Elon Musk Superhero or Supervillain
Should we embrace this new Iron Man or brace for Thanos?
“Maybe it’s time to build that flying metal suit of armor” ~ Elon Musk
Being a superhero or supervillain is just a matter of scale, something Elon has in spades. He aims to save us from climate change by creating a renewable energy economy and transport us to new worlds to help survive a global catastrophe. All sounds pretty heroic, except he also wants his minions to build an underground lair on Mars, which sounds pretty dastardly!
Musk is a complex character, who bears all the hallmarks of a superhero e.g: richest man in the world, passion for fast vehicles, playboy to the stars, however, heroes can be villains in disguise or vice versa. While his intentions appear pure they say: “the road to hell is paved with good intentions,” so to gauge his true character we should probably examine what he has achieved so far and how.
Hero Column
Arguably Musk’s greatest achievements are the companies he helped to create, like SpaceX and Tesla. These vibrant new companies are designed to disrupt industry incumbents, in order to catalyze necessary change.
SpaceX want to end the reign of expensive disposable rockets by building low cost launch vehicles like Starship, the world’s first fully reusable spacecraft and booster. Likely SpaceX will launch 90% of all payload to space this year, using only part reusable launch vehicles, which demonstrates the practicality of this approach. As a side project they created Starlink, a satellite constellation to provide affordable internet for remote consumers and indigenous communities, effectively breaking the satellite internet cartel.
Tesla want to prove electric vehicles are better than anything with an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and currently sell the world’s most popular passenger vehicle, the Model Y crossover (oh the irony). In addition, energy storage is key to a fully sustainable economy, so Tesla brought this technology into the mainstream by mass producing Megapack batteries, capable of storing nearly 4 MWh of backup power for the grid. These two ventures alone created more than 150 thousand well paid jobs – and billions in taxes to support those unable to work.
Probably important to note: Elon provides the initial impetus for companies then fully commits to their longterm success and survival. When Tesla transitioned from large batch to mass production in early 2018, he worked on the production line 24/7 to overcome bottlenecks, and ensure the company’s commercial viability. Similarly at SpaceX, Elon lived at the Boca Chica launch complex for over a year, to oversee a surge in Starship development during the crucial prototype phase.
Last but not least, Elon chose to become a father, a responsibility many overlook in the modern era. Of course he’s gone all in on the idea and currently has 12 children and counting. No doubt we will require intelligent, durable, dedicated people in the future, so Elon has gone above and beyond to fill his quota.
Villain Column
Tesla and SpaceX have seriously disrupted their competitors, like United Launch Alliance, Ford and General Motors, possibly causing their demise in the not too distant future. However, these incumbents are either unwilling or unable to transform themselves into something more conscientious or competitive, so forever destined for twilight. Arguably Elon just sped up the process, like tearing off a plaster. Hopefully this will ensure more jobs are retained in the US and Europe rather than exported to China as their space and automotive industry inexorably grow.
From time to time Elon will decimate his companies, in other words reduce the headcount by one in ten. This usually occurs when they encounter hard times, to maintain profitability and ensure all their workers are “hardcore.” However, these companies need to be extraordinarily efficient to reach their long term goals which requires extraordinary dedication and sacrifice. Fortunately, anyone who has worked for Elon Musk are highly prized by employers, and many go on to found their own companies, creating even more employment.
Overall Elon’s companies are highly successful, which has made him rich as Croesus. However, most of his money is tied up in shares of these companies, which he needs to retain to maintain his position as CEO. In other words he’s paper rich and cash poor, and often resorts to sofa surfing with friends or living in a cheap prefab at Boca Chica. Not what we imagine for the richest man in the world but life is full of irony.
Perception is Everything
Given Elon Musk has made highly rational moves to bring about laudable goals, why do so many people believe he’s a villain? Like most things in life the situation is more complex than at first sight, so let’s delve the depths…
As previously noted, Elon’s companies are designed to be highly disruptive, which means they threaten to disrupt the status quo. However, many powerful parties seek to defend the status quo, hence Elon Musk has become their avowed enemy. Here’s a brief list of his antagonists: -
Mainstream Media – most mainstream media is polarizing i.e. tries to draw you towards either the left or right depending on their editorial policy and ownership. However, Elon is a libertarian who espouses free speech, which requires a more balanced approach. This sets him completely at odds with mainstream media, who go to great lengths to discredit him in anyway possible. A great example: in September 2022 many media sources reported Elon chose to cut-off Starlink service to Ukraine, despite previously donating thousands of Starlink terminals to help them fight Russia. In reality, Ukraine wanted to attack Sevastopol harbor, hence asked Elon to switch on the Starlink service for Crimea to allow them to use naval drones. However, Sevastopol is a strategically important port for Russia, so if Elon had agreed it could have triggered a nuclear war! Wisely he chose not to act unilaterally, and left this decision to someone in the Pentagon or White House.
In addition, Elon has little regard for advertising because he believes the money’s better spent improving his companies’ products, then quality will speak for itself. Unfortunately, advertising revenue is the lifeblood of mainstream media, so Elon’s stance is anathema to most publications, particularly if his view catches on… No surprise most mainstream media outlets have an editorial policy to undermine Elon, in the hope he will buckle and spend billions on advertising...
Short Sellers – many believe Tesla is over-hyped and there have certainly been large swings in its stock, which makes it a prime target for short sellers. Unfortunately, shorts will go to any length to attack the company and view Elon Musk as the weakest link. Their fervent wish is to undermine his credibility to such an extent that he is forced out of his CEO position, no doubt crashing the stock considering he is commonly perceived as the keyman at Tesla. To this end they endlessly feed false and misleading reports to the mainstream media who devour it with gusto, because it serves their own political and financial purposes.
Industry Rivals – Elon has some big rivals across a broad swathe of industry e.g. big oil, automotive and aerospace companies, in other words anyone he threatens to disrupt. Again they will go to any length to discredit him, because by doing so they devalue his companies. Similar to short sellers, their usual tangent of attack is the mainstream media although some chose to litigate directly against his companies.
Politicians – Elon’s libertarian views enrage most politicians who want the electorate to polarize to their more extreme position. Unfortunately for them, Elon has a massive following – around 190 million followers on X alone, which gives him enormous influence. Hence politicians will say almost anything to discredit him, which of course is picked up by mainstream media. A good example was his takeover of Twitter, which had previously been a bastion of the left, and completely overrun by bots (estimated ~90% of Twitter accounts). To make things worse, over the years Twitter had turned into a bloated bureaucracy, plunging it deeply into debt.
“It [twitter] hasn’t booked an annual profit since 2019, and posted a loss in eight years of the past decade. The company’s net loss narrowed in 2021, to $221.4 million from $1.14 billion the previous year.” ~ Wall Street Journal
In order to balance the books, Elon chose to fire ~5,000 employees, many of whom had refused to come into work after Covid. Of course this created thousands of keyboard warriors, with plenty of time on their hands to feed ammunition to politicians and the media. All manner of scorn was poured on Elon for converting it into a forum for free speech, that tolerated a broad range of views and values, which is where we are today.
In conclusion
All told, it seems the world’s out to get Elon, which explains the unprecedented assault on his character. The previous richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, is disparaged but that’s nothing compared to the vitriol poured upon Elon.
Realistically Elon’s situation could only get worse as his companies continue to disrupt the status quo in their unrelenting desire to do what’s right. No wonder he wants to leave for Mars and found a new civilization…
As to whether he’s a hero or villain...I believe actions speak louder than words.