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| Elon Musk sez the US has a 'very, very ancient leadership' |
| 2022-03-27 |
| [Bus Insider] Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a recent interview said that the United States has a "very, very ancient leadership" and questioned how leading figures can "stay in touch with the people" if they are several generations removed from most of the population. The comments from the electric vehicle and clean energy company leader came this week during a conversation with Mathias Döpfner, the CEO of Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, at Tesla's factory in Fremont, California. Musk spoke about everything from Russian President Vladimir Putin to revelations that he sometimes feels "lonely," but he had pointed criticism for leaders whom he feels are disconnected from their citizenry. When Musk was asked about humans having "a significantly increased lifespan," he offered a straightforward view about human life. "I don't think we should try to have people live for a really long time," he told Döpfner. "That it would cause asphyxiation of society because the truth is, most people don't change their mind. They just die." He continued: "So if they don't die, we will be stuck with old ideas and society wouldn't advance." Musk then said that a "gerontocracy" — where a government is essentially controlled by citizens significantly older than the bulk of the population — is not healthy. "I think we already have quite a serious issue with gerontocracy, where the leaders of so many countries are extremely old," he revealed. "In the US, it's a very, very ancient leadership. And it is just impossible to stay in touch with the people if you are many generations older than them." He added: "The founders of the USA put minimum ages for a local office. But they did not put maximum ages because they did not expect that people will be living so long. They should have. Because for a democracy to function, the leaders must be reasonably in touch with the bulk of the population. And if you're too young or too old, you can't say that you will be attached." Musk said that he'd like to see political leaders "be ideally within 10 or at least, 20 years of the average age of the population." He said that while he would like to sustain good health over an extended period of time, he doesn't fear death. "I am not afraid of dying. I think it would come as a relief," he said in the interview. Over the course of President Joe Biden's tenure, Musk — who seemed pumped about the administration's push to combat climate change early last year — began to criticize Biden, who is 79, over his failure to include Tesla in the national conversation about electric vehicles. In January, the billionaire on Twitter blasted Biden as "a damp sock puppet in human form." Last month, the president during a speech called Tesla the country's "largest electric-vehicle manufacturer" after facing repeated criticism for not acknowledging the company as a leader in the automotive industry. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #17 Term limits as in 'you can hold office in the House and Congress a maxumum of 12 years combined. Extend that to their staff as well. And for God's sake put term limits on Supreme Court Justices. Once you run for any federal office you are not currently holding; you automatically and immediately forfit any other federal office you are holding. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2022-03-27 18:35 |
| #16 Slappy I was in a Pinto that was rear ended by at 50 mph by a 67 4 door Chevy. The Chevy was totalled, my rear bumper was a mess. And I drove the Pinto for another year. My point was even "young geniuses" are not perfect. |
| Posted by: Woodrow 2022-03-27 17:01 |
| #15 Lithium? - how about natural gas that is pumped into your homes. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-03-27 15:11 |
| #14 Ford Pinto - Wikipedia |
| Posted by: Slappy 2022-03-27 12:04 |
| #13 "I am not afraid of dying. I think it would come as a relief," he said in the interview. He wants yo die? Let the putz drive these Teslas. In the meantime despite my own age I'll still learning from the experience and wisdom of my elders. TW comes to mind. Check out Karl Pillemer's work on the subject.Lessons for surviving crises, from the wisest among us. Lithium melts at 180C / 356F, and burns at 2000C / 3632F. A few weeks ago I asked a firefighter friend how they extinguish electric vehicle battery fires. He said “Oh you mean like a Tesla or something? The answer is you can’t. You cordon off the area, and spray a fine mist of water on the fire to try to keep the temperature down until it finishes burning. Takes a few days until it is safe”. The problem is, besides being highly flammable, lithium is literally the lightest metal. At atomic number 3, it is the first element in the periodic table which is a solid. The two previous elements, hydrogen and helium, are both gasses. Lithium is so light, it floats on water (lithium density 0.543, half the density of water). Lithium is entirely happy to blaze away while sitting on the surface of a puddle of water. So if you try to smother a lithium fire with sand, the sand sinks to the bottom, and the lithium floats on top. |
| Posted by: Woodrow 2022-03-27 09:51 |
| #12 ..recalls a statement by a federal AG here, Chicago has nothing on corruption on New Mexico, its just that the politicians were just cheaper. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-03-27 08:53 |
| #11 Have the states compensate their own legislators. |
| Posted by: badanov 2022-03-27 08:41 |
| #10 ^ That's an excellent idea. I also think eliminating full-boat lifetime benefits for those appointed to fill a partial term and then not re-elected would be helpful. I also think when a politician is tossed out (rare, I know) for criminal reasons, the district they serve should do without representation until the next regular election. they can use the time while they have no say in gummint to maybe ponder electing a better class of candidate next time. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-03-27 08:35 |
| #9 No correlation either way between age and effectiveness. Jefferson and Bobby Kennedy were in their 30s; so are Ocasio-Cortex and Swalwell. Franklin, Eisenhiwer, De Gaulle, Reagan were in their advanced old age when they achieved great things; so were Brezhnev and so is our fetid geriatric politburo. Musk has achieved a lot. Kudos. He's also an exploiter of corporate welfare, a chaotic and nasty boss, a manipulator of markets. I wouldn't trust him or his fellow Silicon Valley overgrown adolescents anywhere near the levers of power. |
| Posted by: Thor Henbane1957 2022-03-27 08:31 |
| #8 An amen to both #5 and #6. Denying the obvious has become the hallmark of politicians and the current roster of democrats for certain. Another method of effective crop rotation would be the taxpayer funding of first two terms only. Stay for more than two terms and the comp package is your responsibility. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2022-03-27 08:24 |
| #7 |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2022-03-27 08:20 |
| #6 As DeGaulle opined, "The graveyards are full of indispensable men." The problem here is too many of them use the trappings of power to put the graveyard off for too long. Term limits are all that's really needed, along with a "no lifetime bureaucrats (looking at you, Fauxi) and no family political dynasties" policy enshrined in a special clause of the Constitution that says "this clause is not subject to alteration or removal." Oh, and reduce the power they wield and the opportunities for graft. You will be surprised how quickly a certain type suddenly gravitates to other pursuits. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-03-27 07:59 |
| #5 ... Dear fellow commentors; Did you actually understood what you read? The age of average U.S. citizen is 38 point something so translated into plain English, Musk was saying that professional politicians should be "kicked out" of politics and away from the levers of power by the time they are ~60. Are you really disagreeing with this considering the current clown-show of 60+ geriatrics in DC? |
| Posted by: Nomad 2022-03-27 07:52 |
| #4 Typical haughty words of rich men destined to meet death in the worst way. |
| Posted by: Kain 2022-03-27 02:16 |
| #3 There are few 'game winning' NFL quarterbacks, 'Top Gun' fighter pilots, or MMA champions over the age of 50. Musk is simply stating the obvious. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2022-03-27 02:06 |
| #2 Musk said that he'd like to see political leaders be ideally within 10 or at least, 20 years of the average age of the population." Fifteen year-olds, huh? Another powerful ped0phile outs himself |
| Posted by: Jeamp White5113 2022-03-27 01:09 |
| #1 I guess because Elon's grifts are aimed at young people and the "we'll just invent new power sources, never mind the industrial throughput..." naivete. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2022-03-27 00:54 |