“The fundamental weakness is empathy,” Musk recently told radio podcast host Joe Rogan. “There is a bug, which is the empathy response.”

As Musk has established himself as at least the second most powerful person in an administration seeking a wholesale remaking of institutions, rules and norms, what he said matters, because it encapsulates a political plan. What the Project 2025 report set out in over 900 turgid pages, Musk’s remark captures in a simple pithy mantra for the social media age.

  • Kumasousa@lemmy.zip
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    59 minutes ago

    The fact he says this, he proves that he really never cared for the human good, all that talk was just to people buy his shit.

  • evergreen@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    Empathy as a weakness is exactly what I’d expect to hear from a sociopath. If everybody thought this way, we’d have no civilized society.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      It’s a useful skill if you’re trying to cultivate a popular following. The funny thing is that he used to have it and was quite good at feeling people out for a popular vibe. Now he’s too ketted out to feel anything. Just a rolling ball of Id, bouncing between hungry, cranky, and horny.

      • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
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        1 hour ago

        I wonder if he was ever good at it, or if before he got a pass on being a weird guy because his goals seemed positive (save the planet, push tech forward). Now that he’s fixated on manosphere/nazi shit, more people are less willing to overlook his idiosyncrasies.

      • 60d@lemmy.ca
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        2 hours ago

        He’s gone too far with special k and needs to come back. Many such cases observed in the scene during my youth.

      • exonode@lemm.ee
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        2 hours ago

        Empathy is an ability not a skill. It’s not a mundane tool to get what you want.

        • gloriousspearfish@feddit.dk
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          2 hours ago

          It is a inbuilt limit that prevents (most of us) from doing harm to our fellow humans, and to shun from society those that do. It is the very core of why humanity has reached the modern society with a high quality of life.

  • moitoi@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 hour ago

    I guess it closes the debate about Musk being autistic. Autistics are more likely to be hyper empathetic.

    • b161@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      37 minutes ago

      Narcissists can display similar traits similar to autistic people. You’re right, he’s not autistic, just a narcissist.

    • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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      22 minutes ago

      Speaking as someone who is autistic, autism is rarely a one-size fits all diagnosis.

      While Hyper Empathy can be a side-effect of Autism, another is the exact opposite where your sense of empathy is limited to “So what have you done for me lately?”, in this case the person has absolutely no understanding of interaction outside of it being transactional.

      Musk is definitely this kind

  • johncandy1812@lemmy.ca
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    2 hours ago

    Greatest thing I did with my life was to increase my understanding of other people’s lives. He is toxic, whether he’s trolling or not

  • CrystalRainwater@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    4 hours ago

    I get saying it’s wrong what he said (you would be right) but imo it’s kinda missing the point. The most important thing to see imo is it’s extremely pathetic. This is the same mf faking Path of Exile and diablo accounts so he can seem cool (he kept saying he was a top player so he would get kudos from the gaming community).

    This man is probably the most thin skinned idiot I’ve ever seen. So it must be extremely convenient for him to see himself as the bad guy with no empathy whose cold rational calculation leads to emotionless decisions or whatever huge cope he tells himself every day. The reality is he’s got more money than God and is running the current US administration and yet is still so mentally weak he is posting on Twitter hundreds of times per day about how he’s being persecuted and actually arguing in the comment sections

  • KingPorkChop@lemmy.ca
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    4 hours ago

    So when he crashes and burns, or dies of a drug overdose, I’m not supposed to care?

    Cool. I think I can manage that.

    • xor@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      4 hours ago

      from a psychopath’s point of view, really….
      they like to tell themselves it’s a sort of superpower….
      a narcissist kind of thing….
      like when Ted Bundy was defending himself in trial for murdering a 12 year old girl, he kept asking the police to describe the crime scene, and thought that showing no emotion would prove he didn’t do it…

  • nuko147@lemm.ee
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    3 hours ago

    Empathy is Weakness. In almost all movies they tell about that. Well not the good guys. Hell Emperor Palpatine.

    • 60d@lemmy.ca
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      2 hours ago
      1. Strength was originally Fortitude

      FORTITUDE.—Power, energy, action, courage, magnanimity; also complete success and honours.

      Reversed: Despotism, abuse of power, weakness, discord, sometimes even disgrace.

      I think it’s accurate to say that Musk has tried to portray Strength in the past. But he has revealed his true power level as the embodiment of the reverse.

    • 60d@lemmy.ca
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      2 hours ago

      “I’m a sociopath, empathy is a weakness, therefore you should be a sociopath also, or you’re doing it wrong.” --Elmo, paraphrased

      • floofloof@lemmy.ca
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        31 minutes ago

        “I’m a sociopath, therefore being a sociopath is best, because the alternative would confuse me.”