We haven't used Twitter/X in years, but in case anyone still follows us here... We have moved to Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/rvmobileint…

<long post, alert> Incredibly important conversation going on right here. I know so many admirers of @elonmusk - including me, I'll admit it - who are perplexed and dismayed by his recent relentless drift toward people whose opinions he himself would have regarded as extreme a year ago. @chuckcook has been a tireless champion for Tesla and its FSD roll-out. When you start losing people like him, it surely... surely... should be some kind of reality check. Elon argues that Chuck is ignoring the existential risk to American civilization. But I think the biggest risk to that civilization comes from unbridgeable political division, and Elon's latest provocations here are actually making the problem worse. There was a time, early in the Twitter/X takeover when Elon was arguing convincingly that the loudest voices where at the extremes, and he, along with 80% of America and the world did not share those opinions. But now, to many of us, it seems that he's being pulled closer and closer to extreme opinion. In today's world, dismay and disgust are more powerful motivators than love and support. So this move can only be negative-sum in terms of Elon's overall influence. He is gaining a few new rabidly enthusiastic supporters. But losing far, far more. It's pretty heartbreaking to see. I really think this is a moment when those who care most about Elon - his friends, his family, board members, anyone he might listen to - need to step up and urge him to rediscover the possibility that people like Chuck have his best interests at heart. Elon, I happen to believe you could be on the verge of achieving astonishing things with X. In many ways the platform has advanced under your ownership (Community Notes my favorite example). It continues to innovate at incredible speed, despite - or because - of having only a quarter of the workforce it had. This is a genuinely incredible achievement and flies in the face of much of the snarking among progressives. But I really think you're in danger of handing your enemies victory after all, just by making it harder and harder for anyone remotely in the center to listen to you. You said something brilliant when you first took over this platform. You said you wanted to maximize unregretted user-minutes. This is exactly the right metric. But the tragedy right now is that for literally millions of people, the minutes they regret most when they come to X are... your posts. It's not just what they say, nor their aggressive tone. It's the fact they come from you, the powerful owner of the platform. To be clear, I'm not talking about all of your posts... there are still plenty featuring imaginative humor and exciting tech revelations. But too many come over as ignoring basic human values of respect and kindness. You won the admiration of countless millions around the world by opening up new possibilities for a genuinely exciting future. Many of those millions, I'm pretty certain, feel heartbroken and betrayed by your latest moves. There is a way to articulate the beliefs you have about the risks of unfettered immigration, and the over-reach of wokeness, without needlessly antagonizing so many. You own the playground. You cannot become the playground bully. Please don't write this off, Elon. There's a better way where you can champion vigorous debate on this platform from all sides without letting yourself constantly get dragged into the mire. Meanwhile... I'm with Chuck.