Elon Musk has disillusioned me many instances. He purchased my favourite social community and made it unhealthy. He has mistreated staff throughout his corporations, and he has completely ruined the enduring comedy of 420 and 69 jokes.
And as we speak, he acquired my hopes up that he was really going to cage struggle Mark Zuckerberg.
I do know higher than to take something Elon says at face worth. I’ve been a part of quite a few editorial conversations about the best way to write a few man who runs a number of exceptionally highly effective corporations, but consistently talks out of his ass and can’t ship on his guarantees. However one thing appeared totally different this morning, when he tweeted (sure, I’m nonetheless calling them tweets) that the struggle was on.
“I spoke to the PM of Italy and Minister of Tradition. They’ve agreed on an epic location,” Musk wrote. “Every little thing achieved pays respect to the previous and current of Italy.”
The struggle will likely be managed by my and Zuck’s foundations (not UFC).
Livestream will likely be on this platform and Meta. Every little thing in digicam body will likely be historical Rome, so nothing trendy in any respect.
I spoke to the PM of Italy and Minister of Tradition. They’ve agreed on an epic location.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 11, 2023
Appeared like a fairly definitive assertion! He even vowed to donate proceeds to veterans? However then, the Meta CEO needed to go and produce us again right down to Earth.
“I like this sport and I’ve been able to struggle for the reason that day Elon challenged me,” Zuckerberg wrote on Threads, Meta’s Twitter competitor. “If he ever agrees on an precise date, you’ll hear it from me. Till then, please assume something he says has not been agreed on.”
Let’s get one factor out of the way in which: it is rather humorous that the 2 CEOs are enjoying phone and sassing each other on the respective microblogging platforms that they personal, somewhat than really talking to one another. However that apart, Zuck’s submit disillusioned me. For one factor, Darrell as soon as agreed to ship me to Rome to cowl the struggle on the Colosseum, and I’m 99.99% positive that Darrell was joking, however hey, a squeaky wheel will get the grease. What’s key right here is that nobody at TechCrunch has definitively stated, “No, Amanda, we won’t pay so that you can go to Rome to look at two billionaires struggle.”
However I’m not delusional. I do know that my want to eat contemporary pasta isn’t an editorial precedence, although a lady can dream.
So why was I so disillusioned to listen to from Zuck that Elon has as soon as once more let me down? It wasn’t as a result of I genuinely believed that I might be going to Rome for the occasion. As an alternative, I needed to confront an inconvenient fact concerning the particular person I’ve change into.
I would like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg to cage struggle.
Musk and Zuckerberg each trigger me important misery — not simply because I write about them, however as a result of I care about humanity (and no, not within the Muskian approach the place he appears to imagine we should always all change into baby-making machines in our little area pods on Mars). Zuckerberg’s choices as the top of a platform utilized by billions have partially led to genocide and the obstruction of democracy. Musk’s negligence in the case of all issues content material moderation and platform security may engender related penalties. It’s exhausting to look at these highly effective males regularly make the identical errors, refusing to be taught from themselves or one another. After which, Congress steps in to attempt to regulate these corporations, however inadvertently proposes laws that simply makes issues worse.
So, I made a take care of myself. If I’m going to write down about social media and keep sane, I have to root for the dumbest issues attainable to occur, as long as the implications don’t really trigger hurt. The Musk v. Zuckerberg cage struggle is the right illustration of this: it’s so silly, however the one individuals who will really get harm are the perpetrators of this stupidity themselves.
And that’s all earlier than we even get into the cage struggle itself. I like watching males fall sufferer to their very own hubris — name me Homer — and that’s precisely what Musk has coming for him.
When he’s not making an attempt to persuade us to put on VR headsets all day, Zuckerberg is getting swole. Actually. He’s discovered the time to win Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments, all whereas arising with one-liners to get buyers off his again about how a lot cash Actuality Labs is shedding.
Musk, in the meantime, has spent his free time commissioning large, unlawful mild installations and suing non-profit hate speech watchdogs.
Zuckerberg is so undeniably the favourite to win this struggle, however Musk can’t again down as a result of he’s already made a public dedication. It’s like when he pledged $44 billion to purchase Twitter after which modified his thoughts, besides this time, there’s not even any cash at stake.
I don’t even care to look at the precise struggle — that’s not what pursuits me. It’s the fragility of the male ego, for me.
You possibly can have more cash than anybody on this planet, but nonetheless have such a fragile sense of self that you simply’ll conform to get your ass kicked inside an historical world marvel. At the very least Elon and I can agree on one factor: human nature is unbelievable.