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I doubt SpaceX would be a thing if Elon didn't have engineering capabilities.

I have read that when he gets interested in a technical area, he reads a ton of books at a remarkably fast pace, remembers everything he reads, next analyses everything at a fundamental level, and finally comes up with a radically better plan than anyone else has before. I guess you could call that engineering capabilities.

If that's not engineering I don't know what is.

I had three peers in my entire engineering classes like that. Two became PhDs, one has changed fields and applied himself rapidly.

I wasn't like them, but that ability to understand on a fundamental level, not forget, and then very quickly tackle more and more complex problems so fast was like a superpower. It took me much much longer, without the detailed understanding.

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