Economics

Well, I'll give my own impression: I was never a fanboy, but I think his PR team did a good job making him seem vaguely non-threatening and focused on bringing the sci-fi ideas into reality. I remember rolling my eyes when he appeared in Iron Man 2, and the "Tony Stark" comparisons always seemed, to be charitable, aspirational. But then he started tweeting about that cave diver being a "pedo guy," fired his PR people, and it quickly became obvious who he really was.

Basically standard tech bro protocol. Appear neutral on politics and vaguely altruistic in motive, until they have so much money nobody can stop them from being their worst techno-fascist selves. (Altman seems next in line for this transition.)

I'll admit to it.

I used to think Tesla was based, since it paved the way for mass-market EVs to happen. I still think SpaceX is based because of the booster reuse and droneship recovery of Falcon 9, and the massive potential for Starship to make space massively cheaper, and Starlink for bringing Internet to rural areas/war zones like Ukraine (despite clouding the skies.)

On a personal level I found him disgusting, and as a billionaire I think he's the sickness at the core of our economy and society. The projects of his companies were genuinely useful, though.

So yeah, in 2015 he would have been closer to the bottom of my list of most evil billionaires, whereas now he's way at the top.

Exactly, did anyone here think non-fictional billionaires could ever be cool? After developing critical thinking skills that is.