Elon Musk is often celebrated for daring to think and talk about the future in a neoliberal system that has deemed the subject off-limits. According to the neoliberal handbook, we were only supposed to manage the privatization of the status quo, not think about ways to change it. In all this, Musk has been one of the few voices whose ideas have received mainstream attention, with magazine and newspaper profiles treating the Tesla CEO as a modern visionary. Musk, of course, has readily embraced the attention.

Instead of getting distracted by skillful snake-oil salesmanship, we need a critical dissection of Musk’s proposals and his vision for the future that the media has helped him to spin. Musk might consider himself an unparalleled genius pushing humanity forward, but he’s actually building a world that will preserve his privilege at the expense of everyone else — including the cult followers who fawn over each new announcement that further protects their billionaire king from climate apocalypse.