Im a Musk fan.  I own three Tesla cars.  Automated driving is a huge breakthrough that will save tens of thousands of lives.  But given Musk's brilliance, it is hard to imagine that he doesn't understand that many of the things he says are just wrong.

Solar energy is impractical and expensive, at least on Earth.  Exclusive of the massive subsidies, it costs at least five times more than electricity from coal or natural gas.  See SolarShame.com for the details.  Yet Musk promotes solar energy.  This may be related to the fact that Tesla sells solar energy components.

Musk wants to colonize the moon or Mars to ensure the survival of the human race.  He has listed an assortment of catastrophes that could result in the extinction of humanity on Earth.  Nuclear war is probably the most likely catastrophe, but there is no chance that it will cause the extinction of humanity.  A system of bomb and radiation shelters following Switzerland or Israel would greatly limit deaths and preserve the nation's future.  I can't find any mention by Musk of the virtues of bomb and radiation shelters.

His company SpaceX makes billions selling internet connectivity provided by low-orbit satellites.  But by claiming that the main goal of his rockets is to preserve humanity in the case of catastrophe, a crass commercial motive is converted into a high-minded crusade.

Another of Musk's catastrophes follows the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.  An intelligent computer, "Hal," murders fellow space travelers.  One human survives and murders Hal by unplugging his circuit boards.  Musk has positioned himself as seriously concerned that artificial intelligence must be carefully fenced while his competitors are forging ahead recklessly.  He has compared himself to an organization dedicated to saving the rainforest while his competitors are like lumber companies.  Musk good, competitors bad, again.

Musk often sounds like early communists who believed that communism would create an age of abundance so that everyone's needs could be satisfied.  Musk says the humanoid robots that Tesla is developing will replace human labor so that humans will be freed to pursue higher interests.  Poetry, anyone?  Musk even advises parents to stop saving for college, as money will be unimportant in the new age of abundance.  Presumably, everyone will be able to attend a top college at an affordable cost.  But a college that everyone can attend is no longer a top college

Real U.S. GDP per capita has increased by at least 15 times since 1900.  We are already in an age of abundance, yet money has not gone out of style.  Modern man has increased his desires in proportion to the money available to buy things.  Humanoid robots (mechanical slaves) won't change that.

Musk has a genuine sense of humor. Perhaps he is amused that he is able to promote himself with wild schemes like a Mars colony.  He may be mocking the gullible chattering classes that he manipulates.  Even if Musk's robots increase per capita GDP by another factor of 15, some things will always be in limited supply — for example, apartments overlooking Central Park in Manhattan or seaside bungalows in Malibu, or whatever replaces these scarce possessions in the future.