I'm really embarrassed to have once been a Musk fanman (strictly as a space nerd). I know I shouldn't be, but I'm shocked at how much of a mendacious cretin he turned out to be.
He, SBF, and many more like them are just a bunch of Chauncy Gardeners. People convince themselves that they're geniuses until one day the realization dawns that they've been dunces all along.
You can be really smart, even genius, and still make mistakes, or become corrupted by power and wealth.
There isn't a dichotomy between genius and asshole.
I still think Elon's contributions to society are much greater than his flaws.
And his contributions don't come from being a "genius" (there are at least hundreds of thousands of geniuses on Earth) as much as from being extremely hardworking.
I'm not drawing a dichotomy between genius and asshole, I'm saying that Musk has revealed himself to be quite a dumbass in reality. For instance, you have to be exceptionally dumb to pay $44B for a company worth $12B.
I'm not saying he doesn't have some talents. But like SBF and Elizabeth Holmes, his superpower seems to be creating a reality distortion field, not economics, physics, or anything else that makes for a long-term success.
There are a lot of anecdotal stories about teams at Tesla and SpaceX managing up to keep him from making terrible decisions all the time. I used to thing it just grousing, but now I'm not so sure.
Hey, at least Chauncy wasn't delusional about his true powers or self-aggrandizing in seeking more power!
Still, it's a very apt reference these days, maybe all days. The narrative arc feels evergreen, in that the surreal irony feels like it would land (and be thoroughly entertaining!) in any era of human history.
He, SBF, and many more like them are just a bunch of Chauncy Gardeners. People convince themselves that they're geniuses until one day the realization dawns that they've been dunces all along.