Yup...this. And welcome back. You were missed. There are not enough genuinely funny writers pointing and laughing at the oligarchs, and since the courts are not willing to do much, it is the best weapon in our arsenal.
The current term of art for this is "motte and bailey". These refer respectively to the inner keep and outer living area of a medieval castle. The idea is that you make an ambiguous claim that is naturally taken as extreme (the bailey), and run with that unless you come under strong attack, in which case you retreat to a much weaker interpretation (the motte). For example, I could say that "so-called scientific truths are socially constructed", with the implication that there is no such thing as truth. Under attack, I retreat to the much more defensible position that the development of scientific knowledge will be influenced by the social conditions under which scientists work>
Musk makes strong claims about what he will achieve, but, when these fail, gives them a retrospective reinterpretation
Now that you mention it, that was definitely the term I first came across when reading random CT posts before eventially following the links back to that initial post by John Holbo, and, well, I guess recency won out over primacy in my memory this time. I doubt I'll forget it again now, though. Thank you! It's much appreciated.
Musk is clearly copying from Trump's playbook. I keep hearing that Trump's supporters take him "seriously, but not literally," which I guess means that everything he says should be treated as if it's rational and realistic, but that he shouldn't be held accountable if he doesn't follow through on what he says or changes his mind the next time he opens his mouth. Nice deal if you can get it.
Or he could pull disaffected voters away from Dems as well, and further split the country, as often happens with 3rd party candidates. He is really good at spreading disinformation, so I would hope he keeps his nose out of it!
Congrats on finishing the book! Looking forward to it.
Yup...this. And welcome back. You were missed. There are not enough genuinely funny writers pointing and laughing at the oligarchs, and since the courts are not willing to do much, it is the best weapon in our arsenal.
I feel like what he does is just the irl version of, or at least very similar to, what John Holbo described as the "two-step of terrific triviality" over on Crooked Timber: https://crookedtimber.org/2007/04/11/when-i-hear-the-word-culture-aw-hell-with-it/
The current term of art for this is "motte and bailey". These refer respectively to the inner keep and outer living area of a medieval castle. The idea is that you make an ambiguous claim that is naturally taken as extreme (the bailey), and run with that unless you come under strong attack, in which case you retreat to a much weaker interpretation (the motte). For example, I could say that "so-called scientific truths are socially constructed", with the implication that there is no such thing as truth. Under attack, I retreat to the much more defensible position that the development of scientific knowledge will be influenced by the social conditions under which scientists work>
Musk makes strong claims about what he will achieve, but, when these fail, gives them a retrospective reinterpretation
Now that you mention it, that was definitely the term I first came across when reading random CT posts before eventially following the links back to that initial post by John Holbo, and, well, I guess recency won out over primacy in my memory this time. I doubt I'll forget it again now, though. Thank you! It's much appreciated.
eventually*
Musk is clearly copying from Trump's playbook. I keep hearing that Trump's supporters take him "seriously, but not literally," which I guess means that everything he says should be treated as if it's rational and realistic, but that he shouldn't be held accountable if he doesn't follow through on what he says or changes his mind the next time he opens his mouth. Nice deal if you can get it.
Or he could pull disaffected voters away from Dems as well, and further split the country, as often happens with 3rd party candidates. He is really good at spreading disinformation, so I would hope he keeps his nose out of it!
Underestimating Elon is probably the most dangerous form of arrogance.
"Elon can get away with constantly overpromising and underdelivering."
Things Elon Musk unveiled over a decade.
Boring Co.
Crew Dragon
Cybercab
Cybertruck
DOGE
Dojo
Falcon Heavy
FSD
Grok 1,2,3,4
Megapack
Model 3
Model X
Model Y
Neuralink
OpenAI
Optimus
Powerwall
Roadster 2.0
Robovan
Solar Roof
Starlink
Starship
Tesla Semi
Tesla Vision
V4
𝕏
xAI
Grok 4 beating other models
Congrats on getting the manuscript done.