TL;DR- Elon Musk is portraited as an outcast billionaire genius who can achieve scientific breakthroughs better than anyone else, but this is simply the result of a good public relations performance. He may appear to be a revolutionary-minded innovator changing the future and perhaps those are his intentions, but this distracts us from the fact that he acts like any other businessman trying to gain market control now owning 27% of all active satellites and producing luxury electric cars that only few can obtain. Other issues show Musk’s lack of cleverness: his questioning of COVID response, his sense of superiority on any subject despite his lack of expertise, and the numerous failures and problems within his products. Elon Musk undoubtedly has a list of impressive milestones with startup companies like Tesla and SpaceX, and now as the wealthiest person as of January 2021, he has become somewhat of a mythologized figure with an increasing cult following. His quirky tweets and responses, his visionary drive to colonize Mars, and his laid-back attitude set him apart from other more formal, and business-oriented billionaires. This due to his Public Relations approach. Tesla and Musk have stopped engaging publicly with the traditional news media, instead of relying on Musk’s Twitter account, the company’s YouTube channel, and other social media influencers [1]. This approach has been very successful for Musk but this distracts from Musk’s business activities and creates an illusion of who he really is. Elon Musk is portrayed as a revolutionary figure who can do ‘science’ better than anyone else, but his ideas and products have multiple flaws. For example, Tesla, although being extremely successful recently, does not live up to its vision of revolutionizing the automobile industry by transitioning into electric vehicles. Other companies like Kia, Toyota, and Ford have also influenced the transition into electric equally with more affordable automobiles [2]. Tesla is more of a luxury car brand that cannot attract sufficient buyers on their change the industry, only a wealthy few. This is without recognizing the flaws in Tesla’s automobiles such as the autopilot flaws which led to fatal accidents and the malfunctioning of the Model 3 reported in 2019 [3]. Despite a history of failed business projects and setbacks, like being rejected from Zip2 and Netscape and humble beginnings in both SpaceX and Tesla, Musk has no trouble pandering on other people’s ideas. His bare-knuckle management style has been documented by past employees which include assigning impossible tasks and working 24 hours a day, yelling at executives in front of their spouses, and firing his assistant after taking a vacation [4]. Aside from his business successes and failures, Elon Musk demonstrates certain delusional or even anti-authoritarian tendencies during the COVID-19 pandemic threatening to move his main plant after the local government of Fremont, California order to keep his plant closed. This doesn’t set a good example after a number of his employees tested positive for the virus after tweeting: “The coronavirus panic is dumb” and “This is fascist. This is not democratic. This is not freedom.” [5]. I agree Elon Musk has revolutionized several industries, but it's very clear that his quirky and inspiring exterior covers the questionable acts and history of problems that make him similar to other CEOs and entrepreneurs who do everything they can to get ahead. [1] Elon Musk Is Now Disrupting Public Relations — For Tesla, At Least https://cleantechnica.com/2021/01/05/elon-musk-is-now-disrupting-public-relations-for-tesla-at-least/ [2] Why Are Tesla Cars So Expensive? https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/032415/why-are-tesla-cars-so-expensive.asp#:~:text=Tesla%20cars%20are%20expensive%2C%20but,moment%2C%20demand%20is%20outstripping%20supply.&text=The%20other%20main%20reason%20for,supply%20these%20vehicles%20with%20power. [3] 5,000 Tesla Owners Told Us What Elon Musk Got Right and Wrong Quality. https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-tesla-model-3-survey/ [4] The Evolution of Elon Musk: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly https://www.adalo.com/posts/the-evolution-of-elon-musk-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly [5] Can We Finally Stop Listening to Elon Musk Now? https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-05-15/elon-musk-is-many-things-but-wise-isn-t-one-of-them

**Elon Musk is transphobic and like any other billionaire, only concerned with profit** - [He has mocked peoples pronouns repeatedly and refuses to apologise for it] (https://www.seattlepride.org/news/responding-to-elon-musks-pronoun-mockery) - He has voiced support for Donald Trump before - He has built his Tesla empire using climate change as a huge marketing pull but he clearly does not care about climate change- supporting Trump and Space X shows this, this is extremely hypocritical.

**Considering his professional misjudgments and the content of his character, the purported genius of Elon Musk has been grossly overstated** Elon Musk, the centibillionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and founder of PayPal, The Boring Company, Neuralink and OpenAI, is one of the richest people in the world. More often than not, such wealth is equated with a sense of cerebral, professional, even moral superiority; for Musk, however, I could not think of a less fitting description. There are a multitude of reasons why Musk should be brought down to size, including: • Musk is not an entirely self-made man. His father was an electromechanical engineer and property developer who at one point [owned an emerald mine in his native South Africa - during apartheid.](https://www.thelist.com/406823/what-we-know-about-elon-musks-father/) (Musk has called his father an 'evil' man, but this has not stopped him profiting from his empire). • Musk and his brands have a, frankly, disgraceful history of [misogyny](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/05/tesla-sexual-harassment-discrimination-engineer-fired), [racism](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/30/business/tesla-factory-racism.html), [transphobia](https://observer.com/2020/07/elon-musk-grimes-twitter-transphobia-pronouns-suck/), and a [flagrantly mercurial attitude to the needs of others](https://www.gq.com/story/elon-musk-many-provocations). • Musk's first wife, Justine Wilson, has since discussed the emotional abuse she suffered while married to the billionaire, calling herself a ["starter wife"](https://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/a5380/millionaire-starter-wife/) and detailing how Musk didn't understand why Wilson grieved their infant son's death so openly. • Professionally, Musk has had many failures, including being [ousted as CEO from his own company](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-many-failures-of-elon-musk-captured-in-one-giant-infographic-2017-05-24). • After Musk's own submarine was ultimately inconsequential for the rescue of 13 trapped civilians in a Thai cave, Musk called the British diver who criticised his efforts as a vanity project a ['pedo'](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/15/elon-musk-british-diver-thai-cave-rescue-pedo-twitter). • Musk's purported intelligence further came into question after he criticised fears over the coronavirus pandemic as ['dumb'](https://www.cnet.com/news/elon-musk-draws-ire-after-calling-panic-over-coronavirus-epidemic-dumb/), and repeatedly [spread dangerous misinformation](https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/29/21241180/elon-musk-coronavirus-conspiracy-misinformation-tesla). I could go on, but frankly, I would rather not spend anymore time dwelling on the most odious parts of his character. It is true that he is skilled in some areas, but he has repeatedly showed us that what he perhaps has in business acumen or scientific knowledge, he makes up for with his [complete lack of sense](https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/elon-musk-tesla-spacex-420-a8483291.html). However, beyond Musk as an individual, we must further interrogate why billionaires are so societally lauded. Why _are_ they so valued? Do we as people share a deep envy for the lavishness of his circumstances? Or is our hyperfixation with the super rich borne out of a desire to knock them off their high horse? It's true what they say that money does not equal happiness - but if you had _everything_ that Elon Musk had, maybe your smirk would be just as nauseating.

**One thing I do find great about him is his somewhat unparalleled drive and attitude about "big things".** - I certainly don't dismiss in any way at all the points people have made already above; everyone has made fantastic points, and they should definitely be considered when it comes to evaluating Elon Musk. However, just on a general level, in terms of ambition and ability to get stuff done, I find Musk to be potentially unparalleled. - Musk knows how to dream big, but he also knows the technical limits that exist, which is a seemingly hard line to straddle. Pairing idealism with the limits of reality and the realities of technical capability is not easy in any way, and the argument could be made that few other (singularly acting, perhaps) people in history or current day have been able to achieve the same things. (Not in terms of theoretical endeavors---simply confining us here to the arena of practical action in life/society.) Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Nikola Tesla, and a great many others come to mind when I imagine high practical achievers, and Musk might be able to fit into a similar category of high-achievers. - "Musk has an understanding of physics and thermodynamics that has helped him know what boundaries could be successfully pushed," writes Walter Isaacson in [_The New York Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/23/books/review/eric-berger-liftoff-tim-higgins-power-play.html). Isaacson compares him to Steve Jobs, who had similar ambition but apparently not quite as much technical and physical know-how. - Of course these are by no means the most important qualities for someone to have, but I do think they might contribute to a case for Musk's currently singular capacity for idealism coupled with hard reality---and making those things work, for the sake of at least some kind of higher mission or purpose.