Had a brother, world traveller, super smart in his own way, died last year of covid on his way back from Singapore via Germany, one of my favorite people on earth. He reminded me so much of Musk in how he presented himself to the world. Probably only read a handful of books cover to cover in his life, but in a day, with a little research, he could speak the jargon of whatever field he wanted. Mastered a few things too: bee keeping, covert agriculture, amateur astronomy, pragmatic hacking, salt-water aquariums, culinary arts, the streets. Conned a lot of people into believing he was x, y, and z. Lived a fun, impulsive, exhilarating, adventurous life.
I don't know how well read Musk truly is, though I know he exaggerates his capabilities and achievements in much the same way my brother did--a little truth propping up a big lie (that he may well be convinced of). Both are quick to embrace a logical error and accept one side over another with seeing that both sides have valid positions.
When Musk speaks, I hear the con. Compared to my brother, Musk is just a con born with means. My brother's vision for the world was not extremely different from what Musk's seems to be. My brother'd have invested in rockets too, would've tried to go to Mars, claim that he was an engineer when he isn't. Probably had some good ideas to offer the whole shebang too. But tech/sci genius he was not, though he could have been a true intellectual creator if he hadn't spent his time rubbing shoulders with people networking rather than cultivating an inner garden of wisdom.
Still there remains and important place for these kinds of people. They create mass movements, wanted or unwanted, and direct great swathes of people towards their desired goals. The timeline of History is often marked off by these curious types of "great" men--cult leaders not the least among them.
As for my brother, though we came from a solid middle class family, it wasn't in the cards for my brother to rise to greatness (though it would have been a surprise to nobody). Still, 80-90% of those that met him remain to this day convinced that he was a certified genius that had had incredible adventures and accomplished impossible things (even after the cracks in reality began to show in his stories). Sad thing was, he had done amazing things, but only extraordinary compared to common people.
Musk is amazing, not because he is uncommonly intelligent, or born with great ideas, but because he can sway masses to his purpose and direct energies to a goal, just like my wonderful brother, may he RIP. Musk just had the both the fortune in cash and situation to capitalize on his position. Either way, both are and were crazy narcissists whose sense of self worth is over inflated by some deranged anti-social solipsism. Boy was my brother fun to be around. I imagine if you're in his inner circle, Musk is much the same. But he's off his rocker no matter what side of the political spectrum you fall on. Good or bad, these movers and shakers of history all seem to have a little bit of this bald faced, narcissistic, overly confident liar in them all. They will do or say anything to advance their agenda, all a means to an ends only their warped psychology can fully understand.
The beauty of capitalism is that free markets determine the value of nearly everything we buy.
priceonomics.com
