Ramsey Carroll

By Walter Isaacson

Yesterday, I finished Walter Isaacson’s biography of Elon Musk. I decided to read it to better understand his character and background—gain some perspective on his actions, drive, motivations, and direction. It was enlightening. Here are my key takeaways:

• Mission-Driven: Musk is extremely mission-driven. Once he decides on a mission, he pursues it at all costs. Some of his recurring missions include moving the world to renewable energy, ensuring the survival of human consciousness, making humanity interplanetary (which ties into the previous goal), ensuring safe AI development in relation to human existence, and combating “woke” ideology.
• Efficiency Over Everything: His methods for accomplishing these missions are primarily focused on engineering and efficiency. While he does consider aesthetic details and consumer preferences, they are secondary to functionality and performance.
• Extreme Risk Tolerance: Musk has an unusually high tolerance for risk and an almost zero tolerance for avoiding risk. He tends to cut things that may be essential for design, safety, or stability, only to reinstate them if found necessary. He’s not afraid to break things; in fact, he’d rather break something trying to make it more efficient and reach higher goals than take a slower, more cautious, and sustainable approach.
• Pro-America Ideology: Musk’s pro-America views stem from his personal history of moving to North America to escape his past and finding success as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. He believes that America, in its current form, has lost some of the original spirit of being a land of opportunity where ambitious ideas can succeed.
• Lofty Goals and the “Greater Good”: Musk’s ideas are grand, often framed as being for the “greater good” of humanity, but he has little regard for individual needs. He prioritizes the collective good over the well-being of any one person. (I’m using “good” in quotes here because what Musk sees as good often contrasts sharply with my own beliefs.)
• Comfort is a Discomfort: Musk seems to only be comfortable in chaos. He doesn’t know how to handle peace, comfort, or stability. I imagine he’s not entirely okay internally and must distract himself with constant fires—many of which he creates himself—just to maintain his sanity when things are “going too well” or there’s not enough drama in his life.
• No Interest in Leisure: Money, for the sake of leisure, is not a motivator for him. He doesn’t believe in leisure and mocks those who do. This disdain for relaxation and personal downtime should be seen as a red flag—it suggests an individual who may be somewhat unwell. His moral high ground reflects a blindness to the complexity of a world where no absolute truths exist, even though he feels his views are right.
• Control and Power: Musk will never retire. He will never relinquish control. He will not step down or back off from anything he’s gained power over. He doesn’t share power, nor does he share decision-making authority. He rules with an authoritarian grip over all that he controls. This should serve as a significant warning for anything he holds power over, especially when that power is handed to him, rather than earned or self-created.
• Innovation vs. Costs: Musk is undoubtedly one of the most groundbreaking innovators in history, but I’m not sure the terms “groundbreaking” or “innovator” are inherently admirable in his case. In my view, accomplishing a mission at any cost ignores the very real human and ethical costs. And in his case, many of those costs are quite severe.