Elon Musk on How to Build the Future

He also exploits people because he's "building the future." He is an evil capitalist with a cult of personality and doesn't deserve the worship he gets.

The problem with Musk is that he's managed to garner a cult of personality for being a perfect representation of an issue that has been plaguing the high tech industry for years. For decades the public has been contributing (through taxes) to the creation of the entire research and development/high tech industry, an industry that wouldn't have been created otherwise since it creates long-term profit at the expense of short-term profit (which isn't expedient to capital), an industry that requires immense collaboration among society, a society which has been contributing its social intelligence since the beginning of society itself, yet what do the people get for all this? Nothing. The public work is looted and privatized, then we are forced to buy back the products we created so a few capitalists can profit. Again, the production is collective yet its product is appropriated privately.

As somebody who is relatively uninformed, is there anywhere to read about Musk's shadier practices?

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12509079 and marked it off-topic.

Yes, we should be able to go to space and have electric cars and ALSO improve living conditions for people. But one of those doesn't affect white guys in the tech industry.

I would say that I have benefited greatly from tech products or companies such as search, youtube, facebook, and amazon, just to name a few. Companies are not charities, they exist to make profit, often by providing useful services to their customers.

"yet what do the people get for all this"

Nothing?

They get massive consumer surpluses.

They get cars, fridges, air travel, tv, entertainment, healthcare - better, faster, cheaper (except the later).

Anyone who is able to hold a job and have an income in the Western World sees their material lives improve radically.

It is a lie to say 'the capitalists win'. Consumers get far more of the surpluses than any other group.