FOLLOWING THE RECENT floating of SpaceX as a publicly traded company, Elon Musk is being touted as the world’s first trillionaire. Even if there may be an element of smoke and mirrors about the precise calculation of his wealth, the world’s wealthiest man has just become richer.

However, in the very same week that Musk further enriched his personal coffers, he demonstrated yet again the other side of his persona, namely his mindless support for far-right forces, including on this island.

As the ultra-right Tommy Robinson was seeking to stoke up the anti-migrant riots in Northern Ireland after a knife attack, that led to many people being injured and homes being burned out, riots that police described as “racist thuggery”, the world’s first trillionaire was deploying his vast social media influence to retweet a Robinson post, adding the comment that “only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change”. https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2064371351775854823

What are we to make of Musk, this perfect modern embodiment of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? A uniquely successful businessman who is politically illiterate. An entrepreneur who aims to enable human beings to live on other planets, but whose contribution to the politics of this planet involves making it a less attractive place for human beings to live.

The arrival of the world’s first trillionaire represents a timely moment to examine how we talk about what human worth truly is, to........

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