What Do We Do About Elon Musk?

Galaxy Brain

The Atlantic

Technology

4.5 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 July 2026

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

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Summary

Elon Musk isn’t just the world’s richest man—he’s one of the most influential people alive. His companies have transformed industries, his wealth has shattered records, and his politics now shape governments and public debate. But how did he become this powerful? And is his dominance really inevitable? This week on “Galaxy Brain,” Charlie Warzel talks with the historian Quinn Slobodian and the technology writer Ben Tarnoff, the authors of “Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed,” about the ideas driving Musk’s rise. They unpack the mythology of the billionaire genius, the ideology behind his politics, and whether the world’s most powerful CEO is stronger—or more vulnerable—than he appears. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. This episode of “Galaxy Brain" was produced by Renee Klahr and engineered by Miguel Carrascal. Our theme is by Rob Smierciak. Hadley Robinson is our senior supervising producer. Claudine Ebeid is the executive producer of Atlantic audio, and Andrea Valdez is our managing editor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:48.3	A lot of folks ask us, well, what about Musk and Science Fiction? And if you read the SpaceX
0:53.1	prospectus that they had to file,
0:56.1	it reads really like a work of science fiction,
0:59.4	but one that he's managed to operationalize
1:01.7	toward a very concrete material end,
1:03.8	which is unlocking this extraordinary amount of money
1:06.9	that he can use to continue to finance his projects.
1:10.0	That SpaceX prospectus is this pretty unbelievable document.
1:16.3	It is very future forwards, the desire to mine asteroids, to promote space tourism, to, quote,
1:23.5	extend the light of consciousness to the stars.
1:26.5	This is very different than what SpaceX is actually doing on the ground.
1:37.3	I'm Charlie Warzel, and this is Galaxy Brain, a show where today we're going to talk about the richest man in the world.
1:43.3	So what do we do about Elon Musk?
1:46.0	This is a question that I spend a lot of time thinking about.
	...

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