Why Elon Musk Has an "Idiot Index" at SpaceX 

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I'm reminded that a pound of iron is extremely cheap, but when fashioned into sewing needles, that same pound of iron increases in value hundreds of times.

Wow, don't ever tell Elon how much Twitter was.🤣

Elon: "If you don't know this weird accounting metric that I invented, I'll treat you like shit."

So let’s just use more expensive raw materials, and the idiot index will improve 😁

Some parts have low material cost but need to be produced on expensive machinery, others using ip. So often the cost of materials is irrelevant. What's relevant is whether the part is good value or not.

Isn't the Idiot Index just a very small part of the complex Cost Management that is done by every manufacturer in the world?

The idiot index is what the name says. One Snapdragon SoC can cost $100, but the raw parts, ten microgram of silicon, one gram of epoxy resin may be cost five cents. That has a very high idiot index, and there is no way to reduce it...

His 'idiot index' is itself not very bright. For example, with microchips, the cheapest chips are quite cheap, and the most expensive ones are quite pricey, yet the cost of 'raw materials' is trivial in each case. You need to employ a much more comprehensive paradigm to judge what is a reasonable cost for 'item A'.

This isn't just an Elon thing. This is a hard lesson about the corporate world. When you have a crucial deliverable, bosses don't care about what's going on in your private life. It's not fun, but it is the truth!!!

Behind the lenses he is looking at these components to answer the age old question "Is it worth manufacturing the item on my own?" vs purchasing it.

What's the idiot index on buying Twitter for 40 Billion?

It's easy to be a "leader" when you are the main shareholder and the guy who gets all the reward and the limelight.

Landing the Rocket...When Gravity is Free is a Hugh Idiot Index...🤣

as an industrial engineer I can say that only an idiot could think about an index like that

My idiot index is how much a person admires Elon Musk :D

I like the name : “Idiot Index”. But I would take a different index. “Total cost” vs “Payload”. Just googled, whether Balloons are already used instead of rocket and found : Launching Rockets from Balloons is About to be a Thing, But We Need a Better Name than “Rockoons” I am not sure, whether I like the name *Rockoons* . But I like the idea and we should forget about classic Rockets. There are a couple of other ideas, but Rockoons can be the cheapest.

Super cool story. Now I'm thinking, how do you use the idiot index on software?

The only one who will not be held accountable for a bad idea is Elon himself.

The cost of machining is the only thing that adds value to raw materials. It would be something like human labor * technique + raw materials * automation squared. Obviously something like AI could be used to up the weight of "technique", but that'll add a bit to labor cost because you need more specialized labor. This "Idiot Index" is basically the exact same process every corporation is using for cost savings, and something close to Capitalism's push to make everything, including labor itself some kind of market externality they can push the cost of off on someone else's shoulders, so they can steal that value as profit as well. Literally nothing new here to see, aside from tricking people to do rocket science for minimum wage.

This is a pretty stupid index. Lets take some products with Really large ratios. Product. A silicon chip. Raw material. A pinch of sand. Product, a single strand of DNA containing the genome for a custom designed organism. Input, raw amino acids. In the DNA example, designing the custom life form is going to take a lot of smart biologists, who want paid. Designing chips takes a lot of smart chip designers. The equipment to turn silicon into the chip is also expensive. Labor and equipment costs are real and important and having them be larger than material costs isn't a sign that anything is wrong.

Please make one about Boltzmann

Lucas's personal issues notwithstanding, Elon was asking the right questions.

The way you repeatedly saying f ing f ing .. its hilarious 😆 😂

There is a vast over-simplification using "idiot-index" in this video. This isn't something new from Elon Musk. It has been around for decades: think of Lean and The Toyota Way and the topic is far more nuanced than just slashing costs. I hope they didn't cut out so many of the processes to make the Raptor engine cheaper so as to make it unsafe. As an engineer, I can tell you that this is a fine line to thread and any poor decision making to make cost an issue over safety would ultimately have real-world life ending consequences. Think of Challenger, Columbia and more recently Boeing. And, pssst, physics also doesn’t care about the bottom line.

Not wrong. These are high pressure situations. It is his managerial tactic and obviously it works very well for him. It is not easy to do great things. If you are looking for easy, there are plenty more mundane jobs out there

In military SpecForces the Motto is NEVER QUIT-But- I added: “I CHEAT FAIR” ! ? and got a Hug from Commanding Officer ! ?

This "idiot index" is like evaluate the price of a rock by the price of constituent elements...

Elon is the benchmark for the idiot index.

I've had the chance to know managers from Tesla. Vision and capabilities aside, Elon is frequently cruel and capricious in how he treats people. He's a nightmare boss. People leave scarred.

I have seen this many times... when people care about humanity and great causes they often don't care about their neighbour difficulties and the opposite is also very true... people shouting against great human causes saying it's just bullshit, but cannot pass in front of a bag people without giving them money.

My brother had died when I was on the job, I got ZERO sympathy or understanding in my hard times by coworkers or management

The us government needs to use the idiot index with pharmaceutical, medical treatments, military purchases and all contracts with companies, even with Space X and Tesla. Think of how much $$$ taxpayers would save.

Whenever I encountered processes or procedures that were broken, I didn't listen to those who said, "Oh, that's always been broken," "we've been trying to fix that for years," or "there's no way you can fix that - not enough time!" I simply fixed it. Sometimes it took me weeks. On occasion, it would take me months. "Do, or do not. There is no try." - Yoda

I was impressed by Musk's comment about "people having a strong feedback loop". If you have never taken control theory in college, you may not grasp the power of feedback loops to control the world. Almost all control equipment in the whole world uses some form of closed loop feedback. In that class, and a few years later in my first job, I realized that feedback was the key to people being able to improve things. No one can get things right the first time, except by accident, and no one executes perfectly every day. The key to making improvements is repeated refinement of process to achieve a particular goal based on new information becoming available. Interesting, I could not convince my managers of this fact. Managers typically run in an open-loop. That is, they issue orders and expect other people to make them happen. Having said all this, it can be exhausting to be part of that feedback loop. The agile s/w methodology basically is a codification of a closed feedback loop. A fellow programmer some years ago said that she preferred the waterfall methodology because it was a lot more peaceful. Closed loop can make you feel like you are on a mission from God, or "Gad", as John Belushi would have said.

Dude should have just scribbled his name and the date, and handed it over, and said "okay, here. Resigned" The level of 'fuck this shit' is off the charts here.

In Kantian philosophy, particularly in the realm of ethics, the idea of dehumanizing someone and treating them merely as a means to an end is often associated with the concept of instrumentalization or instrumental reasoning. This is closely related to Immanuel Kant's principle of treating humanity, whether in oneself or in others, always as an end in itself, and never merely as a means to some other end. When individuals are reduced to mere instruments or tools for the achievement of one's goals, their intrinsic worth as rational beings capable of moral agency is disregarded. This dehumanizing treatment undermines their dignity and autonomy, which are central to Kantian ethics. Instead of recognizing and respecting the inherent value and rationality of individuals, they are objectified and exploited solely for the benefit of others.

really gives me Homer working for Mr. Scorpio vibes

I think some context is missing here. I work in manufacturing as a machinist. It's been my experience that it is true, that engineers will occasionally over-engineer a part. Eg; opt to machine a part, that would be cheaper to fabricate. But fabrication comes with its own costs as well. Fabricated parts are usually much cheaper, but they also can require large costs in tooling to get to that point...and if you aren't running large volumes of parts, the cost can be counter-productive. You don't want to spend millions in fabrication tooling, when you're focused on low volume prototype parts. In that case, the high cost of machining, might still be the better way to go. Also, certain parts are high precision for a reason, and there is really no getting around it. When the video said that "Elon cares about humanity, but in a macro sense", I found that kind of troubling. It initially implies that he's potentially willing to cut corners and make sacrifices...maybe where human lives are concerned?

It seems that the Optimus Robot’s job is to lower the Idiot index. There is one aspect of the idiot index that may go unnoticed. What if you design a rocket with 33 engines and you lower the idiot index by half but ignore the fact that your design Multiplies the idiot index 33x.

People giving businesses far too much credit. Most people accept parts for what they are. Aka Idiots

I'd be depressed too if I knew I wasn't going to build a cabin on Mars.

My favorite types of videos on this channel

Quade told him to "Get your ass to Mars!" when he was a boy.

"Idiot index" is used to judge one product floating over value or not, it's super meaningful not only considering on manufacture but also throughout human being life as well.

can't decide if elon is the world's smartest pseudo-intellectual or the world's dumbest intellectual

This ratio is like BMI. It can be fudged if there's not enough context. What if I said the raw material and the product was the same price thereby bringing it closer to a 1:1 ratio? Like making the raw material more expensive but the production is still the same price. Who is the idiot now?

Im reminded of you need to break eggs to make an omelette.

Humanity is not going to Mars if there is no humanity left in us.

looks like Elon wants to run a marathon distance with 100m dash pace. Non-sustainable, it's sad, as he will have more delays as many people will leave and they will spent more time on hiring and onboarding, than actual work

A place I worked, a steel agitator for a liquid waste tank.... 2' across, three simple fan blades, no moving parts...probably the same difficulty to create as a 20lb weight plate. Several thousand dollars. Yeah, it's good steel, but omg the price for a single piece of steel that was maybe 20lb.

There was s some truth to this. When I was in engineering school, I had a teacher that had worked with a NASA contractor. He said he would routinely see someone take a regular hareware screw off the shelf that cost about 5 cents at the time, put in in a bag and write "Space Screw, $1.25.". There has traditionally been a lot of graft in the industry. But "how much is your customer willing to pay for an item" is also how we determine what the price point of an item will be. The highter the price point over cost of material, labor, maintenance and plant build, the more profit is made, and the more investors will invest in the product. So, now the manufacturer has investors, whom by law have to see a profit on their investment. But they have a buyer who wants to lower the price point signifagantly. Easy, just lower your profit margin, right? The answer to this question will be left to those who work in actual corporate America... Or any other country.

How can you all fall for it.?

It's literally impossible to get anything done - and I mean anything - without stepping on someone's toes. It's just life.

So simple, yet useful.

elon really pulled "physics doesn't care about your feeling" LOL

Musk is pretty high up on the index,emotionally

If you want to learn about rockets, join SpaceX internship program, not brilliant sponsorship. ~ SpaceX employee.

I don't regret passing on the opportunity to work in Sparks Nevada, because my talents would not have been applied there. The idiot index was coined by a dispassionate overzealous idiot. @DNomer said it very well: His 'idiot index' is itself not very bright. For example, with microchips, the cheapest chips are quite cheap, and the most expensive ones are quite pricey, yet the cost of 'raw materials' is trivial in each case. You need to employ a much more comprehensive paradigm to judge what is a reasonable cost for 'item A'.

What is the cost of that block or marble? What is the cost of the finished statue? Michaelangelo was an idiot.

Great material! Impressive management methods from inside and outside a man`s perspective; cause and effect of collaboration in time due to planned outcome 100% and human disadvantages; math and language modelling methodology... Wow! Thank you!

Can you explain this to Apple CEO?

Fantastic Video its changed my thinking forever THank You 🙂👍

Hurry could mean that you miss good things..there is a balance. Most important is comitted and open minded

Bottom line is, it's easy to say anything rude to others when you got billions dollar

AS USUAL musk TAKES SOMEONE'S IDEA AND MAKES IT HIS OWN... I'M SURE HENRY FORD USED THE SAME RATIO BUILDING THE MODEL T...

Things cost money for three reasons: labor, rent, and lack of competition. Elon, someone has to make the damn thing, and you have to pay them to do it.

What is the idiot index of starship vs a water deluge system?

This wasn't actually about the "idiot index". Would have been better if it had been.

In rocket science and implementation, there is NO room for error ! If Boeing really believed that adage, aircraft parts would not fall off !!

No, guys, the idiot index makes perfect sense. Your goal is to reduce the manufacturing cost. Anything that is not materials is part of the manufacturing process. It quickly sorts items by how much they cost to manufacture, it directly separates out the processing cost. Something with a low idiot index is something that costs nothing to process from raw materials into an item, and probably not worth caring about. Something with a high ratio is something complicated and difficult to make, and something worth scrutinizing more deeply. Even costs that can't be reduced, like say, we manufacture silicon into microchips and you can't get the cost down - identifying that the microchip is the expensive part isn't just about finding a cheaper way to make the chip, it prompts you to go, "well, can we make it work without using that microchip at all?" Maybe you can optimize your code and use a slower, cheaper chip. Maybe you can do the task on another chip you already have doing something else. Maybe you can rearrange your process and find a way to meet your goal completely throwing out the task that chip was doing. Maybe you could use a cheaper, off the shelf part to do the task instead of something custom. Or maybe the part is really expensive because it's really big and hard to transport. Then you start to consider things like, "well, instead of one big thing, can we make multiple small things that do the job?" or "Can we make it in parts and assemble it on site?" or "Can we just transport the raw materials and then make it all directly on site?" or "can we move the manufacturing or the destination to a location by the sea, so we can put it on a giant boat and move it that way instead of on a truck?" This is really in line with Elon's big engineering ethos: "Make your requirements less dumb". Rather than coming up with a better solution to your problem, it's almost always orders of magnitude more effective to move the goal posts and come up with an easier problem in the first place. Don't solve hard problems, spend that effort looking for easy problems that get you what you want. It's all a "the best part is no part" thing. I recall he gave a specific example - there was a layer of insulating fiberglass on Teslas. When it was identified as a bottleneck in manufacturing, they started to ask, "well what is this for?". After asking the battery team, they said it was for sound proofing. When they went to ask the sound team, they said it was for the batteries, it was fire safety. After hearing that, both teams went, "no it's not?" and then they realized. The battery guys didn't need it, the sound guys didn't need it, "Why on earth do we even have this then?" and threw it out, making an entire assembly line and logistics supply chain for acquiring it and getting the cars to the assembly line to have it installed obsolete. Of course, naturally, you're going to have more metrics than JUST the idiot index.

Too many people think that the Raptor engine is a done deal when the reality is that the jury is still out as to whether the Raptor engine design is up to the task. The Raptor 2 is an improvement on Raptor 1 with increases in performance and thrust and a reduction in the the amount of parts which reduces the amount of time to manufacture and test. But that is for nought if the engines can't be reliably re-lit and are insufficient in lifting the required payload. Maybe a betting man might be looking for Raptor 5 before all the problems are resolved.

Where the best resources should be use ... to be on mars... or problems like poverty... one of the great resource solving a bs ...

Rr 2:30 ist Me 77 set kar dena Please Ellon

What has been the raw material Value of Twitter?

I read the Isaacson biography of Elon Musk - and concluded that (even if I was highly qualified) I would never work for him (Musk) at SpaceX, Tesla, X, or any other company he runs; he's a relentless slave driver. On the other hand, to be a shareholder in a Musk-run company is a likely path toward substantial investment returns and financial bliss. To summarize: - being a Musk employee == bad - being a Musk company shareholder == good

Isn’t this like a basic business concept.

The idiot index does not mean nothing. There are raw materials that do not cost that much, but working, shaping, welding they are a nightmare. For the same reason if you go to a three star Michelin restaurant you are not paying just the raw materials.

I really want to work for SpaceX, or Tesla, to learn Elon's mindset at work.

I sounds like any other fast food manager I ever had

But does he know his own Infantile Index? People who have worked with, sorry FOR him, say it's very high.

This inspiring leadership works only for the individuals who are Uber-motivated towards the 'cause'. It doesn't scale for most activities (E.g. Twitter).

This is like watching a documentary of Kim youn ill made by the Politburo...and his rockest explode a lot.

Elon scores high on his own index

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If you do this in engineering you can get cheaper parts but you can also get parts that dont do what you want for as long as you want. Example wheels of mars rover. If you use plastic wheels its idiot ratio is low but the wheels wouldnt last for long on mars. Sometimes you can't make it cheaper because it loses its functionality.

Good Job, Elon! That's how the mentors in pioneering industries should command the performance quality as needed. It is also required in essential sectors (construction, medicine, law enforcement, etc.). It does not make sense to pay the price of millions of dollars or lives to not upset someone who is not performing their role.

Remember the Biosphere 2 experiment? Same thing, but tried here on Earth. Failed after 2 years. Good luck future Martians!

While I admire Elon, I probably would never consider working for him if I ever got a chance.

Absolute insanity.

I thougt him having an idiot index meant, that they had a list with all the stupid ideas elon has

lemme guess, no overtime was paid

That is why SpaceX has starship and BlueOrigin still trying to escape karman line.

Its about cutting cost and it worked, yes, but perhaps its good idea to cut parts out overcomplicate things, makes things heavier, and cost $$$, not a fan of the ultimatums, i'm for people getting paid. But paying for things you don’t need it’s a scam.

Elon is not allowing that timing is rounded oof to the next "hour" The FAA - an organization that is operated by bureaucrats is rounding timing pff by years.

Musk seems very committed to always top my idiot index.

SpaceX is where you go if you want to work on things that will fundamentally alter and enable humanity’s future. It is not a place for those looking for a comfortable 9-5 job.

4:28 Best move ever

What are the best parts? Are we going for high score or lowest score? Musk was asking about highest idiot score parts.

The highest priority for mankind is to figure out how to remove bad leaders to stop wars and terrorism. Traveling in space and to Mars doesn't really do anything for the guy in trenches in Ukraine. We need to find a way to get along and not destroy ourselves. Traveling to Mars is just an expensive hobby.