The NeilStrauss Elon Musk article, revisited

avaperture (32)in #neilstrauss • 7 years ago

I just finished reading @neilstrauss expanded Rolling Stone article on Steem. Elon Musk is a topic worth of a writer like Neil, and he did not disappoint. I'm actually considering a Rolling Stone subscription after this. I've been a fan of his for a while, and covering one of the most important humans in the world right now is a monumental task, Neil did it perfectly.

So, first of of, thank you @neilstrauss for sharing it with us on this platform. It's exactly the kind of thing that gets me excited about the possibilities of the Steem community.

Below are some of my 5 favorite parts of the interview:

"He laughs at the expression, and I understand now that Musk didn't have me over to talk about his projects and vision. There's nothing to be gained from talking about the problems of science with someone who doesn't understand them. At the end of the day, he just wants to unwind and laugh about the world he's trying to improve."
Great lesson to be learned from this one: Talk to everyone, but not about everything.
“Rule No. 1: Don’t panic.”
That one of the most important, thoughtful, innovative people in the world has rules in his family, makes total sense, but that the first rule is "Don't panic", is what makes Elon so unique. And that he borrows it from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, makes him relateable. Trust yourself that you will figure it out.
"Then he starts flipping through the pages, each one a parody New York Times Magazine -style cover, and reading them out loud to me. He cracks up for almost five minutes straight, so hysterical that sometimes he’s breathless."
"This usually involves Musk adding Easter eggs and personal references to the products, such as making the Tesla sound-system volume go to 11 (in homage to Spinal Tap )"
Comedy is an important part of life.
"The woman, it turns out, is Talulah Riley, his second wife. They met in 2008, and Musk proposed after 10 days together."
Despite different background and ages, he fell in love and married Tallulah in 10 days. They're divorced, but I'm not sure that means it didn't work out. Follow your heart impusively.
“If somebody said you’re gonna pour the liquid remains of dinosaurs into your vehicle and burn them in order to move from one place to another, releasing toxic fumes—and by the way, you better not have your car on in a closed room cause you’re gonna die—you’d say, ‘Why are we doing that?"
"It’s almost as if a really smart alien landed on earth and looked around at everything, and simply stated what he saw."
So what is Musk about?
It helps to be really, incredibly smart and really good looking.