“And from the heavens he descended: Down to the mountain tops and down into your lives!” So sayeth the witnesses and disciples.
If the hype is to be believed, then Elon Musk is something special and unique, and he may very well be all that and more. Most of you have already, just with the headline and picture above, figured out that I don’t exactly believe that.
I do not hate Elon Musk! Quite to the contrary: I’m fascinated by Musk and people like him. It’s way too early in his ascension to deem him good or bad, evil or righteous. He has accomplished what seems like a full plate already but I think he’s only about half way through his ‘master’ plan.
His ‘master plan’ as I see it goes beyond his stated goals of electrifying the car business, or boring gopher tunnels under our cities or having the first Mars born baby, and true alien, named after him. No, I’m sorry to tell you that his ‘master plan’ is way more grounded in an Earth based and old human and animal kingdom trope.
King of the Jungle: that is what he’s trying to be, what he really wants. Dare for a second to be as realistic as possible and put yourself, right now, in his shoes. Money is no obstacle for you; all of your pesky daily needs do not even enter into your thoughts anymore. Can I make the rent cheque at the end of the month: can I afford the medicine for my kid: will I have enough money left over for food to feed the family this week:
On the flip side of that coin: Have a random though or idea and put out a Tweet and have millions like and respond. Speak and not just be heard by those in power but be sought out specifically for your opinions and thoughts on any number of subjects. Sounds great but could you handle it?
These questions are and will never be a part of your existence ever! For most of us, the money side would be enough, wouldn’t it? For personality types like Elon Musk, it’s nowhere even close to enough.
Musk and others like him throughout human history, you can think of a few, believe not just in themselves, have seemingly endless confidence and even a golden touch and with our help, are bathed in a glowing light of near invincibility and dare I say once again, righteousness of purpose.
I always try to put a cool or poignant picture right off the top to draw people’s attention to my post/thoughts. This time I just typed in Google, “In Elon we trust” to see what would come up. All the pictures in the blog are the result of that search. I found lots of Gifs and Memes with quotes from Musk, lots of fan art and photos of people in shirts and sweaters with those quotes and various pieces of art featuring Musk.
So besides being the King of the Jungle, what else does Musk want? Two things and we’ll start with the easiest and most predictable and relatable to those of us who are objective. Elon Musk wants to be the John D. Rockefeller or Andrew Carnegie of the 21st century. There are a couple of other names you could pull from history but Rockefeller in particular would truly be the target.
To say that Rockefeller was and oil and gas man would be literal but it misses the big picture: John D. Rockefeller was an Energy Magnate. All of Musk’s ventures are exactly that, based on energy production and distribution.
Elon Musk is trying to change not just the actual source of energy we use in the 21st century but how, where and when it’s produced and delivered to you. Musk has very little interest in being and auto executive, or tunnel excavator or even astronaut. No, he simply wants to be the one guy in charge of energy.
I think he wants to be the world’s first trillionaire. Not for the money but for the second goal in Musk’s agenda: he needs to prove to someone, likely himself, that he’s right and has the vision like everyone has been telling him.
This is where people like Musk become very dangerous. Yes, a little bit of knowledge can be dangerous and my minimal training and reading in psychology have lead me to these musings about Elon Musk.
I’m not totally blind going into this though. I have a business relationship with someone who did business directly with Musk for several years and knows the man. After several queries’ on the subject, I think I have at least a basic understanding of how he works and some insight as to why.
Most of Musk’s intentions are good and for the actual betterment of human kind. I’m not convinced that batteries are the answer but I know fossil fuels are not. Wind and solar are ideal energy producing means but not enough in bulk or individual mill or panel form at this time.
This is a long winded way of asking, ‘do the ends justify the means?’
In the this particular case in Tesla shutting down its retail stores and eliminating hundreds and thousands of jobs, I don’t think so and think we’re only privy to part of the story and I suspect it’s a bit of devil in the details, literally.
What makes Musk and people like him, Jobs, Trump, any number of TV evangelicals or entertainers like MJ or R Kelly, so dangerous is there inborn belief that they alone have the answers and can save not just the world but the universe. They believe that we simply can’t live or survive without them.
I am not a religious man but there is one thing I believe: God is no man and no man is God. So sayeth me!
No man is worth your worship and servitude. Respect yes, admiration, sure: But blind belief and unquestionable statements, thoughts and actions? Absolutely not!
I think the key to success for people like Musk or Jobs and even Trump is actually pretty simple. They ask and figure out what the end result is that everyone wants and then they work backwards to achieve that goal.
They make us believe and see what we really want and convince us they are the only ones who can deliver what we want and the ends justify the means.
I agree with Mr. Musk and his vision for the future, for the most part, but I will not and do not follow blindly and I will question and challenge him and his type always. I hope you will too.