Elon and "the genius trap"

Opinion: The best explanation for what went wrong

(audio with transcript)

Excerpt: "Was Elon Musk ever a genius? Yes, he revolutionized the electric-car industry and space travel. Yes, he once seemed to represent America’s ability to innovate at the cutting edge of technology.

But Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, and he doesn’t regularly appear in headlines as a prominent tech genius. In fact, many well-informed people probably don’t even know his name.

So what makes one man merely wildly accomplished and another a genius? And which descriptor makes a man more likely to engage in an ego-crushing battle with the president?

In this episode of Radio Atlantic, we talk with Helen Lewis, the author of The Genius Myth: A Curious History of a Dangerous Idea, who explains how Musk has tanked his reputation in many ways:

First, he alienated environmentalists by teaming up with Trump, and then he alienated Trump fans by insulting their hero. Another way is clear by looking at American culture’s historical relationship with “genius,” and how it tends to go wrong.

Genius, it turns out, is less a series of accomplishments than a form of addiction. It traps the men who indulge it, and they often end up, like Musk, depleted. We talk with Lewis about what Musk has in common with Thomas Edison, how the psychedelics fit into the archetype, and what the possible paths are for Musk moving forward."