New Biography Uncovers Elon Musk’s Potential to Revolutionize the World

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerburg’s ⁣potential cage match ⁣was​ the talk of⁤ the summer, and ​it ⁢was easy to ‍dismiss it as⁣ idle threats made by ⁢two unathletic billionaires. After reading “Elon Musk,” the new biography by Walter Isaacson, I’m not so sure.

When⁤ Max Levchin ⁢wanted PayPal to use Unix rather ⁢than Musk’s preferred option, Windows, Musk challenged him to ‍arm-wrestle to settle the dispute. Musk won the match and, eventually, ​the‌ software ‍debate.

At his ⁢first start-up, he would regularly get into fights with his co-founder⁢ and brother ⁣Kimbal. The worst one ended with Kimbal biting off a hunk⁢ of Elon’s hand, sending him to the emergency room for stitches‍ and a tetanus shot. At a Gilbert and Sullivan–themed⁤ 42nd birthday party, Musk‌ successfully threw a 350-pound sumo champion, but blew ⁣out a disc at the base of his neck in the process. Professionally ⁢and physically, Musk seeks the thrill of danger.

Musk has made a career out of navigating crises and‍ questioning authority, and he combines ⁤that with a sci-fi-inflected concern for the fate of humanity. The problems that captivate Musk are world-altering and‌ mind-bogglingly numerous: ⁢multi-planetary civilization, infinite energy, human-machine implants, humanoid robots, free speech, democracy,⁢ and the declining birth⁤ rate. He has sired 11 children by three women so far.

Yet he ⁤remains slightly ⁤detached — seemingly a product of his Asperger’s — fixating on physics, engineering, and programming rather than human interactions. As one SpaceX employee put it, “Elon cares a lot about humanity, but humanity in more of a very​ macro sense.” At times, this can make him a flat, robotic main character.

While‍ his rockets ‌and cars⁤ iterate⁢ and improve, personally, he has difficulty growing. At a Christmas family gathering in 2022, he said, ​“My main regret is how often⁢ I stab myself⁢ in the thigh with a fork, how often I shoot my own feet and stab‌ myself in the eye.”

A Man Well-Acquainted With ‍Violence

Musk grew up in apartheid South Africa, where violence was ​common. ⁣He was not ⁢coddled. ⁤At age 12, he was sent to a wilderness survival camp in South ​Africa, called a‌ veldskool, which he ⁢described as a “paramilitary Lord of ​the Flies.” Kids were ⁣given small rations and encouraged to fight over them. Bullying was a virtue.

Near the end of the first week, the boys were divided into two groups, then​ told to ⁤attack ‍each other. Musk, small and emotionally unintelligent,‌ was beaten ⁣up often and ended up losing 10 pounds.

Every few years, ⁢one of the kids would die. Rather than responding with candlelit vigils and calls for safety, the counselors would advise, “Don’t be stupid ‍like that ⁢dumb f— who died last year. Don’t be the weak dumb f—.”

Likewise, ‌Elon was an easy target at school. One altercation led to a group‍ of boys shoving him down a set of concrete ⁣stairs, then, as his brother Kimbal describes, ‍“They sat on him and just ‍kept beating the s— out of him and kicking him in the head. When they got finished, I couldn’t even recognize‍ his face. It was such a swollen ball of flesh that you could barely see his eyes.”

When Elon got home from the hospital, ⁣his father, Errol Musk, ​yelled at him for an hour, calling him “an idiot” ‌and “worthless.” Errol felt Elon deserved the⁢ beating because he’d called the antagonist “stupid” after the boy’s father had just committed suicide.

As Errol told Isaacson, “Their experiences with me would have made veldskool quite ‌tame.” ⁤Looking back,‌ Elon says, “If you have​ never been punched in the nose, you have no idea how it affects‍ you the rest of your life.”

‘Hardcore‘

Musk is drawn to military metaphors. His philosophy or “algorithm” for business includes principles like, “All technical managers must have hands-on experience … Otherwise, they are like⁢ a calvary​ leader who can’t ride ⁤a horse or‌ a general who can’t use a ‌sword.” ‌And, “Never ask your troops to⁢ do something you’re not willing⁤ to do.”

But unlike an army, where discipline and ‌rule-following⁢ are paramount, Musk discourages comradery because ‌“it⁣ makes it hard for people to challenge each other’s work.” ⁤And the work comes ‌first.

Musk has always disdained work-life balance. In the late⁣ ’90s, working at his internet start-up Zip2,⁣ he spent six months sleeping on a futon at his office and showering​ at⁣ the YMCA. After a few months, he rented an unfurnished apartment, which, according to his sister, never had more than just “two mattresses and lots of Cocoa Puffs boxes.”

Even ‍then, Elon often⁣ slept at the office after a coding binge, without a pillow or ⁢sleeping bag. Less than ⁢four years later, Elon and ‌his brother Kimbal sold the company for $307 million in⁢ cash, and Elon walked away with ‌$22 million.

After PayPal, Musk took big risks ⁢with SpaceX⁢ and Tesla, often teetering on the brink of ruin. His management⁤ style relies on “peppering” engineers with technical questions and calling for “surges” ⁤to lend a “maniacal sense of urgency” to a given project. He often demands what seems impossible and does not take no for an answer.

The result, as ⁢one SpaceX engineer put it: “Even though we failed to meet most schedules‍ or cost targets that Elon laid out, ‌we still beat all of our peers. We developed ⁤the lowest-cost, most ⁣awesome rockets in history.” ‍In ⁢the words ‌of Grimes, a.k.a. Claire Boucher, the mother of three of Elon’s ⁤children, Musk’s “demon mode causes a lot⁢ of chaos, but it also gets ⁣sh-t done.”

Observing demon mode from a safe distance is ⁢one‍ of the​ chief pleasures of the ‌book. When working on rockets for SpaceX, Musk⁢ developed a ‌concept called “the idiot index,”⁢ which was a ratio⁤ comparing the total cost of a component to the cost of the raw materials. A part that costs $1,000 ​when its aluminum only costs $100 would have a high idiot index. Hoping to bring down ‌the engine cost on the Raptor rocket from $2 million to $200,000, he met with a financial analyst named Lucas Hughes:

Musk: What are the best parts in Raptor as judged by the idiot index?

Hughes: I’m not sure. ⁣I ⁤will find​ out.

Musk: (speaking‌ with monotone)​ You better ‌be f—ing sure in the future ⁤you know these things off the top of your head.⁢ If you ever come into a meeting and do‌ not ⁢know what⁢ are the⁣ idiot parts, then your resignation will be accepted immediately. How can you f—ing not know what the best and worst parts are?

Hughes: I know the cost chart down​ to the smallest part. I just don’t know​ the cost of the raw materials of ⁤those parts.

Musk: What are the ​worst five parts?

(Hughes looks to ‌his computer screen)

Musk: NO! Don’t look at your screen. Just name one. You should know the problematic parts.

Hughes: (tentatively) There’s the⁤ half nozzle jacket. I think​ it ​costs ⁣thirteen⁣ thousand dollars.

Musk: It’s made of a single⁣ piece of steel. How much does‌ that material cost?

Hughes: I think‍ a few thousand dollars.

Musk: No. It’s just steel. It’s about two⁤ hundred bucks. You have very badly failed. If you don’t improve, your resignation⁤ will⁢ be accepted. This meeting ⁢is over. Done.

When Isaacson asked Musk later that day whether he thought he’d been too harsh ​with Hughes, Musk replied, “I give people hardcore feedback, mostly accurate, and I try not‍ to do⁣ it in a way ‍that’s ad hominem … Physics ⁤does not ‍care about hurt feelings. It cares about whether you got the rocket right.”

Physics does not care ​about hurt feelings, and it also does not care about DEI standards. ⁣Musk’s‍ hiring policy is as simple as it ⁤is effective: “I believe‌ in ⁤a strict meritocracy. ⁢Whoever is doing great work, they⁢ get more responsibility. And that’s ‌that.”​

He worries that unchecked, “the woke-mind virus, which is fundamentally antiscience, antimerit, and antihuman in general,” could lead to civilizational decay and AI domination⁢ of the human race. In his words, which⁣ apply to the regulators and the critics, “Every year there are more referees and fewer doers.”

Musk is⁤ not perfect, and there are plenty of decisions to criticize, whether his⁣ bizarre family life, his ⁢Starlink refusal, or his sophomoric ⁣ tokes and jokes. But perhaps, as Elon deadpanned on “Saturday Night Live,” ⁢it might be too much to expect that a man single-handedly transforming society would also be a “chill, normal dude.” If we end up on Mars, ‍we’ll know ⁤who to thank.