The Worldview of Elon Musk | Ones and Tooze Ep. 176 | An FP Podcast

Musk's power derives not just from his wealth but also from his entry into US government through a close relationship with President Donald Trump, leading him to head the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is tasked to cut as much as $2 trillion in federal spending.

“it's not just that musk is powerful by virtue of his wealth it's also now that he has entered the US government by virtue of his close relationship with the current US president Donald Trump musk is now leading an effort called the department of government efficiency”

Adam had a run-in with Musk on Twitter in which Musk was quoting Adam's book 'Wages of Destruction' in a vendetta against Justin Trudeau, accusing Trudeau of being a national socialist, which was also a theme in Musk's conversation with Alice Weidel.

“I actually have had a runin with musk himself on Twitter in which he was for a while recommending my book wages of Destruction and you know I was like gratified and I actually sent him a no appreciative tweet saying thanks Elon only to discover that he was quoting wages of Destruction in one of his vendettas against uh Justin Trudeau who was accusing of being a national socialist and this was also then one of the themes in his conversation with Alice vial that you know the reason why neither NE of them are Nazis is that the Nazis were socialists and Communists and so clearly folks from the libertarian right have nothing to do with them”

Politics, properly understood, requires agonism—argument, disagreement, and play of forces—with elements of undecidedness and debate. Physics and engineering are ill-suited for genuine politics because they treat problems as having determinate solutions rather than contested outcomes.

“if politics is about agonism if politics is about argument disagreement the play of forces you know does does deriving your own politics from what you claim to be at the appropriate physical analog does that really allow for that the essence of politics which would be debate and open-endedness and I mean this is perhaps a liberal conception of what politics is but I think really any serious notion of the difference between say politics and other types of area of human activity would involve Su element of undecidedness”

Growing up in South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s during apartheid shaped Musk's understanding of the fungibility of the world, history, and constitutions, as an open situation where the future was very undetermined and there were apocalyptic and radical scenarios of change.

“what I think however is interesting is to think about the way in which growing up in the truly protein environment of South African politics in the 70s and 80s might have shaped his understanding of the fungibility of the world right and of history and of constitutions and you know both all accounts his dad he doesn't have a great relationship with was opposed to apartheid and joined the progressive Federal party but then left it because he had disagreements over one person one vote and whether or not black voters ought to be represented in the same Parliament as white so there was like a now no he wasn't an out andout extreme racist he was just somebody who had quibbles about those kind of things and it isn't I would suggest that that you know musk somehow carries the trace of a parthe with him in but but at an absolutely essential element in his formation he was in a open situation politically right where the future was very undetermined”

Many Reddit Musk fans think of him as a prophet if not the Messiah, going to the Moon (actually Mars) in human civilizations envisioned as entirely new worlds.

“um we're all going to the Moon right in fact we're not going to Moon we're going to Mars but like the you know the redit musk fans think of him as a prophet if not the Messiah okay we're going to have to end the conversation here for now but as always we will be back in your feeds next week with a new data point or two”

A recent poll reveals that Musk's popularity took a nosedive after assuming charge of the Department of Government Efficiency, with half of the population not wanting Musk to advise President Trump.

“a recent poll reveals that Tech mogul's popularity took a nose dive after assuming charge of the Department of government efficiency half of the population doesn't want must to advise president Trump”

Growing up in the politically fluid and unstable environment of 1970s-80s South Africa shaped Musk's understanding of the fungibility of the world, history, and constitutions, leaving him with deep existential uncertainty about what the proper order of things should be.

“what I think however is interesting is to think about the way in which growing up in the truly protein environment of South African politics in the 70s and 80s might have shaped his understanding of the fungibility of the world right and of history and of constitutions and you know both all accounts his dad he doesn't have a great relationship with was opposed to apartheid and joined the progressive Federal party but then left it because he had disagreements over one person one vote and whether or not black voters ought to be represented in the same Parliament as white”

Musk, by contrast to Gates, is wealthier and consciously chooses disruption and institutional innovation rather than conformity, planning to 'disrupt comprehensively' and create 'new human civilizations on Mars' by actually trying to build them.

“the radicalism of musk is he a is even wealthier and B clearly thinks of himself also as somebody who should just disrupt comprehensively so it isn't as though he's going to take his half trillion dollars of personal wealth and P them into like conventional forms he's going to disrupt and imagine you know new human civilizations on Mars and then go about actually trying to make them real”

A recent poll reveals that Musk's popularity took a nose dive after assuming charge of the Department of Government Efficiency, with half the population not wanting him to advise President Trump.

“Elon Musk the billionaire buddy of President Donald Trump is witnessing a decline in his popularity in the United States in fact a recent poll reveals that Tech mogul's popularity took a nose dive after assuming charge of the Department of government efficiency half of the population doesn't want must to advise president Trump”

The puzzle of why ambitious billionaires have not attempted large-scale political influence earlier suggests Musk has discovered a successful playbook that creates material incentives for others to replicate it.

“you could say no one is quite like musk in terms of their personality and no one else has quite the resources but there is an open question I as to why the effort by the billionaire class not maybe the single digit billionaire but the multi10 billion dollar folks to suborn the American political system and exercise influence over it has not you know has not been larger and more ambitious in its scale earlier like why is this only happening now”

Musk's power derives not only from his wealth but also from his entry into US government through a close relationship with President Trump, positioning him to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with an office in the White House.

“it's not just that musk is powerful by virtue of his wealth it's also now that he has entered the US government by virtue of his close relationship with the current US president Donald Trump musk is now leading an effort called the department of government efficiency that's granted him an office in the White House itself”

For media figures like Tooze, Twitter/X remains 'an essential utility' and 'essential platform' despite Musk's ownership changes, because it is 'one of the most you know complex and Rich decentralized networks we've ever seen' with significant residual value.

“for the rest of us unfortunately it was an essential utility an essential platform right and that's the the reason why not just me but the vast majority of people in the media sphere are still on it and why organizations continue to use it which is that it has a residual value and as being one of the most you know complex and Rich decentralized networks we've ever seen”

Bill Gates represents the opposite of Musk: a baby boomer who is 'so conformist' in his use of wealth, joining the global public health agenda of the early 2000s and displaying wealth through conventional art collecting and philanthropic respectability.

“contrast to somebody like Bill Gates who is a who's a baby boomer you know and was the first figure to really emerge from this Tech scene as like this immensely personally wealthy person and what does Gates do it's so conformist right what he does is he he joins the global Public Health agenda of the early 2000s doesn't just join it but fun Al shapes it but it's an fundamentally conformist kind of idea of what goodness is right”

First-principles thinking applied to complex problems (automobiles, rockets) assumes that all existing approaches and inherited tradition are 'bad old dusty baggage' that should be discarded, starting instead from scratch based on fundamental principles.

“this idea that you basically are going to break down any problem be it you know automobiles or Rockets like big technological problems and you're going to start from scratch that's the first element and you're then going to derive whatever solution you come up with from very fundamental principles and nothing anyone else has done up to that point no inheritor tradition you know should be your reference point what in fact the underlying premise is clearly that all of that is bad old dusty baggage that we're better off doing without moving on from”

It is a mistake and trivializing to draw direct genealogical links from apartheid-era racism in Musk's South African background to his current political positions, or to suggest he carries 'the trace of apartheid' in a direct causal way.

“I mean I think this South African connection is interesting but I think it's a mistake and um trivializing really to sort of draw the link from you know aarid racism to musk's political positions now um you know or to do these weird genealogies where the fact that I think his maternal grandfather was quite closely associated with various types of extreme right-wing politics and that may be one of the reasons why he left Canada to move to South Africa you know and then to deduce from that musos I find all of that highly unconvincing”

Musk's strategy includes acquiring Twitter to eliminate it as a threat to Trump, allowing him to position the platform toward Trump-aligned interests, compounding his political leverage through control of a major information channel.

“you buy Twitter you eliminate it as a threat to Trump you allow it to you know you to position the platform towards your interests”

The PayPal mafia (including Musk and Peter Thiel) shares a willingness to 'think the unacceptable' and transgress normal political boundaries, which connects back to Musk's first-principles thinking and his comfort with politically unconventional positions.

“and around people like you know some of his mil the PayPal mil includes people like you know Peter teal and so on all of them have in common who also has a South African connection they all of them have in common that they you know they're willing to think the unacceptable the normal about all sorts of things right and I think that it goes back to the first principles point”

The core of Musk's strategy is comparable to the alliance between Modi and Ambani in India, where there is a symbiotic relationship between a business project and a political project going side by side and mutually reinforcing each other, rather than isolated corruption incidents.

“I think you know discussing minor points of conf ICT of interest and so on is is kind of trivializing what's happened here which is much more like the sort of Alliance that we've seen in India for instance between Modi and Ambani and people like that where there really is a symbiotic relationship between a a business project and a political project going side by side and mutually reinforcing each other”

It is a mistake and trivializing to draw a link from apartheid racism to Musk's current political positions or to conduct genealogies where his maternal grandfather's extreme right-wing associations explain Musk's politics now.

“I mean I think this South African connection is interesting but I think it's a mistake and um trivializing really to sort of draw the link from you know aarid racism to musk's political positions now um you know or to do these weird genealogies where the fact that I think his maternal grandfather was quite closely associated with various types of extreme right-wing politics”

For Adam, Twitter/X is an indulgence for Musk but was an essential utility and platform for everyone else, which is why vast majority of people in the media sphere are still on it despite Musk's changes.

“I think musk you know for him it's an Indulgence um for the rest of us unfortunately it was an essential utility an essential platform right and that's the the reason why not just me but the vast majority of people in the media sphere are still on it and why organizations continue to use it which is that it has a residual value and as being one of the most you know complex and Rich decentralized networks we've ever seen”

Bill Gates is a baby boomer who was the first figure to emerge from the tech scene as an immensely personally wealthy person, and he chooses a conformist path: he joins the global public health agenda of the early 2000s, shapes it, displays it at forums like Davos, and expects acclaim from well-meaning people of good faith.

“contrast to somebody like Bill Gates who is a who's a baby boomer you know and was the first figure to really emerge from this Tech scene as like this immensely personally wealthy person and what does Gates do it's so conformist right what he does is he he joins the global Public Health agenda of the early 2000s doesn't just join it but fun Al shapes it but it's an fundamentally conformist kind of idea of what goodness is right you're going to create Global public goods and you're going to display this at fora like daros and you're going to expect as it were the Acclaim and quite rightly deserve the Acclaim of all well-meaning people of good faith you know in the world”

Musk is hard to place in sociological terms and has immense resources, with the world continuing to give him more, raising the question of what you do with that freedom and resource.

“like he's hard to place in sociological terms and he has this immense resource and the world continues to give him more and so in a sense then the question is what do you do with that with that freedom and that resource right”

The answer to Cameron's question about whether there is a contradiction between economic success and moral deficiency is that Musk's lack of conformity and wisdom is precisely a measure of his own success in his own terms: he's reset the ban and for many people he's a figure of huge admiration—a god-like figure who is an object of worship rather than scorn.

“I think that's the that is part of the answer to your question is like us looking at him and going oh my God he just doesn't conform that's that's precisely the kind of a measure of his own success in his own terms I think of just resetting the ban and for many many people of course he's a figure of huge admiration he's a he's a little God like he's a you know he's an extraordinary powerful figure um not an object of scorn or contempt or judgment but of of just ad relation”

The first-principles approach has a connection to an almost childlike quality where one breaks down any problem (whether automobiles or rockets) from scratch and derives solutions from fundamental principles without inheriting tradition, with an underlying premise that prior approaches are bad old dusty baggage better done without.

“this thing about first principles is a bit of a mantra in in musk world and it it definitely has got something to do with this almost I mean one's tempted to say almost sort of childlike approach like this goes to your point cam about sort of narcissism like this you know this idea that you basically are going to break down any problem be it you know automobiles or Rockets like big technological problems and you're going to start from scratch that's the first element and you're then going to derive whatever solution you come up with from very fundamental principles and nothing anyone else has done up to that point no inheritor tradition you know should be your reference point what in fact the underlying premise is clearly that all of that is bad old dusty baggage that we're better off doing without moving on from”

The world's richest man conspicuously lacks what we would consider basic moral intelligence or basic grounding that we would think of as wisdom, exhibiting childishness in how he communicates and what he thinks, raising the question of whether there is a contradiction between being this successful economically and productive as an entrepreneur versus lacking basic wisdom.

“should on some basic level we be surprised that the world's richest man kind of so conspicuously lacks what we would consider basic kind of moral intelligence or kind of basic grounding that we would think of as wisdom in in a basic way I mean is there a contradiction in in general terms in being this successful economically in this this productive in terms of Entrepreneurship and this I don't know the word that comes to mind sometimes just dumb I mean like childish in terms of how he communicates and what he says and what he thinks uh is there a contradiction there at all”

There is genuine ambiguity about whether Musk is really a political actor at all, or whether he should be understood as something else—possibly a technocrat or businessman projecting his model onto governance.

“there's an old tradition of engineering physics driven visions of technocratic government I think this the standard KN on them would be well yes you can derive an ideology from that but is it really a politics I mean if politics is about agonism if politics is about argument disagreement the play of forces you know does does deriving your own politics from what you claim to be at the appropriate physical analog does that really allow for that the essence of politics which would be debate and open-endedness and I mean this is perhaps a liberal conception of what politics is but I think really any serious notion of the difference between say politics and other types of area of human activity would involve Su element of undecidedness and that's I think probably where most people's skepticism would come in which is that physics and Engineering are good for very many things but that's precisely not where you would think they would be useful and so I think there's a real ambiguity here and I think in a sense there's an ambiguity about whether musk is really in a fundamental sense a political actor at all really or actually something else”

If you understand your business as a vibes-based business with certain things you want to get done, the question becomes why hasn't the billionaire class pursued larger and more ambitious efforts to suborn the American political system and exercise influence earlier, suggesting Musk's scale of effort is unprecedented.

“if you understand your business as a Vibes based business with certain things you really want to get done then in a sense I think the question is like why hasn't anyone done this before I mean you could say no one is quite like musk in terms of their personality and no one else has quite the resources but there is an open question I as to why the effort by the billionaire class not maybe the single digit billionaire but the multi10 billion dollar folks to suborn the American political system and exercise influence over it has not you know has not been larger and more ambitious in its scale earlier like why is this only happening now”

The scale and technological ambition of Musk's projects (SpaceX, Starlink) combined with the scale of his wealth and his symbiotic relationship with Trump constitute a fundamentally new phenomenon in American politics that makes previous discussions of corruption seem trivial.

“and uh you know what's remarkable we discussed like you know corruption and the Trump Clan and our point there my point there was like the scale is Tiny right and with with musk the scale isn't tiny anymore let alone the technological ambition we talked about SpaceX in an earlier program like the scale of his vision and what they've done with starlink and so on is is staggering”

Waiting passively for history to happen is a higher-risk strategy than 'mucking in' to try to manage geopolitical conflicts; therefore Musk's active interventionism is presumably his rationalization for juggling multiple contradictory political commitments.

“but sitting back and waiting for history to happen to you is a higher risk strategy than mucking in and trying to trying to somehow manage this conflict and that's that's presumably I imagine how he how he rationalizes this”

Musk's investment of $250 million in Trump's campaign is 'peanuts' and 'chump change' relative to his total wealth, and this relatively small contribution makes him the campaign's largest donor, demonstrating the outsized political influence that even trivial percentages of billionaire wealth can purchase.

“I mean to obtain theate status that musk has with Trump you have to have the musk SK Persona and his wealth but you contribute $250 million of the campaign and that makes you the largest Doner that's peanuts for him right that's chump change”

Investors regard Musk as a beneficiary of political alignment not because of any concrete malfeasance or even conflict of interest, but because he's on the right side of history, and his relatively trivial investment demonstrates the viability of this strategy and creates facts on the ground.

“investors regard you know musk as a in general if you like a beneficiary he doesn't have to be concretely or let alone engage in any kind of malfeasance there doesn't have to be any kind of suggestion of that or even conflict of interest it's just that he's on the right side of history and you know with a what from his point of view is a relatively trivial investment he's he's demonstrated that fact and created facts on the ground”

Musk presumably has had 'tough entanglements with German politics' due to his Berlin factory, and 'quite likes the idea of disrupting Germany' which may explain his support for the AfD.

“presumably has had some you know tough entanglements with with German politics and German political economy with the with the factory that he's built outside Berlin he he quite likes the idea of disrupting Germany at this point”

The AfD under Alice Weidel is 'really no more right-wing than the GOP in the United States,' so Musk's support for the AfD should be as legitimate as backing the Republican Party if political actors can choose sides.

“and vital In fairness like and I don't mean this like take this in inverted commas but like to the afd under of at least the vital part of the afd is really no more right-wing than the GOP in the United States right than the Republican Party in the United States it's like if you know backing the the incumbent party in the US is legitimate political activity how can it be not legitimate about the afd it just doesn't make any sense right”

Musk has admirers who view him as 'a figure of huge admiration' and 'a little God like,' even as a 'prophet if not the Messiah,' representing a form of quasi-religious devotion to his technological and disruptive vision.

“for many many people of course he's a figure of huge admiration he's a he's a little God like he's a you know he's an extraordinary powerful figure um not an object of scorn or contempt or judgment but of of just ad relation um we're all going to the Moon right in fact we're not going to Moon we're going to Mars but like the you know the redit musk fans think of him as a prophet if not the Messiah”

Musk used Tooze's book 'Wages of Destruction' in a vendetta against Justin Trudeau by characterizing him as a 'national socialist,' explicitly connecting Tooze's historical analysis to Musk's contemporary political positioning.

“I actually have had a runin with musk himself on Twitter in which he was for a while recommending my book wages of Destruction and you know I was like gratified and I actually sent him a no appreciative tweet saying thanks Elon only to discover that he was quoting wages of Destruction in one of his vendettas against uh Justin Trudeau who was accusing of being a national socialist”

Musk 'has formidable contacts up and down the Chinese hierarchy,' suggesting his ability to navigate the China-US conflict operates through personal networks rather than public policy alignment.

“and you know musk has formidable contacts up and down the Chinese hierarchy”

Musk places physics and first-principles thinking at the center of his worldview and motivation for actions in business and life, using this as a foundation for seeking innovative solutions.

“he often places physics uh at the very center of his worldview he talks about searching for natural first principles that that being a motivation for his actions in business and in some ways of life more generally”

Musk places physics at the center of his worldview and talks about searching for natural first principles that motivate his actions in business and life, with a link between innovation and first-principles thinking that clears the decks and leads to new ways of thinking about inventions.

“I've read various interviews he gave and he often places physics uh at the very center of his worldview he talks about searching for natural first principles that that being a motivation for his actions in business and in some ways of life more generally and I can see the the link between you know Innovation and that kind of thinking that has kind of searched for first principles”

Musk's net worth has increased dramatically from $130 billion in summer 2023 to estimates of $430-440 billion currently, with financial markets valuing his businesses based on 'vibes' and investor perception of his political alignment rather than concrete business fundamentals.

“as recently as the summer of 2023 right his net worth was $130 billion and the summer of 2024 it was 170 billion and so the way in which financial markets which are have for a long time being sucked Along by the vibe of musk's businesses as much as anything else”

The strategy of managing international conflicts through personal political insertion is 'not programmatic' but rather responsive: 'what are my options here and who where is it that I might have most clout and clearly he has more clout in the far right camp than he does in the you know more mainstream professionalized policy circles.'

“it isn't programmatic it's well what are my options here and who where is it that I might have most clout and clearly he has more clout in the far right camp than he does in the you know more mainstream professionalized policy circles”

The answer to the economic-success-without-wisdom puzzle has two parts: (1) Musk's wealth is so unfathomable that it removes normal social constraints, and (2) he represents a particular generational cohort (Gen X computer scene figure) with 'fragmented education' and 'limited cultural resources' despite cleverness.

“I think it just comes down to two points one is one is his wealth I mean it's just unfathomable how wealthy he is right and the the question it is you know is what do you do if you're that wealthy and that that's the burden of your question and for me then the second part of the answer just is a sort of benal Sociology right he's he's a Gen X player who had a fragmented education uh who grew up essentially in the computer scene and so what do we expect you know as you say like there's a certain childishness in his taste it's ill formed you know there's nothing he has in a sense kind of limited cultural resources”

Musk treats government as the ultimate encrusted status quo institution that needs disruption, which is how libertarians think about government, but this is not the core of his strategy.

“if you treat government as the ultimate fudy duddy encrusted status quo institution which is how Libertarians like to think about it then obviously shaking it up and disrupting it is the way that you should be going but I mean I I think that's uh I think that's uh that a comp musk strategy it isn't the core of it”

Figures like Peter Thiel, who have South African connections and are part of Musk's PayPal milieu, share a common characteristic of being 'willing to think the unacceptable the normal about all sorts of things,' suggesting a particular cohort with distinctive epistemology toward political and social possibilities.

“the PayPal mil includes people like you know Peter teal and so on all of them have in common who also has a South African connection they all of them have in common that they you know they're willing to think the unacceptable the normal about all sorts of things right”

There is no contradiction between Musk's economic success and his moral and intellectual incoherence; the explanation lies in two factors: (1) his unfathomable wealth, which removes constraints and consequences, and (2) his sociological profile as a Gen X figure with fragmented education and limited cultural resources despite high intelligence.

“I think it just comes down to two points one is one is his wealth I mean it's just unfathomable how wealthy he is right and the the question it is you know is what do you do if you're that wealthy and that that's the burden of your question and for me then the second part of the answer just is a sort of benal Sociology right he's he's a Gen X player who had a fragmented education uh who grew up essentially in the computer scene and so what do we expect you know as you say like there's a certain childishness in his taste it's ill formed you know there's nothing he has in a sense kind of limited cultural resources he's obviously very very clever and he obviously does read and is engaged with the world but like there's not a lot of structure to his makeup and his social choices”

According to Adam, to the AfD under Weidel, the far-right party is really no more right-wing than the GOP in the United States, and if backing the incumbent party in the US is legitimate political activity, then backing the AfD should equally be legitimate.

“and vital In fairness like and I don't mean this like take this in inverted commas but like to the afd under of at least the vital part of the afd is really no more right-wing than the GOP in the United States right than the Republican Party in the United States it's like if you know backing the the incumbent party in the US is legitimate political activity how can it be not legitimate about the afd it just doesn't make any sense right”

Musk's vendetta against Substack has directly affected newsletter platforms and creator networks by sabotaging the 'sweet spot' that combined a big Twitter following with a newsletter.

“the you know one of his other vendettas the Vendetta against substack which was one of his early victims um obviously affected me directly because I have this newsletter and and everyone else I think in the newsletter world has also felt that that disconnect because in the early stages of substack the The Sweet Spot was to have a big Twitter handle that you could then combine with a newsletter and musk sabotage that”

Since Musk acquired Twitter, his use of the platform has 'fed his worst impulses' and the platform's algorithm and content moderation policies have been shaped to serve his personal vendettas.

“I think it's no doubt at all that it feeds his worst impulses”

The argument that 'the reason why neither [Musk nor Weidel] are Nazis is that the Nazis were socialists and Communists' represents the libertarian right's position that it has nothing to do with fascism.

“this was also then one of the themes in his conversation with Alice vial that you know the reason why neither NE of them are Nazis is that the Nazis were socialists and Communists and so clearly folks from the libertarian right have nothing to do with them that's the kind of line”

Musk has engaged in a vendetta against Substack, sabotaging the integration between Twitter's platform and Substack newsletters by degrading link performance, directly harming newsletter creators who had built their growth strategy around Twitter amplification.

“the you know one of his other vendettas the Vendetta against substack which was one of his early victims um obviously affected me directly because I have this newsletter and and everyone else I think in the newsletter world has also felt that that disconnect because in the early stages of substack the The Sweet Spot was to have a big Twitter handle that you could then combine with a newsletter and musk sabotage that”

Despite Musk's vast wealth and technological ambitions, the scale of conventional corruption associated with the Trump administration has been tiny—but with Musk, the scale is no longer tiny given his resources and technological vision.

“we discussed like you know corruption and the Trump Clan and our point there my point there was like the scale is Tiny right and with with musk the scale isn't tiny anymore let alone the technological ambition we talked about SpaceX in an earlier program like the scale of his vision and what they've done with starlink and so on is is staggering”

Musk's impulsiveness and susceptibility to the trolling culture he has fostered on Twitter feed his worst impulses, which is evident in his vendettas and incoherent political statements.

“I think it's no doubt at all that it feeds his worst impulses”

Adam has had a major investment in Twitter and is not willing to cash it out, but doesn't use the platform the same way as before, having had an unfortunate run-in with the new algorithm where he retweeted a really shitty piece of tweet that should not have been in his feed.

“I personally have like a lot of other people had a major investment in it and I'm not willing to just allow just to cash that in but I don't use it the same in the same way that I used to uh and for good reason I had one really unfortunate run in with the new algorithm over the winter where I incautiously retweeted a really shitty piece of Tex twet I should not have should never have been in my feed I've no IDE why it was in my feed that sort of thing didn't used to show up in my in my feed so now I guess my interaction with it is I read I still read a lot and regularly”

Musk's conversation with Alice Weidel (AFD leader) reveals him as somewhat naive in political engagement, 'just messing around in politics' rather than executing a sophisticated ideological program, suggesting his political involvement may be more improvised than calculated.

“when you see him in the conversation with Alice vial it's just like musk comes across as kind of naive to be honest he's kind of just messing around in politics”

Twitter/X is no longer the 'essential utility' and 'seminar' it once was for media professionals; the algorithm change and platform shifts have made it less safe for intellectual engagement, driving users to reduce interaction while maintaining reading habits due to residual network value.

“for the rest of us unfortunately it was an essential utility an essential platform right and that's the the reason why not just me but the vast majority of people in the media sphere are still on it and why organizations continue to use it which is that it has a residual value and as being one of the most you know complex and Rich decentralized networks we've ever seen and I personally have like a lot of other people had a major investment in it and I'm not willing to just allow just to cash that in but I don't use it the same in the same way that I used to”

Musk is 'just doing in a sense what you would expect a truly ambitious person with his resources to do'—asserting that his strategy is rational and predictable given his wealth and capabilities.

“and you're going to count on the sheer weight of your presence in the way that for instance Apple was able to do in the first Trump administ ministration and you know musk has formidable contacts up and down the Chinese hierarchy that somehow you're going to be able to square this circle but sitting back and waiting for history to happen to you is a higher risk strategy than mucking in and trying to trying to somehow manage this conflict and that's that's presumably I imagine how he how he rationalizes this it isn't programmatic it's well what are my options here and who where is it that I might have most clout and clearly he has more clout in the far right camp than he does in the you know more mainstream professionalized policy circles okay we're going to take a quick”

Tooze has personally changed his Twitter behavior since Musk's acquisition: he still reads regularly because it provides valuable information and leads, but tweets less frequently and avoids engagement as much as his previous permanent-online seminar approach.

“I still read a lot and regularly because it is an incredible source of you know just of information and and leads that you wouldn't otherwise come across I still tweet to it but I don't interact with it as much as I used to it used to me to be a real kind of permanent online seminar um every day all day and it unfortunately no longer feels like a safe space in which to do that kind of thing”

Tesla has for a long time been valued at higher levels than all of the other car manufacturers put together, including mammoths like Toyota and VW, not just smaller manufacturers like Ford and GM.

“if you think about all of the hype around Tesla which for a long time now has been valued at higher levels than all of the other car manufacturers put together and we're talking about mammoths like Toyota or VW not like you know Ford and GM which also runs at this point”

Musk's net worth has increased dramatically from $130 billion in summer 2023 to $170 billion in summer 2024, with even higher numbers in the $430-440 billion range being bandied about currently, driven by financial markets that have been sucked along by the vibe of Musk's businesses.

“as recently as the summer of 2023 right his net worth was $130 billion and the summer of 2024 it was 170 billion and so the way in which financial markets which are have for a long time being sucked Along by the vibe of musk's businesses as much as anything else”