@djc I guess here we'll disagree. If Galt must be motivated by money, he must be motivated on a scale that lets him buy Twitter or finance Fox News (or MSNBC! Whatever!). The social cost of that far, far exceeds whatever technical contributions sociopathic motivation can make.

Fortunately, sociopathic motivation may be relative! If Musk is motivated by being richer than Bezos, downshifting the entire scale may have very little motivational effect!

@djc Plus, I'd ask you to consider whether Galtian incentives aren't self-debilitating. Howard Hughes starts as a brilliant aviator, but become Howard Hughes.

Elon Musk, well, his politics are obviously flamboyant. But early in his career, you could think (I used to think!) he was stewarding Tesla in a prosocial way. I don't think that's a reasonable conjecture anymore. His talents have been deflected by his wealth.