book: muskism by quinn slobodian and ben tarnoff

Another book I finished in July was Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed by Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff. It argues that instead of seeing Musk as an individual or even an exceptional outlier, he should be seen as a symptom of a bigger playbook, something other forces in society brought forward and shaped. Just like Henry Ford is where Fordism gets the name, the authors argue that Muskism is an ideology based on Elon Musk. Musk primarily sells a fantasy: That, if they buy into his walled garden, both individuals and states can be self-reliant, uninterrupted by grid failures, geopolitics and more. This is sold as techno-sovereignty, when it actually makes them rely on Musk himself. He depends on perpetual hype, online trolling/meme warfare, state symbiosis and financial fabulation to convince the public and for his businesses to even survive. In Muskism, everything is code, undesirable people are bugs, and empathy is an exploit. There is a huge focus on vertical integration, lean…