4 ms·

There probably are thousands (tens of, hundreds of?) Elon Musks already in the world, it's just Elon Musk was one of the few to also be lucky enough to become a

• rdl 14y ago
  There are probably millions of people who generate huge surpluses to society (not just economic wealth; plenty of non-economic wealth. A great artist, a really good teacher, a scientist who discovers basic information, etc. But also most successful entrepreneurs and business operators, engineers, etc.) And plenty of people who got rich (not usually billionaires, but certainly local warlords, etc.) who were purely extractive and lowered quality of life for humanity as a whole. Patent trolls. Dudes running jihadi operations in Zabul. Corrupt politicians. etc. There are probably some people who could be a lot more productive than they are (the "Einstein in a rural Chinese rice paddy" example), but that's decreasingly likely thanks to the Internet and more open political/economic systems.