13 APPENDIX 1
13 附录1
THE TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY LOVES MESSY FOUNDING TALES. A bit of backstabbing? A hearty helping of deceit? Perfect. And yet, the press has never really dug into the alleged intrigue surrounding Musk's formation of Zip2, nor have reporters examined the very serious allegations of inconsistencies in Musk's academic record.
技术行业总是充满了各种创业传说。是谣言中伤？还是揭发谎言？完美，抑或不完美。本出版社从来没有认真研究过关于马斯克成立Zip2的那些所谓的阴谋诡计，也没有派记者调查过马斯克学业成绩中别人声称的许多矛盾之处。
In April 2007, a physicist named John O'Reilly filed a lawsuit alleging that Musk had stolen the idea for Zip2. According to the lawsuit, filed with the Superior Court of California in Santa Clara, O'Reilly first met Musk in October 1995. O'Reilly had started a company called Internet Merchant Channel, or IMC, which planned to let businesses create primitive, information-packed online ads. A restaurant, for example, could build an ad that would display its menu and perhaps even turn-by-turn directions to its location. O'Reilly's ideas were mostly theoretical, but Zip2 did end up providing a very similar service. O'Reilly alleged that Musk had first heard about this type of technology while trying to get a job working as a salesman for IMC. He and Musk met on at least three occasions, according to the lawsuit, to talk about the job. O'Reilly then went on an overseas trip and struggled to get back in touch with Musk upon his return.
2007年4月，一位名叫约翰·欧莱利的物理学家提起诉讼，他宣称马斯克窃取了他关于Zip2的理念。根据在加州圣克拉拉高等法院进行的诉讼可知，欧莱利是在1995年10月第一次遇见马斯克。当时，欧莱利已经开了一家名为互联网商人频道(IMC)的公司，主要业务是发布简单的以信息为基础的在线广告。比如，一家饭店可以发布一则广告，其中可以展示自己的菜单，甚至是到店的具体路线。欧莱利的想法主要还是存在于理念层面上的，但Zip2把类似的服务付诸实践了。欧莱利宣称，马斯克听到过这类技术，当时他还应聘过IMC的业务员。根据诉讼可知，他和马斯克因为招聘事宜至少见过3次。随后，欧莱利出国旅行去了，他答应一回来就给马斯克答复。
O'Reilly declined to discuss his case against Musk with me. But in the lawsuit, he claimed to have learned about Zip2 through happenstance many years after meeting Musk. While reading a book in 2005 about the Internet economy, O'Reilly stumbled upon a passage that mentioned Musk's founding of Zip2 and its 1999 sale to Compaq Computer for $307 million in cash. The physicist was blown away as he realized that Zip2 sounded a lot like IMC, which had never amounted to much of a business. O'Reilly's mind raced back to his encounters with Musk. He began to suspect that Musk had avoided him on purpose and that instead of becoming an IMC salesman, Musk had run off to pursue the same concept on his own. O'Reilly wanted to be compensated for coming up with the original business idea. He spent about two years making his case against Musk. The case file at the court runs hundreds of pages. O'Reilly has affidavits from people that back up parts of his version of events. A judge, however, found that O'Reilly lacked the necessary legal standing to bring this case against Musk due to issues around how his businesses had been dissolved. The judge ordered O'Reilly to shell out $125,000 for Musk's legal fees in 2010. All these years later, Musk still hasn't made O'Reilly pay.
欧莱利拒绝和我谈论他和马斯克之间的这场官司。但在诉讼中，他声称在遇到马斯克之后的好几年后偶然听说了Zip2。2005年，当欧莱利在看一本关于互联网经济的书时，他偶然发现其中一篇文章提到马斯克创立了Zip2，并且在1999年把它卖给了康柏电脑公司，获得了3.07亿美元的现金收益。这位物理学家当时就震惊了，因为他发现Zip2和IMC看起来惊人地相似，而IMC从来没有做过这么大的生意。欧莱利回想起以前见过马斯克，开始怀疑马斯克是故意避开自己，他并不打算在IMC当一名业务员，而是跑去做了类似概念的公司。欧莱利希望能够获得赔偿，因为是他想出了最初的商业想法。他花了大概两年的时间和马斯克打官司。保存在法院的案件卷宗长达数百页，堆起来有十几英尺那么高。欧莱利找到了好几个证人来支持他的观点，但由于关系到其公司如何被解散的一些问题，一名法官判决欧莱利对马斯克的诉讼缺乏必要的法律依据。2010年，法官要求欧莱利支付马斯克12.5万美元的律师费。这么多年过去了，马斯克还是没有让欧莱利偿付这笔钱。
While playing detective, O'Reilly unearthed some information about Musk's past that's arguably more interesting than the allegations in the lawsuit. He found that the University of Pennsylvania granted Musk's degrees in 1997—two years later than what Musk has cited. I called Penn's registrar and verified these findings. Copies of Musk's records show that he received a dual degree in economics and physics in May 1997. O'Reilly also subpoenaed the registrar's office at Stanford to verify Musk's admittance in 1995 for his doctorate work in physics. “Based on the information you provided, we are unable to locate a record in our office for Elon Musk,” wrote the director of graduate admissions. When asked during the case to produce a document verifying Musk's enrollment at Stanford, Musk's attorney declined and called the request “unduly burdensome.” I contacted a number of Stanford physics professors who taught in 1995, and they either failed to respond or didn't remember Musk. Doug Osheroff, a Nobel Prize winner and department chair at the time, said, “I don't think I knew Elon, and am pretty sure that he was not in the Physics Department.”
在调查过程中，欧莱利了解了马斯克过去的一些情况，这比那场诉讼里的指控更有趣。他发现，宾夕法尼亚大学于1997年才授予马斯克学位，比马斯克自己向媒体宣布的晚两年。我给宾夕法尼亚大学的注册主管打了电话，证实了这些发现。马斯克的履历显示，他在1997年5月获得了经济学和物理学的双学位。欧莱利也要求传唤斯坦福大学的研究生招生主管，证实马斯克是否在1995年进入其学校攻读物理学博士学位。这位研究生招生主管写道，“根据你提供的信息，我们没有找到埃隆·马斯克的入学记录。”当欧莱利要求马斯克的律师提供文件证明马斯克曾经在斯坦福大学深造时，他的律师拒绝了，并声称这一要求是“不合理的举证责任”。我联系了几位斯坦福大学的物理学教授，他们在1995年都带过学生，但他们都不记得马斯克这个人。诺贝尔奖获得者，也是当时的系主任道格·奥谢罗夫说：“我想我不认识埃隆，我很确定他不是物理系的学生。”
In the years that have followed, Musk's enemies have been quick to bring up the ambiguities around his admission to Stanford. When Martin Eberhard sued Musk, his attorney introduced O'Reilly's research into the case. And during the course of my interviews, a number of Musk's detractors from the Zip2, PayPal, and early Tesla days said flat out that they think Musk fibbed about getting into Stanford in a bid to boost his credentials as a fledgling entrepreneur and then had to stick with the story after Zip2 took off.
之后的几年里，马斯克的敌人们不断地提起马斯克是否捏造了斯坦福大学入学记录这件事。当马丁·艾伯哈德起诉马斯克时，他的律师在庭审过程中提到了欧莱利的发现。在我采访的过程中，很多在Zip2、PayPal和特斯拉起步时期批评过马斯克的人都说，他们认为马斯克谎称曾经就读于斯坦福大学是为了提升自己的资历，毕竟他当时只是个初出茅庐的企业家，当Zip2开始腾飞之后，他只好继续圆这个谎。
At first, I, too, felt like there were a lot of oddities surrounding Musk's academic record, particularly the Stanford days. But, as I dug in, there were solid explanations for all of the inconsistencies and plenty of evidence to undermine the cases of Musk's detractors.
During the course of my reporting, for example, I found evidence that contradicted O'Reilly's timeline of events. Peter Nicholson, the banker whom Musk had worked for in Canada, took a stroll with Musk along the boardwalk in Toronto before Musk left for Stanford and chatted about the incarnations of something like Zip2. Musk had already started writing some of the early software to support the idea he'd outlined to Kimbal. “He was agonizing whether to do a PhD at Stanford or take this piece of software he'd made in his spare time and make a business out of it,” Nicholson said. “He called the thing the Virtual City Navigator. I told him there was this crazy Internet thing going on, and that people will pay big money for damn near anything. This software was a golden opportunity. He could do a PhD anytime.” Kimbal and other members of Musk's family have similar memories.
在采访的过程中，我似乎发现了能够驳倒欧莱利事件的时间轴证据。比如，马斯克在加拿大时给银行家彼得·尼克尔森打过工。在马斯克离开公司，进入斯坦福大学求学之前，他曾经和马斯克在多伦多的一座木板桥上一起散过步，他们还讨论了Zip2之类的话题。当时马斯克已经向金巴尔描述过他的想法，并开始编写早期的软件。“他苦恼于是应该去斯坦福读博士，还是利用他在闲暇时间做出来的这款软件去做生意，”尼克尔森说道，“他给这个软件起名为‘虚拟城市导航’(Virtual City Navigator)。我告诉他，互联网正在飞速发展，人们愿意为此花大价钱。这个软件是个绝好的机会。博士什么时候都能读。”金巴尔和马斯克的其他家庭成员对这件事也有印象。
Musk, speaking at length for the first time on the subject, denied everything alleged by O'Reilly and does not even recall meeting the man.
马斯克首次开腔谈起这件事，他否认了欧莱利宣称的所有事实，甚至否认曾经见过他。“他是个彻头彻尾的小人，”马斯克说，“我好像是他起诉的第7个人了。之前六起案件都已经和解了。从他第一次提出诉讼开始，这一切就是胡扯。他说的与事实完全不符，但他后来开始调查一些事情，开始修改他的说辞，因此后来有些事听起来像真的似的，不再那么荒谬了。我肯定我没有见过个人。”
“He's a total scumbag,” Musk said. “O'Reilly is like a failed physicist who became a serial litigate. And I told the guy, ‘Look, I'm not going to settle an unjust case. So it's just like don't even try.' But he still kept at it. His case was tossed out twice on demur, which means that basically even if all the facts in his case were true, he would still lose.
“欧莱利只是个失败的物理学家，专门找人打官司要求赔偿。其他人都已经和解了。而我告诉他：‘这不公平的案子我不打算和解。所以你最好收手。’但他依然坚持打官司。他的案子因为立案有异议而被驳回两次，这意味着即使他在案子里宣称的是事实，他也赢不了。这个家伙在睁眼说瞎话。他提起的整个诉讼就是个彻头彻尾的谎言。”
“He'd tried his best to like torture me through my friends and personally [by filing the lawsuit]. And then we've got summary judgment. He lost the summary judgment. He appealed summary judgment, then several months later lost the appeal and I was like, ‘Okay, fuck it. Let's file for fees.' And we were awarded fees from when he appealed. And that's when we sent the sheriff after him and he claimed that he had no money basically. Whether he did or didn't I don't know. He certainly claimed he had no money. So we were like either we've got to like impound his car or tap his wife's income. Those didn't seem like great choices. So, we decided that he doesn't have to pay back the money he owes me, so long as he doesn't sue anyone else on frivolous grounds. And, in fact, late last year or early this year [2014], he tried to do just that thing. But, whoever he sued was aware of the nature of my judgment and contacted the lawyer I used, who then told O'Reilly, ‘Look, you need to drop the case against these guys or everyone's going to ask for the money. It's kind of pointless to sue them on frivolous grounds because you're going to have fork over the winnings to Elon.' It's like go do something productive with your life.”
“他尽其所能地通过我的朋友或者亲自来折磨我。然后我们等到了即决判决。他输了。他再次提出上诉，几个月后，上诉也输了。这时我就火了：‘可恶，让他赔我律师费。’他上诉的时候就应该赔我们钱。当时，我们要求司法长官强制他赔钱，但他说没钱。我不知道他到底有没有钱，他就是声称自己没有钱，所以我们打算没收他的车子或者扣他妻子的工资。这些似乎都不是很好的选择。所以，我们决定只要他不再做这种无聊的事去起诉别人，我们就不要他赔钱了。事实上，就在去年年底或者今年(2014年)年初，他又去起诉别人了。不过，不管他起诉的是谁，他们都知道我的判例，所以他们联系了我当时的律师，律师告诉欧莱利：‘你最好别起诉这些人，别想要钱。再做这种事就没意思了，因为你得把赢来的钱赔给埃隆。’你应该去做点有意义的事。”
“有段时间我的维基百科页面上出现了好多负面的评论。这些文字都是一个叫迪拉克的编辑放上去的，他是个郁郁不得志的物理学家，虽然有才气，但没有获得应得的名气。我强烈怀疑他就是约翰。这个混蛋！”
说到欧莱利，后来还发生了一连串更妙的事情。
As for his academic records, Musk produced a document for me dated June 22, 2009, that came from Judith Haccou, the director of graduate admissions in the office of the registrar at Stanford University. It read, “As per special request from my colleagues in the School of Engineering, I have searched Stanford's admission data base and acknowledge that you applied and were admitted to the graduate program in Material Science Engineering in 1995. Since you did not enroll, Stanford is not able to issue you an official certification document.”
关于马斯克的学术记录，马斯克给了我一份由研究生录取办公室主管朱迪斯·哈考提供的日期为2009年6月22日的文件。其中写道：“根据我工程学院同事的特别要求，我查询了斯坦福大学的录取数据库，我发现，你曾于1995年被我校材料科学工程专业研究生院录取过。但由于你没有来报名，所以斯坦福大学没有发给你任何正式的证明文件。”
Musk also had an explanation for the weird timing on his degrees from Penn. “I had a History and an English credit that I agreed with Penn that I would do at Stanford,” he said. “Then I put Stanford on deferment. Later, Penn's requirements changed so that you don't need the English and History credit. So then they awarded me the degree in '97 when it was clear I was not going to go to grad school, and their requirement was no longer there.
关于取得宾夕法尼亚大学学位的时间误差，马斯克也给出了解释。“我和宾夕法尼亚大学商量好了，历史课和英语课的学分要到斯坦福去修，”他说，“然后我延期去斯坦福就读。后来，宾夕法尼亚大学的要求变了，无须再修英语课和历史课的学分。所以他们在1997年授予我学位，当时我已经不打算去读研究生了，所以他们的要求对我来说没什么影响。”
“I finished everything that was needed for a Wharton degree in '94. They'd actually mailed me a Wharton degree. I decided to spend another year and finished the physics degree, but then there was that History and English credit thing. I was only reminded about the History and English thing when I tried to get an H-1B visa and called the school to get a copy of my graduation certificate, and they said I hadn't graduated. Then they looked into the new requirements, and said it was fine.”
“我在1994年读完了所有课程，满足沃顿商学院颁发学位的要求。事实上，他们真的寄给我一张学历证书。我决定再花一年去攻读物理学的学位，但当时有历史和英语学分的要求。我收到关于历史和英语学分这件事的通知时，正打算去拿H-1B(特殊专业人员/临时工作签证)工作签证，我打电话给学校，想要获得一份学位证书，学校答应了。”