> To be fair, I think he thought he could save us.
Depends on who “us” is. Musk and his close friends? Sure. The rest of us? Well, in his view, the majority of humanity is a stepping stone to a future for his lineage to live on through space travel and colonization. This isn’t an exaggeration, though I don’t have my sources on this handy as it’s been a while so take it with a grain of salt. But Musk’s altruism has largely always been about making himself look good, and less about helping people.
Can you expand on that?as written I can't make much sense of your comment.
FTR I don't think he thought he could save us, I think he thought he could do cool stuff (space and EVs) and now says climate change isn't as bad as he used to think (despite mountains of evidence to the contrary).
If you repeat your lies enough, you'll end up believing them yourself. Especially if you surround yourself with yes-men. It's entirely possible Musk genuinely believed he was a savior of humanity.
I think there's a long way between what you're saying (which is true particularly as there seem to be a lot of thin skinned leaders of the tech industry) and ending up being responsible for teenage mental health crises, assisting genocide and destroying foreign aid.
You don't hear this sort of stuff about ebays founder, for instance.
Normal people who have basic needs met will self actualize. Elon like most of us in the juseo-Christian/Hollywood West, sees himself as a potential messiah; Bruce Wayne or Tony stark or bono or something. A good thing that, what kendrick Lamar called “the anxiety of influence.” Should not the richest man want to save the world? Alas, a messiah complex is short lived in the public sector. Lazy narcissists belong in politics, crazy narcissists in industry. Elon is the latter.
