Elon Musk’s Internet: So Based, Much Wow. So Cringe?

埃隆·马斯克的互联网:如此基础,却极富震撼。如此尴尬?

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2025-03-02

17 分钟
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单集简介 ...

Mr. Musk uses online slang to marshal his 200 million social media followers in support of his efforts to gut the federal government. But he might be reaching his limits.
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  • Hi, my name is Mike Isaac,

  • and I'm a technology correspondent for the New York Times, based in San Francisco.

  • So I'm 40 now, which means I've been online for a very long time.

  • I grew up in the era of AOL and AIM Instant messenger,

  • which to young people now, they probably have no idea what that is.

  • But for me, it was really a gateway to being online.

  • And the Internet, I had a giant desktop computer in the living room.

  • And back then, the Internet was this confusing, deeply specific place.

  • And if you were able to navigate it, it was like knowing a secret language.

  • But the Internet moves fast, and not everyone moves fast with it.

  • We get stuck in the version of the Internet that we first really fell in love with.

  • And that brings me to Elon Musk.

  • So I've covered Internet culture for a long time, and I've really seen Elon change and morph.

  • I remember when I was a younger tech reporter,

  • I would go to these conferences where Musk would be invited on stage to speak.

  • Back then, he was still kind of nerdy, still kind of awkward.

  • You know, back in the early 2000s, when social media was still pretty new,

  • he was still the guy talking about getting humanity to Mars,

  • you know, revolutionizing the transportation industry.

  • People saw him more as a visionary,