So there are multiple factors with his rise, which I’ll try to list as coherently as possible but my autistic logic doesn’t want to accept the irrationallity of a lot of it so if it seems scattered that’s why.
So an easy point to start is that I think he was way more functional in the late 90s and early 2000s, looking at what little there is of him he seems a bit more rounded with less random incoherentcy. He seems less impulsive and generally more deliberate, not to say he was great since he still has rich dipshits failson energy but he wasn’t the mess he is today.
Secondly I think he has a specific nact for getting money from rich folks, I suspect he learned what made rich folks interested in investing in things growing up. This social intelligence made him great at getting his foot in combine that with him being a decent hype man and ya have an easy way to get money. Theres a story of him shoving a standard computer into a big fancy box then showing it to investors which is rather clever and a good bit of showmanship.
Then theres some incredible luck first PayPal buys his company and he gets a shit tonne of share, then he gets paid to fuck off because he was a liability to PayPal. Then he invests into Tesla really fucking early on and gets a controlling share, then electric cars pop off and oh look Tesla is right fucking there. He got really lucky with the previous points only amplifying his luck.
To summarize musk had the perfect mix of luck, charisma, and just enough intelligence to capitalize on it. But here’s the thing the Elon Musk of today ain’t the one of 2001 hell it ain’t even the one of 2012, he has fried his brain on his own ego and ketamine. Also the very traits that made him successful are the very traits now making folks wish for his death or have outright disappeared.
His showmanship lead him to outright lying to the public which folks remembered. His charisma failed because he forgot how to read a room. His luck may have given him power but now folks may actually kill him. His worst traits like his thrill seeking have taken him from ripping a super car in half to ripping a government in half.
Musk of 2001 was lucky and vaguely intelligent, Musk of 2025 is just lucky and who knows how long that’ll last
So there are multiple factors with his rise, which I’ll try to list as coherently as possible but my autistic logic doesn’t want to accept the irrationallity of a lot of it so if it seems scattered that’s why.
So an easy point to start is that I think he was way more functional in the late 90s and early 2000s, looking at what little there is of him he seems a bit more rounded with less random incoherentcy. He seems less impulsive and generally more deliberate, not to say he was great since he still has rich dipshits failson energy but he wasn’t the mess he is today.
Secondly I think he has a specific nact for getting money from rich folks, I suspect he learned what made rich folks interested in investing in things growing up. This social intelligence made him great at getting his foot in combine that with him being a decent hype man and ya have an easy way to get money. Theres a story of him shoving a standard computer into a big fancy box then showing it to investors which is rather clever and a good bit of showmanship.
Then theres some incredible luck first PayPal buys his company and he gets a shit tonne of share, then he gets paid to fuck off because he was a liability to PayPal. Then he invests into Tesla really fucking early on and gets a controlling share, then electric cars pop off and oh look Tesla is right fucking there. He got really lucky with the previous points only amplifying his luck.
To summarize musk had the perfect mix of luck, charisma, and just enough intelligence to capitalize on it. But here’s the thing the Elon Musk of today ain’t the one of 2001 hell it ain’t even the one of 2012, he has fried his brain on his own ego and ketamine. Also the very traits that made him successful are the very traits now making folks wish for his death or have outright disappeared.
His showmanship lead him to outright lying to the public which folks remembered. His charisma failed because he forgot how to read a room. His luck may have given him power but now folks may actually kill him. His worst traits like his thrill seeking have taken him from ripping a super car in half to ripping a government in half.
Musk of 2001 was lucky and vaguely intelligent, Musk of 2025 is just lucky and who knows how long that’ll last