Elon Musk and the Neuralink Future
Elon Musk may have killed Twitter. The mercurial self-made billionaire who founded the electric car company Tesla has been pilloried by many for his management of the company and self-important interference in world affairs. And Musk’s behavior has been erratic lately, something that may be explained by allegations of drug abuse reported in The New Yorker magazine.
In 2022 Elon Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion, over the objections of the company’s board which had even attempted a “poison pill” tactic to block Musk’s takeover.
The other day, Elon Musk tweeted, “The sad truth is that there are no great ‘social networks’ right now. We may fail, as so many have predicted, but we will try our best to make there be at least one.”
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So, what did Elon Musk do wrong? Well, everything.
First he changed the name of the company to “X.” The proof that this was a terrible idea that failed completely can be seen on the fact that everyone is still calling it Twitter. Have you heard anybody say “he ‘X’d’ or “did you hear about what so and so on X? Of course not.
The latest blunder made by Elon Musk was to remove the blocking feature from Twitter. This is something that allows users to block others from seeing their content. Other social media platforms like Facebook offer this feature and it is quite popular because it allows users to stop people from making negative and offensive comments on their posts.
Musk announced the move in a Tweet saying, “Block is going to be deleted as a ‘feature,’ except for DMs (direct messages).” For some reason Elon Musk thins that the block option “makes no sense.” Unfortunately for him, most Twitter users disagree.
And now comes a bombshell expose in The New Yorker magazine with insiders commenting on Musk’s erratic behavior, blaming some of it on his use of the drug Ketamine.
Elon Musk has said that using such drugs is better than taking anti-depressants once tweeting, “Zombifying people with SSRIs for sure happens way too much.”
As for taking ketamine, an animal tranquilizer used by veterinarians, Elon Musk said, “From what I’ve seen with friends, ketamine taken occasionally is a better option.”
But sources close to Musk told the magazine that they fear his use of the drug, which they say has increased, along with his isolation from people “might contribute to his tendency to make chaotic and impulsive statements and decisions.”
Ketamine researcher Amit Anand told the New Yorker, “A little bit of ketamine has an effect similar to alcohol. It can cause disinhibition, where you do and say things you otherwise would not.”
But the problem comes when people take higher doses of the drug. Anand explained, “At higher doses, it has another effect, which is dissociation: you feel detached from your body and surroundings. You can feel grandiose and like you have special powers or special talents. People do impulsive things, they could do inadvisable things at work.”
Here is an example of that. Elon Musk now thinks that journalists would be better served by publishing their work on Twitter. He tweeted, “If you’re a journalist who wants more freedom to write and a higher income, then publish directly on this platform!”
Twitter may be in trouble. And so may Elon Musk.
