Elon Musk, Wokeness, and the Myth of Meritocracy

How Tony Stark, the myth of meritocracy, and our unspoken beliefs about genius explain Elon Musk and the (re)turn of eugenics to the right wing

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Bibliography and Further Reading

Interview with Stan Lee where he talks about the creation of Iron Man: https://screenrant.com/stan-lee-iron-man-unlikable-hero-creation-marvel/

How Albert Einstein was no "lone genius": https://www.nature.com/articles/527298a

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn, 1962

How many filaments Edison tried in creating the lightbulb: http://uncommoncontent.blogspot.com/2015/05/how-many-times-did-edison-fail-in.html

Talented and Gifted programs and their legacy of Eugenics: https://rethinkingschools.org/articles/the-forgotten-history-of-eugenics/

On the creation of the IQ Test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2bKaw2AJxs

Alfred Binet thought intellegence couldn't be reduced to a number: https://www.verywellmind.com/history-of-intelligence-testing-2795581 while Lewis Terman disagreed: https://stanfordmag.org/contents/the-vexing-legacy-of-lewis-terman

Terman study subjects results more about socioeconomic status than intelligence: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/beautiful-minds/200909/the-truth-about-the-termites and the high performers and low performers had about the same IQ: https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/07/science/75-years-later-study-still-tracking-geniuses.html

The Bell Curve is based on junk, fraudulent "science": https://youtu.be/UBc7qBS1Ujo?si=UMJKOTiArp9qSnca

What Intelligence Tests Miss, Keith E. Stanovich, 2009

On "Gifted Kig Syndrome": https://thehowleronline.org/6490/viewpoint/former-gifted-child-syndrome/

Local education systems are funded by property taxes: https://www.npr.org/2016/04/18/474256366/why-americas-schools-have-a-money-problem

DeSantis campaign says "woke" is awareness of systemic injustice: https://www.motherjones.com/mojo-wire/2022/12/desantis-ron-woke-florida-officials/

Someone working 40 hours a week at minimum wage is still below the poverty line: https://www.cnn.com/factsfirst/politics/factcheck_7e5bc7fa-1a5a-4c29-958f-53a07ac1b9ab#

Why DEI was created: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/5-reasons-support-affirmative-action-college-admissions/

Study where resumes were sent out with stereotypically black and white names and their results: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2015/mar/15/jalen-ross/black-name-resume-50-percent-less-likely-get-respo/

On the long, toxic history of "Cultural Marxism": https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/13/opinion/cultural-marxism-anti-semitism.html

Cultural Marxism and the "vast, Jewish conspiracy": https://www.dailydot.com/debug/what-is-cultural-marxism/

The "Hyperloop" is an idea that can never work: https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/elon-musk-hyperloop/ and was just a ploy to disrupt the development of trains in California: https://time.com/6203815/elon-musk-flaws-billionaire-visions/

Wired story from 2018 about Musk mistreating his employees: https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-tesla-life-inside-gigafactory/

Some More News on Musk: https://youtu.be/5pNL7MlUpmI?si=GNFvsKQQRpyfw-MH

Tesla cars fall apart in motion: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/tesla-musk-steering-suspension/

Tesla cars suspected of turning off self-driving moments before a crash: https://futurism.com/tesla-nhtsa-autopilot-report

Musk not interested in labor laws or regulations: https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-spacex-twitter-inc-technology-business-8912c2a2f282b395d3630b3589fa25bc

More on Musk mistreating employees: https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-11-14/elon-musk-toxic-boss-timeline

Musk spreading lies on Twitter: https://futurism.com/elon-musk-black-students-low-iqs

Musk antisemitic tweets: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/nov/16/elon-musk-antisemitic-tweet-adl

Musk racist tweets about asylum-seekers: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/elon-musk-great-replacement-conspiracy-theory-1234941337/

Musk the eugenicist: https://disconnect.blog/why-silicon-valley-is-bringing-eugenics/