December 2022 Newsletter - December 5, 2022

Greetings and Happy Holidays!

Every afternoon at 3:30, my dog Nick reminds me it’s time for our daily walk. I’m pretty sure this is the highlight of his day, and the accuracy of his internal clock always amazes me. These walks give me a chance to take a break from the computer and clear my head, while letting him take in the scented calling cards left by other neighborhood animals on various light poles and fire hydrants. Nick’s also developed a peculiar taste for certain types of road kill, particularly dead frog carcasses (the crunchier the better), although he did make a sudden lunge for the skeletal remains of a snake yesterday. Recently, while navigating him through the mine field of flattened forest creatures, I thought a lot about Elon Musk’s current Twitter drama.

Many of you are probably aware that Musk bought Twitter and is in the process of implementing significant changes to the platform. Those on the political left maintain he’s opening the floodgates for right-wing hate groups under the guise of free speech. Those on the right say he’s simply shining a light on the left-leaning bias ingrained in those who run the major social media companies resulting in the content the public consumes.

How all this shakes out will be interesting to watch, but one thing’s for sure—Social media in general is about to go through a significant transition. What started as seemingly harmless platforms enabling one to see how well or badly friends from the past had aged, or gaining the brilliant insights of barely-known celebrities, has slowly morphed into a powerful force that can be abused and manipulated to push any number of agendas on either side of the political spectrum. There’s never been a time when information could be so easily and effectively weaponized. As a result, these social media machines are impacting everything from what we buy to who we vote for. And of course, there are the unknown long-term effects on a generation who grew up mostly interacting socially through the internet instead of in person.

Elon Musk has always been somewhat of an enigma and is certainly becoming one of the most polarizing figures today. His stated motive for purchasing Twitter is based in his philosophy as as a free speech absolutist. However, we all know that not everything stated by everyone can be allowed into public venues. The recent booting of Kanye West from Twitter for anti-semitic comments (while wearing a swastika) is one recent example. Also there are other obvious areas that will have to be constantly monitored and policed, not the least of which are those that involve the potential abuse of children.

I’ve always been an admirer of Musk. I do believe he’s a true visionary and I really like his work ethic as well as what he expects from his employees. But there are also some things that bother me, mainly related to the whole electric vehicle topic. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for anything that will help reduce pollution and clean up the environment. But there are some obvious flaws in the EV narrative (at least in its current state of evolution) that for some reason don't seem to get a lot of attention. Things such as: How many people who own electric vehicles can identify the source of power utilized to charge their batteries? Most power generated today comes from combinations of coal, diesel, and natural gas. What types of machines are used to mine the minerals required to build them? What damage is done during the mining process and how much pollution enters the atmosphere as a result? And what do we do with all these old batteries once they require replacing? I assume they can be recycled to some extent, but what does that process entail?

I’m all for figuring these things out but in order to do that, we need to have an honest conversation, something that many people seem to be avoiding. And… The thing that bothers me is that Elon Musk, someone many refer to as the smartest man in the world, understands all this more than most ever could. Yet…

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Meantime thanks to everyone who bought the new book. I’m deep into the next one and hope to finish early 2023 (can it really almost be 2023??)

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa, Yuletide Greetings, Happy holidays, Joyeux Noël, Feliz Navidad, and Seasons Greetings.

Best…..VB