The Musk Effect

Why is he like that?

What happened to Musk? It’s a question the world has been asking for years now. Not that long ago, he seemed to be some kind of philanthropic genius who could potentially even save the world. Now he looks like a Mein Kampf-reading moronic grifter who has made it his life’s mission to cause as much damage to himself and society as possible. How do we explain this sudden, befuddling switch? Well, actually, nothing has changed. For decades now, Musk has embodied some of the most deleterious psychological phenomena known to man — so much so that I believe we need a fresh name for this combination: “The Musk Effect”. Essentially, Musk is so psychologically broken that his ketamine-soaked brains fell out of his coke-ruined nose years ago, and we are only just starting to notice.

I am not the first, nor the last, to note that Musk is a textbook example of the Dunning-Kruger effect. This is when someone is too stupid to recognise their own lack of knowledge, causing them to massively overestimate their abilities. And Musk displays this effect with all the subtlety of a man repeatedly jamming forks into a power socket and wondering why he smells burning.

Some great examples of this are the now-defunct Hyperloop, the flop that is the Cybertruck, and the ongoing failure of Starship. Musk had huge control over all three projects but failed to…