yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Elon Musk On How To Be Most Useful


less than 1m read
·Nov 3, 2024

Do you think people that want to be useful today should get PhDs?

Um, mostly not. So what is the best way to be useful? Yes, but mostly not. Um, how should someone figure out how they can be most useful? Whatever the thing is that you're trying to create, what would be the utility delta compared to the current state of the art times how many people it would affect?

So, that's why I think having something that makes a big difference but affects a sort of small to moderate number of people is great, as is something that makes even a small difference but affects a vast number of people. Like the area under the curve.

Yeah, exactly. Area under the curve would actually be roughly similar for those two things. So, it's actually really about trying to be useful and matter when you're trying to estimate probability of success.

So, you say this thing will be really useful, good area under the curve.

I guess to use the example of SpaceX, mhm, when you made the go decision that you were actually going to do that, this was kind of a very crazy thing at the time.

Very crazy.

Very crazy, yeah. I'm not sure about saying that, um, but I kind of agree. I agreed with them that it was quite crazy. Crazy if the objective was to achieve the best risk-adjusted return. Starting a company is insane. But that was not my objective for.

More Articles

View All
10 BAD@SS Online Games!
[Music] It’s fun to dress up your elf princess. But if you’re looking for an online game that’ll put some hair on your chest, let’s take a look at 10 incredibly badass online games. First, Mechanical Commando, a top-down shooter that asks, why would you …
Voting rights | Political participation | US government and civics | Khan Academy
In this video, we’re going to do a brief overview of how amendments to the Constitution and federal legislation have increased voting rights over time. Now, why does this matter? Apart from just the innate value of voting rights in a democracy, it matter…
Secant line with arbitrary difference | Derivatives introduction | AP Calculus AB | Khan Academy
A secant line intersects the curve ( y ) equal to the natural log of ( x ) at two points with ( x ) coordinates ( 2 ) and ( 2 + h ). What is the slope of the secant line? Well, they’re giving us two points on this line. It might not be immediately obviou…
Hexagons are the Bestagons
[Playful instrumental synth music fades slowly] You know… You know… Hexagons are the bestagons. Why? Because bees. Bees are the best and build only the bestagon, the hexagon. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Bees build hexagons because they’re hexapods …
Reading Habits of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger
You know, I obviously recommend, first and foremost, “The Intelligent Investor,” with chapters 8 and 20 being the ones that you really should read. All of the important ideas in investing really are in that book because there are only about three ideas, a…
Lecture 3 - Before the Startup (Paul Graham)
That short. Like, long introductions are no good. Sam knows. Alright, ready, everybody? I’m not gonna ask if the mic is working like in every talk so far. I’ll just assume it’s working. No! No, fuck! All right, well make it work somebody. It works, …