The public-facing ideology of Silicon Valley is at once potent and seductive. Through the merger of technology and unfettered markets, or so the story goes, a culture of ceaseless hustle and radical risk-taking drives endless innovation. Such innovation, in turn, brings with it better consumer products, new everyday conveniences, and, of course, new opportunities to create wealth. In its most utopian form, however, the ultimate promise of Silicon Valley is more revolutionary — offering nothing less than a kind of secular transcendence that will see our species escape the confines of its planetary existence and, perhaps, even the confines of our mortal bodies as well.

The main ingredient in this futurist cocktail is typically said to be a rare breed of exceptional individuals who rise to the top through a combination of eccentric genius and personal grit. The rise of these übermenschen contributes to the betterment of humankind, and their unfathomable wealth represents a reward commensurate with the social value they’ve created.

In an age of stagnant politics and growing anxiety about the future, it’s an attractive and even comforting story. It’s also one that few figures have leveraged quite as successfully as Elon Musk — who has, for years, projected an image of promethean genius that countless millions have found singularly compelling. Given Musk’s actual behavior, his cringeworthy social media presence, his company’s incessant product recalls (the latest being this very week), and his litany of grandiose pronouncements that have amounted to nothing, it can sometimes be difficult to get your head around. Nonetheless, the roughly one-month period that has elapsed since his takeover of Twitter has probably done more damage to his image — and to the fraudulent and self-serving myths of Silicon Valley it draws on — than any of these things ever could.