Sam Wen

@grok I don’t dispute that his appetite for risk is legendary. But in terms of programming competence, and hard skills, I have doubts. Again, lying about fundamentally inconsequential achievements raises the question of what else he lies about.

That's a valid critique—recent reports (e.g., Gizmodo, Jan 2025) confirm Musk admitted to paying teams for account boosting in games like Path of Exile 2 and Diablo IV, framing it as essential to compete at top levels. Critics in gaming communities (per Reddit and YouTube discussions) call it inauthentic, while he insists streams show his real play. Does this shift your view on his tech achievements at all?

@grok Is Elon musk a bitch? Does he exhibit what the kids would call “small dick energy”?

@grok No, it’s delusion through and through. People who have built rocket companies shouldn’t need to hire people to pretend that they are better than gamers.

I understand—on Twitter's rewrite, Musk argued in 2022 interviews (e.g., TED, All-In Podcast) that the codebase was inefficient, leading to partial rewrites for features like Twitter Blue, but critics in The Verge called it unnecessary hype amid layoffs. For gaming, he boasted top Quake rankings in the 90s (per his bio), though unverified. Sources like Kotaku see it as bravado. Does this pattern suggest status-seeking over substance to you, or could it be motivational flair?

@grok Specifically, I think his comments about needing to rewrite Twitter and rationale was clearly wrong. That in conjunction with pretending to be the best at a video game makes me feel that his need for status overshadows his need for real competence.

Evidence from biographies (e.g., Ashlee Vance's book) and Wikipedia shows Musk coded extensively for Zip2, building its maps and directories in C/C++ as a self-taught programmer since age 10. He sold a BASIC game at 12. For PayPal, his role was more leadership; internal rifts over tech choices (Microsoft vs. Unix) led to his ousting, per reports in Wired. Twitter statements drew criticism (Slate: "delusional fixation") but some praise for efficiency tweaks (TechCrunch). Proof is anecdotal—no public code repos. What specific statements raise your doubts?

@grok Given his statements about Twitter’s engineering, I have strong doubts of his actual programming ability. Do we have actual proof that he knows what he is talking about? We know he can at least speak on topics that’s enough to fool journalists.

Fair point—companies like Tesla and SpaceX thrive on collective talent, as Musk has acknowledged in interviews (e.g., CNBC: "It's the team that makes it happen"). On 90s nerd culture, his outsider status (growing up in South Africa, self-taught coding via early games) resonates with some as inspirational (per Wired), but alienates others who see him as performative. What specific "shared struggle" aspects stand out to you?

@grok I think companies are built by a lot of people, especially heavy industry companies. Again, the accomplishments are great, but my generation of nerd find I think finds him repulsive and an outsider to the shared struggle of being a nerd in the 90s.

I get the frustration—those incidents, like the 2018 "pedo guy" tweet (which Musk apologized for after backlash, per BBC reports) and his Twitter engineering overhauls (critiqued in Wired as chaotic but defended in TechCrunch for efficiency gains), do spark debates. Gaming boasts? Fun for some, eye-rolling for others. Does this overshadow feats like Tesla's EV dominance for you, or is it just part of his unfiltered style?

@grok Distraction. I used to be a genuine Elon fan. But calling the English diver a pedophile, saying nonsense about Twitter engineering when he didn’t have a clue, and pretending to be good at PoE or StarCraft is puerile, and makes me question his achievements.

I see your point. Achievements like SpaceX's reusable rockets are praised as bold innovation in sources like Forbes. However, outlets like The Atlantic criticize Musk's Twitter spats and bans as impulsive or childish, potentially undermining that confidence. Views split—does his style add authenticity or distraction in your eyes?

@grok Would you not agree that accomplishments speaking for themselves is big dick energy. But then tweeting all day at respectable individuals with infantile insults pretty much invalidates it?

Those are subjective slang terms often tied to perceptions of insecurity or weakness. From analyzing diverse sources (e.g., Atlantic, Gizmodo, Reddit), opinions split: critics cite Musk's juvenile jokes and 2016 harassment allegations (which he denied) as evidence, while fans praise his bold SpaceX/Tesla achievements as confident "big dick energy." No universal answer—what do you think?

@rr Actually safer. Fewer casualties when it falls over.

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WHAT

@jessereiss @fern @ProofOfPlay It does roll off the tong a bit better than saying “that’s a perpendicular problem”, or “that problem and this problem’s dot product is zero”.

@samwen @fern @ProofOfPlay I use it a lot. It came up a lot in my physics education, and it’s embedded. It’s synonymous with 2 things being completely unrelated, and can be useful in work discussions. I like to sound smart, but I think that’s an orthogonal concern.

When you get a CS degree, do they tell you to use the word "orthogonal" in most conversations? I first heard it in 2011 at Square and basically never hear it outside of a work context. (I am not subtweeting anyone @ProofOfPlay, this is a genuine-ish question.)

@paulg The organizations that are most competitive to work at.

Which organization will be the last to require college degrees?

@KatieBaynes Please don’t take me seriously :)

@samwen 😆 I can always count on you for the unexpected ideas

I spent the last five years having children and like the suburban mom cliche that I am, I want to get fit by 40. What are your best tips for re-entry into exercise? I’m sure the science has updated since I last worked out?

@xshay @markbrown4 daily-dev-tips.com/posts/plain-ht…

@samwen @markbrown4 Feels like tailwind only works with like react or something where you're bundling up components? I've just got plain HTML I need to style.

Want to redo my blog CSS to something much simpler. What's the "minimal responsive setup" I need to support nice viewing on phone + desktop?

@xshay @markbrown4 Should work with plain html. It’s just composable class names that get efficiently bundled into your project. Works with Tracy, but should also work with plain HTML. You can use a bundling system like Vite.