Elon Musk is a real life version of D.D. Harriman, the protagonist of Heinlein's The Man Who Sold the Moon. An excerpt taken from Wikipedia:
""I", he says, "would cheat, lie, steal, beg, bribe—do anything to accomplish what we have accomplished". Children donate money for a promise of all contributors' names engraved on a plaque left on the Moon. The names, however, will be microscopic in size. Harriman sells land and naming rights to craters, and plans to sell postal covers canceled on the Moon to collectors. He starts rumors that diamonds exist in moondust, intending to secretly place gems in the rocket to convince people that the rumors are true."
And anyone who's read Machiavelli knows what kind of man it takes to succeed at this level in non-fiction.
Given the fact that men of his abilities and motivations have existed throughout history, and will continue to exist as long as we have men, for all his perceived flaws I'm quite pragmatically relieved he is ensconced with a Western power rather than any other in the world.
""I", he says, "would cheat, lie, steal, beg, bribe—do anything to accomplish what we have accomplished". Children donate money for a promise of all contributors' names engraved on a plaque left on the Moon. The names, however, will be microscopic in size. Harriman sells land and naming rights to craters, and plans to sell postal covers canceled on the Moon to collectors. He starts rumors that diamonds exist in moondust, intending to secretly place gems in the rocket to convince people that the rumors are true."
And anyone who's read Machiavelli knows what kind of man it takes to succeed at this level in non-fiction.
Given the fact that men of his abilities and motivations have existed throughout history, and will continue to exist as long as we have men, for all his perceived flaws I'm quite pragmatically relieved he is ensconced with a Western power rather than any other in the world.