This is akin to suggesting that we should have all been praising Microsoft for their achievements back in the day rather than saying a word about EEE, their monopolism, or their enmity towards open source. Or that it’s not polite to bring up the CCP when discussing TikTok.

Bottom line: a technology that has the ability to shape human thought perhaps more than any other in history is owned by a man with some truly vile ideas. (Remember, his primary stated goal is eliminating the “woke mind virus,” i.e. reshaping global politics and culture in the image of the far-right.) We can make happy marketing noises all we like, but at the end of the day, that’s the thing that’s actually going to have a meaningful impact on the world. Once his audience is captured, the model will say what Musk needs it to say and people will believe it.

If we can’t discuss the potentially catastrophic consequences of new technology, then none of us deserve to call ourselves “engineers.” We are just docile consumers latched onto Silicon Valley’s teat.