How is it possible to be worth a trillion?

I thought that too. In theory you’d use liquid filled loops and retractable metal plates to radiate the heat out. Of course you’d also want to be in an orbit that you get constant light / energy from the sun to avoid costly batteries. Obviously not too much though as then the surrounding space would be too hot.

I can’t see it but if there is nothing novel in the pipeline then how can the valuation be justified?

Space based data centres? The big issue with data centres is the cooling. How are you to do that in the vacuum of space? Vacuums are great for insulation, not conducting heat away from somewhere

So you didn't actually read about what he's done. 🤔

I think the way the companies are bundled together is interesting. A massive amount of the valuation is attributed to the potential of the AI which is currently ( comparatively) shite. The idea being space based data centres are the future and due to space x now transporting 80-90% of all the stuff going up to space including governments not just private companies they will effectively be able to corner the future market which will generate revenue.

It seems to me to be a right old gamble. That the AI just needs enough processing power and then it can overtake chat GPT/ Anthropic. That they can create space based data centres at all. Thst this can be done within a short enough time period for the value to increase. That AI can realise the revenue to justify the investment.

I personally can’t see it but I am a plodder not a gambler. It takes people like Elon to move technology along, History is full of men who have invested their money in new technologies thst others thought impossible. Not every idea pays off of course but even if it doesn’t it still contributes to progress

Because he is doing something worthwhile. Those children are not the responsibility of Musk to feed. He could spend all his money feeding hungry children. There'd just be more hungry children tomorrow to feed.

And yet people praise him.

You're aware of the deaths. Why do you think he's praiseworthy in light of that information

And for all that wealth, power and influence he doesn't seem to have any quality of life whatsoever. No real family unit , just disjointed groups, no real home , no real friends . No thanks

So you keep saying.

Half million children killed by Doge cuts to USAID

He does not deserve any praise whatsoever.

Sorry but over the past few days I have spent time dealing with absolute morons at work, seeing couples screaming at each other in the supermarket, and watching drunks humping each other in the street, and I thank God there are people like Elon Musk who can see things on a different level and take us into the future. I won't live to see it but hopefully my children and grandchildren will.

I think that's the problem, and it's not just with Musk. It's not the businesses or the wealth, it's the political influence of the unelected elite.
Whether you or I agree with his politics isn't the point. The problem is the increasing shift towards a modern form of global feudalism.

Yes, it's always been there to a degree, but the amount of power now held by a few in not just their own nations but the world should be cause for concern. Doesn't matter how 'good' we might think those individuals are, we shouldn't be in a position that means we are dependent on the caprices of individual personalities. No matter how benevolent a dictatorship is, it's still a dictatorship.

We're being bought with shiny toys and the promise of new beginnings on another planet. It's the ultimate colonialism without needing to send the soldiers over. Despite the fact that we've already made this mistake with China, it fascinates me that we don't seem to be able to see how easily we can lose our autonomy and it's much worse than being in the EU. At least we could vote for MEPs.

You're right. What an absolute hero. Who cares if he's a Nazi?

It's madness. (I looked this up 👉) 1 million seconds in the past is less than two weeks ago, but a billion seconds puts us in 1994, and a trillion seconds goes back to approximately 29,000 B.C., predating recorded history.

He could emulate Muhammad Yunus to help the world’s poorest start viable businesses in their communities… Instead of engaging in outer space vanity projects.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Yunus

This point has been made over and over again on this thread and we all get it - he doesn't have a trillion dollars sitting in a bank account or in thousands of boxes in his garden shed.

BUT he is still worth a ridiculous amount of money which many people here feel is an amount one single person should not have in their name, whether it's on paper or in actual cash is irrelevant to the original discussion the OP generated.

Some people seem to imagine he has £ trillion sitting in a bank account.

All wealth held in shares is 'imaginary' until converted into an actual bank balance by selling the shares.
For that matter the same goes for all other non-realised assets, like your house, jewellery, paintings, antiques, etc. etc.
It may be quite likely to hold its value well, but you don't really know what it is worth until you come to sell it. And until you sell it, the only value is the intrinsic use of the item (A house is for living in, a painting is for looking at, etc.)

But his money is not buying him a lifestyle. Is enabling him to invest in projects that will take billions to take off the ground. So he should give it all away. Who to? To the earlier poster who suggested giving 1,000 to the poorest people in the world. How many billions have been given away by charities to help eradicate poverty in the poorest, most needy countries? And how much of a difference has this made in the long term? Not a lot, TBH..

Teslas are not shit to a lot of people who happily drive them every day. And however people feel about him, he is investing a huge amount of time and money on innovation projects. Yes, these cannot come into fruition without the engineers and scientists but they also need an investor to out in the cash and resources to make it happen. He is not just sitting on his pile of money living off interests and contributing nothing.

Whatever his childhood was, I still refute your sweeping statement that "everyone" has the same opportunities in life.

We both know that's not true. That's what I was talking about, not whatever start in life Musk had.

ETA: I did just look it up and see that Musk was born into a wealthy family so I'm not entirely sure what point you are making and think that maybe you are in fact the "dum dum" here?

To be honest you aren't worth a massive amount of my time to answer. If you are interested in the basis of what I have said reas about his childhood, along with most other people who are successful to this level and then have a think about who is the dumdum.

Have you read the thread? Any of the links posted previously?

Who are these half a million children and why is Elon Musk responsible for their death?

I've not headed a government department responsible for the death of half a million children.

Moving technology on does not excuse this

In what way?

Musk doesn't have $1 trillion; it is the combined value of his shares in all of his companies.

Which means that he "has" $1 trillion, in the same way that what any other individual "has", as quoted by Forbes, The Sunday Times or just in everyday parlance, is simply the total current value of everything they own.

It's not common for rich people, or any people for that matter, to have everything they own in the form of $1 coins in a very large piggy bank. The naivety it would take to think that they do, could almost be described as "dribbling idiocy".