I believe hype is actually Musk's primary product: by constantly coming up with these announcements he plays his part in maintaining the narrative of the US being the leader in tech innovation, over and above the narrative of the US being a formerly cutting-edge economy that is in the process of falling behind. (Which one is actually true is debatable, but managing perceptions is an important part of keeping the economy running.) Someone who merely organized solid electric car manufacturing or workable private space launches would probably not be as successful in attracting investment.
I've been an unabashed fan of Elon Musk ever since I read the long series of essays on him at Wait But Why blog. So I am probably not objective in evaluating him. This blog post, while not deep in research, did make me pause and think if my love for all-things-Musk has gone too far. Curious to hear what the HN community thinks.
A friend of a friend of mine knows Elon extremely well. What I heard is that he is on the spectrum, and/but genuinely a genius.
I have spent the greater part of my career working with individuals with disabilities and I always suspected that he may be on the spectrum. If it is true then he is a terrific role model for people to see that not all individuals with autisim are alike.
Thank you Powerofmene and Boothroid. I would not have guessed this about Elon. (I didn't even know the phrase "on the spectrum").