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An important thing about Elon Musk that’s widely known in tech circles but perhaps not in the wider world: he’s an ignoramus.
His technical knowledge is shallow and careless, full of parroting and fantasizing.
People who’ve worked on the small amount of code he actually wrote long ago describe his work as an unskilled mess.
At every company he runs, there are teams of people devoted to keeping him away from the engineers, who largely succeed to the extent that he forgets they exist.
1/3
Musk does have a special talent, but the talent is for hype: projecting the kind of overconfidence that gets investors who also have shallow technical understanding to give him money.
That kind of overconfidence •requires• ignorance. Any actual understanding of technical details might give him a dangerous sense of nuance and complexity, which of course would scare away investors looking for an infallible Supergenius Unicorn who can offer huge returns.
He's basically P. T. Barnum.
2/3
One of my students remarked the other day that Musk seemed like a supervillain straight out of a comic book — and I agree. Sort of Lex Luthor but a dumbass.
This piece you gives interesting dimension to that observation: charismatic incompetence can be appealing as a destructive force when people don’t believe the status quo is worth saving.
3/3
And I guess I need to close the obvious-but-needs-stating loop on that:
This nihilistic desire for destruction is how fascism gets in the door.
4/3
Responding to popular replies:
- I understand why some people push back against post 2, and yes, I understand the urge to refuse that dingbat credit for •anything•, but…look, if we're going to understand the present moment, then I think we do need to reckon with the fact that being a con artist •is• in fact a special skill. It's a skill we need to figure out how to counter (individually, institutionally, and societally).
- Comparisons to Edison (credit for others' work) and Marconi (same but extra-fashy) and Howard Hughes (unhinged from reality) are all apt, but I think all the above were quite a bit brighter than Musk. Same with my Barnum comparison. And on that note, @hugoestr makes a good point:
https://functional.cafe/@hugoestr/113535006880063784
- Finally, shout out to everyone in the replies who managed to pivot this into a “bUt THe dEmoCRatS” train of thought. Good job! I'm impressed at your dedication!
@inthehands maybe they’ll stop…
one day (snorts)
@inthehands @hugoestr so many people who know what they’re talking about keep losing their shirt shorting musk. He’s a master at missing targets that should absolutely smash the genius narrative but being able to continue distracting capital so the scorecard that matters (net worth) keeps going up
@virtualinanity @hugoestr
Oh, I wouldn't short him. I'm serious in post 2/3 about this being a special skill, and our society offers lavish rewards to con artists. I argue only for seeing him for what he is.
@inthehands @hugoestr well put. Just so frustrating that as a society we correlate net worth with being right
@inthehands @hugoestr Well said. Phony Stark's delusions of adequacy would soon come unstuck without the, as noted, emerald mine up his but that he was born with...