Having a billionaire bullshitter fills a strange sausage roll of feelings: awe, jealousy, inspiration, terror, irritation. Like it or not, Musk really did make electric cars viable and desirable. He really did help inaugurate a new age of private aerospace. He really did make somewhat badass flamethrowers that he really sold and shipped to people who watched too much G.I. Joe in the 1980s.

Musk’s schtick works because he’s the unusual, unfathomably wealthy person who actually spends very large amounts of time and money on random things. Most billionaires are boring. They hoard wealth and then offload it into a family foundation for tax benefits and eternal glory, or they push it into hedge or venture funds. They avoid the spotlight. Some pursue flights of fancy, as the other billionaire-begun space start-ups show. Others pursue Carnegie-style philanthropy, dressing power in the vestments of generosity.

But Musk appears to goof around. He does whatever the heck he wants, however stupid it might be. In a world where so much wealth is concentrated in the hands of so few, that stupidity can be a sort of comfort. What would you do if you were that wealthy? The numbers say: nothing interesting. You’d use the money to make more money. At least Musk is having a good time.