In 2006 Elon said he would build an electric car people actually wanted
Detroit laughed
By 2012 the Model S was beating Mercedes and BMW in their own segment
In 2011 he said rockets would land themselves and fly again
Engineers called it physically impossible
In 2015 one landed upright
Today nobody even watches the livestream
Then he said he would beam internet down from space and everyone called it a joke constellation
Starlink has millions of users now
He is late on everything
But the direction has never once been wrong
Today he posted cloud cities over Venus and bases on Io and the replies are nothing but laughing emojis
Same crowd every time
And half of them are posting it through his satellites
Had dinner with a close family friend and his girlfriend last night
When he came to visit me last December, he was distraught over her. I remember our conversation about it vividly.
At the time, they had been friends and colleagues for years. He was so in love, but neither could get over themselves and admit it.
Until they figured it out this spring.
My heart swelled about a thousand sizes over the course of those two hours last night.
Marriage incoming, I guarantee it.
I believe that, in the end, the only thing impeding your own happiness is *you*.
Good heuristic: you are solely to blame for the outcome of your life, for better or worse.
If you want to be happy, you must choose happiness. It’s an active choice, something you take action towards every day.
Similarly, generally stay away from chronically unhappy people. They’re choosing it.
Winning is contagious. As is losing.
So just choose to win.
People keep misunderstanding this. I CONTRIBUTED to Bostrom’s Superintelligence book and he thanks me by name in the foreword.
I was thinking about AI safety long before 2014.
Good time to build a house (on your own). Easier than you think. I went from 25 yrs in bug biz to building. A little more complicated than below but jist is:
1) Find the lot/land
2) Make sure you have access (gravel road, paved road) /power/water/septic approval BEFORE you buy it.
3) Pay for a soil map and make sure it percs. If it won’t, you won’t be building there since you can’t get septic approval
4) Get your house plans
5) Find your subs (easy to do, just find some new construction in your town, stop by during different phases - land clearing, footing digs, concrete, foundation work, framing, etc. Ask the guys on job if they do other work besides house they are doing and get their number. Have them come look at your land.) AND form a relationship with a salesman at 84Lumber. They know every legit subcontractor in the county.
6) Use Grok or ChatGPT to get your materials list at each phase. Just upload your architectural plans and it can do the rest.
7) Rely on your 84Lumber guy if you get stuck. They are very hands on usually and can work with you and your sub contractors, even visiting the site to ensure things are going well.
7) If you’re uncomfortable doing it alone, hire an engineer or architect that can “check on certain phases” for you. Foundation work - engineer. Structural/Framing - architect. Many of these guys will work on a fee basis and can show up once/month or once every few months to ensure the build is going correctly.
Every county is different so ensure you know the county regs regarding homeowners building their own homes. Many allow you to do so without having to hire a GC. There are stipulations like “You must live it in for 2 yrs, etc”, but it’s county dependent.
When I went from bugs to building in 2020, I was petrified. But after observing the process and being involved, it’s really not that difficult. Now I build $1 mil - $2 mil dollar homes. My cost doing it myself $600-$700K.