Lepore: Yeah so, the Hitchhiker's Guide stories – which are comedies, these big BBC radio plays written in the '70s – were an indictment of the widening inequalities of wealth in Britain and around the world. And yet, as you just said, you believe that he misses the point of the book. He calls Douglas Adams, the author, one of his favorite philosophers. But you point out in your podcast, he names a space ship after the Heart of Gold spaceship that's also in the book. Different life trajectories, me and Elon Musk. That was also one of my favorite books when I was around the same age. Luse: You brought up Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And yet he completely misreads that very science fiction. For Musk, his vision of himself is as the hero of a science fiction story from the 1950s. These books, he will say, taught him that humankind must reach for the stars, that we must colonize other planets in order to bring the light of human consciousness elsewhere. Lepore: Musk often talks about how he was transformed as a boy by reading Isaac Asimov and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. On turning to science fiction for inspiration He is the visionary innovator, an engineer-slash-entrepreneur who will bring the light of human civilization to the stars and colonize Mars. And the version of the story that he's kind of bandying about now is one in which he's the ultimate futurist. He's marketed as this figure straight out of comic books. And there's a whole origin story about Musk in South Africa that involves winning an award for a computer game that he wrote as a boy. He's a boy wonder, right? He's this kind of boy genius. These excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.īrittany Luse: In a nutshell, what is the myth that you see Elon Musk trying to sell about himself? Lepore: The story that he tells about his own life is kind of ripped out of the pages of early science fiction.
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Y0u can listen to the full episode at the top of the page, or on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Lepore discusses how Musk crafted a powerful narrative that millions around the world have bought into how he draws from science fiction and film and why we need to be more critical of billionaire visionaries.
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Lepore says that the idea of being a savior of free speech would appeal to Musk, who has built around himself a mythology inspired by what she sees as a misinterpretation of mid-twentieth century science fiction. But why does Musk - one of the world's richest and arguably most influential men - want a social media platform? It's Been a Minute host Brittany Luse puts the question to Jill Lepore, political historian and host of The Evening Rocket, a podcast about Musk. Securities and Exchange Commission, even a town hall.
The saga around Elon Musk's deal to buy Twitter has been just that: a months-long soap opera involving lawsuits and subpoenas, the U.S. Carina Johansen/NTB/AFP via Getty Images Onur Dogman/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images Justin Williams - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images Illustration by Kaz Fantone/NPR
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