Elon Musk pitched a rebrand for his error-riddled on-line encyclopedia, Grokipedia, suggesting that it’s going to sooner or later be named Encyclopedia Galactica—an homage to science fiction creator Isaac Asimov.
“When Grokipedia is good enough (long way to go), we will change the name to Encyclopedia Galactica,” he wrote on X.
He then added, “Copies will be etched in stone and sent to the Moon, Mars and beyond. This time, it will not be lost.”
Encyclopedia Galactica was featured in Asimov’s “Foundation” novels as a repository of all human data to be saved for hundreds of years. An iconic literary determine, Asimov’s writings proceed to encourage generations of engineers, scientists, and creators.
A Tesla robotic, one other of Elon Musk’s tasks that nobody requested for, is displayed on March 26.
It’s extremely unlikely that Grokipedia—and by extension, Musk—will ever have such a legacy.
Grokipedia, which launched in October, is a knockoff of the much more authoritative Wikipedia. The articles on Grokipedia have been manipulated to misrepresent information and historical past, aligning with Musk’s pet obsessions and bigoted world view.
For example, the positioning denies the important thing position that slavery performed within the financial basis of the USA and falsely claims that the proliferation of pornography contributed to the unfold of HIV/AIDS.
As an alternative of an authoritative encyclopedia, the positioning is simply one other a part of Musk’s campaign to advertise hate and misinformation that started together with his buy of Twitter—which he renamed X.
This level was emphasised quickly after the launch of Grokipedia. A number of media retailers—together with The Guardian and Wired—identified the inaccuracies on the positioning, however as a substitute of taking them into consideration, Musk argued {that a} huge conspiracy was underway.
Associated | Musk pushes wild conspiracy to defend his Wikipedia knockoff
Equally, Musk’s promise that Encyclopedia Galactica entries could be preserved on Mars and the moon is simply the most recent chapter in his lengthy historical past of selling grandiose plans for the longer term that completely fail to materialize.
Musk has repeatedly promised that his firms will produce a fleet of driverless vehicles, tunnels between cities, mind chips, robotic taxis, and robotic maids and butlers—with out delivering on any of it.
It’s extremely unlikely that Musk’s Wikipedia ripoff will produce actual information anytime quickly, not to mention something that’s accessible on Mars—and it doesn’t matter what he desires to name it.
