and very bad contributor to humanity and for a lot of things I’m not sure I have to figure out how to net and weight those things.

    LOL that’s fair. I’ll still be over here clamoring for slightly less stupidity, but take heart that I am not at all optimistic.

  10. Sorry Rusty, but we don’t live on a rock.

    “Escaping” this beautiful, watery, temperate, biologically rich system which has an atmosphere seems like a weird idea for anything other than scientific experiments.
    If humanity can’t make a go of it here, does it even deserve to elsewhere?
    Some consider it to be one of our greatest gifts, one which we have been tasked to be stewards of. Let’s not fail.

    Mars is a cold, dry, vacuum of a rock.

    Otherwise, appreciated the note (as always)!

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