Monthly Archives: June 2021

Neo-Libertarianism | Polcompball Wiki | Fandom

Posted: June 13, 2021 at 12:32 pm

Neo-Libertarianism AliasesNeolibertarianismNeobertBootlickertarianLibertarian Neoconservatism Shapiroism

LiberventionistsNeoconservatarianism

The first neolibertarians to use the term did so in response to the Iraq War. Distancing themselves from the generally anti-war response of the mainstream libertarian movement, neolibertarians proudly set out their reasons for supporting the War on Terror and an effort to secure the freedom of the Iraqi people.

While most libertarians tend to adopt isolationist positions in issues and matters of war, neolibertarians range anywhere from ambivalent to strongly for intervention. The largest debate is actually the American Civil War, where mainstream libertarians take the side of the Confederates against the Union, generally holding that the right of secession in principle trumps other concerns. The neolibertarian position favors the Union, primarily for the reason that freeing the slaves represents a moral justification to bring down the Confederacy. The Iraq War and to a lesser extent the U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan represent ongoing disputes between these factions.

Another key difference is regards to domestic policy, where neolibertarians are strong advocates of incrementalism, i.e. making many small changes over time. By contrast, mainstream libertarians tend to advocate for drastic, almost-immediate policy changes.

Despite getting along better with Neoconservatism, they have arguments with them as well. Where neoconservatives strongly support the building of democratic governments in the wake of militarily defeated dictatorships, neolibertarians are more concerned with letting Capitalism operate after any military victory. If capitalism is allowed to operate, they argue, the former subjects of militarily defeated governments will naturally arrange governments (whatever the form) which are, if only out of political expediency, more friendly to their subjects' newfound economic freedoms and therefore much less likely to jeopardize the benefits which neolibertarians believe capitalism offers.

Flag of Neo-Libertarianism

Neolibertarianism is usually represented with a gold and black version of the NATO flag.

And you're done.

Flag of Neo-Libertarianism

Neolibertarians are often made fun of by other libertarians because of their support of foreign wars and their willingness to pay tax to the state. Subsequently, they are sometimes called "Bootlickers".

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What Is a Libertarian? A Brief Summary of Their Beliefs

Posted: at 12:32 pm

The fact is, America is a country fundamentally shaped by libertarian values and attitudes. Our libertarian values helped to create the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and those documents in turn shape our thinking about freedom and the limited powers of government. David Boaz, Who Killed Gun Control?

What is a libertarian? According to Wikipedia, libertarians wish to maximize autonomy and political freedom, emphasizing free association, freedom of choice, individualism and voluntary association. In essence, the libertarian is anyone who upholds liberty as their core guiding principle and wants to preserve their own rights as well as the rights of others.

Libertarians also want to limit state power, albeit to varying degrees. Anarcho-capitalists want only a night-watchman state, the purpose of which is limited to protecting people from aggression, enforcing private property, and a few other aspects of private life which the free market typically doesnt concern itself with. (This is not to be confused with anarchism, an ideology that usually rejects private property.) Consequentialist libertarians who believe free trade must benefit society as a whole may tolerate greater government power if it does genuine good rather than merely hinder individual autonomy.

People hearing about libertarianism for the first time might assume its some fringe ideology. You could argue that it is, but you would have to acknowledge a large reason why: Libertarians seek to take power away from the government and not give it to anyone else. Any powerful person or organization which owes their lofty position to the status quo has every incentive to marginalize libertarianism.

Summarizing a complete political and economic philosophy in a few paragraphs is a hefty task. It took Murray Rothbard (aka Mr. Libertarian) over 300 pages to do about as much when he penned For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto.

But lets set the books aside for a moment and briefly explain what libertarians believe, with the understanding that libertarians disagree on many things as well.

Libertarians believe everyone should enjoy total autonomy. Do as you please with your life. Spend it with whomever, doing whatever, wherever. Just dont forcibly interfere with anyone elses liberty and were all square.

Libertarians believe in entrepreneurialism and the free market. Innovation is wrought from passion and hard work, not duty. A government that taxes the industry is only stealing products to give to those who havent earned it. With less government control comes greater access to the free market, and more opportunity to create wealth for all.

Libertarians do not recognize official authority in most cases. The man in Washington, the man in Moscow, the man in the Vatican none of them can nullify your right to live free and independently. The libertarian rejects authoritys need to violate their rights for the greater good. To the libertarian, there is no greater good beyond the preservation of those very rights.

Why is the Libertarian Partys symbolic animal a porcupine? Because it bothers nobody and expects the same favor in return. But if you do decide to bother it, you may reasonably expect a snoot full of barbs.

No true libertarian country exists. One might argue the political ideology has a built-in kill switch, as the very people who value individualism and economic freedom seldom want to helm an organization which controls people and taxes them.

While conservatism and liberalism are espoused by Americas two dominant political parties, either of which proffers a very noisy presidential candidate every four years, libertarianism remains something of a question mark in most peoples minds.

What are the libertarian positions on the big issues? They are seldom publicly advised or officially implemented, so you have to examine them for yourself if you want greater insight into libertarian beliefs.

Democrats and Republicans both believe that a war is an awful, awful thing whenever the rival party has started one. In contrast, the libertarian is unequivocally opposed to war. At its very core libertarianism is a rejection of militarism, which by definition entails the implementation of violence to force others to do as the state wishes.

War breeds nationalism, an ideology diametrically at odds with individualism. It incentivizes corruption, as Smedley Butler elaborates in War Is a Racket, and ultimately poses a net loss to society as Ludwig von Mises explains in Nation, State, and Economy. The state at war demands its citizens to forfeit their rights and their own lives for the good of the collective. Although war invariably increases state power, its cessation almost never decreases it. And while this may go without saying, the natural rights of individuals do include not getting killed.

Libertarianism condemns war as a facet of foreign policy, yet it does not prescribe absolutist pacifism. You have every right to strike a man who is attacking you. The non-aggression principle forbids the initiation of force, not forceful defense. Likewise, many libertarians accept that war is a necessary evil in some cases. Few libertarians argue that the United States ought to have remained a British colony, and fewer still would prefer to ignore Kim Jong-un if he decided to glass San Francisco. Yet the staunchest libertarians may also advocate unwavering pacifism to the extent where war could never be an option. Whether their ideology is practicable in so hostile a world is a matter of speculation.

Most libertarians advocate for limited government not zero government as they agree some degree of official intervention is required to protect citizens from aggression, theft, and other transgressions against their private property and civil liberties.

Unfortunately, the current state of the American criminal justice system could hardly be described as limited. The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws, as Tacitus wrote, and indeed America currently has so many laws in place that most citizens would become felons if they were only formally arrested and convicted. As Hunter S. Thompson (who is not to be confused with Tacitus) once put it, In a closed society where everybodys guilty, the only crime is getting caught.

Libertarians would advocate several measures to fix the broken criminal justice system. Qualified immunity, which effectively permits government officials to violate individuals liberty, would have to go. (The Cato Institute better explains why.) So too would police unions, which make it nigh impossible to terminate terrible police officers. Libertarians also call for an immediate end to the war on drugs, as conservative libertarian Milton Friedman supported when he endorsed legalizing marijuana. (Hence why the Libertarian Party is occasionally referred to as the Dude Weed Party.)

A libertarian understands that their civil rights are not special permissions granted (or revokable) by their government. Rather, civil rights are intrinsic to humanity itself. To be born is to have the right to free speech, press, religion and so on. Certain civil rights only apply to those in special circumstances, such as the prisoners right to a speedy trial as protected by the Sixth Amendment (which is arguably violated when a criminal trial can last longer than five years).

A libertarian is soundly in favor of preserving existing civil rights as well as creating additional ones. For example, the Libertarian Party views government officials reading your emails as a very bad thing. A libertarian would also support the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, which would guarantee equal legal rights for all Americans regardless of their sex.

Equal rights are not to be mistaken for equal results, however. Friedrich Hayek explains how so in The Constitution of Liberty: From the fact that people are very different it follows that, if we treat them equally, the result must be inequality in their actual position, and that the only way to place them in an equal position would be to treat them differently. Equality before the law and material equality are therefore not only different but are in conflict with each other; and we can achieve either one or the other, but not both at the same time. The equality before the law which freedom requires leads to material inequality.

Gun ownership is the civil liberty which modern liberalism likes to conveniently forget. The Republican Party is friendlier to gun rights, but not nearly enough. Many GOP supporters were unhappy when President Trump instructed the ATF to treat bump stocks as machine guns, or when he said he would think about banning suppressors.

Ron Paul summed up the libertarian view on guns like so: Nobody should tell you you cant own a gun because it might be misused. And George Orwell, a socialist of all things, explained why: That rifle on the wall of the labourers cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there.

One of the libertarian ideas people often struggle with is this: Any political party or form of government has the potential to turn tyrannical. More than 250 million people were killed by their governments during the 20th century alone. Guns preserve political freedom by equipping people to fight back against the only organization which is legally allowed to kill them. In a country where gun confiscation has quite literally concluded with democide, it is crucial to remember that guns arent simply fun toys for rednecks.

Just like it places a premium on property rights, libertarianism maintains that you have total autonomy over your own body. You have the right to accept or refuse any medical treatment you wish to, just as you have the right to take any recreational drug that you please. (But if you get drunk and do something foolish, the consequences are all yours to enjoy.)

Libertarianism rejects the welfare state, including the governments nationalization of healthcare. As Walter E. Williams put it, There is no moral argument that justifies using the coercive powers of government to force one person to bear the expense of taking care of another. Thomas Sowell completed the libertarian argument against nationalized healthcare: It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication and a government bureaucracy to administer it.

Free-market healthcare is subject to competitive forces that continually improve medicine; government-controlled healthcare must only satisfy whichever criteria impassionate bureaucrats create for it. As is always the case, incentivizing innovation is the surest way toward progress not yoking it to government officials who are more concerned with polls than they are public health.

John Locke summed up the duty we have to children in Some Thoughts Concerning Education: Children are strangers to all we are acquainted with; and all the things they meet with, are at first unknown to them, as they once were to us: and happy are they who meet with civil people, that will comply with their ignorance, and help them to get out of it. (Not all of the libertarian movements preeminent thinkers get it quite so right. Murray Rothbards assertion that parents have no legal obligation to feed their kids can be considered frosty at best.)

The experience offered by public education suffers greatly for its dependence on tax revenue. When teachers must place the demands of government officials before the diverse needs of their students, and when the public education system indoctrinates children with whatever ideologies the dominant political party prescribes, we fail our children. Many libertarians wish to shield vulnerable children from politicians and their special interests by divorcing education from the government entirely.

You have likely noticed that we peppered this article with mentions of several people. These are the thinkers whose work you should explore if you want a firmer grasp of libertarianism. (You had better add Ayn Rand to the list while youre at it.) Keep learning, and one day soon you too may be able to bore your friends to tears with long-winded explanations as to why taxation is theft and the government should bugger off.

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Thinking critically about critical race theory – The Nevada Independent

Posted: at 12:32 pm

Im not going to pretend I know what critical race theory is. Refusing to do so, however, apparently puts me ahead of a lot of Nevadans.

Dont get me wrong, I have some ideas of what it might be. Im not alone in that the Washoe County school board recently sat through an 11 hour lecture on critical race theory delivered via a near-endless parade of public comment. According to some of the comments, when a vehicle with California plates parks in the school district parking lot, thats critical race theory. When God isnt mentioned in public schools, thats also critical race theory even though white people are consistently less religious than most minority groups. Birth rates plummeting below replacement levels? Thats critical race theory. Loveless sex, suicidal despair, drug abuse, pornography, sexual chaos, and the districts sexual education program behind it all? All critical race theory.

What about females getting elected to school boards? What about treason, Marxism, 19 million (wholly imaginary) dead Black babies, and (wholly imaginary) instructions on how to safely lick an anus in our school curriculum? Yes, Nevada its all critical race theory, at least according to one especially colorful public commenter improvising during open mic night at the Washoe County school district administration building.

If it seems to you like complaining about critical race theory is just a way for certain people to gripe about social changes they disapprove of, youre not alone. In certain corners of conservative punditry, in fact, this behavior is explicitly encouraged. The goal, as the Manhattan Institutes Christopher Rufo describes it, is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think critical race theory.

In other words, the current moral panic surrounding critical race theory is an explicit attempt by conservatives to motivate their political base using the worst argument in the world. Just as certain lazy libertarians like to yell Taxation is theft! with the goal of getting people to transfer their instinctive dislike of theft to taxation, conservatives are hoping people will transfer their instinctive dislike of whatever critical race theory summons in their minds upon incantation to whatever sociopolitical changes they wish to fight.

This sort of rhetorical maneuvering was easier during the Cold War when communism was an obvious villain and partisan hacks could claim everything they opposed was cultural Marxism. The Soviet Union, however, collapsed three decades ago. The best Marxism can do nowadays is mildly annoy everyone with depressing prop comedy and obnoxious teens on Twitter. The idea that a borderline-suicidal stand-up comic and COMRADE_HOXHADIST1945s twelve followers on some social media platform are going to somehow undermine anything more consequential than a household chore schedule sounds downright delusional at this point.

As complaining about cultural Marxism does little to motivate anyone who isnt actively collecting Social Security these days, conservative activists have been searching desperately for an alternative. This isnt the first time they have looked for one within the musty halls of the academic wing of the social justice movement. Brietbart.com, for example, has an entire section devoted to intersectionality. Why anyone should be worried about intersectionality, however, always requires an explanation. Critical race theory merely requires an imagination.

So what is critical race theory?

Again, Im not going to pretend I know, but I can tell you the Washington Post has a handy explainer of the concept, as well as conservative reactions to it. Thats admittedly not a primary source, however nor, for that matter, is Citizens for Renewing Americas explanation, which explicitly draws the connection in the conservative universe between cultural Marxism and critical race theory.

Subtle.

On the other hand, I can tell you were not going to find out what critical race theory is by attaching body cameras to teachers so we can all collectively surveil one others children in their classrooms. Frankly, advocating for widespread, ubiquitous surveillance of our children sounds like something straight out of George Orwells 1984 in other words, it sounds like cultural Marxism, except that its being advocated for by people who claim to be conservative. Granted, this wouldnt be the first time communist and far-right interests allied with each other, but it still seems a little counterproductive.

What I can tell you is that the term critical race theory is searched for far more often than intersectionality these days, especially (though not exclusively) in Republican-leaning states. Thats why, if I had to guess, critical race theory appears to be the latest pavlovian bell conservatives are ringing to raise funds and crowds by grabbing the attention of people whose minds race whenever they hear someone talk about race. If our school board meetings are any indication, that bell is ringing loud and clear.

Somebody should make a theory about how and why that works.

David Colborne was active in the Libertarian Party for two decades. During that time, he blogged intermittently on his personal blog, ran for office twice as a Libertarian candidate, and served on the Executive Committee for his state and county Libertarian Party chapters. He is now the father of two sons, an IT manager, and a registered non-partisan voter. You can follow him on Twitter @DavidColborne or email him at [emailprotected].

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Elon Musk reveals the Tesla Model S Plaid TechCrunch

Posted: at 12:31 pm

Tesla finally held the long-awaited, and once rescheduled, delivery event for its ultra-fast Model S Plaid at its factory in Fremont, California. The electric vehicle company will begin with 25 deliveries on Friday evening, expanding to several hundred cars per week and a thousand cars per week in the next quarter, CEO Elon Musk said at the event.

There were no huge surprises with the newest iteration of the Model S, which features a new battery pack design, an improved heat pump, carbon over-wrapped rotors on the motors and a new record for drag coefficient of 0.208, a figure that Musk emphasized as perhaps a poke at up-and-comer Lucid Motors. The Lucid Air, which is slated to go into production later this year, has a drag coefficient of 0.21.

While wielding a sledgehammer as prep for breaking a few records, Tesla Model S designer Franz von Holzhausen kicked off the event, introducing Musk himself, who drove a shiny black Model S around the test track, gliding right onto stage to the dulcet sounds of dubstep.

This is nine years since we delivered the first model S, the first car produced here in Fremont, so almost a decade, and I think weve really taken it to a whole new level with Plaid, said Musk to an audience of adoring fans. Some of you may know that our product plan is stolen from Spaceballs, weve gone Plaid speed. Sowhy make this really fast car, thats crazy fast and everything, and I think there is something thats quite important to the future of sustainable energy, which is that weve got to show that an electric car is the best car, hands down. Its gotta be clear, like, man, sustainable energy cars can be the fastest cars, can be the safest cars, can be the most kick-ass cars in every way.

The four-door electric sedan goes from 0 to 60 in 1.99 seconds, which Musk says breaks the two-second barrier that no production car has ever been able to break. It produces 1,020 horsepower, has a top speed of 200 miles per hour (with the proper tires) and can complete a quarter mile in 9.23 seconds, according to Musk and the companys website. The battery can travel 390 miles on a single charge, but Musk added the car can go to 412 miles with the dual motor configuration (The Model S Plaid has a tri-motor set up). The improved charging speed gives drivers 187 miles of range in just 15 minutes.

The new Model S also has a new battery pack, but Musk didnt elaborate past that detail. He spent considerable time describing the carbon-sleeved rotors for the motor, which Musk claims is a first for a production electric motor due to the difficulty of pulling it off. The end result is a motor that goes up to 20,000 RPM.

The new heat pump that powers the Plaids HVAC system has 30% better cold weather range and requires 50% less energy for cabin heating and freezing conditions, meaning little degradation in cold weather, said Musk.

Image Credits: Screenshot/Tesla

The interior of the Model S also has a number of updates, some that have already been revealed, including a yoke steering wheel which has raised eyebrows and has the attention of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration a panoramic main screen and ventilated front seats. The GPU is apparently at the level of a PlayStation 5. (TechCrunch noticed that someone was playing CD Projekt Reds Cyberpunk 2077 in the vehicle at one point during the event.)

The software of the car is designed to learn from the drivers behavior, adapting to the drivers needs so that if, say, you tend to back out of your driveway in a certain way, the car geocodes to that location and eventually does that action for you via the autopilot system.

Itll just keep minimizing the amount of input that you need to do until the car just reads your mind, said Musk.

The first deliveries of the vehicle, which starts at $129,990, come the same weekMusk officially announced plans to cancel production of the Model S Plaid+, what was meant to be a faster version of the Plaid version of the Model S. Tesla stopped taking pre-orders for the vehicle on its website back in May, prompting speculation that the Plaid+ was off the table.

Model S goes to Plaid speed this week, Musk tweeted on Sunday. Plaid+ is canceled. No need, as Plaid speed is just so good.

Musk described driving it as akin to powering a spaceship in a tweet due to the cars indescribable limbic resonance, whatever that means.

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Elon Musk Paid $455 Million in Income Taxes Between 2014 …

Posted: at 12:31 pm

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is one of several megarich citizens who pay a small sum in income tax compared to the amount their wealth balloons each year, according to a report from the nonprofit news site ProPublica published Tuesday.

Over the period from 2014 to 2018 as Musk's wealth grew by $13.9 billion he reported just $1.52 billion worth of taxable income to the Internal Revenue Service, ProPublica reported. If his $455 million in taxes paidare compared to his wealth gains, they equate to what ProPublica calls a "true tax rate" of 3.27%.

That "true tax rate" is less than a tenth of the 37% Musk would need to pay if his wealth was considered income. However, Musk's gains in net worth come mainly from his massive stakes in SpaceX and Tesla, now the world's most valuable carmaker. Musk receives a vast amount of stock awards from Tesla as compensation, but under the current federal tax code, he doesn't need to pay any tax until those assets are sold, or capital gains are otherwise realized.

In 2018, Musk paid no federal income tax, the report said.

The notion that high-net-worth individuals use the tax code to their advantage to pay minimal income tax is nothing new. But ProPublica's reporting, which draws on more than 15 years of Internal Revenue Service data on thousands of the country's wealthiest people, sheds light on exactly how much Musk and others fork over in taxes each year and how much income they actually report.

ProPublica did not publish its source data or disclose how the information was obtained. Musk did not respond to questions from ProPublica, replying with only a "?," the site reported.

Read more: A judge ordered Tesla to turn over documents related to Elon Musk's $55 billion compensation plan. Here's how the elaborate pay agreement works.

The trove of information shows the investments, stock trades, income, and other key data points about the wealth of billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Rupert Murdoch.

ProPublica compared the amount that these billionaires paid in federal income tax to the amount that their net worth grew over a certain period to develop what it dubbed their "true tax rate." In reality, taxes are paid based on earned income, which doesn't include stock awards or the appreciation of investments.

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IRS investigating leak of tax returns from Elon Musk …

Posted: at 12:31 pm

Hours after an investigative news outlet said it obtained years of tax returns showing that billionaires including Amazon AMZN, -0.08% founder Jeff Bezos and Tesla TSLA, -0.04% co-founder Elon Musk did not owe income taxes, the Internal Revenue Services head said theres a probe underway to see how the tax returns got out in the first place.

I can confirm that there is an investigation with respect to the allegations that the source of the information in that article came from the Internal Revenue Service. Upon reviewing the article, the appropriate contacts were made, as you would expect, Charles Rettig, the tax agencys commissioner, told senators on Tuesday.

Rettig was testifying before the Senates Finance Committee about the IRSs budget proposal.

The Treasury Department was even more specific. The department is referring the matter to various law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the District of Columbias U.S. Attorneys Office, according to Treasury Department spokeswoman Lily Adams. The Treasury Departments own Office of the Inspector General and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration are also looking into the matter, Adams said.

The unauthorized disclosure of confidential government information is illegal, she said.

Earlier in the day, the investigative news site ProPublica published a story digging into the income tax returns of some of the countrys richest people, also including Michael Bloomberg, the founder and CEO of Bloomberg, and Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B, +0.67%.

The ProPublica story said the outlet is not disclosing how it obtained the data, which was given to us in raw form, with no conditions or conclusions.

We are aware of Commissioner Rettigs statement this morning. As we said, we do not know the identity of our source, Richard Tofel, ProPublicas president, said in a statement.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, asked Rettig if he would seeking prosecution if investigators found the source.

Absolutely, Rettig said. I share the concern of every American for the sensitive and private nature and confidential nature of the information the IRS receives.

Its illegal under federal law for people, including federal and state government workers, to willfully provide an unauthorized disclosure of information, including tax returns.

In the ProPublica story itself, a statement from Bloombergs spokesman said the former New York City mayor paid the maximum tax rate under all federal, state and local tax codes.

The release of a private citizens tax returns should raise real privacy concerns regardless of political affiliation or views on tax policy, the statement said. In the United States no private citizen should fear the illegal release of their taxes. We intend to use all legal means at our disposal to determine which individual or government entity leaked these and ensure that they are held responsible.

The ProPublica article examined the wealth, based on Forbes data, of Americas 25 richest people, and found that their collective worth increased by $401 billion between 2014 and 2018. They paid a total of $13.6 billion in federal income taxes in those five years, the IRS data shows, ProPublica reported.Thats a staggering sum, but it amounts to a true tax rate of only 3.4%.

Bezos did not comment in the ProPublica story; Musk replied to the outlets questions with a ?, Buffett provided a statement saying he continues to believe that the tax code should be changed substantially, and noting that following his death, about 99.5% of what I have will go to some combination of taxes and disbursements to various philanthropies.

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Elon Musk unveils brain chip implant: ‘It’s like a Fitbit …

Posted: at 12:31 pm

The coin-sized device could help a paralyzed person operate technology.

August 29, 2020, 10:04 PM

6 min read

Tech mogul Elon Musk unveiled his latest foray into science fiction Friday night: a brain chip implant to allow people who are paralyzed to operate technology, such as smartphones or robotic limbs, with their thoughts.

"I think it's going to blow your minds," Musk said. "It's like a Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires."

But the coin-sized chips, developed by Musk's secretive startup Neuralink, are a ways off from being useful to humans. Friday's livestreamed YouTube demonstration was on a pig named Gertrude, who Musk said had a brain chip implanted two months earlier.

Elon Musk conducts a Neuralink livestream showing a surgical robot on Aug. 28, 2020. Futurist entrepreneur Elon Musk late demonstrated progress made by his Neuralink startup in meshing brains with computers.

As the pig shuffled around its pen sniffing hay, a computer beeped and blue wavelengths on the screen jumped up and down. Musk said the computer was measuring Gertrude's brain activity. "The beeps you are hearing are real-time signals," he said. "The future's going to be weird."

PHOTO: A illustration shows Neuralink disk implant at different stages of implantation during a livestream presentation on Aug. 28, 2020.

But the "move fast and break things" ethos that defines Silicon Valley has not always been kind to inventors who try their luck in bio technology. Medical innovation is notoriously slow. Conducting clinical trials to prove the safety and efficacy of medical devices can take years.

The Neuralink disk implant illustrations are shown during the livestream presentation on Aug. 28, 2020. Futurist entrepreneur Elon Musk demonstrated progress made by his Neuralink startup in meshing brains with computers, saying the work is vital to the future of humanity, Aug. 28, 2020.

Perhaps the most notorious example of the tension between innovation and safety is blood diagnostics startup Theranos and its founder, Elizabeth Holmes. In a rush to get her product to market, Holmes took shortcuts and made exaggerated and false claims about her company's technology, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which charged Holmes with raising money from investors in an "elaborate, years-long fraud." Holmes now faces up to 20 years in prison.

Musk nodded to the regulatory hurdles that Neuralink must clear on Friday. "We're making good progress toward clinical studies," he said. "I'm excited to announce that we received a breakthrough device designation from the FDA in July."

"I want to be clear," he continued. "We're working closely with the FDA. We'll be extremely rigorous. We'll significantly exceed the FDA guidelines for safety. We will make this as safe as possible."

Musk's track record on safety and science has been mixed.

The recent successes of SpaceX came after federal regulators examined fatal crashes linked to autopilot systems in Teslas.

In March, Musk dismissed the seriousness of COVID-19, claiming on Twitter that there would probably be close to zero new infections in the U.S. by the end of April. In May, Musk defied local stay-at-home orders and opened his California car factory in the midst of a pandemic.

As of late August, infections in the U.S. had topped 5.9 million and deaths had exceeded 182,000.

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Grimes Fiercely Defends Elon Musk From Critics – E! Online

Posted: at 12:31 pm

Grimes has her man's back.

That man, as fans well know, isElon Musk. The couple has been dating since 2018 and welcomed their first child together in May 2020. In a unique sequence of events, the Canadian singer-songwriter was busy sharing a video of herself sword dancing to The Weeknd's "Save Your Tears" in a April 25 TikTok post when she faced critical questions about the Tesla and SpaceX CEO in the comment section.

"GRIMESSS. HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS AND ACTIVLEY [sic] SLEEP1NG WITH THE MAN WHO LOTERALLY [sic] DESTROY THE PLANET AND HUMANITY," one critic asked in a comment.

"How is he doing these things?" Grimes responded. "His whole career is about making travel/house power etc sustainable and green. It's worth a deep dive."

Another viewer added, "Bestie can you confirm he's not a men's rights activist? Some people online have been saying that & I'm concerned." Grimes answered back, "He's not. Def he's been very immature at points on Twitter but for ex the president of spaceX is a woman, as is his right hand at Neuralink etc."

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If Elon Musk wrote this, the headline would be a meme & Dogecoin fortunes wouldve changed – ThePrint

Posted: at 12:31 pm

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New Delhi: Elon Musk knows he who controls the memes, controls the Universe, and with one fell swoop, or in his case tweet, the quirky entrepreneur has been creating and destroying a universe of wealth faster than you can say his youngest sons name, A-Xii.

Musk has come a long way from the days he was a balding millionaire to become a cool, leather jacket-wearing visionary centibillionaire, or someone whose net worth is more than $100 billion (he is one of nine in the world). Hes mastered the use of the internet pop culture to keep heart rates of both serious and amateur investors thumping like crazy. A scroll through his Twitter timeline will see a collection of emojis, memes and GIFs a language he uses with much fluency, especially when compared to histech CEO peers, all the while creating real world market changes.

Only last week, Musk tweeted a heartbreak emoji and a meme with a reference to rock band Linkin Park, while talking about Bitcoin. The result: The price of the cryptocurrency dipped 6.3 per cent.

A few weeks ago, Musk tweeted a blue hued picture of a dollar bill with the face of a Shiba Inu, the Japanese dog breed thats become famously associated with the cryptocurrency Dogecoin. The post came with the question: How much is that Doge in the window?

Musks tweet nearly doubled the price of Dogecoin, according to media reports.

Initially created as a joke, Dogecoin is represented by the face of a Shiba Inu that became internet famous as a meme and also gave birth to broken English/Internet slang phrases such as Much Wow, Bedteim Story and the word Doge itself.

Then there was that time Musk didnt even use words in a tweet and still managed a market shake up. This particular post had three emojis three droplets and a rocket, followed by an arrow pointing to the moon.

Investors took this to understand Musk intended for the price of an adult-themed cryptocurrency (delicately symbolised by the first two emojis) to shoot up to the moon. The price of the cryptocurrency rose nearly 400 per cent after Musks tweet.

Not everyone, though, is happy with Musks cheeky use of Twitter to roil up markets. A video on 5 June, posted by the hacker group Anonymous, said: The games you have played with the crypto markets have destroyed lives, and added that Millions of retail investors were really counting on their crypto gains to improve their lives.

Two days later, Musks fans came to his defense by trending the hashtag #WeLoveYouElon, even in India.

Nevertheless, Musks attention on cryptocurrencies seems to mark life coming full circle for him as he re-enters the world of online commerce.

Also read:Dogecoin started as a joke & is now the worlds 4th-largest cryptocurrency. Thank Elon Musk

The Canadian-South African man with a lilting accent started his entrepreneurial journey in 1995 with Zip2, a software company that provided services to online newspapers. When Zip2 was sold to computer maker Compaq, Musk earned $22 million. Then in 1999, he founded X.com, a financial services firm that, via a merger, became money transfer system PayPal. When eBay bought PayPal, Musk earned between $160-180 million.

In 2002, Musk set up SpaceX, venturing into space travel. His goal is to make it more affordable, make humans a multiplanetary species and one day, take humans to Mars. His mission has earned him the tag King of Mars from renowned tech journalist Kara Swisher.

It was his posts about SpaceX mostly photos and videos that helped Musk grow his Twitter fandom. The idea of space travel and life in the Universe has long captured our imagination, and here was Musk actually building rockets to land in Mars, living out the ultimate space geeks dream.

Then there is Tesla Motors, the company that has been revolutionising the electric vehicle industry. Though Musk didnt start Tesla the firm was founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning he joined as an early investor in 2004 and is now one of five co-founders and its CEO.

Fast forward to 2021, the Technoking of Tesla has been using Twitter to raise both his own and the companys profile. Tesla neither invests in traditional marketing nor has it hired any brand ambassadors. It doesnt need to, it has Musk to tweet cool GIFs of Teslas car doors opening and shutting like a falcon in flight.

Add to this, Tesla products are literally SEXY: There is a Tesla Model S from 2012; Model 3 from 2017 (where the 3 is a stylised E); Model X from 2015, and a Model Y from 2019.

Obviously, Musk tweeted about the S3X lineup.

Tesla merchandise had apparel with the S3XY acronym, and included red satin short-shorts for women. The company also sells tequila (not for sale in India yet). In 2018, Musk tweeted a picture of himself looking unconscious next to a Tesla for the announcement of the liquor brand:

Musks knack for promoting his big bold achievements using memes (and tequila and satin short-shorts) has made him a meme unto his own. For a meme is an idea that resonates across masses, turning into a cultural moment. With his legion of space fans, electric vehicle fans, solar energy fans, 56.8 million Twitter followers, and cryptocurrency investors hanging on every tweet/emoji of his, Musk has become someone who drives cultural shifts.

In fact, his recent appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL), an iconic American live comedy show thats birthed the careers of so many comedians and late night talk show hosts, only furthers his near cult status.

Also read: Why Elon Musks Mars ambition could be the riskiest human quest ever

Erratic, unstable, reckless, operatic: These are the adjectives that have been used to describe Musk. Which is probably how one would describe his tweeting style.

Look, I know I sometimes say or post strange things, but thats just how my brain works. To anyone I have offended, I just want to say: I reinvented electric cars and Im sending people to Mars in a rocket ship. Did you think I was also going to be a chill, normal dude?

This is Musks counter point, as he succinctly put it while hosting SNL. During the show, he also revealed he has Aspergers syndrome, a condition on the autism spectrum that is marked by trouble with social skills and an obsessive focus on one topic.

Musk, who tweeted I love Twitter, has also said, I use my tweets to express myself. Some people use their hair, I use Twitter.

The micro-blogging site definitely seems to be the place Musk spends most of his social media time. He doesnt use Facebook; he doesnt like it and thinks its lame. He also deleted his Instagram account.

What sets Musks Twitter account apart isnt just his volume of tweets or that its a peek into his life and mind. His tweets captivate ones attention since no one of his stature successful, massively wealthy CEO of a publicly listed company tweets with such reckless abandon. (Except perhaps Donald Trump, who commanded some Twitter notoriety, especially during his years as the US president.)

Musk is by far the most prolific tweeter among his centibillionaire peers he has tweeted over 14,000 times; Bill Gates comes next, with just over 3,500 tweets.

Incidentally, Gates has said Musk makes outrageous comments and implied Musk shouldnt be speaking about the pandemic. Musk cheekily responded to this by tweeting, Billy G is not my lover, and The rumor that Bill Gates & I are lovers is completely untrue.

Some of Musks tweets about the Covid pandemic are of note. A few days before WHO declared it a pandemic, Musk tweeted, The coronavirus panic is dumb. Multiple media reports also highlighted how Musk spread misinformation about Covid-19 via Twitter.

Musk joined Twitter in June 2009, starting off rather low key. In fact, his first tweet came a year later in 2010 June, and that was only to verify its really him.

Musks tweets from 2011, 2012 and 2013 were neither as cheeky as they are now nor widely shared, but this could have just been due to Twitters early years in the market. At the time, Musks tweets would garner a couple of hundred likes, a very low bar compared to the over 1 lakh he averages now.

The entrepreneurs tweets started getting thousands of retweets and likes from 2014 onwards when he gradually started posting more pictures and videos of SpaceX, and articles such as the one about a cute baby baboon.

In 2016 and 2017, Musks tweets started resembling its current form. In 2016, he announced the start of The Boring Company that digs tunnels to ease vehicle traffic. In 2017, he tweeted more gimmicky stuff like selling flamethrowers, and a video of a Nuclear alien UFO from North Korea.

It was also among his 2017 tweets that Musk talked about cryptocurrency for the first time. When a user asked Musk about Bitcoin, the response was, Never heard of it.

Also read: Which billionaire has the greatest carbon footprint? We calculated mansions, yachts included

Musks tweeting really became famous in 2018 when it started having serious real world consequences. In August that year, Musk tweeted: Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.

Later in September, the US Securities and Exchange Commission charged Musk with fraud for his tweet that quoted a higher price for Tesla stock than its trading price and caused Tesla share price to rise over 6 per cent. Musk and Tesla ended up having to pay $40 million as penalty.

That same month, Musk also tested out some marijuana and drank whiskey during a podcast, and nothing makes you more famous on the internet than drugs and alcohol.

Since 2018, Musk began using memes more frequently, amping it up by 2021. A picture says 1,000 words, and maybe a meme says 10,000 words Its a complex picture with a whole bunch of meaning in it, he explained during a chat on the social network Clubhouse earlier this year.

Musk became a regular tweeter about cryptocurrencies in 2021. He tweeted about Tesla accepting Bitcoin as payment, but later changed his mind when he found out creating Bitcoins is not energy efficient and bad for the environment.

These days, he is an avid backer of Dogecoin, and tweeted that he bought his youngest son (nicknamed X) some of the digital currency.

Musks first tweets about Dogecoin date back to 2019, when he posted a meme of a Shiba Inu smoking a cigarette and wrote: Dogecoin rulz.

This year, he has been more invested in the cryptocurrency, intertwining references to it with other aspects of his life. Such as the time he teased his appearance on SNL with the tweet: The Dogefather. SNL May 8.

In another tweet before the SNL show, he used a Lion King meme to indicate he was introducing Dogecoin to the world.

The tweets had led to speculation that Musk might make some important announcement about Dogecoin on SNL, triggering a spike in the cryptocurrencys market value by billions of dollars. However, it dropped as much as 40 per cent after Musk joked about the currency during the show and even called trading the coin a hustle an attempt to get rich by manipulating trading, especially given that Dogecoin has no intrinsic value besides the value of being backed by famous people like Musk.

For his fans, thats quintessential Musk.

As one said, Elon, I love you because now I know that someone who likes nonsense memes can be a bilionaire and change the world. Thank you for that.

(Edited by Manasa Mohan)

Also read: Elon Musk & Jeff Bezos are fighting over celestial real estate for satellite fleets

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If Elon Musk wrote this, the headline would be a meme & Dogecoin fortunes wouldve changed - ThePrint

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Just How Rich Are Elon Musk, Donald Trump and These Other Big Names? – Yahoo Finance

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Britta Pedersen/AP/Shutterstock / Britta Pedersen/AP/Shutterstock

What do Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Oprah Winfrey have in common? They're all really, really rich. And, as of Saturday night, they have all hosted "Saturday Night Live" as Musk took on hosting duties May 8. And they are definitely some of the richest former hosts. But do you know their actual net worths?

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Test your knowledge of these three and some other equally as big names. See if you can guess how rich they are.

Last updated: May 6, 2021

Jeff Bezos Amazon Founder and CEO

Amazon began as a small startup run out of Jeff Bezos' Seattle garage in 1994 and has grown into an e-commerce giant worth over $1.5 trillion. Bezos remains the company's CEO and holds a 10.6% stake, Forbes reported.

You may know that Bezos is the richest man in the world, but do you know how much he is actually worth? See what Bezos is worth.

Bill Gates net worth

Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft -- then called Micro-Soft -- with his childhood friend Paul Allen in 1975. He left his daily job at the software company that made him rich in 2008 to focus on charitable pursuits through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Over the years, he has sold or given away much of his stake in Microsoft -- and with his recent divorce announcement, it seems likely his net worth will go down, but he'll still be very wealthy.

Find out just how rich Gates is.

Joe Biden, democratic party, presidential candidate

President Joe Biden began his political career as a member of his local county council and went onto become one of the youngest people ever elected to the U.S. Senate. He became the 47th vice president under President Barack Obama and was elected in November to become the 46th president of the United States. But despite his long political career, Biden has made most of his money outside of politics.

See President Biden's net worth.

Find Out: What a Biden Presidency Means for Your Wallet

Oprah Winfrey laughing during a tribute to Nelson Mandela and promoting gender equality event at University of Johannesburg in Soweto, South Africa.

Story continues

Oprah Winfrey has turned her earnings and success from her long-running talk show into a veritable media empire. She has her own cable channel, a stake in Weight Watchers and a multiyear deal with Apple to create content for its streaming channel. In 2020, Forbes named her the ninth-richest self-made woman in America.

But just how rich is she? Find out how much Winfrey is worth.

President Donald Trump on 2020 Campaign rally

Former President Donald Trump is the first billionaire president in United States history, Forbes reported. The bulk of his fortune comes from his New York City real estate holdings, but he also brings in money through licensing deals, golf courses and a winery.

See how much Trump is worth.

LOS ANGELES - MAR 2: Elon Musk at the 2014 Vanity Fair Oscar Party at the Sunset Boulevard on March 2, 2014 in West Hollywood, CA.

The CEO of rocket producer SpaceX and electric car maker Tesla, Elon Musk is changing the way the world moves. He wears many hats, including inventor, executive and futurist roles that have paid him well.

SpaceX was valued at $74 billion after its latest funding round in February 2021, according to Forbes.

Keep reading to find out how much he is worth.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

As the CEO and co-founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg has become the third-richest American and the seventh-richest person in the world, according to Forbes. Zuckerberg started his social media platform in 2004 for his fellow Harvard students, but it's since grown into a go-to communications tool for people around the world.

Zuckerberg and his wife currently own about 15% of Facebook's shares. Can you guess how rich that stake in the company has made him? Find out how rich Zuckerberg is.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Just How Rich Are Elon Musk, Donald Trump and These Other Big Names?

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Just How Rich Are Elon Musk, Donald Trump and These Other Big Names? - Yahoo Finance

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