If we accept his self-diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, it could make a certain amount of sense. Coupled with the common propensity for motivated reasoning

If we accept his self-diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, it could make a certain amount of sense. Coupled with the common propensity for motivated reasoning - someone initially told him what he wanted to hear, and he believed it. It's always difficult to get a true read on what people believe, and that goes double for very powerful or wealthy people, who have professionals devoted to their image management. Which, not coincidentally, is also where the idea of Musk as an "amazing, brilliantly intelligent man" comes from. After all, he doesn't have any sort of history of published work or intellectual breakthroughs to support that. He seems to be good at investment, and at a certain kind of hype-based marketing, including of himself (up to a point.)