I agree with this, but it seems so crazy to me. How can money be a motivator when you're that rich. I'm not even "rich" but I'm already at a point where money is far from my #1 motivator.

I LOVE puppies, but if I had a trillion of them the last thing I'd want is another puppy.

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throw4847285 an hour ago | parent | next [-]

An interview I recently read with Seth Rogen was very illuminating (from the NY Times):

"You know how every once in a while you read one sentence and it snaps your whole perspective into place? I remember reading that book “Going Clear,” about Scientology, and there was one sentence about how if famous people aren’t treated in a certain way, it makes them think they’re not as talented as they wish they were. Like, if I go to a restaurant and I have to wait 20 minutes for a table instead of them just seating me right away, am I not as talented as I thought I was? If someone has a nicer hotel room than me on the press tour, does that mean I’m not as good an actor as I thought I was? I think that’s how a lot of famous people interpret how they’re treated."

I think the same applies to Musk. The money is a proxy for how much everybody thinks he is a special genius. Anything in his life that makes him feel less special requires more validation that he is, and money is the easiest validation he is able to acquire.

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scottyah 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It can't and it's just not. People use the word "money" for different things. He's not doing it for another bill or a number on some screens- neither are most employees of those companies. That's just projecting values on someone else.

The things they're trying to accomplish require extreme amounts of capital.

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davidguetta 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Assuming best intentions, making a colony on mars is gonna require money

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Jtarii 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Not even Elon is delusional enough to truly believe a mars colony is a remote possibility.

	▲	amoss 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I don't think you can describe his beliefs using booleans like that: you have to use a numeric scale. It would be be correct to say: Elon would need a hell of a lot of ketamine to believe a colony on mars is a possibility.

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tavavex 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's not exactly like Cookie Clicker. Many people definitely like seeing the number going up, but for most people that get to that point of wealth, the goal is power that the money represents. A human being may struggle to relate to them, but they really are motivated by the sole desire to own and control everything.

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carlosjobim 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You cannot get that rich without money being the motivator.

	▲	digitaltrees 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yes you can. Money is a medium of exchange. Stock is a medium of exchange. But they buy the ability to effectuate your will in the world. If you have a vision of the world money, human capital, political power are not the measure of success or the goal. They are the instruments of executing a vision. Some people aren't motivated by money, they are motivated by reputation, or pathology.

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SmirkingRevenge an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Musk is probably a clinical narcissist (NPD). If that's the case, no amount of power, status, or riches (or ketamine) will ever be enough

Their motivations are often cartoonishly superficial and... well... stupid. Stupid in ways that are baffling to most people (even most other neurodivergent). The kind of stupid that drives somebody to secretly pay pro-gamers to play games for them so they can pretend to be a pro-level gamer, only to then expose their own fraud by playing the game themselves on a live stream, without knowing how to actually play it. And then pretending to have connection issues when people start noticing.

I have no trouble believing Musk has simply internalized the identity of being the world's richest man and now has a pathological need to maintain that status, no matter what