"Two-Face" Musk: Hero or Villain?

Highlights:

1. Given Musk's extraordinary achievements, many people regard him as a hero in their minds, and he gives people infinite hope;

2. Musk's unique management style has helped electric cars become cheaper, rockets reusable, and chips implanted in human brains;

3. But on issues related to illegal immigration in the United States, Musk's remarks have caused a lot of controversy, and he is even regarded as a villain.

Elon Musk, known as the "Iron Man of Silicon Valley", has become the idol of many people, and his every move has received attention, and his frequent statements on social media have also attracted countless onlookers, but controversy has also followed. Foreign media wrote that every day in daily life, Musk may show the characteristics of a "two-faced person", who may be both a radiant hero and a controversial villain.

This "two-faced" trait stems from his extraordinary achievements and bold rhetoric, which often confuses both supporters and critics. Nowhere is this more evident than when Musk tries to challenge seemingly unsolvable problems in his own unique way: on the one hand, he is committed to helping paralyzed people get back on life, and on the other hand, he is controversial about curbing illegal immigration in the United States.

Not long ago, Neuralink, Musk's brain-computer interface company, released details of the first test subject, a move that brought new hope to countless people with disabilities. They began to look forward to the not-too-distant future when they would be able to get up and walk again, see again, and even live a more dignified life.

In a carefully edited video, we see Noland Arbaugh, a 29-year-old quadriplegic man. This year, he underwent Neuralink's brain chip implant surgery and is now able to use his mind to control the cursor on the screen and even play chess games.

In another video, Abo expresses his deep gratitude to the employees of Neuralink. "I can't put into words how great you are and how much of a difference this will make to the world," he said. ”

When it comes to solving medical problems like paralysis or blindness, Musk shows his keen insight as a physicist. "It's clear that our brain is actually a complex computer, and it corresponds to electrical signals," he said at a conference in San Francisco. ”

Nolan Arbo implanted a brain-computer implant from Elon Musk's Neuralink

Abo's brain implant is undoubtedly a vivid example of Musk becoming a hero in the minds of many people. Essentially, he has brought new hope by tackling one of the most intractable problems in medicine and making some remarkable progress.

Over the years, this strong emotion has been the cornerstone of Musk's business development, and it acts as a powerful driving force for investors and customers to be passionate about his business. Whether it's Tesla's electric car or SpaceX's reusable space rocket, these businesses were once seen as too idealistic and may not even succeed. However, Tesla is now the leader in electric vehicles, and SpaceX has become the key to advancing the U.S. space program.

These successes have made Musk a force to be reckoned with in the AI talent recruitment war with his startup xAI. Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity AI, revealed in an interview with foreign media that when recruiting potential employees, he told these people: "You should believe that our valuation is roughly comparable to that of xAI. However, the candidate's response was: "No, Musk's company is different." ”

Musk's management style is unique, and he is not willing to pursue consensus, but insists on using what he calls a "first principles" approach to solving problems. He encouraged engineers to break down the problem to its bare bare and come up with solutions guided only by the laws of physics, rather than sticking to traditional mindsets. It was through this unique approach that he made electric cars affordable, rockets reusable, and brain computers able to unravel the mysteries of ideas.

However, when faced with social issues, emotions often replace the guidance of physical laws, and consensus becomes crucial.

In business, Musk has achieved great success with his extreme and avant-garde way of thinking, however, this successful model can spark polarizing controversy when dealing with socially sensitive topics such as immigration and race in the United States.

Musk's remarks about illegal immigration in the United States on platform X are attracting more and more attention

In this context, Musk has gradually evolved into a villain in the eyes of some. He often makes offensive remarks on his social media platform, X, indulges in spreading unsubstantiated conspiracy theories, and seems to incite hatred, intentionally or unintentionally, which sometimes seems out of touch with reality and even cruel. He no longer gives people hope, but rather despair.

However, Musk insists that he is only exercising his right to free speech, and he firmly believes that everyone has the right to speak their minds without fear of being repressed by society for expressing different opinions.

Chris Anderson, a longtime partner and head of the TED Talks, has publicly called on Musk to be mindful of what he says. Anderson believes that Musk has shifted to views that he once considered extreme and harmful, which is disappointing. In a tweet in February, he wrote: "You have revealed a truly exciting future for us, earning the admiration of countless people around the world. But I'm sure that millions of people are heartbroken and even betrayed by your recent actions. ”

On the e-commerce platform Etsy, a Tesla car bumper sticker is selling well, with the words: "This is what I bought before Musk went crazy." ”

Musk has been talking about his X platform for a long time. And now, as the owner of the social media platform, Musk, who has more than 178 million followers, has more weight in his opinion than it did 20 years ago. At the time, he was just a curious tech entrepreneur, talking more about building electric sports cars and sending rats to Mars.

With Musk's concerns about illegal immigration in the United States, his extreme views are once again in the spotlight. Since last November, he has tweeted nearly 30 times about American "immigrants," a third of which erupted in March.

Admittedly, concerns about immigration to the United States are not unique to Musk. However, he expressed this view in more inflammatory than constructive terms, as he once pointed out that unrestricted immigration could allow people with "homicidal and cannibalistic tendencies" to enter the United States.

Musk's remarks naturally aroused the vigilance of American immigration experts. Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Institute for Immigration Policy, said: "You can hardly find a more influential megaphone than Musk except in the White House!"

In more inflammatory speeches, Musk often adds that he, as an immigrant in the United States, is pro-legal immigrant. "As an immigrant proud to be a U.S. citizen, I continue to support the expansion and acceleration of legal immigration," he wrote on Twitter. ”

However, despite this, Musk is still affected by those dark corners of the internet that spread anti-Semitism and racism. Invoking the principle of free speech, he insisted that Platform X should allow such disturbing content to exist as long as it is legal, but it should not be amplified, even though he sometimes struggles to match his words with his own actions. (Compiler/Golden Deer)