Elon Musk is not Tony Stark, nor is he Hari Seldon, nor is he Professor Moriarty. He's an actual person: a talented engineer and businessman, a utopian sci-fi n

Elon Musk is not Tony Stark, nor is he Hari Seldon, nor is he Professor Moriarty. He's an actual person: a talented engineer and businessman, a utopian sci-fi nerd who genuinely wants to bring the world closer to being a sci-fi utopia, a shitty person to be in a working or romantic relationship with, someone who expects unrealistic things from himself and others, a megalomaniac with a persecution complex, and an indomitable visionary who actually does great things and is legitimately persecuted, though not as often or as unfairly as he thinks. Can't we just let all those things be true? Are our minds so small and our comprehension so feeble that we have to take this whole person and turn him into a cartoonish hero or villain? I mean, if he can do it, can't you? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9GKeYb_vkQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9GKeYb_vkQ As to this particular thing, it seems relatively simple to me: Elon genuinely wanted to help. He and the other engineers were undoubtedly motivated by ego - not the "we're going to save the day and everyone will love us" kind but the "we are good engineers and we can find a good solution" kind. This is why Elon was not upset when his solution wasn't used, because it was still a good solution, and this is why he was so upset when people trashed his solution as "never going to work" without evidence. I find that grievance understandable; by all accounts he went to a lot of effort to ensure his solution was good, and I would bet that when he inevitably tries it to soothe his bruised engineer ego, it will, in fact, work. But that will not help because he called someone a pedophile on Twitter for insulting him, which is unbelievably moronic, puerile and cruel. Apologists like this Quora commenter can excuse it as "provoked but disproportionate", and "coming from somewhere", but if you're honest about it you have to admit there's no excuse. You don't call people rapists for saying mean things about your project if you want to hold any claim to being a decent person. That said, I really like the work he's doing and I hope he succeeds. I also hope that he can pull out of what appears to be a deteriorating spiral of erratic lashing out. Dude's under the kind of pressure that snaps people in half, and has been for half a decade. Maybe that's all he knows. Maybe it's the only way he can succeed. If so, I pity him and I'm humbled by the value that his suffering creates. But also, fuck you, Elon. The last thing we need is more powerful small-man narcissists shitting all over what's left of public discourse. I dunno. It's complicated.