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In the hushed aisles of American bookstores this Tuesday, a highly anticipated new work will make its appearance: the biography of Elon Musk penned by the renowned Walter Isaacson. The latter, no stranger to the craft of portraying tech titans, having previously authored the biography of Steve Jobs in 2011, this time unveils the psychic depths of the South African-born magnate, Elon Musk.
The writer offers an unprecedented illumination of a complex personality, entranced by the cosmos and whose vision for humanity’s future revolves around a multiplanetary ambition. This ambition, steered through the visionary endeavors of his company SpaceX, nonetheless clashes with a series of controversial stances. Indeed, Musk emerges as a fervent critic of the “woke virus,” a sociopolitical movement he sees as a potential hindrance to the realization of his grandiose cosmic projects.
Isaacson paints the portrait of a businessman perceived alternately as a “big child,” shaped by a past marred by school bullying, and a leader with unpredictable, sharp emotional fluctuations often synonymous with storms within his own enterprises. The disclosure of his Asperger’s syndrome diagnosis adds a precious nuance to the understanding of his relational dynamic, frequently viewed as lacking empathy. Musk himself acknowledges a difficulty in decoding social signals, a confession that sheds light on a managerial approach described as brutal.
As the work is set to release the following day in France, it already promises to fuel discussions as it unveils little-known aspects of the billionaire’s private life. Beyond the entrepreneur, it is the man, the family patriarch who is here highlighted. The tumultuous relationship he had with the Canadian artist Grimes is laid bare, including the little-known birth of a third child through surrogacy, an episode that enriches an already dense family life with ten children.
Grimes’ testimony proves to be particularly enlightening, revealing a Musk capable of slipping into what she calls a “demon mode,” engendering chaos. Thus emerges a complex paternal figure, whose ambitions extend beyond his own progeny: Elon Musk fervently encourages procreation, as evidenced by his sperm donation to a Neuralink executive, leading to the birth of twins in 2021.
This work, the fruit of meticulous research and an unprecedented access to the daily life of the tech tycoon, promises to unveil the multifaceted personality of a man at the intersection of technological innovation and space exploration, an individual whose fate seems inextricably linked to that of humanity.
With AFP
