How much physics helped Elon Musk in creating his companies?

In summary, physics helped Elon Musk in creating his companies by providing him with the knowledge and understanding of how technology works and how businesses operate.
  • #71
Grands said:
Is still strange for me how Jobs had the ability to create a factor in Cina that produce Apple products, having no competences in the industrial sector.
I don't know what you mean by that unless you are still under the impression that the leader of the company has to be able to do everything. I don't know how many times I'll need to say this before it sinks in: you can rent expertise. That's what companies do: when they need to do something new, they hire people with the necessary expertise to do it.
The US government doesn't care about the money for people retirement?
In Italy we pay a lots of taxes for having this service, 20% of the salary went there.
"Care" is an odd word to apply. We have a social security system into which people pay 12.4% of their income and does just a terrible job providing for retirement. My understanding is that Italy's is even worse. So in both cases if you want to have a quality life when you retire, you fund it yourself.
 
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  • #72
russ_watters said:
I don't know what you mean by that unless you are still under the impression that the leader of the company has to be able to do everything.
A leader of a company don't have to know everything, but I don't think that he have just the idea and other people to everything.
It's sure that Apple needed engineers, lawyers, economists, designers and we all know that a person can't face the legal, the economical and the technical part tougher.
What I want to say is that opening a company require courage, organization ability that are not common, and it's not easy to decide to do it in Cina.

It's like tomorrow I will have in mind a new idea about a car that work with water and I just hire a group on engineer and everything will works, because I pay them even if I don't know how to create a car that work with water.

russ_watters said:
My understanding is that Italy's is even worse. So in both cases if you want to have a quality life when you retire, you fund it yourself.
Why do you think that?
In my country the payment for the retire is very high ( about 22%), and a private one is more higher, my question was about the US government and I was curios if it ask money from people salary for doing this.
 
  • #73
Grands said:
A leader of a company don't have to know everything, but I don't think that he have just the idea and other people to everything.
It's sure that Apple needed engineers, lawyers, economists, designers and we all know that a person can't face the legal, the economical and the technical part tougher.
What I want to say is that opening a company require courage, organization ability that are not common, and it's not easy to decide to do it in China.
It's not easy, right - that's why they get paid so much money.
It's like tomorrow I will have in mind a new idea about a car that work with water and I just hire a group on engineer and everything will works, because I pay them even if I don't know how to create a car that work with water.
The truly best tech companies create products that are almost possible.

You might want to watch one of the movies about Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg (or a series/documentary on Bill Gates) for some [embellished] idea of how they got their starts and grew their companies.
Why do you think that?
In my country the payment for the retire is very high ( about 22%), and a private one is more higher, my question was about the US government and I was curios if it ask money from people salary for doing this.
We pay 12.8% of our income to fund a similar program.

My understanding (admitedly thin on the details for Italy) is that Italy has had poor economic growth and very high debt recently. Social Security type programs require/rely on growth in order to be able to keep their promised payouts. Slower growth means the programs will soon need to be cut (like in its neighbor, Greece).
 
  • #74
russ_watters said:
The truly best tech companies create products that are almost possible.
Yes, but there are cases when they create innovative technology that didn't extend before, like the rockets of SpaceX.

russ_watters said:
You might want to watch one of the movies about Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg (or a series/documentary on Bill Gates) for some [embellished] idea of how they got their starts and grew their companies.
I saw documentaries, and they don't explain the part of how they created it, movies are more on what they created.
Anyway, I think that Zuckerberg did something that is more "easy" to realize, che needed just a computer and tons of servers, while Jobs needed an empire of workers in Cina, and had to deal with local rules of work, delivery, packaging, a lots of stuff.

russ_watters said:
My understanding (admitedly thin on the details for Italy) is that Italy has had poor economic growth and very high debt recently. Social Security type programs require/rely on growth in order to be able to keep their promised payouts. Slower growth means the programs will soon need to be cut (like in its neighbor, Greece).
Yes, it exactly what is happening, the problem is not the debt, but the fact that Italy can promise to payback the money, because have no growth.
 
  • #75
Grands said:
...
Anyway, I think that Zuckerberg did something that is more "easy" to realize, che needed just a computer and tons of servers, while Jobs needed an empire of workers in Cina, and had to deal with local rules of work, delivery, packaging, a lots of stuff. ... .

If it was 'easy' because he just needed computers and servers, then just about anybody would have done it. But they didn't. There were other elements that were applied. Again, you look so narrowly on things, I think you will never find the answers. Does the expression "he doesn't see the forest for the trees" translate for you?

And you really need to study history more seriously. Jobs 'merely' contracted for the manufacture of iPhones in China with a world-wide contract manufacturer (FoxConn). Jobs did have a factory designed and built in the US to make the iMac. But what that has to do with just about anything is beyond me.

What's the question?

Yes, it exactly what is happening, the problem is not the debt, but the fact that Italy can promise to payback the money, because have no growth.

Well that is circular. Debt certainly is a problem if you don't have the growth you need to repay it.
 
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  • #76
NTL2009 said:
If it was 'easy' because he just needed computers and servers, then just about anybody would have done it. But they didn't. There were other elements that were applied.
I wanted to say that Apple or Tesla have to take care of workers, need to pay attention to the material they use, and see if those one are not toxic for the people.
The factories have to respect some rules, unless they will be closed.
A factory need very expensive tools, and this tools have to work properly everyday, while Facebook requires a big team and a lots of servers.

Facebook doesn't have to care about material, factories, people that get hurt at work.
I would say that the main problem of Facebook is to ban people that post NSFW stuff on FB, which is not easy, but not difficult as running a company like Apple or Tesla or SpaceX.
This is just my opinion.
 
  • #77
Grands said:
Facebook doesn't have to care about material, factories, people that get hurt at work.
I would say that the main problem of Facebook is to ban people that post NSFW stuff on FB
Your view is way too simplistic here. Facebook does much more than running servers and banning users.
 
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  • #78
mfb said:
Your view is way too simplistic here. Facebook does much more than running servers and banning users.
It's true, I don't know properly what is behind FB, I just think that is more easy to run this business compared to a manufactory industry
 
  • #79
Grands said:
It's true, I don't know properly what is behind FB, I just think that is more easy to run this business compared to a manufactory industry

OK, but (and no disrespect intended) so?

I really have no idea where you are going with most of your questions and observations. I get the sense (I think I read you are 19) that you are genuinely curious about this stuff, and that's good. But I think a few of us have told you that jumping from question to question w/o digging into the foundation/fundamentals of these areas is just not the best way to learn something.

It's like skipping high school physics and Physics 101, and then asking questions about the formulas in Masters level Physics courses. You need the foundation to understand the more advanced concepts. Focus on the foundations to the questions you are asking, and you will get farther, faster, IMO.

Or, you are just trolling us. I'don't think so, but I'm not 100.00% sure.
 
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  • #80
NTL2009 said:
I really have no idea where you are going with most of your questions and observations. I get the sense (I think I read you are 19) that you are genuinely curious about this stuff, and that's good. But I think a few of us have told you that jumping from question to question w/o digging into the foundation/fundamentals of these areas is just not the best way to learn something.
I'm ok, I just wanted to say my opinion, and I learned interesting thing about Elon Musk and how run the money of a company.
 
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