Starlink may actually be a great example of the grift. Starlink is not a widely available functioning system yet, and there's a strong chance it may never be. M

Starlink may actually be a great example of the grift. Starlink is not a widely available functioning system yet, and there's a strong chance it may never be. Musk himself has been dropping hints to that effect, and there are plenty of analyses out there of the problems with the Starlink business model. Musk's own statements make it clear that he knows Starlink has a high chance of failure - but, it has a big benefit for him because it drives demand for SpaceX launches and, at least until it does fail, it bolsters the public image and feeds the futuristic vision he's trying to sell people. My previous comment wasn't saying Musk hasn't achieved anything. I was making a couple of points: 1. He tends to throw more ideas, more publicly, at the wall than most tech entrepreneurs. 2. Some of those ideas seem to be obviously impractical, to the point that he (hopefully!) must realize that, and the're probably intended more to boost the image of his companies in order to pump up stock value. And if you accept this line of argument, it's been a staggering success, making him the richest on-paper person in the world based on a car company and an aerospace company which, without his clever grift, would be worth a tiny fraction of their current valuation.