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Monday, September 25, 2023

I Just Finished Walter Issacson's 615-page Authorized Biography of Elon Musk

       I am nothing if not persistent as many of you know. Last night I finished the epic 615-page authorized biography of Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson. There were some amazing revelations.

      On a personal level, Musk has two current wives. One is a citizen of Israel and runs his Neuralink company which I will discuss in more detail later. She has given him two children. His second wife is an entertainment personality (not a movie star) with the professional name of Grimes. He has three children with her. Additionally, he dates various female movie stars from time to time.

   The acquisition of Twitter (now known as "X") was discussed in detail. If you work at a Musk company, you will always find the same corporate culture. Only the best of the best are hired (The top 1%). Musk wants the top 1% in ability and motivation. His companies are what I would call "mean and lean." A work week of up to 100 hours is "business as usual." However, people who make the grade always praise what they learn and their very generous compensation. Many people have left Musk's employ quite wealthy. The words "That is Impossible" and "That cannot be done" are grounds for immediate termination.

    Musk gutted Twitter and is rebuilding it in the way of a Musk company. It is going to be mean, lean, super innovative, and super competitive. There is violent political controversy over his change to content on the platform. This change has resulted in a significant reduction in advertising revenue. Musk has to pay off the $44 billion US debt he took on to buy the company. There is some hope for moderation of content on his new platform X. At SpaceX Musk made a great move by hiring Gwynn Shotwell as CEO. He has now done the same at "X." Linda Yaccarino has been hired as CEO. Linda comes from a background in internet advertising. She was given the mandate to do what is necessary to get advertising revenue up. I see moderation in content to attract more advertisers.

   I talked about Neuralink earlier. The goal of the company is to implant a chip in the human brain to facilitate communications with computers. When Elena heard about this, her professional medical opinion was that the chip in the brain would be used to restore sight to the blind and restore mobility to paralyzed or crippled people. Sure enough, this is what the chip in the brain can do. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the implantation of chips in human test subjects.

   Musk is going to take on Google and Microsoft in the area of Artificial Intelligence. The Musk company will be called "X A.I." He has a human-robot company that has a prototype in development.

    Walter Isaacson lived with Musk day and night for two years. He ended up with a profound admiration for the man and his accomplishments. His final words are that he could have done this without being such a volatile and unpleasant person at moments

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