What if Elon Musk is the Worm God from Dune?

You all watched Dune, but you don’t really know what happens to Timothée Chalamet (Paul).

He’s not the hero. He fails to do what the spice tells him he needs to do to ensure humanity survives.

Thankfully, he has a son, Leto II.

Leto II sees everything Paul sees.

(We’ll get back to Elon in a second.)

In Dune, humanity is heading in a dangerous direction. Paul sees that if they don’t change course fast, they’ll eventually become extinct.

But changing course is HARD. So Paul takes the easy road — and suffers for it.

Leto II has the same vision and decides to do what is necessary to save humanity.

He turns himself into a GIANT WORM GOD.

How he did this isn’t necessarily important.

What’s important is WHY he did it. Leto knows that the only way he would ensure humanity’s survival is if he could live for THOUSANDS of YEARS like the giant worms on Dune.

During those millennia, he hordes ALL the spice (which humanity has become addicted to) and slowly forces humankind back on course.

It’s not fun for anyone — especially Leto II.

The leader of an empire, arguably the richest man in the world (told you we’d get there), denies himself everything. He can no longer even live a normal life. He can never truly experience love. He doesn’t even have a 🍆 (the book covers this — extensively).

Elon Musk is the richest man in the world. And today, he’s buying Twitter. He also worked tirelessly for three years (after making at least $175 million from selling PayPal) to ensure the success of an electric car company. He slept on the factory floor.

“The reason I slept on the floor was not because I couldn’t go across the road and be at a hotel. It was because I wanted my circumstances to be worse than anyone else at the company. Whenever they felt pain, I wanted mine to be worse.”

Elon also seems committed to making sure we inhabit more than just this planet because he thinks it’s integral to our survival.

He’s so committed to this that his wife left him.

Now he’s trying to buy Twitter. Why? Because as an individual with Asbergers, he says he’s always been obsessed with “truth” (among other reasons).

Even after making $175M, Elon seems committed to building whatever he thinks is best for humanity, and he’s just using the form of leverage he has (capital) to do it.

I haven’t finished the Dune series. I don’t really know if Leto II’s plan works. I don’t know if Elon’s will work either. I definitely don’t think he’s a god.

But, at least I know what he’s thinking. Why? Because he always says it out loud (he does not seem to be good at not saying things, which makes me feel a little safer).

There will always be a “richest person in the world”. At least Elon is trying to do some good with his riches. I’d rather that than someone who can see the writing on the wall (Paul) and is simply too afraid to try.