this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2025
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I've said it before, early on he should have become reclusive and hired PR people to filter his ideas out to his companies and the public, and he'd be considered a prodigy and genius and wouldn't have the self-induced failures he does. But that goes against his narcissistic personality, so it wasn't going to happen.
Who do you hire to filter that? Electric sports cars, reusable rockets, all silly ideas that would never make it. His wealth allows him to try his ideas without the restrictions that everybody else has. That's worth much more than his reputation.
He wants to go to mars. Solar cells and tunnel boring could be long-term buildups of knowledge.
If he is not cleverer than most then it's his recklessness that created his success. Bezos also got the rocket billions but he was not as successful, and many other billionaires and companies could have tried, too.
Even the nazi wave, it is cringe and evil, but it looks like he picked the successful side.
It's not Musk that has to adjust but the general population. If we want to be safed by technology we have to find another hero, or better, build that technology without one.
Honestly, while he's at the high end of things, it's not just him. I think that a lot of celebrities having Twitter or similar on a phone in their pocket makes them really prone to making extremely public statements without giving the statements some consideration. I don't remember the level of bonkers statements in 2025 from celebrities constantly flooding conversation in the 1990s.
Annoys me that people sling "narcissist" at everyone they don't like, but damn, the man is hitting on all 8-cylinders for a diagnosis, and he only needs to hit 5:
Having a grandiose sense of self-importance, such as exaggerating achievements and talents, expecting to be recognized as superior even without commensurate achievements
Preoccupation with fantasies of success, power, beauty, and idealization
Belief in being "special" and that they can only be understood by or associated with other high-status people (or institutions)
Demanding excessive admiration
Sense of entitlement
Exploitation behaviors
Lack of empathy
Envy towards others or belief that others are envious of them Arrogant, haughty behaviors and attitudes [1]
Why do that when he could filter his ideas through ungodly amounts of ketamine instead?