People should be compensated for their results, no?
I find it amusing that his fans reach for these “law of the jungle, apex predator” metaphors to describe him. He’s like the villain of an Ayn Rand novel who has somehow passed himself off as John Galt.
The idea that Tesla’s purpose is primarily anything but a Musk power play is a testament to the brand and cult of personality he’s worked dutifully to create and maintain.
There’s faith that big rockets somehow are the missing link to living on Mars. Otherwise reasonable people hang up their skepticism in favor of ignoring the evidence that Musk craves money and power, in favor of believing that he has a master plan to save the world. It’s infuriating, and ironically in a few years they’ll be the first screaming bloody murder when he fails to live up to their impossible dreams. Of course by then he’ll have enough money that he won’t need to care, and rockets working LEO rather than Mars.
I guess it’s easier praying that a billionaire has a vision to save us from ourselves without us having to make any sacrifices, than it is to do the hard work of saving ourselves.
We are all flawed characters, some more than others. Yet, we all have our parts to play. I can appreciate his positive influences while admitting he’s probably terrible to work for and has a diasterous personal life.
All of these billionaires are despicable crooks, but at least some of them don’t insist, like Musk, that we constantly applaud them.