Elon Musk’s Shadow Rule, Told Pentagon He Spoke to Putin Directly

USA ONE@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 418 points –
Elon Musk’s Shadow Rule
newyorker.com

How the U.S. government came to rely on the tech billionaire—and is now struggling to rein him in.

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Von Braun came up with the concept for a reusable rocket in the 50s. Not being able to figure it out was not the issue.

Von Braun was a true genius!

And a horrible Nazi. Let's not forget that. The U.S. tried to make everyone forget that.

But yes, he was a genius.

oh I know! It's just that some humans throughout history had this insane amount of intelligence and creativity and they jumped our level of technology, and our understanding of the universe by decades, or arguably even more! It always blows my mind that there are people like that

You strike me as an academic that struggles to appreciate the value of applied physics and engineering.

Because Von Braun came up with the concept of the reusable rocket in the 50s?

Because Von Braun's contribution was small in comparison to what SpaceX R&D contributed.

But that seems lost on you, it was certainly not obvious to you.

Yes, because Von Braun's idea wasn't funded. It would have worked had it been funded. That's the whole point.

Too bad he didn't have a rich asshole without a clue about engineering to accidentally stumble upon him and his work then.