It seems that the meaning of the word “idiot” has changed significantly over time.
A “classic idiot” used - at least in this part of the world - to be one who was not very bright. Obviously this would exclude the super rich person mentioned before - he has achieved way too much to be categorized as being a “classic idiot”.
The “new” meaning of “idiot” seems to be “person who does things I don’t like for ideological or political reasons” or something similar. The person in question can certainly be said to fit that description for many people - probably half of the american population.
But on the other hand, this is probably far beyond the topic of this discussion forum…
what I find interesting here is the question who actually gets credit for achievements. In my experience technical and engineering advances happen despite the upper management levels, not because of them
I gave Toyans remark an upvote, then retracted it.
When I think of a company doing wonderful things (SpaceX, AMD, Boskalis / Mammut, Airbus, Rolls Royce airplane motors (definitely not the cars)) then I think about the company, not at anybody in management. I don’t know names of management nor engineers in those companies.
And when I think about Boeing with the 737 Max debacle. After the managers of Mc Donalds Douglass bought Boeing with Boeings money, it turned from an engineering company into a management company, with the final result of 2 airplane crashes. The Engineers knew what was happening, and many tried to stop or reverse it, but they did not have the power to do so. I also partially blame the FAA. Boeing got far too much headroom to maneuver and they stamped approvals. But as far as I know that is also generally known and has been changed.
But also, anybody who is able to manage a company of such size and keep or make it profitable is doing an extraordinary job, and they do deserve more credit than being called “just another rich boy feeding his ego”.
On the dark side, there are also plenty of companies I dislike thoroughly. They use tactics from FUD to “Embrace, Enhance, Extinguish” and kicking at the shins of competitors. Microsoft is an example of that, and them deliberately breaking the FTP protocol back then cost me personally about 3 weeks of my life because I had to reverse-engineer FTP server software and adapt it to make it tolerant for their faulty implementation during my schools graduation project some 25+ years ago.
Another off-topic example is top sport. Training only goes so far, and it does need motivation and discipline, and then, in the end usually the person who wins was just born with slightly better genes. Do they deserve a medal for that?
To close, or not to close, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the forum to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous comments,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of offtopics,
And by opposing end them
Until it glances off of your cousins front side as he runs away to avoid it when it comes down and everyone realizes just how close to disaster it was. Then without dissent, we play a different game. (Yes, true story. I wasn’t the archer.)
An interesting discussion, in which I would have liked to participate. In addition to remembering my student days
In those days (I’m talking almost 25 years!), I remember how software companies entered the university offering ridiculous student licenses compared to commercial ones. With this practice, students like me left the university prepared to work in private companies mastering fantastic tools like Matlab, Protel (now Altium), PsPice…
Well, in those days there weren’t many alternatives… Or at least I didn’t know about them.
Luckily, these practices have ended with the arrival of FOSS!
And I’ve also heard that student licenses aren’t so cheap anymore.
By the way, Elon is not an idiot (even though he seems to be). AFAIK He suffers from Asperger’s syndrome (a variant of autism) which is consistent with his behavior.
let’s face it … teaching a student to work on a lathe is a good thing, but without CNC knowledge it is almost impossible for him to find a good job … and like 20 years ago and now … when I was studying, there was no internet yet, it was just beginning and now there is everything … I remember how we went to the library and subscribed to magazines looking for catalogs with details … now you need to poke into a ready-made datasheet … if you plan to find a good job, then you need to study what you need, this applies to everyone spheres…
4 years ago in Jakarta - Indonesia, I teach my student to use KiCad as a tool for PCB design at one of the biggest Manufacturing Polytechnic in Indonesia. We fabricate PCB using CNC machine and using chemical process.
The simplest reason KiCad is becoming so popular is simply because it is a good program, and because it is “free” (as in beer). Unfortunately that seems to be more important to a lot of people than the Open Source part and the philosophy behind it. KiCad also got a big boost when autodesk crashed the eagle. A lot of hobbyists started looking for an alternative, and KiCad had become good enough to be that alternative. (I did a personal review years earlier (probably 2014) and even back then I liked KiCad better then eagle (and about 5 other programs I reviewed).
left the university prepared to work in private companies mastering fantastic tools like Matlab, Protel (now Altium), PsPice…