(Austin, Texas) Welcome back to this special 4-part X series with details and highlights from Elon Musk’s X Space conversation with Katherine Brodsky on February 19, 2024. In part 2, I am drawing parallels between Elon Musk and X to various gemstones, each representing a unique quality and characteristic of the man and the platform. Good friend and gemologist Johnna Crider was the inspiration for this.
Section 1: The Diamond – Unmatched Brilliance and Innovation
Elon Musk’s vision for X is akin to a diamond, known for its unparalleled brilliance and ability to refract light in a dazzling display. Just as a diamond is formed under immense pressure, Elon’s determination and perseverance have led to groundbreaking innovations in electric vehicles, space exploration, and now, social media.
The Emerald – A Symbol of Growth and Prosperity
As the conversation with Katherine Brodsky progressed, Elon Musk’s passion for X became evident. His commitment to fostering growth and prosperity on the platform is reminiscent of the emerald, a gemstone associated with growth, renewal, and abundance. Elon’s vision for X includes features such as X Space, a new way for users to engage in real-time conversations and share ideas.
The Sapphire – Clarity and Transparency in Moderation
Elon Musk’s approach to moderation on X can be compared to the sapphire, a gemstone known for its transparency and clarity. Elon believes in a transparent and fair moderation system that encourages free speech while minimizing the risk of harm. As he mentioned in the X Space conversation,
“We really should be hewing as close as possible to the law.”
Elon: We really should be hewing as close to the law as possible. and be extremely reluctant to have permanent bands on people because I think a permanent ban is almost like a death sentence. That should be a very rare thing. If we were a less civilized society, we would execute people for minor crimes, but now we come to conclude that people should be incarcerated for some period of time but not forever and they shouldn’t be executed unless it’s some very extreme circumstance. So I think that’s kind of what we should be doing.
“I think a permanent ban is almost like a death sentence. That should be a very rare thing.” – Elon Musk
Elon: Now it doesn’t mean at same time that you just get to harass other people on the platform, they obviously have the ability to mute you.
I’m getting around to getting rid of the Block, but having a stronger mute. So like if you really don’t want to hear from someone there’s not some way to get around the mute. You can just mute them entirely.
So, in general, if we are suspending people or accounts for reasons that go beyond the law, I’d like to know about that, because I don’t think we should be suspending people when there is not a probable legal infraction.
Elon spoke about how to deal with people that come against your account on X, without good intentions, and to spread hatred. He said you certainly don’t have a responsibility to engage with any of them.
Elon: You should have the ability to mute them, not have them not bother you. I guess if we do see that there is a coordinated attack to effectively squash free speech on the platform, then that would certainly be a reason for at least a temporary suspension of accounts engaged in that behaviour.
Those temporary suspensions would grow in length, kind of like when you tap in your password too many times in your phone, it gives you longer and longer times, you can’t just brute force hack it. We have a system now where we give people a short suspension, then a longer suspension, the suspension gets longer and longer if they keep doing it and hopefully that serves as a deterrent to bad behavior.
But full or permanent suspensions really need to be a situation where someone is engaged in obviosly more threatening, or unequivocally threatening violence, just doing things that are obviously illegal.
The Ruby – Passion and Intensity
Throughout the X Space conversation, Elon’s passion for his work and the future of X shone through like a ruby, a gemstone symbolizing passion and intensity. Elon’s dedication to making X a platform for open dialogue and collaboration is evident in his plans to reorganize the company and build a strong internal team to ensure the platform’s success. Katherine Brodsky asked if Elon has enough people to handle determining suspensions. Elon talked about plans in the works for X to reorganize.
Elon: It’s not a number of people thing, we’re already reorganizing the company we’re operating. A lot of the work is done by contractors in other countries for English language moderation and they sometimes just don’t understand the context of what’s being said so we have too many false negatives or false positives, there should be giving someone a temporary suspension or they’re not suspending someone because they don’t understand that its an idiomatic expression and they don’t actually mean that literally. We are building up a team, based in the US, that I think will have a better understanding of when somebody is really threatening violence versus some figure of speech. Its not simply a matter of quantity, it matters that people understand.
Also the whole reporting framework, the whole flow of how accounts are reported and what is done is extremely complex and difficult to understand even if you are thoroughly aware of US colloquialisms. We’re building up an internal team.
Elon discussed moderation on X.
“I think you’re tempting fate to name something ‘Trust & Safety.’ It is inevitably going to be kind of the opposite.” – Elon Musk
Elon: All things in moderation, especially moderation! Moderation is not to be used as censorship. Obviously when organiztions seek to engage in propaganda, they naturally use misleading terms because they are engaged in propaganda. I don’t even really like the name “Trust & Safety” as an organization. I mean that’s something that would fit very well in a George Orwell book. Generally, its like customer service, not moderation.
I think your tempting fate to name something “Trust & Safety.” its inevitably going to be kind of the opposite. I think you want to have a neutral term instead of something like “The Ministry of Trust & Safety,” – would you trust that?
KB: Haha, now we’re talking Orwellian
Elon: Yeah, haha, I wouldn’t trust a ministry called “Trust & Safety” in a million years.
Section 3: The Pearl – The Value of Honesty and Truth
Elon Musk’s commitment to honesty and truth can be compared to the pearl, a gemstone formed as a result of an oyster’s defense against irritation. Elon believes that “the best policy is to err on the side of free speech,” and he has made it clear that he intends to make X a platform that values honesty and truth above all else.
“All things in moderation, especially moderation!” – Elon Musk
Elon: “Honesty is the best policy. You have to make a choice here, nothing is going to be perfect.
Do you want to err on the side of free speech, or err on the side of censorship? I think we should err on the side of free speech.”
“I think we should err on the side of free speech.” – Elon Musk
Elon: “While it is true that lies are often sensationalized and more interesting than the truth, over time, if you have free speech, people can at least get to the truth if they want to. But if you have human censors, then you’re relying on them if they’re wrong and it becomes a magnet for activists for people who in fact want to distort the truth.
This is really the problem with having moderation, aka censorship is that hose who want to distort the truth will naturally gravitate to positions of power and information control. This is what happened at Twitter. It didn’t start out with activists being in control, but it ended up with them being in control. That’s the classic Willie Sutton, saying, “Why did you rob banks?” well because that’s where the money is. Why did the activists become both moderators and censors? Because that’s where the influence is.
So you can pretty much guarantee that any kind of censorship of moderation is going to be a magnet for people who want to distort and control the truth. That IS what happened at Twitter, I mean, Yoel Roth literally, I believe he actually tweeted that the reason he wanted to be in charge of Trust & Safety was he wanted to be an activist. Like I think he said that publicly!
Willie Sutton was a notorious American bank robber who, when asked why he robbed banks, famously replied, “Because that’s where the money is.” He is known for his numerous bank robberies and prison escapes, and his daring exploits made him somewhat of a celebrity. Sutton passed away in 1980 at the age of 79.
The Topaz – A Bright Future for X
As the X Space conversation with Katherine Brodsky continued, it became clear that Elon Musk’s vision for X is as bright as a topaz, a gemstone known for its warm, sunny hue and association with success and good fortune. Elon’s enthusiasm for the platform’s potential is infectious, and his plans for X’s future are ambitious and exciting.
Role of Citizen Journalism in Modern Media
Elon: I think it’s correct to affirm that legacy media is an inefficient way of humanity to learn what is going on. Its an old technology that was necessary before you had the internet and it is fundamentally inefficient and inferior to simply everyone voicing their opinion, and the most interesting opinions being surfaced.
If you say, ‘How does the media work?’ There’s this small number of publications that write a small number of articles. They write articles about areas that they don’t understand and where they are often not there.
They’re usually not there, and its a field they don’t understand, so even in a best-case scenario, you’ve got someone who, let’s assume the journalist is doing their absolute best to write an accurate article about something. They still are not an expert in the field, and in the vast amount of cases are not actually there.
So the best case for that article, it’s really going to be pretty bad. That’s why if you wanted to say, “How accurate is any given article?
Well, when you see an article that happened, how accurate is that article? Its usually, you read it, and you say that’s actually not at all what happened. That’s usually how it goes.
Well, that’s true for all the articles. Its not just true for the things that you’re an expert in. Its true for all the articles.
If instead, we allow a vast number of people who are experts in that field, or who were there or are there right now, you’ve got a hundred or a thousand or ten thousand times all the sources of information. Sources of information are going to be more accurate that an expert in the field or are literally there, its really not something that legacy media can compete with.
Legacy media is like a fax machine or like writing letters with a pen and paper compared to the internet. People used to communicate by writing letters, that was the only technology available so they wrote letters. You’d have very slow or mail would get lost. This is literally how they would communicate by sending letters. It would have to be carried by someone on a horse from one person to another.
When they would declare war, half the country wouldn’t even know that war was declared because they didn’t get the mail. Even in the US Civil War, some battles took place well after there was a peace deal signed because they didn’t know that a peace deal had been signed. One of the last battles of the civil war, I think THE last, was right near our Starbase launch site in South Texas. They didn’t realize that the sides declared peace. So it’s kind of like some version of that with legacy media.
My Thoughts
Elon Musk’s X Space conversation with Katherine Brodsky revealed a multifaceted and captivating picture of his vision for the platform. Drawing parallels between Elon and X to various gemstones, we explored the unique qualities and characteristics that make them both remarkable and inspiring. As we look forward to the future of X, we can be confident that with Elon Musk at the helm, the platform is poised for great success and will continue to shine like a true gem as the great Everything App!
I’ve enjoyed putting together Part 2 for you in this X article. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I will be thrilled to share Part 3 soon. Here’s a link to Part 1 – https://x.com/GailAlfarATX/status/1761615813071565103?s=20
Elon’s interview with Ms. Brodsky was two hours in length. There are a lot of chunks of information there. That’s why this is a four-part series. Take care, God bless you, and feel free to comment, that helps me know what you’re thinking and also gives support to my writing.
WHAT'S UP 𝕏 by Gail Alfar 
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