I was lucky enough to speak to a friend in the environmental space about 10 years ago. I was never a super fan of Musk but I casually muttered something about Teslas being good as electrics.

They interrupted the conversation and made it clear to the group that Musk was more of a bullshit artist than the public were aware and that we was unclear to do any good for the environment at least not reliably.

Then I spoke to someone in tech that clued me into the same perspective. I’d never realised how much of a cult of personality had been built around him until then. Seeing him unfold in this way since then has certainly been “interesting”.

Apart from the particulars of Musk, I think the lesson is to never get involved in a cult of personality.